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[0:00] in a Q&A at the conclusion of the message. And I've also invited those who, for whatever reason, might not want to offer or ask a question from the floor in public.

[0:12] They are welcome to submit any question they may have and just drop it in the offering box. And eventually we will get to it and deal with the question. And that offer, of course, remains open for any who are interested.

[0:26] And I don't always have time for a Q&A at the end of the session, but I try to do that most of the time. This question that was submitted is, will a Christian believer who, for whatever reason, commits suicide go to heaven?

[0:43] And I can understand that being a very legitimate and an honest kind of question, especially in this day and age when, as I mentioned, we are dealing with suicide at a national rate that the nation has never before experienced.

[1:03] And it is tragic because the rationale that most people have when they commit suicide, assuming that they are of sound mind, and of course some are not because there may be emotional, psychological circumstances present that affects one's thinking capacity and ability, and they are not of a sound mind, and yet they are still able to take their life, and we know that that happens in all too many cases.

[1:36] But when one chooses to exit that way, it is almost always because they are experiencing either physical pain or emotional pain on a level that probably most of us have never experienced, and with which we cannot identify.

[1:59] And of course it's very easy for us of a hail mind and body to be judgmental of those who do things like that, but we ought to really withhold judgment because, in the first place, we just really don't know what is going on in the mind and heart of individuals that cause them to do that, and we ought to be willing to withhold judgment and leave that with the Lord.

[2:27] Many of those folks rationalize this way, I don't know if there is anything after this life, but whatever it is, it can't possibly be worse than what I'm dealing with now.

[2:43] Well, truth be told, it can be. It can be a lot worse than what you are dealing with now, but of course they have no way of knowing that, and they are willing to take the risk.

[2:55] And by the way, speaking of suicide, there is a disproportionate number of atheists who decide to take their own lives and end it all, and I can understand that very easily.

[3:09] If you are really a committed atheist, you are absolutely convinced that there is no God, there is no hereafter, there is no heaven, there is no hell, and what I am experiencing now is something that I am not willing to tolerate any longer.

[3:27] Therefore, I am going to end this miserable existence by taking my own life. And when I do that, I expect to be ushered into, if you can use that term, a complete state of nothingness, where there will be no consciousness, no awareness, no future, no memory, no anything.

[3:50] And do you know what? That wouldn't be so bad. Not at all. Certainly preferable to what I'm experiencing now. So one can understand why it is that some committed atheists choose to exit that way when they are dealing with whatever the painful situation might be.

[4:08] It's a very legitimate question for Christians to ask whether someone who takes their own life goes to heaven.

[4:19] Well, we need to deal, first of all, with the issue of what is the basis for who goes to heaven anyway. And it is never based on personal performance, neither good nor bad.

[4:37] That is not the basis for heaven. None of us deserve the favor of God or the blessings of heaven. To say that anyone does completely negates the concept of grace.

[4:53] And this is an argument the apostle Paul set forth in Galatians when he said, if righteousness comes by the law, if you can attain righteousness that God will accept on the basis of the law, Christ is dead in vain.

[5:12] Who needs him? All you have to do is observe the law. You don't need Jesus. He could have just stayed in heaven and never bothered to come to earth and die that terrible death on Calvary.

[5:24] But the point is, righteousness cannot be obtained by the law. Theoretically, yes. Practically, no. And by theoretically, yes, I mean any human being who would absolutely, completely keep the law that God has given, yes, he would go to heaven.

[5:46] But nobody's ever done that. Because nobody has the ability to do that. Because the law was never given for people to keep it so they could earn God's approval and he would reward them with heaven.

[5:59] The law was given to reveal to people that there is no way that they can measure up to God's standard of righteousness. And that brought in the whole sacrificial system that conditioned and educated them regarding the substitutionary principle of the innocent dying for the guilty.

[6:17] And that, of course, would pave the way for the Lord Jesus Christ who would be that ultimate sacrifice. So what needs to be understood is what is the true basis for our salvation in the beginning.

[6:31] Grace. Grace is extended only to those who admit they are undeserving and that is the very dynamic of the concept.

[6:42] Which is an amazing thing when you stop and think about it. Anyone who thinks they are deserving of heaven is not going to be there. Isn't that interesting?

[6:53] Anyone who thinks they have it coming is not going to be there. Only those who know and confess that they are unworthy and undeserving of God's favor in heaven are candidates for it.

[7:08] And even then, they must come through placing their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that salvation that you receive thusly is strictly a gift.

[7:20] And George read this morning about this righteousness, about it being freely given. And the Greek renders that, that righteousness forgiveness is freely bestowed and it means it is bestowed without a cause.

[7:40] What does that mean? Without a cause. That's the way the word really is in the original. That it is without a cause. And it means simply that God looked you over and he tried to find some justifiable reason to redeem you and save you and he couldn't find one.

[8:03] He couldn't find one because there wasn't one there. He couldn't find any cause to save you. And that's why it's called grace. We are justified without a cause.

[8:16] We don't deserve it. We are not legitimate recipients of it based on what we have done. So, that being the case, where does that put someone who has committed suicide?

[8:32] Grace being available to all who believe and are justified on the basis of what Christ did and provided is the complete opposite of the way people think.

[8:43] This is the larger reason why it is hard to put over. Grace based anything is completely opposite to merit based everything.

[8:56] We have explained in time past how that fallen man has many consequences of that fall that beset him and one of them is a warped logic and a skewed reasoning capacity and that is why grace is such a difficult concept to sell because people just cannot get over the idea that there isn't something they have to do and they completely lose sight of the fact that that which needed to be done was done by another.

[9:34] It was done by our Lord Jesus. Upon hearing about salvation by grace one may say and respond and I'm sure it's not an uncommon response.

[9:44] I didn't hear that preacher right or what I think I heard wasn't what was really said because that can't be but it is because God's ways are not as our ways as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways saith the Lord.

[10:03] Yet this salvation by grace is the very essence of the gospel. It really does mean that. It really does say we are justified or declared righteous by God before God based on his grace and our acceptance of that undeserved favor as a gift.

[10:21] We could ask the question why should such evil people as there are in this world be justified and be assured of heaven?

[10:33] Look at the track record of some people some of whom are in prison some who have been executed for their problems and the response is don't you realize what those people have done?

[10:46] Yes, we realize what they have done but the counter is don't you realize what Jesus has done? Are you suggesting that the price that Jesus Christ paid to redeem humanity wasn't really quite enough?

[11:06] He needed to do more and you needed to help by kicking in your 10% so he didn't have it all to do after all it is a two-person thing no it isn't it's all of grace and all you do is submit to it all you do is acknowledge and admit that you are unworthy and that Jesus paid the price that he didn't owe because you had a price you couldn't pay and you put your faith and trust in him and God saves you on that basis do you deserve salvation like that?

[11:36] Of course not that's why it's called grace it's not works it's grace that's an amazing thing and it was a hard sell for Paul and it's a hard sell for us today oh it can't be that easy it can't be that well it is that easy and how many times have I told you God did the very most he could do so that he could require from you the very least that you could do that's why it's called good news wonderful news best news this world has ever heard so as regards one who has taken their own life there may be complex physical emotional issues involved there may be debilitating pain that few ever experience both physical and emotional and salvation by grace is not probation dependent upon performance salvation by grace is salvation period it is not a performance you're not put on trial

[12:47] God isn't going to save you and say now you walk the straight and narrow and I'll see if I decide whether I want to keep you but don't get too far out of line or I'll kick you out that's not grace based salvation salvation and someone would object to that by saying well that gives people a license to sin someone would say well if I'm saved and I can't be lost then I can live any way I want to yeah you can you can make whatever choices you want but you can't choose the consequences and you can go astray if you want but there is always a price to pay and God has different ways of taking you to the woodshed and he chastens those whom he loves and if you endure chastening if you do not endure chastening whereof all are sons then are you bastards and not sons so God disciplines those whom he loves and you can come to faith in Christ and you can be saved and heaven is your home and you can kick over the traces and go astray and become like the prodigal son and live a life of profligacy or whatever you want and go your own way and do your own thing and you're going to pay a price for it sometimes

[14:04] God's chastening is nothing more than letting us suffer the deserved consequences of bad actions but at any rate God's love is undying and he has an investment in every person that he redeems and I can assure you he is not going to lose on that investment so you might look at it this way too you know our Roman Catholic friends of course have a different theology than we do and they say that there is no sin which God cannot forgive provided provided it is confessed and the difficulty with suicide is how are you going to do that after you take your own life you can't confess to anyone much less a priest because you're not alive therefore you die with murder that is self murder or suicide you die with that sin on your soul and it cannot be confessed therefore you do not go to purgatory you go straight to hell because you have died with a mortal sin on your record not a venial sin a venial sin is a lesser sin you can go to purgatory and pay that off in a certain amount of time whatever it takes but if it's a moral sin there is no payment that can be made for that you go straight to hell that's

[15:41] Roman Catholic theology but it's not biblical theology and so far as biblical theology is concerned let me ask this question is it possible for a Christian somebody who really knows the Lord to commit murder murder somebody else not themselves not suicide but call it first degree murder if you will is it possible well no it wouldn't be possible if someone is truly a Christian he wouldn't be capable of murder baloney that is not true listen when you were born as a child of Adam you came into this world redeemed God was in Christ redeeming the world unto himself and that means everybody every human being that ever lived yes even Adolf Hitler was redeemed born redeemed as in Adam all die even so in

[16:47] Christ shall all be made alive not most or some or just Christians everybody everybody and what the death of Christ accomplished was a complete reversal of the curse that Adam's sin brought upon all humanity and it didn't leave out anybody and neither did the death of Christ didn't leave out anybody when he paid for the sins of the world he paid for the sins of every single last individual the most heinous reprobate serial killer that you can think of yes he paid for their sins too paid for everybody's sins that does not make everybody saved but that does make everybody savable big difference and if everybody is not savable then the blood of Jesus didn't quite do it how do you like those apples can't entertain that for a moment so what we are saying is the blood of

[17:48] Christ the death that he died was sufficiently efficacious to atone for the entire sins of all the human race this means nobody nobody is outside the grace of God whether they choose to avail themselves of that that's another issue because they have a volition and salvation involves what Paul said to the Ephesians involves repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ but when you come into this world even though you are born redeemed and Paul said in Romans 7 that when sin I was alive once without the law but sin revived the law came in sin revived and I died and he's talking about he lost his status of innocence and being under the sufficient blood of Christ when he reached the age of accountability he sinned on his own and he became a sinner in word thought and deed and he needed to be born again and that's what began on the road to Damascus and that's an entirely that's that's part of the package but when you were born redeemed you were still born with an old sin nature and even as a baby you're a baby lying there in a crib no more than a couple months old you know what you are already convinced that the whole world revolves around you you think you are you are everything and when you cry you expect somebody to come running meet your needs that self-centeredness and we are all imbued with that and that self-centeredness and that old nature is what makes for the misery of the world that we are experiencing today it's all wrapped up in how people treat each other and we do that because of our self-centeredness and this self-centeredness this flesh the flesh the flesh in the body of the believer and I'm not talking about tissue skin and bones

[19:58] I'm talking about the Adamic nature flesh that original flesh that is in us from the time we are born it is no better in a Christian than it is in a non-Christian it is just as ugly and just as self-centered as it is in a non-Christian when you were saved and you came to faith in Jesus Christ you were given a new nature you were given a whole host of things but God didn't do anything with your old sin nature that's what enables you as a Christian to still do stupid things sinful things hurtful things to other people you're redeemed you're going to be in heaven but you still have this fleshly nature and what we need to do of course is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ and as we do and feed the new man that new nature that is in us that Christ put in us when he saved us that needs to mature and grow and develop and the more that does the more the old nature is starved out and is less and less active but don't kid yourself it's still there and yes it's capable of murder it's capable of embezzlement it's capable of lying it's capable of stealing it's capable of all those things because the old nature in a Christian is just as ugly and just as bad as the old nature in a non-Christian it has not improved one whit need to keep that in mind so is it possible for someone who takes their own life to still go to heaven if they had a genuine faith in

[21:43] Jesus Christ it's not only possible it's guaranteed and while we're talking about this subject let me ask you this in connection with is it possible for one who is truly Christian to murder somebody else of course it is you cannot find anyone who is less justified in doing it who would be more wrong in doing it but don't think for a moment that because you are a Christian you are incapable of that no you aren't we would all be embarrassed if we knew the things that we were really capable of doing in the flesh so keep in mind the flesh cannot please God read Romans 7 the flesh cannot please God the spirit of God that is in us that came in to dwell when we were regenerated cannot do anything but please God so this sets up a struggle in the life of the believer you've got an old nature that does not appreciate having been overtaken by the new nature does not appreciate the new kid on the block and will fight against it and the old nature and the new nature are at war this is the whole thrust of Romans chapter 7 where Paul says I don't understand myself think of this is coming from an apostle this guy wrote a third of the New

[23:11] Testament and he's saying you know what I can't even figure out myself I do things that I don't want to do and the things I do want to do I don't do what's going on with me anyway there's that inner conflict oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through my Lord Jesus Christ that he delivers us so the old nature is there you don't have to yield to it but you may and if you yield to it you will do that which displeases God that's the Galatian thing chapter 5 and it's a beautiful thing so what if a true believer commits murder is he still going to heaven of course he is of course he is if he isn't as a true believer now we don't want to talk about false believers and professing believers there are people who possess Christ and then there are people who profess Christ and sometimes it's hard to tell them apart because we don't know we don't have the ability to look inside someone and see whether they have true faith or not but God does so a true believer who really knows Christ as his savior is capable of doing all kinds of wrong stupid sinful things and the grace of

[24:38] God remains intact and when he gets to heaven oh what's this well it's a little thing called the award throne of Christ how are you going to fare at that some will stand there with nothing to show for their life wood hay and stubble others gold silver and precious stone so it depends on the quality of your life depends on whether you're walking in the spirit or walking in the flesh so yes it is absolutely not only possible but it is assured he is going to heaven and when he does when he gets there like all the rest of us we're all going to get straightened out then you know I've learned this maybe it's taken me 60 years to learn it but I've learned that human beings can be embarrassingly simple and easy to understand and yet there is a side to human beings that can be so complex and so mysterious that nobody has ever plumbed the depths of some of

[25:57] I think that's especially true women we haven't we haven't begun to figure out that feminine prestige you know someone says someone says you know this is this is why God tells husbands that they are to love their wives as Christ loved the church but and that Peter says that we are to dwell Peter says that men are to dwell with their wives according to knowledge and I did some research on that and I came up with this it says that husbands are supposed to make a study of their wives so they understand what makes them tick well I'm still studying that but it doesn't say that to wives why doesn't it say that to wives I'll tell you why it doesn't say that to wives you already knew you know what makes men tick you know you understand the male ego the male drive you got the book on all that stuff we don't stand a chance

[27:09] Marie it's not fair but you know what that's true I'm absolutely persuaded hey I've done too much marital counseling over 50 years to be persuaded of anything else women understand men in ways that men do not understand women and it gets us in a lot of trouble sometimes pardon me oh yes that's true that's true we we we this masculine brain we cycle things you know from one side to the other but they crank up both of them and operate with both at the same time and I just don't think that's fair that's something I'm going to take up with the Lord sometime it's amazing though you know vivo la difference wouldn't have it any other way most of the time most of the time well I've got something I've shared with the Wednesday evening group and I want to share it with you and I'm going to ask

[28:12] George to read something that is really illustrative of what we're talking about our scripture our subject matters dealing with chronology ethnicity and transition and what we mean by chronology is it is really very very important that you understand the book of Acts is a book that is on the move it is doctrine that is developing it is the connecting link between the gospels and the epistles and it encompassed about 30 years of human history it is really important to understand that because if you don't know who knew what and when did they know it you can arrive at a whole lot of wrong conclusions based upon chapter and verse in the book of Acts and along with that is a subject that we've been talking about with the transition and the need to be with the latest program and to understand what the latest word is and all

[29:18] I have suggested is when Jesus was with the twelve at the mount of transfer mount of ascension before he ascended he gave them commission and it's commonly referred to as the great commission it's Matthew 28 19 and 20 I think just about everybody's familiar with it and memorize it and that is his final commission to the twelve apostles while he was here on earth but it is strikingly unfortunate how many Christian people either refused to recognize or failed to recognize that that was not Christ's last word it was his last word on earth to the disciples but he gave additional information to the apostle Paul after he was ascended and it started with his encounter on the road to Damascus that was his first encounter with Christ and he goes on to tell us that he had an abundance of revelations

[30:23] I don't know how many that was and I don't know over what period of time he received those revelations but it wasn't all at one time and here is another key to keep in mind Paul has got entirely new information to share with his generation but even what he got was transitional he didn't get it all at once God didn't just dump everything on him all at once but there were an abundance of revelations he says it was over a period of time and succeeding exposures to the truth where God was adding to it more and more information that Paul didn't have originally but came along later and that too is very important so there's not only a transition between the twelve and Paul there's even a transition in the information that Paul received what he got at the first with what he got at the last and I've asked George if he would read a really interesting article one that you can identify with from history and it you may even know something about it but it's got some details in it and it's quite fascinating it beautifully explains what we're talking about in getting your last orders come ahead

[31:45] George this is a story from World War II when Hiro Onodo was 20 years old he was called to join the Japanese army at a certain point in his training he was chosen to be trained at Nakano school as an imperial army intelligence officer in this specialized military intelligence training he was specifically taught methods of gathering intelligence and how to conduct guerrilla warfare he was being groomed to go behind enemy lines and to be left with small pockets of soldiers to make life miserable for Japan's enemies and gather intelligence in the process on December 26 1944 Onodo was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines his orders from his commanding officers were simple you are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand it may take three years it may take five but whatever happens we'll come back for you until then so long as you have one soldier you are to continue to lead him under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily

[33:00] Onodo then linked up with Japanese soldiers already on the island but shortly thereafter the island was conquered by allied forces the remaining Japanese soldiers split up into small groups of three or four and headed into the jungle most of these groups were quickly killed off however Onodo was not they continued to use guerrilla warfare tactics to attack the enemy while strictly rationing supplies in October 1945 after another cell had killed a cow from a local farm for food they came across a leaflet from the local islanders to them saying the war ended August 15th come down from the mountains a few remaining cells discussed this leaflet extensively but eventually it was decided that it was allied propaganda trying to get them to give themselves up they felt that there was no way that Japan could have lost so quickly since the time that they were deployed indeed this would seem strange to anyone who had no knowledge of atomic bombs dropped on

[34:04] Hiroshima and Nagasaki also another one of the cells had been fired upon just a few days before and they felt that this wouldn't have happened if the war were over a few months later a Boeing B-17 dropped leaflets all over the jungle with a message from General Yamashita ordering them to surrender the remaining cells once again scrutinized these leaflets to try to determine their authenticity in the end the wording on the leaflet pertaining to the method with which they would be sent back to Japan seemed fishy to them largely because the wording made it seem as if Japan had lost something they could not comprehend and it if Japan had won they would come back and get them Japan couldn't lose so the war must still be going once again they believed it was the allies trying to get them to surrender when this didn't work more leaflets were dropped with newspapers from Japan photographs and letters from the soldiers families delegates were sent from

[35:07] Japan and went through the jungle speaking over loudspeakers begging the soldiers to give themselves up in every case the cells were encountered there was something suspicious in their minds about the way it was done to cause them to believe it was an elaborate hoax by the allied troops years passed in the jungle with these four soldiers continuing to perform their sworn duty of harrying the enemy at every opportunity and gathering intelligence as best they could at a certain point when most everyone they saw was dressed in civilian clothing they began thinking that this too was a ruse from the allied forces to lull Japanese guerrilla soldiers into a false sense of confidence eventually one of the groups snuck away and surrendered and another was killed in a skirmish which left only two remaining one of which was Onoda for years the two lived in the jungle convinced that eventually Japan would dispatch more troops gathered to retake the island after all their orders were to stay put and do as they had done until the commanding officer came and got them and their commanding officers had promised to do so no matter what after years of hiding in the jungle his partner

[36:26] Kazuka was killed during a fight with the Filipino patrol the Japanese had long thought that he had already died because they didn't think he could have survived so long in the jungle but now they had his body and they began thinking that perhaps Onoda was also still alive the Japanese sent a search party to try to find Onoda in the jungle unfortunately he was too good at hiding with years of practice and they could not find him finally in 1974 a college student decided to travel the world among his list of things to do on his journey was to find Onoda a panda and the abominable snowman those are three different things he was going to find he traveled to the island and trekked through the jungle searching for signs of Onoda shockingly where thousands of others had failed Suzuki succeeded he found Onoda he then proceeded to try to convince Onoda to come home with him but Onoda refused his commanding war was over until they returned and ordered him to do so

[37:35] Suzuki then traveled back to Japan with the news Onoda's commanding officer now retired was brought back to the island to tell Onoda that Japan had lost the war and that he was to give up his weapons and surrender the realization of what finally happened came as a crushing blow to Onoda in his own words suddenly everything went black a storm raged inside of me and I felt like a fool for having been so tense and cautious on the way here worse than that what had I been doing for all these years gradually the storm subsided and for the first time I really understood my years as a guerrilla fighter for the Japanese army were abruptly finished this was the end I eased off the pack that I had always carried with me and laid the gun on top of it would I really have no use for this rifle that I had polished and cared for like a baby all these years had the war really ended thirty years ago and if it had what had the others died for on

[38:35] March 10th 1975 at the age of 52 Anoda in full uniform that was somehow still immaculately kept marched out of the jungle for his crimes given that Anoda had thought he was still in the war the entire time had the circumstances been different and the war really had been waging on for so long soldiers and people from both sides of the fight would have respected him for his courage and dedication in that respect he was more of a hero however the world wasn't the way he thought and in the end Anoda had continued fighting World War II a full 29 years after Japanese had surrendered simply because he didn't know that the war was over his orders had been changed and he had missed the message doesn't it wow well there are other examples of the similar kind of situation where someone doesn't have the latest word and when they don't then it's difficult impossible to be with the program as you ought to be

[39:54] I want to read a passage from Acts chapter 18 this was in connection with Paul's third missionary journey now what I want you to realize is this this incident that we are describing will have taken place about 20 years after the death burial and resurrection of Christ now you would think that after 20 years everybody would have gotten the message everybody would have been updated but listen having spent some time this is on Paul's third missionary journey and by the way do you realize that Paul had been a believer for about 15 years before he ever went on that first missionary journey that's really significant 15 years after the

[40:59] Damascus road experience and on his third missionary journey we read having spent some time there he departed and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia strengthening all the disciples now a certain Jew named Apollos an Alexandrian by birth an eloquent man came to Ephesus and he was mighty in the scriptures this fellow knew his way around in the word of God but when it talks about the scriptures it's limited to the old testament new testament didn't even exist then Alexander or from Alexandria his name was Apollos and he was well acquainted mighty in the scriptures 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

[42:02] Jesus being acquainted only with the baptism of John now think about this this is actually event wise reaching back into the gospels in connection with John the Baptist ministry when he was baptizing those who came to him out of Galilee and we continue reading he was acquainted only with the baptism of John and he began this Apollos began to speak out boldly in the synagogue which of course would be a congregation of no one but Jewish people or maybe a few God fearers that is Gentiles who were not full fledged Jews but like like Cornelius was a God fearer that is one who signed on and believed that the only true

[43:04] God that there was Israel's God yet they were not circumcised and they didn't go through the catechism of Judaism but they were still interested in Judaism and they abandoned all of their idols and so on he began to speak boldly in the synagogue but when Priscilla and Aquila that was a husband and wife team that had befriended the apostle Paul and had ministered the word of God with him and aided him in every way they could and they had the advantage of all of the information that Paul had received by revelation because he would have briefed them and updated them when Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos preach they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately what does that mean it simply means they had information to give him that he didn't know about because he was aware of only that which had happened up to and including the baptism of

[44:13] John and there was a lot of information that had been dispensed by the risen Christ and given to Paul and he had been preaching it but Apollos didn't know it and this is 20 years after the resurrection so you see how important chronology is here now while we're in Acts 19 I want you to come over please to chapter let's see let's take a look at chapter chapter 21 chapter 21 this is really important Paul is at Jerusalem in verse 15 we read after these days we got ready and started on our way up to

[45:14] Jerusalem some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us taking us to Manassan of Cyprus a disciple of long standing with whom we were to lodge and when we had come to Jerusalem the brethren received us gladly and now the following day Paul went in with us to James and all the elders were present and after he had greeted them he began that is Paul began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry and when they heard it they began glorifying God and they said to him you see brother Paul how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed now listen to this and they are all zealous for the law what does that mean zealous for the law but wasn't the law passe wasn't the law wasn't

[46:25] Judaism done away with with the rending of the temple rending of the veil in the temple wasn't that God's way of saying he was done with that wasn't the law done away when Paul said we are not under law but under grace what is this all about why are they zealous for the law Christ has become the end of the law to everyone who believes what is he saying here and this is 20 years after the resurrection everybody knew everybody had updated information no they didn't and this is proof positive these people are still sold on the law they're still in the synagogue they're still keeping their kosher diet they're still ordering circumcision for their baby boys they're still keeping the sabbath they're full fledged Jews in every way and they continue to observe the law of Moses now we've got a real area of conflict coming up because when

[47:28] Paul preaches his gospel to the Gentiles does he tell them they need to observe the law of Moses no the law was never given to Gentiles does he tell them they need to be circumcised no a whole chapter in Acts 15 was devoted to settle that argument does he tell them they need to keep kosher diet and observe the sabbath no but what is he telling the Jews when he goes into the synagogue and whenever Paul blew into a new town he always headed for the synagogue he knew he was going to find Jews there and what did he the law is done away with you don't have to keep the sabbath anymore you don't you can even eat pork chops if you want you don't have to observe the law of Moses and you mothers who have baby boys just born you don't even have to have them circumcised do you think that

[48:32] Paul is going to teach them that of course not of course not what would he teach them what was the essence of his message it's the same thing that the twelve had preached apart from the kingdom but it centered on the person of Jesus Christ who he was who sent him what he accomplished that was it and of course the resurrection that was the essence of the message and what was it that Paul was consistently charged with doing by the Jews it was just this kill him he deserves to die because he has been teaching against the law of Moses now what I'm telling you and all I am saying is do you not see from this the incredible confusion and conflict that is going on because we've got two messages that are running side by side on two different tracks one to the

[49:38] Jew and one to the Gentile and who is Paul called to preach to both see why this man had riots wherever he went these Jews were so steeped and so entrenched in the law of Moses they couldn't even conceive of it ever coming to an end why because the God who gave the law is eternal and the law he gave is eternal also and it will be enforced in perpetuity now I close with this on the road to Emmaus Jesus chided the two disciples when he said oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had written ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory what had they done they had examined only part of the scriptures you know what the part was that they left out portion in

[50:51] Jeremiah 31 and a portion in Ezekiel that talks about the same thing behold the days are coming saith the Lord when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel not like the covenant which I made with them which their forefathers broke but a new covenant that is proof positive that the old covenant the old Mosaic law was destined to be set aside to become passé because a new covenant was coming but this of course they completely ignore you see what I'm talking about here this transition and confusion thing and people tend to zero in on one aspect of the book of Acts whether it's speaking in tongues at Pentecost or what they focus on that they end up making faulty assumptions regarding it they write it into their statement of faith and it becomes doctrine cast in stone and they form a new denomination that is based on it and we've got that all over the nation where people are divided all because of different interpretations of the book of

[51:58]  Acts and not considering the very things that we've just been talking about this is a very complex issue and once you understand it how that transition and chronology and ethnicity mean absolutely everything when it comes to studying the book of Acts and that becomes critical absolutely critical so would you stand please we'll be dismissed our father we are grateful for the time that we've shared together this morning we trusted it if nothing else it has whetted the appetite of some to investigate these things more thoroughly thank you for having provided for us what you have and we look to you for the facility of better grasping and understanding it simply so and appreciating it more we can serve you more intelligently and more faithfully thank you again for your love for us and how you've demonstrated it through the Lord Jesus in his name we pray amen amen