We’re ready to start I John. Now these little epistles (James, Peter, John and Jude - and you might as well throw in Revelation as well) are all Jewish epistles. They are all addressed to Jewish believers – never forget that.

Now I’m going to go contrary to tradition (as I am prone to do), but I do not feel that John wrote this letter in 90-some AD. I think these little epistles were all written about the same time that Paul was probably writing the Church-Age epistles. And my number one reason for that is that there is not one word in these little Jewish epistles concerning the resurrection, which is central to our salvation. Not a word about salvation by faith and faith alone. And not a word about the Body of Christ, which we have been placed into.

But, rather, it is all still primarily (not exclusively) the "Kingdom" message. And you’ll see it as we come through here. It is so plain they are not preaching Paul’s Gospel which we, in the Church Age, must believe for salvation. Now, when I refer to Paul’s Gospel, I’m referring to what he said in I Corinthians 15:1-4. "That it’s by my gospel," Paul says, "that you are saved." And what is Paul’s Gospel? "How that Christ died for our sins. That He was buried and that He arose again the third day according to the scriptures." That’s Paul’s Gospel, and you must believe that with all your heart! And if you can’t find that in these Jewish epistles (which you can’t), then you have to recognize that they’re not proclaiming Paul’s Gospel, because they’re in the "Kingdom" economy, and you cannot mix the two, because one was under Law and the other is under Grace!

The "Kingdom Gospel" starts out probably the plainest when Jesus asked the twelve disciples back in Matthew 16, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" And, of course, some said, "You’re John the Baptist, some think you’re one of the prophets." Then He came back and said, "But whom do you say that I am?" And Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God." Period. And that’s all these Jews back here in the Four Gospels had to believe for salvation.

Of course, he couldn’t mention the death, burial and resurrection because it hadn’t happened yet and they didn’t know it was going to happen. They had no idea that they would be going up to Jerusalem for a crucifixion. So the Kingdom Gospel is that Jesus was the Christ. He was the Son of God. And He was offering Israel the glories of the earthly Kingdom, promised all the way up through the Old Testament.

So as you come into these little epistles, everything is directed as yet to Jewish Kingdom believers. They had simply believed Jesus was indeed the Messiah. And they’re still under the Law and you’re going to see language that indicates that, even in I John. So, be aware there are things in here that we can apply but, by and large, all of these little Jewish epistles are written to Jewish Kingdom believers who had probably been scattered out of the Church at Jerusalem and are still under pressure from the Romans.

They’re also under the pressure of orthodox Jews who were aghast that these people were ignorant enough to accept this Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. So, they’re under tremendous persecution and the whole theme of all these little epistles, James, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, and Jude is to prepare these Jewish Kingdom believers for the Tribulation that’s right out in front of them. And they would have to go through that Tribulation pressure before their Messiah could come and set up the Kingdom - where we in the this Age of Grace are promised we don’t have to go through the Tribulation, but will be Raptured out before that takes place.

So, watch for those scenarios as we come through these epistles. There’s not a word about the Body of Christ in any of these little Jewish epistles. There’s also not a word about the resurrection. Now there is some indication of His shed blood, and I won’t deny that. But there is nothing pertaining to the death, burial and resurrection that we are to place our faith in as the means of salvation in this Age of Grace. But their means of salvation was to believe Who Jesus really was. And I think you’ll see it if you understand it from that direction as we begin in chapter 1 verse 1.

"That which was from the beginning,…" Now this is the same John that wrote the Gospel of John and what does John 1:1 say?

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." That’s the same kind of thinking that John is still practicing here, see? That which was from the beginning (in other words, from eternity past - out of eternity past, the Triune God; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), brought about creation. And the only difference is that God the Son was the One Who was assigned the role of calling it into being. They were all three there, they were all three a part of it. But God the Son, Whom John calls The Word, was the One Who spoke, and creation happened.

God the Son spoke, and all of these things happened in order to make everything ready for the ongoing human experience. All right, so John is taking us right back to the first thought he had in his Gospel, that which was from the beginning.

"…which we have heard,.…" Now stop and think - who is this John? He’s one of the Twelve. He spent three years with Him. And so he heard Jesus speaking in the flesh and he says:

Now go back to Luke 24, and verse 39, but let’s start with verse 36 to pick up the flow as I so often put it. Now this is after His resurrection and Jesus is appearing to them.

"And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit." Were these men just as human as we are? Well, of course. Even though they had spent three years with Jesus in His earthly ministry, they were just as ordinary as you and I.

How would you feel if all of a sudden Someone that you had seen on a Roman cross a matter of hours before is all of a sudden standing in front of you? They didn’t know anything of the resurrection. They couldn’t comprehend that this was the risen Christ standing in front of them and it just scared them. And so Jesus sensed it:

"And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? (Now he shows them) 39. Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." He’s standing in front of them in that physical body with which He was, crucified and then laid in the tomb, and now resurrected, of course, into the resurrection power. But, nevertheless, He still shows them His hands and His feet. "Touch Me and see for spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see Me have." See how sensible this is? And this is after His resurrection. Verse 40:

"And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. (He showed them the wounds) 41. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, (and now to prove it a little more:) he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?"

Now verse 42, and here is Christ in that resurrected body standing before them, as any other normal being, and yet He’s in that resurrected body that, in a split second, can go from there to who knows how far away. But now He’s going to prove a point. Not only is He the One that was crucified; not only is He the One that was in the tomb; He’s the One that’s resurrected and He’s going to give us a little inkling of our eternal state. What can we look forward to?

"And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43. And he took it (and what did He do with it?) and did eat before them."

Now, many people don’t understand that. Jesus, in His resurrected body, "ate"? Yes, of course He did. Right in front of them to prove the point. He ate. All right, now I’ve got to stop there a minute. Go to Philippians chapter 3 because you’ve got to compare Scripture with Scripture in order to put this whole scenario into an understandable state. Now, remember when Jesus ascended back into Glory - it was in that body that’s standing in front of the men there, I think there were only ten of them, not all twelve. But He’s standing in front of those disciples eating and it’s that same Christ that will ascend from the Mount of Olives in a matter of forty days. All right, and it’ll be that same Jesus Christ that’s going to return for us one day and give us an inkling of our future state. We’re not going to be floating around up there in some invisible ethereal state; we’re going to have bodies. All right, here it is.

"For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; (if you’re a believer here today, your citizenship is already registered in the Glories) from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:" Now remember this is Paul writing. And so Paul is going to use Pauline language. So "We’re looking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."

"Who (the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who’s standing back there in our verse in Luke – eating meat and honeycomb) shall change our vile body, (this body that’s prone to death and corruption. Look at this. This is enough to make you hit the ceiling, isn’t it!) that it may be fashioned (or made) like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Now what does that mean? Just exactly what it says! That one day our eternal body is going to be fashioned after this resurrected body in which Christ is now appearing to His disciples after His resurrection, after His death. Let’s read it again, "Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he (Christ) is able even to subdue all things unto himself." What does that mean? Every believer is going to be suddenly changed and made into a body like His eternal body for all eternity.

Now what we’re going to be doing, the Bible doesn’t really tell us - but it tells us this much; this is the kind of a body that we’re going to have and yes, we’re going to eat and not have to worry about pounds! And you won’t have to worry about pollution, and you won’t have to worry about tainted food, or anything like that. But we’re going to be able to eat.

All right, now let’s come back to I John. I hope I made my point regarding when John says, "We’ve heard Him, we’ve seen Him, we’ve handled Him," Even the post-resurrection Christ - they had seen the nail-prints in His hands.

"…which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;" Noticed the Word is capitalized. The same Word that you see in John’s Gospel verse 1, "In the beginning was the Word." And when we teach John 1, what do we always associate with words? Communication. And so when it was time to create God the Son, the Word of God spoke and He communicated with that which was seemingly nothing, and out of it came everything. And that’s how He’s always done it. And that’s why we make so much of The Word, God the Son, as the great Communicator.

"(For the life [that is that life of the Messiah, the Christ] was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)"

Now, you know, I try to be so careful and yet once in a while (fortunately not very often) someone will totally, totally hear me wrong, and they’ll write and say, "Well you said...." "NO, I didn’t say." They say, "You said that Jesus never existed until He became the only begotten," Now that one was just a few programs back. I never said such a thing. And so I had to reply, "Of all the thousands of people we know are listening now, you are the only one who heard me wrong! And you heard me wrong!" And they were trying to put it that I had said that Jesus Christ, or the Son, never existed until His resurrection. No, the point I was making was that the terminology "the only begotten Son of God" applied to His resurrection. But people can get it so fouled up, so I try to be very careful.

All right so here again, "the life that was manifested" (or brought into the spotlight) is speaking of those three years of earthly ministry. Because, remember, this is written to Jews. John was one of the Twelve. He was one who had spent three years with the Lord up and down the highways and byways of ancient Israel.

"(…which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)"

You see, all three Persons of the Godhead are from eternity past, all three. Not just one or not just two. They’ve all been part and parcel of the God from eternity past and "that life was manifested (he says) unto us." How? Through His earthly ministry when He came in the flesh at Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth and then began His three years of earthly ministry to prove to the Nation of Israel that He was that Promised Messiah. Now verse 3.

Again, John is referring to Christ’s earthly ministry and that’s what makes me think that he had to write this in the early part of the Scriptures, like in maybe the 50’s AD instead of way out there almost at 100 AD. But here he is, writing at the same time that the rest of the New Testament is being written and so the earthly ministry wasn’t all that long ago. Fifteen, twenty years at the very most.

"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

Now remember when we taught Hebrews how I emphasized "the Son-ship" of Christ and how that that was His title? And that He was a part of the Godhead?

Now, I have to go back (it’s running through my mind constantly so that’s usually, I think, a prodding of the Spirit) to Matthew 16, and I’ve already quoted a portion of it. Remember, the vast majority of church people in Christendom still do not understand the difference between the Gospel of the Kingdom, which Jesus and the Twelve preached to Israel, and the Gospel of the Grace of God, which is preached to us Gentiles. But they are two totally different scenarios under the same Headship of the same God.

But here in Matthew 16, it’s at the end of the three years. And they’re about to go up to Jerusalem for the crucifixion. Three years Jesus has been performing signs and wonders and miracles. What percentage of Israel has responded? Very few. Just a small percentage have responded to all of His signs and wonders and miracles.

Now then, He comes to the heart of the matter as He approaches the Twelve up there in Northern Israel – just a matter of hours before Passover and His crucifixion. Remember, this is to the Nation of Israel and Israel was under the Law. The Temple is still going full speed. Animals are sacrificed every day. Every good Jew is still going up to the Temple at the hour of prayer. Every good Jew is still keeping the feast days. Every good Jew is still eating kosher. Every good Jew is keeping the Sabbath. Every good Jew is keeping the Commandments. Now, He approaches the Twelve after three years of miracles and signs and wonders to prove Who He was.

"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, (up in Northern Israel) he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" Why did He ask that particular question? Because this is what He’d been proving. This was the whole purpose of His signs and miracles - to prove that He was that Promised Messiah.

Now, you come into Isaiah chapter 4, and here we come to a term of Christ that is unique. He’s called the "Branch" – out of the stem of Jesse – and He’s referred to as the "Branch," more often than not, in the Old Testament. But every time He’s referred to as the Branch, He is referred to as another aspect of the four views of Christ in the Four Gospels. They all fit. One of the Branches is that He’s to be the King in Matthew. One of the Branches is that He’s to be the Servant in Mark. Another one of the Branches depicts Him as the Son of Man in Luke. And another one of the Branches depicts Him as God, Deity; that’s John. So all through Scripture you have, especially the Old Testament, all the things that are pointing to this coming Messiah Who would be the King of Israel.

And when He came and John the Baptist announced Him, what did John the Baptist go out and preach? "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." But was he just spitting out empty words? Of course not. The King was about to appear and the Kingdom was within the grasp of the Nation of Israel. And that’s why we call it, then, the Gospel of the Kingdom.

"…Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14. And they (the twelve) said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. (and He stops and He says, okay,) 15. …But whom say ye that I am?" Have you learned anything in three years? And here’s Peter’s answer,

"…Thou art the Christ, (the anointed, the Messiah) the Son of the Living God" Did Peter finish that by saying, Who’s going to die for our sins and be buried and raised from the dead – NO, he doesn’t know that. And God doesn’t expect him to.

Peter simply gives us the heart of the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus was the Christ. And that’s what Israel was to have believed for their salvation, but they couldn’t. They couldn’t swallow it. All right, now I haven’t got time to go any further, but we’ll pick it up in our next program. But, here in Matthew then, when Peter says "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" - how does Jesus answer? "Peter what’s the matter with you?" No. He says:

And that’s what we have to understand – Who Jesus was, was the heart of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is totally different than the Gospel of Grace, the finished work of the cross – which we believe today for salvation in the Church Age.

All right we’ll be comparing the difference between the salvation message of the Gospel of the Kingdom that we have in these little Jewish epistles, and the Gospel of Grace we have in Paul’s epistles.

All through these little Jewish epistles, we’re still dealing with Jewish Kingdom believers. And when I speak of Kingdom believers, I’m talking about Jews who had simply realized Jesus of Nazareth was their Messiah and King. They’re still under the Law. They’re still practicing Temple worship. There’s nothing that indicates they stopped that. But, along with it they have now recognized Who Jesus really is.

All right, so to pick up the terminology (and for that reason only), I’m going to back up for a moment to Matthew chapter 9, where we see it put so plainly. Matthew 9, dropping down to verse 35. This, of course, is at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He’s going to pick the Twelve disciples in chapter 10. But let’s start here in chapter 9, just for the sake of getting the terminology that I’m using:

"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, (that’s all Jewish) and preaching (or proclaiming) the gospel of the kingdom,.…" The Good News of the Kingdom. And remember, everything is in fulfillment of all these Old Testament promises.

Now maybe we’d better back up a few pages to Zechariah chapter 14. Back into the Old Testament, and this is just one. My goodness, I could spend the rest of the day pointing out these verses talking about this future Kingdom on earth, with the capital in Jerusalem and with Jesus the Christ, the Messiah of Israel as the King of a glorious Kingdom. All right, now just for sake of simple language, Zechariah chapter 14 verse 9 and this is so simple a third-grader can understand it. It’s plain English.

"And the LORD (now remember the LORD in the Old Testament is Jehovah and Jehovah is God the Son, the Messiah of Israel) shall be (future, that’s prophecy) king over all the earth:.…" Now that’s not gobbledy-gook. That’s not something that takes a theologian’s education. It says what it means and it means what it says, that the day is coming when God the Son will actually be the King of kings and Lord of lords over the whole earth.

Now then, as we closed our last half-hour program, we were in Matthew 16 and Jesus had asked the Twelve Who people thought He was. And they had all their crazy notions and finally Peter nailed it down and he said, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God." All right, let’s just pick that up so someone won’t say, "Well that’s just one instance." Come on over to John’s Gospel chapter 11. Now for some of you, You may sit there right now and say, "Les, you’ve covered this before." But, if tomorrow, over a cup of coffee, the subject comes up, can you turn to Matthew 16? Can you turn to John chapter 11? Can you turn to Acts chapter 8? Can you turn to Acts chapter 9? If I can, anybody can!

All right, it takes practice. I remember back when I was a kid. We had a pastor who would just literally take someone up on the stage with him and sit him in a chair opposite him. And he would show us, the congregation, how to practice sharing the Scriptures with somebody. Now I suppose some people out there thought he had just sort of lost his marbles, but that’s what people should be doing more of. I tell husbands and wives all the time, just sit across the table from each other and practice. Just pretend that your wife is a seeking lost person, and practice using the Scriptures – it takes practice. My goodness, I’ve been doing this almost every night, five nights, six nights a week for thirty years. And then people wonder why I can do it. Well, this didn’t come overnight. But if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to practice. You’ve got to get out there and do it.

All right, so now then, here in John is the next instance where we have this declaration of the heart of the Gospel of the Kingdom. John 11:23. Jesus has come back to Bethany and Lazarus is dead. And of course Martha’s all upset knowing that, had He been there a few hours earlier, He could have healed him.

"Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" In other words, faith would be the source of eternal life. But see and understand – He doesn’t say a word about death, burial and resurrection. These people weren’t expected to believe that He was going to die for them. And I have totally rebelled now in recent years; that the teaching that I used years and years ago, I won’t any more – that everybody saved before the cross was saved by faith in His coming death, burial and resurrection. Nobody knew that He was going to die. The Old Testament writers that wrote it in such veiled language; and Peter said it so plain that they "searched diligently" and they couldn’t find it. But, how many times throughout the past hasn’t most of Christendom (if they have any theology at all) will try to tell us that everybody before the cross was saved by their faith in this coming death, burial and resurrection. No they weren’t! They didn’t know He was going to die. And the same way here. Jesus doesn’t mention anything about the cross. All they’re expected to do is to believe for salvation Who He was. That’s all God expected. Whereas, today, we must believe that finished work of the cross for salvation..

"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" Now He says to Martha "Do you believe this?" Now watch her confession of faith, and compare it with what Peter just said:

"She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." Now Jesus doesn’t upbraid her. He doesn’t criticize her. He accepts that statement of faith. That’s all they were supposed to believe during that era. All right, let’s go on a little further. Acts chapter 8, the Ethiopian Eunuch. Remember this is all before Saul’s conversion. There’s not a word now that salvation is going to be based on believing in His death, burial and resurrection. It’s all still based on believing Who He was.

Before going to Acts chapter 8:35, remember I like to quote the verse over in Romans chapter 15, to back these things up.

"Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, (for what purpose?) to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:" That’s why He came - to fulfill the promises found in the Old Testament concerning this glorious Kingdom that was being offered to Israel.

All right so now turn to Acts chapter 8, and Philip has gone down on the way to Gaza, the way to Ethiopia where the Spirit has led him and he comes across this Ethiopian eunuch who is reading the book of Isaiah. You all know the account, I trust. And so verse 35, Philip joins with this eunuch up on his chariot.

"Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, (that is Isaiah 53) and preached unto him Jesus. 36. And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?"

Now remember what also was implied in the Gospel of the Kingdom? What did John the Baptist require? Repent and be baptized. What did Peter require in Acts chapter 2? Repent and be baptized. And so, evidently, and I say evidently because you’ve got to read between the lines a lot of times – evidently Philip has preached that same message to this Ethiopian eunuch that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah and for those who were going to put their faith in that, they had to repent and be baptized. That was all part of the Gospel of the Kingdom. So here comes Philip’s response.

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he (the eunuch) answered and said, (now watch his confession of faith) I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" Remember this is several years after the cross, but did the eunuch also add, "...who died for me and rose from the dead?" No, it doesn’t say that. And we can’t put that in there. All the eunuch understood was Who Jesus was. He was the promised Christ - period!

All right, next one across the page – Saul of Tarsus has now been converted on the road to Damascus. Now goodness sakes, Saul’s a good Jew, he’s still under the Jewish economy. The Gospel of Grace hasn’t been revealed yet. He hasn’t gotten any mysteries and revelations from God yet. So, if God is going to save him, on what basis is He going to have to save him? The Gospel of the Kingdom. That’s the only Gospel that is being used at that time.

Let’s look at Saul’s profession of faith. We’re still calling him Saul (he’s going to later be called Paul) – Acts chapter 9 verse 20. This is after his meeting Christ on the road to Damascus, when Saul asked the question, "Who art thou Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus." And that’s all old Saul needed to know. Who He was. And he was instantly saved by believing that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ.

"And straightway he preached Christ (Messiah, the Anointed) in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God." He has gone right straight into the synagogues in Damascus, proclaiming that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God."

Now put that all together and what have you got? Paul is saying the same thing the others said – that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah, the Son of God. That’s the Gospel of the Kingdom message. Now he won’t be preaching that message long, as he will be going to the desert and receive those three years of instructions from the risen Lord for us Gentiles, as we see over in the Book of Galatians.

All right, now then, let’s go back again to our little Jewish epistles, James and Peter and John, and that’s all they’re going to bring out – that these Jewish believers are trusting Who Jesus of Nazareth was. All right, I John chapter 1 and I guess, we’re about at verse 5.

"This then is the message which we have heard of him,…" Stop and ask yourself constantly, heard of who? Jesus. The Word. The Son of God, who had ministered with them for three years, see?

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Now we’ll take the next couple of verses and then we’re going to come back and look at the Light.

"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7. But if we walk in the light, as he (The Word, the Son, the Christ) is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Now there is certainly a reference to the work of the cross, the shed blood, but that’s all. That’s as far as it goes. It doesn’t say a word about His resurrection. It doesn’t say a word about becoming a part of the Body of Christ. It’s only that that shed blood – now I think that is a fitting time to go way back to when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming: how did he announce Him? "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."

So they knew that there was that part and parcel of it – but you see, as you analyze these things and compare them with what Paul is going to proclaim, there is nothing of the Grace Gospel message; it’s all associated with the Gospel of the Kingdom, which was given to the Nation of Israel.

Now back to verse 5 and we’ll pick these three verses apart. This is the message, "that God is light and if He is light then there can be no darkness." All right, let’s go back to John’s Gospel. The same John who wrote this little epistle also wrote the Gospel account. And in John’s Gospel chapter 3, he makes a big deal over the "Light" part. In fact, let’s go back to chapter 1, and begin with verse 6. What I’m always trying to show is that when you’re in the prophetic program, which began primarily when God made the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all these prophecies flow up through human history all dealing with the Nation of Israel, and we come to Christ’s earthly ministry still dealing with Israel.

We come to the Acts of the Apostles, still primarily dealing with Israel. We skip over Paul’s epistles and we jump down into these little Jewish epistles; it is still all basically God’s dealing with the Nation of Israel. Everything is on that plane if you will take it in that light. In fact if all of Paul’s epistles were removed from the Bible, there would not be a Gospel of Grace message.

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (I’m thinking that this is John the Baptist. It has to be.) 7. The same came for a witness, (he’s the one who proclaimed ‘Behold the Lamb of God’) to bear witness of the (what?) Light,.…" Now what’s the purpose of light? Now you think I’m tricking you, don’t you? Why do we have the lights on? To remove darkness. It’s just that simple. When you bring in light, darkness flees. You take away the light, darkness comes in.

Now to follow up on this light concept, let’s go to Isaiah chapter 42. This light concept is nothing new, and let’s just drop in at verse 6. Now look, this was written 700 years before Christ. It’s a long time, but it’s written as if it was only twenty-four hours ahead of Him.

"I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a (what?) light of the Gentiles; 7. To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." In other words, the whole idea was to bring even the Gentile world out of their spiritual blackness and darkness and bring them into the light of Israel’s Messiah, or the God of Creation. All right, go to chapter 60 and you’ve got this "light" concept all the way through. Isaiah 60 verse 1, and again this is plain English.

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come,.…" Now stop a minute. To whom is Isaiah writing? Israel – in view of their falling headlong into rebellion and idolatry. And the whole idea of Isaiah and the prophets is to warn them that God is going to bring judgment in short order. He’s going to bring in foreign nations. And he makes the language so plain, they’re going to have sharpened arrows and they’re going to have horses’ hooves of flint. All to bring in chastisement on the people of Israel. But before it comes, he’s giving them this opportunity to turn around. All right, so now in chapter 60 of Isaiah, written now, like I said, 700 years before Christ, the prophet writes:

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. (even though it’s 700 years out in the future) 2. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 3. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Well Who is the Light? The Messiah. See, the Christ would be the Light of the world and "even the Gentiles shall come to thy light."

Acts chapter 9; we were talking about Saul and I guess I could even carry that light a little bit further. What happened to Saul on the road to Damascus? What hit him? That bright light. It just knocked him to the ground. The Light from Heaven. Well goodness sakes, Who was the Light? Jesus, the Christ. And old Saul of Tarsus immediately knew that it was God dealing with him and that’s why his response was, "who are you Jehovah?" And Jehovah says, "I’m Jesus." One and the same.

So, you have that dramatic conversion of the Apostle Paul. But, before he receives his revelations out there on the back side of the desert (verse 20 again, shortly after his conversion), he gets his strength back; he gets his sight back. "Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues." And I can’t emphasize that enough. It’s still all Jewish. Nobody has told him to go up to the marketplace and preach to Gentiles.

But all that heard him were amazed,.…" Why? Because this Jew who had so hated these followers of Jesus of Nazareth was now proclaiming that, yes, He was the Anointed. He was the Light. Okay, now then let’s come back to I John again, and verse 6. Remember, John is writing to Jews under that Kingdom economy.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, (just recognizing Who was the cleansing power of) and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Now jump back up to verse 6.

"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" If they would say they had fellowship and were walking in darkness, then they had no salvation. They were just simply mouthing something that had never affected their lives. Well, that’s the way church people are even today. Nothing has changed. You know how they say "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Well that’s just about the way it is, even scripturally.

So when these Jewish believers walked in the Light, they had fellowship one with another, in spite of all the pressure. Now don’t forget that these three men are writing to fellow Jews under the horrors of persecution, but that’s going to get worse. The Tribulation is just out in front of them and things are going to get worse.

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Well, now, how does the Apostle Paul put it? Let’s go back to Romans 3:23 because a lot of these scriptures overlap and one means just as much to one group of people as it does to another – not always – but here’s one that does. This has always been the case, ever since Adam and Eve fell. And the Old Testament says that the heart is desperately wicked; who can know it?

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" What does that mean? Every human being who is ever born comes into the human race a born sinner. And that’s what so many people cannot comprehend. They think, well I’m good enough. I’ve never done anything that bad. I’m not a sinner. Yes we are – by virtue of the fact that we’re children of Adam.

We had been looking at the "light" over in Isaiah, and I was intending to go back to John’s Gospel, and look at that "light" concept again, but rather I had you come back to Acts. So come back to John’s Gospel chapter 3 verse 17.

"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already,.…" And that’s what we saw in our last program – how that every person born into the human race as a son of Adam is a born sinner. Remember in our last lesson we read - "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." All have sinned! Every last one of us. So the unbeliever is condemned already. Now finishing verse 18.

"…because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. And this is the condemnation, (here’s God’s point of controversy) that light (that can expel darkness) is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light,.…" I’ve often wondered why barrooms are almost totally dark. I’ve only been in one once in my life. I went with a buddy of mine in the service because he had to meet someone and, my, I got in and that’s the first thing I asked him, "Why don’t they turn on the lights?" Well, evil loves darkness and they’d rather be in their darkness than to be out in the light.

"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (or revealed) 21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." Now, all the way through here then, you have not seen one word about the cross. And, of course, that’s to be expected because it hasn’t happened yet. And, again, in that light (lest someone wondered in the first two half-hours when I make mention of the fact that these twelve disciples had no idea that Christ was going to go up to Jerusalem to be crucified), come back with me to Luke 18 since you’re already in John. Now I had one old fellow tell Iris and I, and we were kind of shocked – he said, "You speak extemporaneously don’t you?" Well, I guess I do. Now I wasn’t intending to come back here to Luke, but I just happened to remember I’ve been speaking a lot now about the fact that these Jews, and especially the Twelve, had no idea of the crucifixion.

Now we know it was prophesied. That’s what Paul said in I Corinthians chapter 15:1-4, as he shared with us what we must believe for our salvation today. That "Christ died for our sins, and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." So yes, it’s back there, but it was in such veiled language that nobody understood and they weren’t supposed to. The whole thing was that now we’re supposed to be enlightened enough that we can see it. All right, but Luke 18 – and if somebody gives you some argument on this (that everybody knew that Jesus was going to die), just tell them, "No they did not!" Luke 18 verse 31; and this is at the end of His earthly ministry. Again they’re still there in Northern Israel, but they’ll be making their way up to Jerusalem for the Passover in short order.

"Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished." This was all tucked away back in the Old Testament. And Jesus knew what it meant, but nobody else did. And so He tells them, verse 32:

"For he (speaking of Himself) shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33. And they shall scourge him, (and we know the Romans did this) and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again." And He had it all right. He knew exactly what was coming. But did the Twelve? No. Look at the next verse. I’ve shown this to people and they just shake their heads. They don’t believe it. I say, "But that’s what the Book says!" And they’ll come back with "Ah, they must have known." But the Book says they didn’t.

"And they (the Twelve) understood none of these things: and this saying (that which He had just said) was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." They had no clue. Use common sense. When He had been crucified and laid in the tomb – if they’d have understood that the third day he would rise again, where should have all those followers have been? They should have been camped out around the stone waiting for it to roll away. They should have been waiting for Him to come out. But were they? Not one.

And when Mary runs and tells Peter and John that the tomb is empty, were they expecting it? No, they were totally surprised. Now, while I’m on that subject, I guess I might as well do this as well. Turn to John chapter 20 because we have to understand that (these Jewish believers) all they understood was that this promised Messiah was now in their midst in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth. That’s Who He was. But they had no idea that He was going to be going to a Roman cross. And when He hung on the cross, they had no idea that three days later He’d be in their midst. And that’s why they were so shook up when they saw him.

All right, but here in John’s Gospel chapter 20, you all know the account – how that Mary Magdalene came early and was going to anoint the corpse with the spices according to custom. And the tomb is empty! And she ran back and told Peter and John, wherever they were. And then Peter and John run forth and John gets there first – and we’ll skip all that, and begin with verse 8:

"Then went in also that other disciple, (John) which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead." That’s what the Bible says; so how could they preach a Gospel of salvation based on the death, burial and resurrection that you and I must believe today? They didn’t. All they could preach for salvation to the Nation of Israel was to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God!

That’s a good introduction for the next verse in I John chapter 1. I’ve used this verse, I think now, wrongly over the years. I don’t use it this way anymore. I John chapter 1 verse 9. How do you suppose I’ve always used it? Well that if the believer sins, he comes to the Lord and confesses it so that he can be forgiven. Now that’s the normal approach, but now stop and think. Doesn’t Paul teach that the moment we’re saved, we are already what? Forgiven!

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath (already) he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" Past, Present, and Future! Paul’s Gospel teaches that the moment you believe, you’re forgiven all trespasses – past, present, and future. But that’s not the way this verse 9 in I John approaches it. So what’s the problem? Well, this verse in I John is still Kingdom ground. Now a lot of people are going to disagree and that’s fine; it won’t hurt my feelings a bit – but we’re still on Kingdom ground, otherwise there would be a conflict in Scripture. But there are not conflicts, just different administrations, or dispensations. Remember Law and Grace do not mix.

John has no concept of the Gospel of Grace. John has no concept of our relationship with Christ as the Head of the Body. He’s dealing with Jews in the Kingdom economy. And what was the first step toward salvation for a Jew in the Kingdom economy? Repent and be baptized. What’s repentance? A begging for forgiveness. In this Age of Grace, we don’t beg for forgiveness! Our instructions are that we believe in our heart the finished work of the cross for our salvation! And I’m going to show you that in just a moment. Verse 9 again.

"If we confess our sins, (if we repent, then) he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,.…" Now I don’t doubt that one iota. This is exactly what happened when a Jew under the Kingdom economy recognized his failures and he confessed or repented of his sin. God forgave him. Of course He did, He promised to. And that’s what we’re talking about here. That if we confess our sins – if we repent of our sins as a lot of people are still preaching today, then of course, He’s faithful and just to forgive. But, listen, that’s not where we are.

All right, let me show you. Now we’ve got to compare how Paul approaches this whole thing under Grace – Paul, our Apostle of the Gentiles. And that’s why, of course, I’m always bringing people to the church letters – Romans through Philemon. Romans chapter 3, where we ended up in the last program, that we’re all sinners – Jew and Gentile. Black and white. Rich and poor. Doesn’t make any difference. We’re all sons of Adam. And we’re sinners. Romans 3 verse 23; a verse I think that just about everybody knows from memory.

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" That’s what verse 23 says. For everybody has sinned and come short of the glory of God, but oh, now read on, verse 24.

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (or the One Who has offered the sacrifice, Who is the place of sacrifice, He is the all-sufficient now) through faith in his blood, (has been shed for the payment of all sin. That was the payment that God demanded) to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;" Remember Hebrews tells us, "For without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin." All right, so it’s through faith in His blood which, of course, is incorporated with His death, burial and resurrection. Now verse 26.

To declare, I say, at this time his (Christ) righteousness: that he might be just, (totally fair, He’s not showing favoritism for some over others) and the justifier of him.…"

Now get your words straight. Jesus the Christ, because of His finished work of the cross, is going to be totally fair in calling any sinner, regardless of how far down he’s gone or how good he’s been – doesn’t make any difference to God. He’s not a respecter of persons, but He’s going to be totally fair in justifying. In other words, wiping the slate clean to everyone that confesses his sin? Is that what Paul teaches here? NO!! Look at how he finishes that verse.

It says that God is going to justify the person that what? Believes! Now you’re looking at me as though you’re awe-struck. What do they call it? Shock and awe? Hey, this Book can do it to you, too. It’s shock and awe because this isn’t what most people think. Most people think before God can save us we’ve got to get down and grovel in the dirt and repent and cry out and beg for forgiveness. NO! We simply suddenly realize, yes, that we’re sinners, that’s number one. God can’t save anybody that doesn’t realize they’re lost, but the minute we realize we’re lost and we believe that the work of the cross is accomplished, it’s done. God justifies us.

Now let’s go on to I Corinthians, because there is a verse there that is ringing in my mind, so I’ve got to use that one. I Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17 – now what a difference and it’s supposed to be. We’re a whole different economy with Paul’s preaching. We’re not under that Kingdom economy (that was Israel). And you can go all the way through the Old Testament, especially since Genesis 12, the call of Abraham – you come all the way through the Old Testament. We did this when we introduced the Book of James. You come all the way through the Four Gospels; you come through the book of Acts until the Apostle Paul comes back from his desert experience (which takes you about up to chapter 11 of Acts). Everything is Jewish, it’s the Kingdom economy, it’s Law.

Then leap over Paul’s epistles and the Age of Grace, and drop back down again and (especially in James; to a degree even Hebrews; but especially in James and Peter and John and Jude and Revelation) what have we got? The Kingdom economy again. (Law) Nothing of Paul’s Gospel of Grace. See? And this is what we mean by rightly dividing the Scriptures. What applies to us? Paul’s epistles.

What Peter and John were preaching applied to Israel. Now we can go in there and take some nuggets. But basically, fundamentally, they are proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and all the things associated with it. We’re under the Gospel of the Grace of God, which He gave to Paul for us. (Ephesians 3:2) All right, I Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17 where Paul writes:

"For Christ sent me not to baptize,.…" Well goodness sakes, what did he send John the Baptist to do? To baptize. What did the Twelve go out to do? Repent and be baptized. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul says in so many words, "That’s not my bag."

"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel:.…" And that Gospel of Salvation according to I Corinthians 15:1-4 is, "Believe in your heart that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again."

I went through these Jewish epistles early this morning and, do you know, I did not find one reference to the cross or the resurrection. Now maybe I missed it but I don’t think so. And that’s all this man Paul knows – the cross, the cross, the cross. Now verse 18.

"For the preaching of the cross (not the Messiahship of Christ, it’s the cross of Christ) is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved (those of us who have now been declared justified by our faith in the finished work of the cross) it is the power of God."

And, oh, I wish people could see that. But Christendom has mixed this all up. Yes, I will repeat it again – they’ve put it in the blender, they’ve turned it up on high, and they ladle it out and wonder why people get sick to their stomach. All you have to do is keep it separate. Just separate it. Leave the Kingdom economy with Israel and believe this Gospel of Grace that’s appropriate for us today (that we receive from the Apostle Paul’s writings).

Well, where’s another good one that we can compare with. I Corinthians 15. This whole long chapter has 58 verses. And what does almost every verse deal with? The resurrection. James and Peter and John never mention it. The only reference they make is to the blood and I’ll give them that quarter. Peter says, "We have not been redeemed with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ." We just saw where John said that "If we have fellowship one with another and walk in the light then the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us." That’s the only reference those men make to the work of the cross.

But the Apostle Paul – that’s all he knows – that everything was consummated when Christ went to that cross, shed His blood, was put to death and rose victorious over everything that opposed. And, by that, we now are offered a salvation and the power of it. So now then, I Corinthians 15 – oh my goodness, you should all know this by memory now, too:

"Moreover brethren (he’s writing to believers – Corinth – Gentiles – You and I) I declare unto you the gospel.…" Not ‘a’ Gospel of salvation, but ‘the’ Gospel of salvation. Which means you and I can’t use any other method to get to heaven.

"Moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." So you don’t have a choice to choose either the Gospel of the Kingdom which was preached to the Jews by the Twelve, or the Gospel of Grace which was preached by Paul. Because when God saved Paul, and gave him these revelations for the Gentiles in this Church Age, the Gospel we must believe was complete once and for all. So, people that don’t believe Paul’s Gospel are believing in vain. It’s going to do them no good whatsoever, because they’re not believing the true Gospel of Grace!! All right, here it is, this is the Gospel in a nutshell: Now here is what you must believe for salvation!

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, (in that hiatus in the desert; three years, and here it is) how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: " Now, a few minutes back, where did we have that same connotation? The words of Jesus in Luke 18, what did He say? How that according to the Scripture, He would rise again the third day – and Paul uses the same thing. See, you can tell the same Holy Spirit is the author. All right, "How that he died for our sins according to the Scriptures, the Old Testament. And that he was buried (He was dead. Three days and three nights.) And that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures." This wasn’t an afterthought. This was all preplanned from eternity past – long before Adam and Eve.

You know I’m always stressing – I don’t want people to forget for a moment – here we are 6,000 years since Adam and Eve got the ball rolling. And in that 6,000 years, God has let men and nations pretty much do their own thing. Build navies, armies, air forces, create technology, set up empires, destroy empires. And here we are exactly on the twenty-four hour day that God planned everything to be. Nothing is a day late. Nothing is a day early. It’s all on His schedule. And for proof of that, Galatians chapter 4, "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son" (speaking of Bethlehem). Was it a day late? Was it a month early? No – the exact day.

All right, and the same way with the future. Whatever is still out in front of us, God knows the exact minute that things are going to happen, so we have to be constantly aware that all of these things were foretold long before they happened. But see, at the heart of all of Paul’s preaching is the death, the burial and the resurrection of Israel’s Messiah. Not the fact that He’s the King, although He’s still going to be. But our Gospel is that the King of Israel, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth went to that Roman cross and purchased our salvation and all we have to do to appropriate it is BELIEVE IT!

You don’t have to go across the ocean. You don’t have to put up a ton of money. All God wants us to do is believe it. Believe it!

Okay, let’s go back to I John chapter 1 verse 9:

As I said in the last program, for years and years I (and I imagine most of Christendom still do) used this as a verse for believers who’ve sinned. But, when you really analyze it, this is a salvation verse for the Kingdom Jewish believers to whom John is writing.

Now never lose sight of that fact as we’ve been repeating and repeating that James and Peter and John are all writing to Jews. Now Galatians chapter 2, because I know this flies in the face of a lot of Christendom. They say, "Now where do you get that this is all to the Jew?" Well, I’m going to base it on the character of these men. Galatians chapter 2, and this is Paul rehearsing what had happened at the Jerusalem counsel of Acts chapter 15. And for those of you who may not be aware, the Jerusalem counsel was held about 51 AD, which is about 21-22 years after Pentecost or after the cross.

The problem that has arisen is that the Jewish Law-keeping Kingdom believers were still trying to convince Paul’s Gentile believers, under his Gospel of Grace, that they had to practice circumcision and the keeping of the Law and the Commandments. (Acts 15:1-5) I know this is hidden from the average congregation by most denominations, but it’s in the Book! And of course, finally it came to a point of such controversy that the Lord was in it – that Paul and Barnabas, who were ministering to the Gentiles, should go up to Jerusalem and deal with this problem with the Twelve and the Jerusalem leadership. And you all know, if you’ve heard me teach very long that, at this Jerusalem counsel, it was finally agreed that Paul and Barnabas would be apostles of the Gentiles and that the disciples would confine their ministry to Israel.

Now here’s the verse that shows that. I’ll just come down to where Paul was able to get through to these men that he was not on the same page as they were. They were the apostles of Israel and he was the apostle for the Gentile and the twain can never be brought together. They were preaching two different messages. One of Law– believing in His name, repentance and baptism; and the other of Grace – just faith in the fact that Jesus died for your sins, was buried and rose again.

Now come back to Galatians 2 verse 7, and remember the setting. Paul has now been out amongst the Gentiles, establishing these little congregations of Gentiles on his Gospel (the Gospel of Grace, the preaching of the cross). But these Jews out of the Kingdom economy in Jerusalem are still under the Law. (Acts 15:5) The Temple is still operating, and hasn’t been destroyed yet. And so these Jews are still practicing Temple worship and Paul, of course, has now gotten his Gentile believers separated from all that – and so here’s the agreement.

"But contrariwise, (Paul writes) when they (the Twelve) saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision (that’s Gentiles) was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision (Israel) was (committed) unto Peter;" Now that’s plain language. Two totally different concepts. The Gospel of salvation for the Gentile had been committed unto the Apostle Paul. The Gospel of salvation for the Jews had been committed to Peter and the Eleven. All right now then, verse 8.

"(For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, (Israel) the same (that is the same Christ, the same God) was mighty in me toward (what people?) the Gentiles:)" Now that’s as different as daylight and dark. There’s no amalgamating them. Peter’s the apostle to Israel. Paul’s the apostle to the Gentiles.

"And when James, Cephas, (Peter) and John,.… " The same three writers that we’re studying at the end of our New Testament in that order. Not Peter, James and John; it’s James, and Peter, and John.

"…who seemed to be pillars, (that is, of the Kingdom economy up there at Jerusalem) perceived (or understood) the grace that was given unto me,.…" When they understood, yes, Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles; we’re the apostles of Israel.

"…they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; (all three of them shook on it. And here is that gentleman’s agreement) that we should go unto the heathen, (Gentiles) and they unto the circumcision." (Israel, the Jew) That was a gentleman’s agreement. No more subterfuge; no more undermining Paul’s ministry. We’re going to leave you to the Gentiles and now look what it is. They agreed with the right hands of fellowship that Paul and Barnabas should go to the heathen, the Gentiles; and they, James, and Peter, and John, and the rest of the Jerusalem leadership (the Kingdom economy), they would stay with the circumcision, with Israel. Now I’m going to take a minute and let that soak in. In 51 AD, this was the gentleman’s agreement, that Paul would be the apostle to the Gentiles with Barnabas’ help, of course. And that the Twelve would confine their ministry to Israel.

Now, had the Holy Spirit inspired James and Peter and John back here in our New Testament to start mingling their message to the Gentiles, what would that have done to that agreement in Jerusalem? That would have blown it out of the water. Somebody would have been less than honest. But it was an honest agreement and they all held to it.

Now I can show you in Acts chapter 8, because tradition is a tough thing to overcome. But Acts chapter 8 – and this is about seven years after Pentecost, and they have just stoned Stephen – and Saul of Tarsus is heading up the persecution. And it’s intense. And the Jerusalem Jewish church is under such pressure that they’re starting to scatter like a flock of quail.

"And Saul (the persecutor, that Orthodox Jew, Pharisee of the Pharisees, before his salvation) was consenting unto his (Stephen’s) death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church (the Jewish Kingdom church) which was at Jerusalem; and they (these Jewish Kingdom believers, the ones that James and Peter and John are addressing in their little epistles) were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, (what are the last three words?) except the apostles."

Why? Well they weren’t about to leave their home base. They weren’t about to leave Jerusalem because, after all, once Israel should repent and come to a knowledge of Jesus as their Messiah, to what place on the globe would the Messiah return? Jerusalem. He’s going to come to the Mount of Olives when He returns. And they weren’t about to leave because they still had high hopes that somehow or other, in spite of all this persecution, that the Jews would be able to convert the whole nation and that the Messiah could yet come. That’s their whole premise.

But you have to understand that when these three men are writing these epistles at the end of our New Testament, they were under that agreement of Galatians chapter 2, and they could not have gone against that. It wouldn’t have been gentlemanly. It wouldn’t have been Christian. And so I maintain they did not. And they kept their ministry on the Kingdom ground to Israel.

"Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only." Do you see that? They preached to none but the Jews! And they’re letting Paul fulfill his ministry then among the Gentiles.

All right, now let’s pick up some of Paul’s statements to show that he was totally removed from anything concerning the Kingdom economy and the Twelve in Jerusalem. Let’s see, I believe you’re still in Galatians 2, so go to Galatians 1 and verse 11 for just a moment. Now remember, Paul is writing to Gentiles. And he’s writing to Gentiles who were succumbing to the false teaching of these Jerusalem people that they had to keep the Law. Do you see how all this ties together? And so the whole book of Galatians is written on that basis. Paul had to keep telling his Gentile believers, "You’re not under the Law. You don’t have to keep kosher food. You don’t have to keep the Commandments as such and you don’t have to do all the things that the Law required because you’re under Grace."

"But I certify you brethren, that the gospel (of salvation) which was preached of me is not after man. (Why?) 12. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, (by other men) but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Now, what’s he telling us? And I always put it this way – under normal circumstances, here someone comes to a knowledge of Who Jesus was, like Saul of Tarsus. Years after the fact, wouldn’t it have been normal for him to go right back to Jerusalem, find Peter, James and John and say, "Well now look, I now recognize that I was wrong. I now know that the Jesus that you preach was the Messiah. Tell me everything you know." Wouldn’t that have been logical? Of course it would have because old Saul knew that these men had been with Jesus for three years. He knew they’d been preaching the Messiahship and the Kingship of Christ for these intervening six/seven years. They would have been the logical place to go. But the Spirit forbade him.

The Spirit, instead of letting him go southwest to Jerusalem (I’ve done this on the board, on the program) sends him southeast into Arabia. Opposite direction basically. Why? He didn’t want Paul’s teaching to be muddled with anything that the Twelve had to offer. He had to have a total revelation of things completely different. Oh, based on the same Christ, of course. The same God. But it’s going to be a whole new revelation. So what’s that revelation?

Now back to Romans chapter 16 verse 25. You know, I’ve asked in my seminars around the country, "Have you ever heard a Sunday morning sermon with the text Romans 16 verse 25?" Well, finally last fall up at our Concordia seminar in Minneapolis we had two or three hands. That’s the first time. I’ve never had anybody admit that they had a Sunday morning sermon with the text Romans 16 verse 25. Preachers avoid it like a plague. Look what it says.

"Now to him (the Christ) that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel,.…" What’s Paul’s Gospel? "By believing in your heart that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose from the dead."

"…and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, (A revealing of something that’s been mooted before. Something totally different. And what is it?) which was kept secret since the world began." Now what was kept secret? That when Jesus of Nazareth was rejected as the Messiah of Israel, God in His eternal purposes brought about the work of the cross, and the work of the cross – His death, burial and resurrection and His shedding of blood – was now going to open up salvation, not just to Israel, but to whom? The whole world.

Now go to II Corinthians chapter 5, and see this is just a whole different concept than what Peter, James and John understood. They were preaching to Israel on the basis of the Old Testament covenant promises. They had no concept that God was now going to save the whole human race. They were stuck with the idea of Israel. But look what Paul writes in II Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14. I know it takes a little bit to see it but once people see it, oh, it is so plain – it just lights this Book up like a three-hundred watt bulb.

"For the love of Christ.…" See, now sometimes people will write and say, "Les you make too much of Paul." No I don’t make too much of Paul. Paul was merely the one who points us to the Christ. And that’s what he’s always saying. He preaches "Christ crucified, and risen again." Paul is that eminent apostle of the Gentiles to whom was revealed this tremendous Gospel of Grace that’s beyond human understanding. We just simply take it by faith.

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; (drives us) because we thus judge, (or conclude, now watch this) that if one died for all, then were all dead:" Now, you know there is teaching about there being limited atonement – that Christ only died for the believer. Don’t you believe it! He died for ALL! He died for the whole human race. All right, and if He did die for all, then it’s a natural conclusion then that all were dead, spiritually, like we saw in the last program. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Now verse 15.

"And that he died for all, that they which live (spiritually and get eternal life) should not henceforth (from the time of their salvation, when they’ve been justified and they’ve been granted eternal life, that from that point on) live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and (what?) rose again." See that? Paul never shuns the resurrection, it’s everywhere. But, you see, the Jewish writers don’t mention it because that wasn’t part and parcel of the Kingdom Gospel. The Kingdom Gospel was to believe Who Jesus was, followed by repentance and water baptism. The Grace Gospel is to believe that not only did Christ die for our sins, but He rose from the dead. I know many people try to make them all the same, but you see the Bible says they’re different, and that’s why Paul says, we should be "Rightly Dividing the Word of God."

"Wherefore (because of the death, burial and resurrection) henceforth know we no man after the flesh: Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, (according to His earthly ministry and before He was crucified.) yet now henceforth know we him no more." And Paul is saying he lived contemporary with Christ. He was already that fanatical Jew and was probably burning at the fringes when he saw the crowds following Jesus of Nazareth. He knew His ministry. He knew what He was doing. He knew about those three years of Christ in the flesh.

But, it was the crucified, buried, risen and ascended Lord that confronted Saul on the road to Damascus, not Jesus of Nazareth in those three years. See the difference? Oh, what a difference! Jesus chose the Twelve in His ministry of the flesh inside the borders of Israel. This man He confronted, after His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, outside the borders of Israel on Gentile ground. And that just separates them.

And that’s why they had to come to the conclusion; yes, they would maintain their ministry with Israel up until finally it all fell apart, but this man would go to the Gentiles. And now, even archaeology supports that, by the end of the first century, that element of Jewish believers, of what I call the Kingdom believers, disappeared. They just disappeared. You don’t see any evidence of them anymore in archaeology or history, or anywhere else. But for those seventy years from the time of the cross until about the end of the century there were these little Jewish congregation scattered throughout the Roman Empire. But they never entered into this Gospel of Grace. All right, one more verse in II Corinthians 5. And, oh, what a verse!

"Therefore (and what’s that ‘therefore?’ Because of the death, burial and resurrection) if any man be in Christ,…" See, now that’s another terminology that is uniquely Paul. The Jewish Kingdom believer had no concept of being "in Christ." That’s the body element, and it is a Grace Age doctrine; that, the moment we become a believer, we are placed into the Body of Christ, we’re in Christ. In fact I think Paul uses that term 93 times in the Book of Ephesians alone.

I had a gentleman say, "Les I hear all the time about being ‘in Christ,’ but nobody ever tells anybody how to get there." And I said, "You know, you’re right." So how do we get "in Christ?" By believing Paul’s Gospel of salvation. Because as soon as we become a believer of Paul’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit places us into the Body of Christ. And we become members one of another, as fingers and toes and eyes and ears are members of this body, every believer is a member of the Body of Christ. That’s a Pauline concept. It was never revealed before. And this is all part of the revelation of the mysteries.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." We’re a whole new creation. God has worked a work within us that makes us different.

"And all things are of God, who hath (already) reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;" We are to tell others to be reconciled. Oh, this is all Pauline truths and you don’t pick this up in the Kingdom economy. Well, let’s look at a couple of verses in Ephesians in the short time we have left.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,.…" Rarely does Paul us the term "Jesus" alone. One or two places he does, but as a rule, he puts the full title and I think it’s appropriate even for us, we refer to Him as our Lord Jesus Christ.

"…who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings (not here on earth. Not name it and claim it. But where?) in heavenly places in Christ." That’s where our riches are, in the heavenlies. We may go through this life poor as paupers. Most Christians down through the centuries have. It’s only been in the last few years where Christians have enjoyed the wealth. For most of Church history, they were the poverty stricken element and that’s, of course, as Paul teaches. We are not promised earthly blessings because we’re a believer. Ours are heavenly. Ours are waiting for us. We’re laying them up in Glory. All right, so He’s already "blessed us in the heavenlies, in Christ."

"According as he hath (already) chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:" In other words, before anything was ever created, God already knew we’d be believers today.

"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." But let’s go down to verse 13. Ephesians 1 verse 13. My, all these verse are so wonderful!

All right, getting back into The Word now in I John chapter 2, and we’re going to jump right in at verse 1, as we pretty much finished chapter 1 in our last taping. But, I guess I’d better keep reminding everybody these little epistles at the tail end of our New Testament are just a continuation of the Old Testament prophecies. And it’s all in view of the coming wrath and Tribulation, the Second Coming and then the one-thousand-year Kingdom Age. In these little Jewish epistles there is not one word in here about the Church, the Body of Christ – but rather it was written to these congregations of Jewish believers that were part of Christ’s earthly ministry and that of the Twelve.

I was so encouraged when someone sent me a commentary a while back that I had never seen or heard of before – and it says the exact thing that I’ve been saying – so I know I’m not coming out of the woodwork all by myself. But remember that these little epistles are written by James and Peter and John, who were part of the Apostles of Israel. And remember, at that Jerusalem counsel that’s recorded in Galatians chapter 2, after all the arguing and after everything had finally settled, they all shook hands. A gentleman’s agreement that Peter, James and John would stay with the Nation of Israel and Paul and Barnabas would go to the Gentiles, or non-Jewish world.

Well then, as a result of that handshake, I have to hold these people’s feet to the fire. If they shake hands on this, and then come right back and write something for Gentiles, then they didn’t keep their word. But they did keep their word, so everything in these little epistles (written now by James and Peter and John and then Jude slips in between there, but it’s the same format, this) is all written to the Nation of Israel. Now, when I say "written to," that doesn’t mean you tear it out and throw it away, or that it’s of no use to us. Paul himself says, "all Scripture is profitable" but not all Scripture is written directly to us for our practice. In this Age of Grace we’re in, we go primarily to Paul’s epistles as they were given to him by the risen Lord for us, as he tells us in Ephesians 3:1-2.

And that’s where people get all mixed up. So, here again, these little epistles were written primarily for the Jew’s benefit. The Kingdom believers were, I feel, in little congregations there between Pentecost and when these things are written – and, of course, it all ends with the destruction of the Temple just a year or two after the New Testament is finished. And Israel is then dispersed into the nations of the world. And now then here we are, as I’ve been stressing ever since we’ve been in James, full circle, 2,000 years later and the scenario is almost the same once again.

Today, Israel is back in the land waiting for all these end-time things to take place. The Roman Empire is ready to make its appearance again in the nations of Western Europe and so everything that was in place here in the late 50’s AD and early 60’s AD is now in place once again. And so these letters were so appropriate for the Jewish believers, the Kingdom believers – they know nothing of Paul’s Gospel yet. They’re Kingdom believers looking for the return of their Messiah.

Now I emphasized that when we were introducing the little book of James, but never lose sight that the prophetic program is coming right straight through with no indication that it’s going to be interrupted. And I pointed out in a past program the only hint we had is what the Lord Himself, the God of Creation, knew, and that was in Luke 4, when He stopped in the middle of the verse in Isaiah 61 verse 2. And He said, "this has been fulfilled in your ears." But remember He stopped in the middle of the verse and sat down. Because the rest of the verse made reference to the Tribulation, and the next verse made reference to the Kingdom. Age. But the Lord knew that that wasn’t going to happen at that time, so He stopped.

Peter, on the other hand, in the book of Acts, also uses an Old Testament prophecy and he tells the people, those Jews, on the day of Pentecost that what they’re seeing is what was foretold in Joel. And he quotes the whole prophecy. "The sun and the moon turned into blood. And the great catastrophes associated with the Tribulation and then the Kingdom would come" So remember that these letters were written to Jewish believers in view of the soon-coming Tribulation and the Second Coming and the Kingdom, with no hint of the Age of Grace, or of Paul’s Gospel of Grace.

Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t take good things out of these Jewish epistles. Of course, there are many things because the God of the Jewish economy is the God of Grace, and so this whole Book all fits together – but what’s written to Israel is intrinsic to Israel. What’s written by the Apostle Paul to the Church or to the Grace Age is intrinsically written for us. All right, so remember now this little Book is written to Jewish believers by the Apostle John.

"My little children,.…" Now that’s a term of endearment. And what is the main theme of John’s writing back in the Gospel as well as in his letter – what’s the four-letter word? Love! John is the Apostle that is always epitomizing love. He must have been the kind of an individual that just had a soft heart. I don’t think he was the blundering type that Peter was and that shows up so clearly in John 20. John is just a heart of love. And so this is a term of endearment that fits his personality, even though it’s inspired by the Spirit.

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not…." Can’t you hear the begging in his voice? Now Paul says much the same thing. Let’s go back and look at how Paul puts it. Go back to Romans chapter 12, and verse 1. It’s almost the same kind of language but, you see, Paul doesn’t exude that softhearted love that John does, I don’t think. Paul just comes right out and says it.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2. And be not conformed to this world:.…" What’s he saying? Basically the same thing – that you "sin not." Because if you’re not going to be conformed to the things of this world, then you’re not going to be living a life of sin. You’re going to be living a life set apart for Christ. Now, back to I John, so John puts it this way.

"My little children these things write I unto you, that ye sin not…." Live lives that are beyond reproach. But what are we, and what were these Jews? Human. And as humans we’re prone to sin. We may not go into the gross sins, but we’re all capable of sinning. Whether it’s a silent coveting of something or somebody, or maybe we just slip out a bad statement about someone that we know is not going to help them. Well, that’s sin. And I think those are the areas where most believers have to confront their sin. I don’t think that many of us are going to be confronted with gross adultery or murder or thievery or anything like that. But nevertheless, sin is sin.

"…And if any man sin,.…" See? "If a man sin." Now isn’t that comforting? And does the rest of the statement say, "If you sin, you’re out? If a man sins, he’s lost or on his way to hell?" No. It doesn’t say that.

"…And if any man sin, we have an advocate (or a lawyer, or an attorney) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:"

I don’t like to visualize the spiritual any more than necessary. I don’t think that’s always appropriate but, nevertheless, there are times when we just have to sort of get a mental picture of things. Here we have God the Father, the invisible Spirit God – God of holiness and righteousness; and right there at the right hand of the majesty, the Scripture says we have our crucified, buried, ascended Lord now doing what? Interceding for us. He’s our advocate. And so every time the believer sins, what does the advocate do? He says, "Father they’re mine. They’re under the blood. They’re washed." And that’s comfort and I think this is to a certain degree for us as well as it was for those Jews.

I went through most of Paul’s epistles again and I can’t find a single place where Paul directly addresses how we are to deal with our failures in this Age of Grace. Paul doesn’t use this kind of language. The closest I can come to Paul telling us how to deal with our daily sin, is in II Corinthians, chapter 7. This is kind of amazing. Now he certainly draws that line of demarcation between the works of the flesh and the works of the Spirit, but he does not address the problem of a believer sinning. And I can’t quite understand why, unless the Holy Spirit intends for us to go into verses like I John which, like I said, can certainly be applicable. But this is as close as Paul comes to telling us how to deal with our daily sin.

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting (maturing) holiness in the fear of God." Quite a statement isn’t it? How are we to be cleansed? Turn to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 26. Now he’s speaking of the corporate Body of Christ – but nevertheless, as the corporate Body, we are individually a part of it. And look how we’re cleansed.

"That he (that is Christ is verse 25) might sanctify and cleanse it (that is the Body, but that would also splash over to the individual believer, so He’s going to cleanse us) with the washing of water (not H2O water, but what?) by the word."

The Word! So, now then, how do you and I as Grace-Age believers deal with our sins from day-to-day? Well, let’s just take an example. Come back with me to Galatians, chapter 5 verse 16, and I think this is one way of doing it. Because we know that Paul makes it so plain that we never again have to pray for forgiveness. And I’ve taught that for years. The believer does not have to constantly come back and say, "God forgive me." You’re forgiven. That’s a one-time deal. But we do need daily cleansing.

"This I say then, (now remember this is Paul writing in the Age of Grace) Walk in the Spirit, (that is in the Holy Spirit’s control) and ye shall not fulfill (or give in to) the lust (or the desires) of the flesh." There’s the whole idea. That we, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, are now empowered not to sin. And that’s why John had to plead that they sin not – but Paul, on the other hand, says that, if we’re walking in the Spirit, we won’t. All right, verse 17:

"For the flesh (the old sin nature) lusteth (or wars) against the Spirit, (the new nature) and the (new nature in the power of the Holy) Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Well, that’s obvious. In other words, you can’t just drift. There has to be some energy put into our living the Christian life. All right, verse 18.

"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." Now he shows exactly what you and I are to be aware of. These are the things of the flesh. These are the things that the Spirit will keep us from committing if we let Him.

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,"

Now we always put those four in the category of sexuality. That’s where the world is just getting almost awash.

"Idolatry, (and it doesn’t have to be an idol of wood or stone. Anything can become an idol) witchcraft,.…" Now, believe it or not, the first thing we heard about, when we were out East, was the tremendous rise of the practice of witchcraft. And they were giving us evidence of it. And so most of us think, "Well, that’s something that took place eons ago." No. It’s right here in America and it’s exploding all around us. So it’s no longer something to just wink at.

"Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, (we’re hearing a lot about that lately. My, they can exude hate) variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Now that is what the Book says – this isn’t what I say. People who practice these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. They’re lost. They’re of the world. They’re of the flesh. They’re doomed. And then you see the other side of the coin, which is the life of the believer, under the control of the Holy Spirit:

All right, there I think it’s defined that when some of these things of the flesh enter into our life (and they’re not all going to hit us at once), I don’t think any of us have to worry about that. But, if any of this stuff happens to come into our thinking, or whatever, how are we going to cleanse it? Get into the Book!

You know, somebody out in Virginia the other day gave me a thought that I had never considered before, and I just can’t get it out of my mind. He said, "You know, you can take an alcoholic and you can rehabilitate him; and with some ongoing help, he can go back to a normal lifestyle. You can take a drug addict and bring him into rehabilitation and, of course, with some help you can bring him back to a normal lifestyle. And it’s behind him. But take someone who has watched pornography – and that is something that you can never wipe off the brain."

Now think about that. These people or these kids watching pornography – that’s there until the day they die. Nobody can take it out and the only way we can overcome it, of course, is saturating our mind with the Word of God. Otherwise, that stuff just keeps coming up and coming up and coming up. That’s something to think about isn’t it? And it is a problem. My, you’d be surprised, in our little ministry, how many letters we get where a spouse is tied up in pornography. And it ruins a marriage. And it’s something that you can’t deal with. You can’t rehabilitate them because, just as soon as anything triggers their thought processes, there it is. Well, you know that. Remember all the stuff you heard when you were in junior high and high school, it’s just as sharp today as the day you heard it. It never leaves. And the only thing we can do is just simply combat it by saturating ourselves with the Word of God. That’s how we’re to be cleansed in this Age of Grace.

All right, coming back, and like I say, we can take some of these things even from these little epistles and use them for our profit, because all Scripture is profitable. So coming back to chapter 2 now. So, if we sin, we do have an advocate with the Father, and it’s, of course, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. All right, now verse 2 – here is again where John and Paul are on the same ‘page.’ They use the same word.

And that of course, I taught years ago – that when Christ finished the work of the cross, He was able to forgive the whole human race. They’re forgiven. But it does them no good until they appropriate it by faith. God has reconciled the whole world. He has told every human being that has ever lived everything that needs to be done to bring them back. It’s finished. But, it can’t be done until they believe. And never forget that. The work of the cross was total in the forgiveness of mankind’s sin.

But it does them no good until they appropriate it by faith. And that’s what must just tear the heart of God – that His love was so great, His suffering beyond human comprehension to pay the sin-debt for every human being, and yet so few cash in on it. Now that must be heartbreaking to think that He has done so much and only so few respond. But for those of us who are responding, we can go to this One Who is the propitiation for our sin. Remember for salvation today, in this Age of Grace, a person must believe in their heart that Jesus died for their sins, was buried, and rose again. God calls it a free gift, and the moment we believe that for salvation He saves us. Now I can prove that Paul uses this same word "propitiation." Come back with me to Romans, chapter 3, and verse 25. Christ Jesus again in verse 24.

The Lord Jesus Himself is the propitiation and it is again accomplished through our faith. That’s what appropriates it. Now when I say ‘appropriate’ I guess I should use an everyday example. Congress will pass a law and they will put so many billions of dollars into – we’ll say a highway building fund. It goes into a fund and it sits there in Washington UNTIL... What does the individual state have to do? Well, they have to make application. They have to appropriate money for highways out of that fund in Washington. But until the state asks for it, and makes application for it, it stays there.

All right, now this word propitiation is that total work, as well as place of sacrifice, that was probably pictured the best back there at the Tabernacle where they had the brazen altar. And as that sacrificial animal was laid on that brazen altar, the animal was the sacrifice. The altar was the place of sacrifice. Christ is all of it. The Lord Jesus is all of it! He is not only the sacrifice, He is the place of sacrifice. He’s the mercy seat. He’s the Ark of the Covenant, He’s everything and we appropriate it all by faith when we believe Paul’s Gospel for salvation.

Now I can’t understand it all, and I don’t expect anybody else to, but what little I understand, I take by faith. "God, You said it, and I believe it." And that’s why it is so thrilling, and that’s when you can pass it on to others. That’s the only reason I teach. My, there’s nothing more thrilling than to be able to see somebody come to a knowledge of all this and accept it by faith. The Lord Jesus became our everything in that finished work, and that’s why no one is going to come up before the Great White Throne and have an argument. They will immediately recognize that they deserve the eternal doom to which they’re going – because then they’ll recognize that, yes, their sins have been paid for, but they never appropriated it. They never cashed in on what our precious Lord had done on their behalf.

We invite you to just search the Scriptures with us. Compare Scripture with Scripture and remember that someday you’re not going to stand before the Lord and plead that you were loyal to your denomination. That’s not going to hold water. But, you’re going to be judged as Romans says, according to Paul’s Gospel. A lot of people don’t know that verse is in the Bible, either. That’s what Paul says in Romans 2:16 that "every man will be judged by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." And what is Paul’s Gospel of salvation? To believe in your heart that Jesus died for you, was buried and rose again. As Paul declares in I Corinthians 15:1-4. If you believe that, and that only, for salvation, then God saves you to the uttermost, and forever!

And of course, that’s why we hold forth the Pauline Scriptures as paramount (not them only, but they are paramount because of course, they are written to the Gentiles in particular, the Jews of course as well, during this Age of Grace). So, this is our ministry – to just simply teach the Book and help people to understand it, and see how it is divided, so that you will know what Scriptures you can claim for doctrine in this Church Age.

All right, we’re in I John chapter 2 and we’re ready to go into verse 3. Now again, I’m going to constantly be showing you how Jewish, and in accord with the Four Gospels, all these little letters are. Now this next verse just rings a bell. This isn’t Paul. This is John.

Now goodness, where does that ring a bell from? Well, go back with me to Matthew chapter 19 – and every time I use this verse I have to remember a phone call several years ago where a lady called and said, "Les I’m totally confused." I said, "What’s the matter?" She continued, "Well, yesterday morning my priest’s subject was Matthew 19," (Matthew 19 verses 16 and 17, and that was his sermon.) And she said, "This morning on your program, you’re telling us we’re not under the Law and the Commandments; we’re under Grace. Now I’m confused."

Well now I didn’t bring you back here to confuse you – I brought you back here to see how this is exactly the same language that John uses in his little epistle as is used in the Four Gospels. All right, Jesus is speaking in Matthew 19.

"And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17. And he (Jesus) said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: But, if thou wilt enter into life, (that is eternal life) keep the (what?) commandments."

Keep the Commandments. That was His answer. All right, now come back to I John and the Spirit now inspires John to write (since we’re dealing with believing Jews, not Gentiles), and he says, "If you really know the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, then you’ll ‘keep his commandments.’" Now I’ll be the first to admit that he’s not talking about just the Ten – he’s talking about all the ramifications of the Law. But it’s still the Law that he’s dealing with. Now verse 4.

"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (well, that’s basically what Jesus told the Jews of His own day) 5. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the (what?) the love of God perfected:.…"

Now remember what I told you in the last program? John is the Apostle who is the epitome of love, and you’re going to see it throughout his writings. The love of God as it’s brought out through this disciple of love. Now finishing the verse.

Well, now I know somebody’s going to jump at me and say, "Wait a minute. John is using the same language of Paul, of being ‘in Christ.’" Well, it’s not in the same connotation.

Come back with me to John’s Gospel again, chapter 15, the chapter on the vine, and you’ll see it’s the same kind of language. Now that’s what I’m going to be doing from these little epistles. I did it with Peter, you remember, several months back. I took the very same words that Peter used and showed you that it was what God told Moses in Exodus, that "you are a kingdom of priests. You are a peculiar people." All those same words Peter used in his little epistle. Well, it’s the same way with John now in his epistle and in his Gospel. Remember there’s nothing of the Gospel of Grace here yet. This is all Kingdom economy. John writes:

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide (where?) in me. (do you see the language?) 5. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." And so on and so forth. And so the whole concept of these Jewish believers being in Christ, or in Jesus, and Jesus in them, that was nothing new. But it’s on a whole different plane than what Paul teaches as being members of the Body of Christ. So let’s read that verse in I John again, just to ring the bell coming out of John’s Gospel.

"He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning…." Well now goodness sakes, as John’s writes, what’s the beginning? His earthly ministry. As He begins his earthly ministry, this is what they’d been hearing. Love. And love is the fulfilling of everything.

"Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 9. He that saith he’s in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness, even until now." All right, let’s go back to John’s Gospel again and let’s go back to chapter 1. My goodness, the whole Gospel of John is full of these things, ‘the Light and the Love.’ All right, John’s Gospel chapter 1, and here, John in agreement with Paul, is giving creation, or giving the credit for creation, to Jesus the Christ.

"All things were made by him; (By the Word, Christ, up in verse 1, He’s the Creator.) and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4. In him was life; and the life was (now here it comes. Was the what?) the light of men. 5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John (and, of course, that’s the Baptist.) 7. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the (what?) Light, (L-i-g-h-t capitalized. The Light of the world.) that all men through him might (what?) believe." There you have the potential again, see? It’s all there to be appropriated if they would just believe it.

"He (John the Baptist) was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light." And of course that came out of the Old Testament prophecies didn’t it? Malachi wrote that there would come an announcer, a proclaimer, that the King was coming. All right, that was John the Baptist. But now verse 9.

"That, (that is Jesus) was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

Now there’s a verse I’ve said before – I can’t comprehend it. I don’t expect any human being to comprehend it. I don’t know how He did it, but He did because the Book says so. And there again, this fits right with what I said in the last program. When Christ finished the work of the Cross, He was able to offer forgiveness to the whole human race. A done deal. He was able to offer reconciliation to the whole human race. It was done. But it didn’t do them any good until they appropriated it by faith. Well, the ‘Light’ is the same way. This Light lighted every human being that has ever lived. And don’t ask me how, but that’s what the Book says. Read it again. Speaking of Jesus Who was the True Light "Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

Now that doesn’t take away our need for missionaries. But on the other hand, it explains why Paul says what he says in Romans chapter 1. Now I guess I’d better go there. Keep your hand in John, I’m not through there. Come back with me to Romans chapter 1 where, before I saw John 1:9, I again was up against it with this verse. Romans 1 verse 20. And I still can’t explain it except for what John says.

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead;...." Every human being has some sort of an understanding of that. I couldn’t understand for the longest time, consequently:

"…so that they are without excuse." Awesome, isn’t it? That’s why the masses of humanity out there in darkness are lost. They’re going to eternal doom. I don’t care what the Universalists say – I don’t care what anybody else may say. The Scripture teaches that they’re going to an everlasting doom. But they don’t have to! Because they’ve had the Light. And since they’ve had the Light, God, in total justice, as Paul says, can send them to that doom and they don’t have a word of excuse.

Now let’s go back and see how it happens in Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20 verse 11. These things aren’t proclaimed much from the pulpits anymore. Most people are afraid to. But look what it says:

"And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, (Jesus the Christ) from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (now at this Great White Throne) 12. And I saw the dead, small and great (all the way from Cain, who I think is the first lost man in the human race, to the very end) stand before God; (now God in this case will be Jesus Christ.) and the books (plural) were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead (the lost, all the way back to Cain) were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

The first death was physical when they went from this life into the tomb. The second death is when they will be removed from God’s presence for all eternity. And then verse 1