We want to thank every one of you for coming in this afternoon for another session of taping. We’ve got folks visiting from Minnesota, from Idaho, and all the rest of you, of course, are pretty much "old hands." But for those of you out in television, if you’re catching our program for the first time, we always like to emphasize that we’re not associated with any one large group. I’m not a pastor of a church. Don’t ever write and say ‘Dear Reverend’ or ‘Dear Pastor,’ because that’s not true. I’m a layman, and the Lord has given us these opportunities to teach the Word only for the purpose that you learn how to do it on your own.

One young man called from Tennessee just the other day, and he said, "Les, up until this point in time I sat in church with my arms crossed on my chest and just took whatever came from the pulpit to be the truth. But," he said, "Your program on the radio made me realize that that wasn’t always true." "So," he said, "I started getting into the Book on my own, and I found out that most of what I was hearing across that pulpit was not true. It was false." This is what we want people to do – not go by what I say. Don’t go by what some preacher or evangelist says – go by what the Word of God says, and if it’s Church Age doctrine, then it must be from the pen of the Apostle Paul.

I mentioned in the last taping that Tyndale thought the Word of God should be in the hands of every "plowboy in England." Now, England plowboys were not seminary graduates. They were fortunate to just simply be able to read. Yet, that’s all it takes, because the Spirit of God will open the Bible to the understanding of anyone if they’ll prayerfully look for it. So, our purpose is to get people to study the Word on their own.

Okay, we’re ready to move on. We’re going to pick right up where we left off in our last series of lessons. We’re still going to be in the same verse, but we’re going to move on to the last half of it today and then move on to some of the other "But God and But Christ" and so forth throughout the New Testament.

All right, so come back with me to where we’ve been for the last several weeks or months, whatever the case may be, in Matthew chapter 6. We’ve been on verse 33, but we’re going to go on now to the last half of the verse.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;…" And that’s why we’ve still got the circles on the board. The Kingdom of God is that area of God’s influence and control that are on the righteous side and not of the things that pertain to the unrighteous. They are not in the Kingdom of God. Within the Kingdom of God we have discerned, for the last several programs, that there are two other entities – The Kingdom of Heaven, which has been promised to Israel since especially the Abrahamic Covenant and involving all the other covenants after that – the Davidic Covenant, the Palestinian Covenant, and the New Covenant. They’re all associated with this Kingdom of Heaven.

But when Israel rejected all that at the stoning of Stephen, God did something totally different. It was kept secret from all the generations, and Paul calls it "the revelation of the mysteries." That is the opening up of the Church Age or the calling out of the Body of Christ. We’ve been defining that now for the last several programs. All right, now we’re going to move on to the last half of the verse where He says:

"…and all these things shall be added unto you." The material things that He listed up above this; how the lilies of the field don’t have to worry about how they’re dressed. We don’t have to worry as believers; what we are going to eat or what we are going to drink, because that’s all under His Divine provision. All right, so if we seek first the Kingdom of God, become a member of, for us today, the Body of Christ, then we can rest assured that God will take care of all of our needs and bless as He sees fit.

Now we have to remember, God does not promise two cars in every garage. He does not promise three homes. He doesn’t promise a million dollar bank account. All He promises is our daily needs. That’s what we’re promised. Everything beyond that is by the grace of God. If He’s seen fit to bless some of us, or some of you I guess I should say, with wealth or with abundance, it isn’t because you’ve earned it. It isn’t because you became a believer, it’s because God’s grace has permitted it. That’s about as far as we can go, but He does promise to fulfill all our needs.

But now remember this is Old Testament yet, even though it’s in the Gospels. So, we’re going to look at how this was established by Old Testament credentials, that these things, material things, shall be added unto you. Now, let’s take verse 34 as well, He says:

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Now, until the middle of the night last night I still didn’t really have a handle on what I was going to use from the Old Testament. I woke up at 3 o’clock and it hit me like a ton of bricks, as we say, Psalms chapter 1. Let’s go back and look at it. It’s a chapter that I learned when I was a kid in Bible School, so I didn’t have to get up and go read what the text said. I knew what it said. "Blessed is the man." Psalms chapter 1. Now, these are some of the "things" that I think Jesus was referring to. This was for His Jewish readers, or listeners, concerning the things that are appropriate for the child of God even in the Old Testament economy. This is a beautiful chapter, Psalms chapter 1 starting at verse 1.

"Blessed (We can say today ‘happy.’) is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, (So, where is this gentleman? He’s in the Kingdom of God. He’s a believer. And of course, I think it’s David.) nor standeth in the way of sinners, (He’s not outside the Kingdom of God, he’s in it, so he has no concourse with the unbelieving world.) nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." Which means ridiculing things that are spiritual. He’s a man of God. He appreciates knowing God. He appreciates the blessings of God. Now verse 2, now remember this is Old Testament.

"But his delight is in the law of the LORD;…" Now, for the Old Testament believer what was this Law? Well, the Ten Commandments. They reveled in it. The Ten Commandments were their staff of life, as it should be. And, you see, that’s what Moses saw would one day disappear, not realizing how and when. But now we know that it was when the finished work of the cross came into being. We are now saved by grace, not by Law. The Ten Commandments have disappeared. But for the Old Testament believer it was at the core of his understanding of the things of God. All right, read on.

"But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (Now, this is the Old Testament believer.) 3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; (And then the physical part, or the material part, for the believer.) whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Now, of course, that was Old Testament constantly, that if a Jewish believer was obedient and he was faithful, he could expect material blessings. We don’t have that kind of promise today. We don’t have to say, "Well, God, I’m a believer. I’m doing what you want me to do. Where are my prosperity blessings?" No, that’s not promised today for us by the Apostle Paul, but for the Old Testament believer it was.

Now, I couldn’t help but think of a vivid experience that Iris and I had a few years ago. We were having seminars out in New Mexico, and if you remember, a few years ago they had tremendous drought and forest fires out there. I’ll never forget, we had gone from Roswell down to Elephant Butte and from Elephant Butte we were going to go up to Albuquerque. We were on high ground, and when you looked way down, there was this golden bordered river. Now, this was in the fall and the aspens and the cottonwoods were just as yellow as Susie’s blouse over there. But they were only like that for a few feet away from the river. The rest was absolute desert! But, the river of water kept those trees alive and beautiful. That’s the life of the believer. Our tap roots go right into the very blessings of God, even in the Old Testament.

So, it’s a good analogy that as you watch the trees along the river, they are constantly fed from the waters that do not come and go, like in a drought season on the rest of the land around it,. That’s the believer, even in the Old Testament.

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; (And then the promise, as I’ve already said, to the Old Testament believer was that…) and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Now of course, David sometimes had some problems with that; didn’t he?

Now stay here, I’m going to come back. These are portions that come to mind while I’m teaching, so forgive me. Come up to chapter 37, and this too is a Psalm of David, but this is looking at the other side of the coin. Sometimes it’s the world that seems to have their taproot in the river water, and David had a problem with it, as we do even today. We look around and we say, "Why do the ungodly prosper? Why do they seemingly just have everything going their way?" Well, that’s typical. We’ll look at how David puts it.

"Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. (Why?) 2. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." Now, we have certainly noticed that wealthy people die just as fast as the poor people do. You know, I always have to come back to the founder of Wal Mart. My, you would have thought that when they first diagnosed his cancer, that with all of his billions he’d make. But did he? No. He went right on like everybody else. All that wealth couldn’t cure his cancer. All right, now look at the next one.

"Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." Now, you see how Old Testament this is? This is a promise to David in the Land of Promise under the blessings of Jehovah God. All right, verse 5; this is a verse that I usually refer to people who are going through adversity. It’s just as applicable to us today as it was for David in 1000 BC, 3000 years ago.

"Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he (the Lord) shall bring it to pass. (That is, the things that are according to His will. It’s a beautiful promise.) 6. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. (That is righteous judgment.) 7. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way,…" See, what he’s driving at? Don’t get all shook up by the ungodly person who’s making it over and over and over – nothing ever seems to go against them. Don’t worry about that. He’s getting all the heaven he’s ever going to have here on earth. The rest is eternal doom. So, this is what David is saying here, fret not for the one who is doing the ungodly things. All right, finishing the verse.

"…because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. 8. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. (Now, here it is.) 9. For evildoers shall be cut off: (When this life is over, it’s all done for them. But for the believer, now read on!) but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the (What?) earth." So, what does that tell you? This is Old Testament. See that? You know, I always have to go back - I bet I share it I don’t know how many times a week with people, and they say well, how did you see all this? How did you see rightly dividing the Scripture? The difference between God dealing with Israel and God dealing with the Church?

It goes back to when I first started teaching outside of my denominational Sunday school class. A lady came up and bombarded me with one question. It about blew me away. Iris and I were talking about it at breakfast this morning. And the question was, "Why isn’t heaven taught in the Old Testament?" Well, I’d never dreamed of such a question. It had never crossed my mind, and I told her so. I said I never heard of such a thing. She said, "Well, it’s not back there!" So, I had to look and look and look some more! And she was right! Because they weren’t looking at dieing and going to heaven, they were looking to die and go into this earthly kingdom. Here it is, even in David’s psalm. That was their hope and their prospect, that -- you know, I always go back to Job 19. How did Job put it?

"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the (Portals of heaven? No. Where?) earth: 26. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh (In a resurrected body, Job says.) shall I see God:" Well, what was he talking about? The earthly kingdom - just like David is referring to here in Psalms 37. He’s not talking about heaven. He’s talking about the earthly kingdom that’s still going to be Israel’s eternal abode. All right, let’s go back to verse 9 of Psalms 37 for a minute.

"For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth." That will be once Christ sets up His Kingdom. All right, back to chapter 1. We’re still looking at how the Old Testament saints could realize the physical and earthly blessings that were promised them beyond the spiritual. All right, back to Psalms 1 verse 4. Now, here’s the comparison again with the ungodly, those that are outside this Kingdom of God.

"The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." Now, you’ve got to remember that Israel was an agricultural, agrarian society, so most of their language is in that direction. Now, a lot of metropolitan people don’t know the difference between grain and chaff, but we’re in a rural area of the country and hopefully you all do. What’s chaff? Well, it’s that outer shuck that holds the kernel of wheat or whatever it may be.

It’s worthless. It has no feed value; it has nothing. So, as they go through those fields with those huge combines and you see that cloud of dust going out in the air, what’s blowing away? The chaff. It’s worthless, and the grain remains; it goes up into the tank. All right, now this is a biblical analogy. The ungodly and all his deeds are just like that worthless chaff that blows away into oblivion. They will come to the end of their days on earth, and they’re going to go on into a lost eternity. They’ve had all the heaven they’re ever going to have while they’re enjoying their wealth and their riches here.

"Therefore (Sounds like Paul, doesn’t it?) the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,…" Now, the judgment here does not mean punishment, it means righteous government. I’m always pointing that out. The word judgment in the Old Testament does not mean punishment, it means a righteous government.

"Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, (righteous government of the earthly kingdom) nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." They’re going to be separated out. They’re not going to have any part in it.

You know, that reminds me of something else. You know, this is why I love to teach! I love the way things can be flip-flopped back and forth and they all fit. Now, when you get into Matthew "two women shall be at the mill grinding, one taken, and the other left." Now, there’s still a lot of confusion across Christendom about what that is talking about? Well, the unbeliever will be taken, because the Earthly Kingdom is about ready to come in, and the believer of those two will be left. "Two shall be sleeping in the bed, one taken and the other left." Who’s taken? The unbeliever, because the Earthly Kingdom is about to come in and only believers will go into it. All right, you’ve got the same analogy here.

"For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish." The ungodly aren’t going into the Kingdom economy. They’re going to go to their eternal doom. It’s just as much a teaching of the Old Testament as it is of the New.

Well, I don’t know if I’m going to have enough time to cover everything that Paul says that would fit for "to seek first the Kingdom of God." That, of course, is to become a member of the Body of Christ, and I’ve shown that for the last several programs. But now what is beyond the spiritual? The material.

Now, let’s go up to the New Testament again. Let’s look at how Paul puts it. Of course, there’s no better letter of Paul’s to start with when it comes to the things of joy and blessing than Philippians. The little letter to the Philippians and we’re going to jump in at chapter 4. There’s so much here again, let’s back up to chapter 3. Let’s jump in at verse 12, no let’s go to verse 10. Let’s go to verse 10. Philippians chapter 3 starting at verse 10, now this is, of course, the Apostle writing from the first person, but as he says over and over, "be ye followers of me as I follow Christ." So, these could also be our words.

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Here’s where the identity of His death, burial, and resurrection comes to the fore.) 11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Now, in so many words, he’s just saying that Paul was stopped on the road to Damascus. God saved him in an instant. But for what purpose? To be the Apostle of the Gentiles, to take the Gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth.

All right, now it’s the same way for every one of us. We’re not just saved as a fire escape. We’re not just saved to escape hellfire. We are saved to spend the rest of our life, whatever it is, long or short, in His service. Whatever it may be. It may be some less and others more, but nevertheless, we’re saved to dedicate our life to service even as the Apostle Paul did. All right, now then, verse 14.

"I press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Now, what’s he’s talking about? Well you see, after we have attained salvation in this Age of Grace, we don’t work to complement salvation, we work now for what? Reward. We’re going to be rewarded in glory.

I don’t know what they’re going to be, let God be the judge. But I know this, for the faithful believer there are rewards that are piling up that we’re going to enjoy for all of eternity. Well, the Apostle Paul was in that same estate. Now, of course, he suffered and served more than any thousands of us will do. But it’s the same picture. As he labored and as he suffered, it wasn’t to gain salvation. He had that! But it was for reward. For the crowns that are going to be laid at the Lord’s feet. All right now let’s come on into our own situation.

"Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, (or have become spiritually mature) let us be thus mined: and if in any thing ye be other wise minded, God shall reveal even this to you." Let God lead. You know, someone asked the other day how I got to this place. "Well," I said, "I’ll tell you one thing. I never put the first foot forward. Never did I make a move to accomplish what we’re doing. God always opened the door first and then we were obedient to walk through." And all the way up unto this present time, I can honestly say that I have never made the first move. God does. So, I think I can share this with all of you. Don’t necessarily feel that you’ve got to be out there pushing to get something done. Just be willing. Know that when it does come that you’re going to do what God wants you to do.

"Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." Then verse 17, now these are portions of Paul that a lot of people detest. They think he should have said "follow Jesus." No, he doesn’t say that. He says:

"Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. 18. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:" Now, that’s powerful language. They’re not true believers. My, I had a letter yesterday and I told Iris, I wish I could share it, but I can’t.

But it is so typical of what’s going on, even in Christian circles today. Where they’ve got the attitude that just because they’ve gone through the motions of being saved, they are now free to do whatever they want to do. They think they don’t have to worry, once saved always saved. I wish I could share the letter, but it was too explicit. But listen, you and I cannot take that attitude. Paul condemned that kind of thinking in Romans, and he decried it. Just because we’re under grace doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want to do and then say, I don’t have to worry, I’m safe. Baloney! That’s not true.

So, here again we have all these people that seemingly are saying the right things, are doing the right things, but what are they? They’re enemies of the cross of Christ. Why? Well, there’s a multitude of reasons, but mostly because they’re not Spirit-led. They’re doing it in the flesh and have never believed Paul’s Gospel for their salvation!

"Whose end is (Not eternal glory, it’s not reward, it’s what?) destruction, whose God is their belly, (In other words, all they’re really thinking of are the material things.) and whose glory is in their shame, who mind (What?) earthly things.)" That’s all they’re living for, but under the, how shall I put it? Under the whatever of being spiritual, but they’re not. They’re enemies of the cross of Christ. All right, now I think I’ll just go on and finish the chapter. We’ve probably covered it in our daily program, but it never hurts to repeat it. Let’s just finish the chapter.

"For our citizenship is in heaven; (We do not mind earthly things first and foremost, because our citizenship is in heaven.) from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:" Now that, of course, is the blessed hope for the believer. We know, maybe today, maybe tonight, tomorrow, next week, or sometime soon, we trust – the Lord’s coming! He’s going to call us out! Paul was already looking for it in his day. Now verse 21, and when He comes:

"He shall change our vile body, (This body that’s prone to sickness and disease and injury, and this body--) that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,…" Now, I always tell people that all you have to do is study the forty days of Christ after His resurrection until He was ascended and you’ll get a vivid description of the kind of a body we’re going to have for eternity. He could be one place one instant and way up the road the next. He could eat and He could drink with the Eleven. He could converse with them, but He could also go through a wall without a door or a window. It was a body that was fit for eternity, and we’re going to have one just like it! What a blessed hope. All right, so He’s going to be giving us a body like unto His glorious body:

"…according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." Why? Because He is the Creator God of everything. Even though He loved us and gave Himself for us, never forget that He was and is the Eternal Creator God.

Again, we always want to thank our television audience for your prayers and your letters. It is so encouraging to know that we’re not just beating the air, but that we are being used of the Lord to touch a lot of hearts and lives. So, wherever you are, our audience is now reaching almost every state in the union. We are flabbergasted at how the Lord is working.

Okay, let’s go right back to where we left off. I was still in the verse we’ve been in for many, many weeks, but we’re on the last half of it, Matthew 6. You don’t even have to look it up. We’re going to go right back where we quit in the last program in Philippians. But remember, the theme of our thinking right now is that once we have sought the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then ‘things’ shall be added. In other words, the material things, the physical needs and so forth.

All right, we ran out of time in our last program, but these are all connected. What you don’t get today, you’ll get tomorrow, so we’ll go right back where we left off in Philippians. Let’s go on over to Philippians chapter 4 verse 6. Now, whenever people call with a real prayer need, Iris and I, and I think the girls in the office have learned to do the same thing, use these verses. These are the first verses we share with people, because it covers everything, whether you are fighting disease, whether you’re fighting marital problems, whether you’re fighting a job problem, or financial, my, it’s all in these two verses.

"Be careful for nothing; (Don’t worry is probably a better word.) but in every thing…" Now, you know, there are those that say God isn’t interested in your material things. God isn’t interested in the physical. That’s not what this verse says. This says God is interested in every part of your life. You take it to Him.

"…in every thing by prayer and supplication (But here’s the key.) with (What?) thanksgiving…" So, what do you do? You thank the Lord before you even ask. What do you thank Him for? What He’s going to do. Now, that’s common sense, isn’t it? "Thank you, Lord, for what you’re going to do with this prayer request." Then you lay it out for Him. Verbalize it. "Lord, I need a job. I need a good job. Lord I need help. I need marital assistance." Whatever the case may be, take it to the Lord.

"…let you requests be made known unto God. (Verbalize them. Then, here’s the answer to every prayer before the real question is answered.) 7. And the peace of God, (To know that He’s in control.) which passeth all understanding, (It’s beyond us, the peace that God can roll over us when we turn these things over to Him. Now, what’s the promise?) shall keep your hearts and minds (How?) through Christ Jesus." And His finished work. That’s the promise. Now, this is in the realm of the everyday. This isn’t talking about the spiritual element; we’re talking about everyday needs.

All right, let’s just jump on over in chapter 4 to verse 19. The Apostle knew what it was to suffer physically. I’m sure there were days on end when he had insufficient food. There were days on end when he was in prison and was cold and hungry. But on the other hand, there were days when he was blessed abundantly, so he says in verse 18:

"But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things (Now, what were those? Material things. Whatever they were, whether it was clothing or whether it was some food or whether it was some parchment, some reading material. It doesn’t matter. But, he’s not in the realm of the spiritual here. He’s in the realm of the physical.) which were sent from you,…" From up there in Philippi.

We were there just the other day. We’d never been to northern Greece before, and our group had a beautiful get-together down at the riverside where Paul had dealt with Lydia. Still the same river, I’m sure. Bill’s nodding his head. It was a beautiful setting. We had a good time and shared things from the Word. It’s an experience that I never dreamed would ever come my way. Everything that Paul writes we can now equate to a particular place in his ministry. In this case, he’s writing to the Philippians up there in northern Greece.

All right, so Epaphroditus has brought the things from wherever he was, I think from Thessalonica.

"…the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." Well, what’s he talking about? What the people of Philippi had sacrificed to send to him. Whatever it was. They weren’t wealthy. Most of the people in northern Greece, which is mountainous, had almost nothing financially, but what little they had they shared with the Apostle. All right, now verse 19, so the admonition to us is, if God would supply his need, then He’ll supply whose? Ours.

"But my God shall supply all you need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Does he say He’s going to make you a millionaire? No, that’s not what he says, but He’s going to supply all our needs. And that’s all we have to look for in this life – a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, and food to eat. Those are our needs. We in America have been blessed so abundantly that we don’t know what that is any more. But, in most areas of the world, all they work for from day to day is still just to have a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear.

We’re spoiled. I tell the Lord that almost every day. "Lord, I’m spoiled." But on the other hand, I have to tell Him, "I like it." I’d hate to be otherwise. It may happen. But listen, we’d better wake up and realize the day may come that all this will be taken from us. It could, you know. But nevertheless, if it should, God will supply our every ‘need.’

Well, anyway, I think maybe that’s enough for the Pauline aspect of all these things. Now, let’s move on to one of the ‘Buts’ that we’re working on – But God or But Noah as it was back in Genesis. Now, I’m going to take you over to Matthew chapter 10. The reason I’m going to use it, even though I’ve used it over and over and over in my classes and in my seminars, we used it again on our trip in the Aegean Sea, is because, as I told you in the last taping, my title of all my messages was going to be "Why Paul?" And I made the point; I remember specifically making the point – Why did the Lord need this thirteenth apostle when He had twelve? But there was an intrinsic reason for it. The Twelve were apostles of Israel. They had no ministry to the Gentile world, and they knew they didn’t. So, in order for God to reach the Gentiles, He had to raise up another apostle, which was Paul or Saul of Tarsus.

All right, now here is why I use this so often. You all know by now that Paul wrote in II Timothy, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed." What’s the rest of the verse? "Rightly dividing the word of truth." And that means exactly what it says. The word "rightly divide" in the Greek, and now I’m not a Greek scholar, I just look up a few of these things that I think are pertinent. This word in the Greek actually means "to cut straight." You don’t just do it like you break bread. You cut it straight. Like cutting a pie. You don’t just delve into a pie and hand it out chunk by chunk. What do you do? You cut it into slices. You rightly divide it.

In fact, I think I used that in an illustration years ago. If you’ve got a pie and you’ve got five people, how are you going to cut it? In four pieces? No. If you’re going to use the whole thing at once, you’ll cut into how many? Five. You may cut according to the size of the people that are going to be eating it. Maybe you’ve got a little four year old. He doesn’t need a good full piece. But whatever, to cut straight is rightly dividing that pie. I make my point? That’s what we do with the Word of God. We don’t just ramshackle through it and say, well, I can divide this here, I can divide – no! You cut it according to the Divine purposes. That’s why I’m going to use these verses again with one of the ‘But God’s’.

All right, come down to Matthew 10 verse 5, and I’m sure we’re going to have some people out there that have never heard me use this before. For the rest of you, it’s just like eating meat and potatoes day after day after day. All right, here we are.

"These twelve (the twelve disciples) Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, (Now, did you hear that? That was specific.) Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans (Who were half-breeds and almost outcasts of Israel.) enter ye not: (Don’t have a thing to do with these two classes of people. And here’s the ‘but,’ the flipside.) 6. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And you know, most highly educated theologians can’t read that. They can read it, but they don’t understand it. But that’s a specific dividing of the Scriptures.

Here we have a message that is not for the Gentile world. It’s for Jew only. And until you get that through your head, you’ll never understand this Book. That all the way from the call of Abraham on up until we get to the Apostle Paul, everything is God dealing with Israel. With some exceptions, yes, by His Divine purpose, but on the whole, here’s where we have to divide Scripture. That all the way up through the Old Testament is Jew only.

Now, I always like to use the verse that explicitly says that, so keep your hand in Matthew and go back with me to Acts chapter 19. I like people to see that I’m not pulling these little words, or phrases, out of the woodwork, as we say. They come right from the Book, Acts 11:19 just to show you the phrase. Now, this is eight, nine, or ten years after Pentecost, maybe even eleven. It is long after Pentecost and the Jewish believers are still under intense persecution from various sources. Mostly from the orthodox Jews who rejected Jesus of Nazareth, and these Jews had embraced Him.

"Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose (or began at the time of) about Stephen traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word (Now, there are no Pauline epistles yet. There are no four Gospels yet, so the only Word they’ve got is what? Old Testament. But these Jews are now carrying that into the Mediterranean Sea.) preaching the word to none but (What?) unto the Jews only." That’s what your Book says, as well as mine. And people just can’t get it. They keep coming back and telling us that Jesus ministered to the Gentiles, and Peter ministered to the Gentiles. No, they didn’t. The Book says they ministered to none but Jew only. And you either believe it or you don’t. But I do. Consequently, I teach the way I do.

Now, come back to Matthew chapter 10, and this is where it all really came to a head. This is where Jesus explicitly tells His twelve apostles, "You don’t have a thing to do with the Gentiles. You don’t have a thing to do with the half-breed Samaritans." Why? Because He came to fulfill the Covenant promises. That’s why I covered the Covenants here several times back. The Abrahamic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the Palestinian Covenant - which simply means the promise of the land of Palestine, or what we now call Israel, which was promised by God Himself. I don’t care what the world says. It belongs to the Nation of Israel.

All right, then we had the – did I mention the Davidic? And the New Covenant? Now, those were all covenant promises that were directed to the Nation of Israel, in view of their coming King and this glorious earthly Kingdom that we alluded to in the last program.

Now, the Gentiles had no part in those covenants. They were between God and Israel. So you see, when the Lord Jesus came and began His ministry, He had to put it this way, or He would have been completely in disagreement with His own covenant promises that He had made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Moses, and all the rest. All right, now you cannot take these covenant things and funnel them into the Body of Christ without getting into trouble. So, what do we do? We leave them where they are. We rightly divide.

That piece of the pie belongs to Israel. Ours is coming later. So, we rightly divide the Scriptures. Not Old and New, I heard one preacher on the radio make that comment and I just about went through the pickup roof. You know, he said that the only way to divide Scripture is to separate the Old from the New. How can you separate the Old Testament from the four Gospels when it’s all God dealing with Israel?

That reminds me of another young man who was making application to one of our large seminaries. And he made, he thought of it afterward, what was probably a foolish statement. He told this one interrogator, who was to see if he was fit to come into the seminary, that he saw no difference between the four Gospels and the Old Testament. He said, "I thought they’d throw me out within five minutes." But it’s right. You can’t separate these four Gospels from the Old Testament. It’s all under the Law and dealing with Israel.

There is nothing concerning the Gentile world, and here’s why I’m teaching this today/ Here, Jesus Himself is saying, "Go not into the way of Gentiles, go not into any Samaritans, but (Flipside. Where were they to go?) to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And no one but. Now, that’s a great divide! Here’s where we have to draw the line in Scripture. How can you go against that kind of a commandment from the words of the Lord Himself and just simply say that, no, they went to the whole Gentile world? No, they did not.

All right, let’s go a little further. Let’s go to Acts and now we’re at seven or eight years after Pentecost. Stephen has just been stoned. Now, we move into Acts chapter 8, now get the timeframe. You know, that’s what we appreciated about our Aegean Cruise. We were able to put the history and the geography all in view of the spiritual element. Everything just all of a sudden fell into place. All right, so here we are seven or eight years after Pentecost. Saul has just wrought havoc amongst those Jews who had embraced Jesus as their Messiah. Now remember, that’s the whole dividing line in Israel. That small percentage of Jews had embraced Jesus as the Messiah, but the rest of them ridiculed Him and scorned Him as "can anything good come out of Nazareth." You know the account.

"And Saul was consenting unto his (Stephen’s) death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church…" Now, I always have to stop when I come to that word. It’s the Greek word ecclesia, which translated or defined, is a ‘called out assembly.’ That’s all. That’s what the ecclesia was, a called out assembly that had separated from the rest of the world that was around them.

When Israel came out of Egypt and was gathered around Mount Sinai, Acts chapter 7 calls them a "church in the wilderness." Now goodness sakes, they weren’t a church with pastors and bishops and deacons, they were a called out assembly of Jews. When we were at Ephesus, we saw the humongous theater that all the silversmiths fled into, or flowed into, during all the opposition against the Apostle Paul, because he was ruining their trade amongst the silversmiths. But the book of Acts calls that riotous mob a - what? An ecclesia. It was a "called out assembly." Not spiritual. A bunch of hoods actually caused the riot, but the Scripture calls it an ecclesia, "a called out assembly."

All right, now the same way with this Jewish element in Jerusalem. They had separated from the mainstream of Israel because they had embraced Jesus as the Messiah, and now they are meeting together. They go from house to house and they break bread, so what are they? They were a "called out assembly," but unfortunately our translators call them what? A church, without any distinction. So, everybody thinks that the church in Jerusalem is already a Pauline Grace church. No, it is not. It’s a church comprised of Law-keeping Jews who are still using Temple Worship. They are still adhering to the Old Testament laws of food and everything else, but they’re called a church. Okay, now let’s go on.

"…there was a great persecution against this called out assembly of Jewish believers at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad… (We just read about them in chapter 11:19.) throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except (Who?) the apostles." Now, according to most of Christendom, by now - eight years after Pentecost, where were the apostles? Preaching to the Gentile world – what a travesty! Not according to this Book. There is not one record in here of any of the Twelve ministering to the Gentile world. Not one.

Now, maybe church history alludes to it, but I don’t go by church history. I go by the Book, and these men were in the same category as what Jesus told the Twelve back there in Matthew. Go NOT into the way of a Gentile, because those Jewish men had only one allegiance and that was to the covenant promises. This is what you’ve got to get straight. This is what we call rightly dividing the Word of God.

But you see, at this very same time, or within the next few months at least, while the apostles are sticking tight to Jerusalem, there is this persecutor on his way to Damascus. And outside the city gate, I trust you all know, most of America doesn’t any more, the younger generation, they don’t know what the Damascus Road experience is. But you do. What happened? God saved the persecutor! What did He tell him? At least through Ananias, what’d He tell him? "I’m going to send you far hence to the Gentiles." There’s the big divide. Everything has been Jewish, and now all of a sudden the emphasis is going to switch to the Gentile world through the thirteenth apostle.

We’re going to see - I guess I might as well do it now, go back with me to Galatians chapter 1 and let’s start at verse 11. I’ve used these verses over and over through the years, because they are so descriptive. They are so explanatory of what we call dividing the Scriptures. Here Paul is showing us so emphatically that he had nothing to do with the twelve apostles of Israel. He couldn’t, because they were all associated with the Law and Israel and Temple worship and all the rest. But you and I have nothing to do with those things. They’re past. They’ve been crucified.

"But I certify you, brethren, (Now remember, he’s writing to Gentile believers that he has brought together in one of his earlier missionary journeys, up there in central Turkey.) that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Now, there is that total separation then of Paul from the Twelve and their ministry to Israel.

All right, now he goes on in these succeeding verses, starting at verse 13, and he’s merely proving the point that he is a separate, designated apostle of the Gentiles, totally separated from Israel. Now, I don’t want to lose the verse we jumped off from in Matthew, where Jesus said, "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Whereas now this apostle is just as definitely instructed to go to the Gentile world as the Twelve were to go to Israel. All right now verse 13 and our time is about gone.

"For ye have heard of my conversation (or manner of life) in time past in the Jews’ religion, (He was a Jews’ Jew. A Pharisee of the Pharisees.) how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, (In other words, that same church in Jerusalem, the ecclesia of Jesus-believing Jews.) and wasted it. 14. And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers." He was a religious fanatic. "But," verse 15; I could have used this as another good one! I may again.

"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace," That’s where you and I are. We’re here by virtue of His grace, not by virtue of our genealogy, not by virtue of our denominational background. We’re here by grace. All right, verse 16, but in Paul’s life what was the real purpose of separating him?

"To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him (God the Son) among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." All right, I’m going to come back quickly to Romans 16 verse 25, in the few seconds we have left, and this is what he’s referring to.

"Now to him who is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, (or, these things…) which was kept secret since the ages began." That’s what you call rightly dividing the Scripture. And only Paul received these mysteries.

It is good to see everyone back for our third half-hour this afternoon. Again, we like to welcome our television audience, and we just thank you for all your encouragement, your financial help, your prayers, and your constant reference to praying for Laura, our daughter. We just can’t thank you enough. I think nine out of ten letters are still making mention of their praying for her, and we appreciate that so much, as she does.

We’re going to keep right on with where we’ve been. I’m going to take you, for our jump off verse, back to where we started in our last program, Matthew 10 verses 5 and 6. Now, this is at the beginning of the Lord’s earthly ministry to the Nation of Israel in fulfillment of the covenant promises. Consequently, it has to be confined to the Nation of Israel, because the covenant promises of Abraham, Isaac, David, and Moses had nothing to do with the Gentile world. It was all Jewish. Okay, here we go, we’re going to continue on.

"These twelve (The twelve disciples that everybody knows the names forwards and backwards.) Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, (Now, that means what it says.) saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6. But (There is another of the important ‘Buts’ in Scripture.) go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

All right, now just to show how the Twelve - especially Peter, James, and John who were the pillars of the Jerusalem church and of the Twelve - adhere to that, let’s jump all the way up to the book of Acts. Now, I’m going to show that they never betrayed that commandment. They did not go to the Gentile world, because they were commanded not to. I don’t care how much theologians think otherwise, I’ll stick with what the Book says. Here we have it so obvious in Acts chapter 2, the Pentecostal sermon by the Apostle Peter; this is to show you that he’s not including Gentiles in his speaking.

"Ye men of Israel, hear these words;" Any Gentiles in "ye men of Israel"? No. Couldn’t be. All right, you come on down a little further in the same chapter, verse 36.

"Therefore (after referring to all the references in the Psalms) let all the house of Israel…" Now, that flies in the face of "world-widers" and Herbert W. Armstrong who maintain that the Ten Tribes of the North were supposedly lost and ended up in Western Europe and Scandinavia and became the seed stock of the Caucasian peoples. What a lie! Because they’re all twelve here. Now, if they were lost, Peter couldn’t call it "the whole house of Israel," but he does.

But Peter isn’t the first, Ezra and Nehemiah used the same language. So, even at the time of captivity none of the Ten Tribes were lost. Now, some of them went into captivity in Assyria. But they didn’t disappear as tribal units. They were all still evident when they went out to Babylon. The same way here.

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." All right, turn over to chapter 3. We’re just going to chase down these references that show there’s nothing of the Gentile world in here. This is still keeping true to the commandment "Go not into the way of the Gentile."

"Now Peter and John went up together into the temple…" How many Gentiles got into the Temple? Well, none. They had a little area on the outside, but they couldn’t go into the Temple like a Jew could. All right, then come on over to chapter 4 verse 10, and I don’t have to change one word. It’s all so obvious.

"Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner." Now where was that reference? I think it’s Psalms 118 which refers to Christ as the stone rejected by the builders. It had nothing to do with Gentiles whatsoever. This is all tied to the Jewish promises.

You can come all the way through the early chapters of Acts and it’s still all Peter and the eleven dealing with the Nation of Israel.

Now of course, in chapter 9 we have what I call that great division again. Here is where we mark a straight cutting, or rightly dividing of Scripture. Now, instead of the Lord telling this man to go the Nation of Israel, or to go to anyone else, He designates the Gentiles. Acts chapter 9 verse 15, now of course, it’s going to come to Paul second hand, or Saul, because the Lord is directing it to a Jewish believer in Damascus named Ananias.

"But the Lord said unto him, (to this Jew, Ananias) Go thy way: (Don’t argue with me. Because Ananias was scared to death of Saul of Tarsus. He thought he was going to take him back and kill him. So the Lord says…) Go thy way: for he (Saul) is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles,…" Now that’s clear language isn’t it? There’s no gobbledy-gook there. It’s just a plain statement that this man is now going to go the opposite direction that the Twelve went.

We’re going to come back to Galatians in a little bit and pick up where we were in the last program. All right, now in chapter 10, and I think this is so interesting the way these things unfold. Chapter 10 is while Saul of Tarsus is out in his three year hiatus in the desert. Back here in Jerusalem God is going to deal again with Peter, but in a unique situation. Peter is in the house of one Simon a tanner. He’s going to reveal to him that He’s going to open the door as it was to the Gentile world, for the benefit of the Apostle Paul. Not for Peter’s benefit, for Paul’s benefit.

All right, so here we have it in Acts chapter 10 after Paul has been converted on the road to Damascus. He’s out in the desert receiving all the revelation of the mysteries that he’s going to come back and start preaching to the Gentile world in a little while. But in the mean time, Peter is going to use the keys that the Lord promised to him. He used them for Israel at Pentecost, and I think here is where He used them for the Gentile world. Had it not been for this event, Peter would have never come to Paul’s defense at the Jerusalem counsel. Had Peter not come to Paul’s defense, I doubt that they would have even let him leave Jerusalem. But he did, because of this.

All right, here we have the account with Cornelius, the Roman Centurion. But to show you that Peter is still a law-keeping Jew; he knows nothing of Paul’s Gospel of Grace, we come down to verse 11 of chapter 10:

"And he saw (that is Peter) heaven opened (in his vision) and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: 12. Wherein (this great sheet) were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air." In other words, he had a mix of everything. Now, compare that to the kosher diet of a Jew. It was totally unbelievable. Here he has all these unclean things mixed in probably with the clean ones.

"And there came a voice to him, (The Lord says…) Rise, Peter; kill, and eat." Well, it’s a picture, of course, of the whole scope of humanity. Now, look at Peter’s answer.

"But Peter said, Not so, Lord; (Why?) for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.’" And why hadn’t he? He was a law-keeping Jew. Nobody had told Peter he was no longer under the Law. He’s a law-keeping Jew. This was horrific for him – to eat unclean animals! Well, it wasn’t any worse than to go to those unclean Romans, which is where God’s going to have him go.

All right, so miraculously He gets Peter and six other Jews to go up the coast of the Mediterranean to Caesarea on the Sea. He goes to the house of Cornelius where God had miraculously brought the two entities together. Now you want to remember, you know the account, how miraculously God dealt with Cornelius to send messengers down to Peter. Peter is now seeing the vision of the sheet. So, these things worked together to get Peter to the house of this Roman Centurion, Cornelius.

All right, now again, for sake of time, we’re going to bring you down to verse 28 to show that this was contrary to Peter’s thinking. You’ve heard me say it a hundred times over the years, I think there were heel prints in the sand all the way from Joppa to Caesarea – "But Lord, I don’t want to go!" The Lord says, "You will, Peter." He gets there and he’s still adamant. Look what his argument is in verse 28.

"And he said unto them, (The Gentiles in the house of Cornelius - all Romans.) Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto (or into the house) one of one of another nation; but God (See there’s another one! Oh, I love these. They’re all through Scripture! "But God." I could come back in a few weeks and use this one, but I’ll try not to.) but God hath shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean." How? By all the things that were in that sheet vision. Peter, you don’t call anything common or unclean anymore, because now the work of the cross is completed, and we’re going to take the Gospel to the entire world. Did Peter understand it? No. I don’t think he ever did. But nevertheless, he was obedient, somewhat, to what God wanted him to do.

Now, what I’m trying to show here is that Peter and the eleven and all the other Jewish leadership are still aware that they’re to have nothing to do with the Gentile world. Nothing. But here he is by special dispensation, or whatever you want to call it, and look what he says: "It’s an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation, but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean."

All right, now come on over to chapter 11 and now we’ll see the reaction of the Jewish leadership down there in Jerusalem, the other eleven apostles, and the Jewish believers in the Jerusalem church. My, you would think they would have shouted "Hallelujah! God is going out to the whole world!" Are you kidding? Anything but.

"And the apostles (all twelve of them) and brethren (the leadership of the Jerusalem church) that were in Judea (that’s Jerusalem) heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God." Were they exalting? No, it doesn’t say that, but look at the next verse.

"And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, (from Caesarea) they that were of the circumcision (That is of the Jerusalem church -- praised him?) contended with him." They met him at the door. "Peter, what’s the matter with you? How could you?" They knew nothing of the special vision that poor old Peter had to suffer through. So, they of the circumcision contended with him.

"Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them." You see the horror of all that? Peter, how could you, a good Jew, go into the house of these Romans? And that’s not the half of it, the word came back to us, I suppose from the other six Jews that went with him. You know there’s always some means of getting the gossip back before you get there. "You even ate with them!" I can prove from Homer’s writing that the favorite meat diet of the Romans was what? Pork. And Peter, a good Jew, eating pork? Well, that was the mentality, and it was as it should be. Okay, so everything concerning these Jewish leaderships was tying them to the nation of Israel, until God raised up the Apostle Paul with the admonition, "I’m going to send you to the Gentiles."

All right, let’s come back to that chapter in Galatians where we left off in our last program and pick it up where it is so plainly stressed that Paul could have nothing to do with the Twelve, theologically speaking. Now of course, physically, there could still be a Jewish friendship, but theologically Paul makes it so plain that God is keeping him totally separated from the Twelve. And this is what I want people to understand. This is rightly dividing the Scripture. Galatians 1 and we were probably down to about verse 15 in our other program, so we’ll move to 16.

"…and called me by his grace, 16. To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; (or the Gentiles) immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 17. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them who were apostles before me;…" Now stop there a minute. I always like to look at Scripture logically, because even though it’s supernatural, it is still logical. It’s not clear out of sync.

Now, if God is going to keep this apostle of the Gentiles separated from the Twelve, He’s going to have to make it as clear as clear can be that Paul is going to have nothing to do with the Twelve. And again, logically, if you were under this set of circumstances as Saul of Tarsus finds himself at the Damascus Road experience, where would be the first place to go to find out more about the Jesus of Nazareth that he had hated? Well, the Twelve! That’d be the logical place to go – back to Jerusalem and sit down at the feet of Peter, James, and John, and let them unload on him all the things they’d learned in those three years. But see, God is adamantly saying "No, Paul, you’re not going to have anything to do with the Twelve. I’m going to keep you separate from them." All right, now read on.

"…but I went into Arabia,…" You’ve heard me say it many, many times. Jerusalem was to the southwest from Damascus. Arabia is to the southeast. So, for all practical purposes, opposite directions, so that he stays further and further away from Jerusalem and the Twelve.

"Then after three years…" That’s why we feel that he spent most of those three years out in the desert. I think Mount Sinai, and then he went back to Damascus. Now, some people like to say he must have spent the three years in Damascus; at least it was civilized territory. But now wait a minute. Had he spent three years in Damascus, what would have been the evidence? What would he have had? Well, he’d have had a huge church. He would have had a huge church in Damascus, just like he did in Ephesus after eighteen months. But is there any sign of a Gentile church in Damascus? Not that I’ve ever been aware of. Not historically. Not archaeologically, nor scripturally. There was nothing that would indicate Paul spent any time at all in Damascus.

That’s why I take the approach that he spent most of those three years out in the desert. And as you’ve heard me say it, even on the program, it probably took two and a half years to get Judaism out of his system so that God could fill him with the Gospel of Grace. Some of you know what that’s like. You’ve come out of a cultic background and you know how hard it is to walk away from it. Well, Judaism was no different. They were steeped in it. That’s why the whole Book of Hebrews is written, to show these Jews that yes, that was appropriate at that time, but now you’ve got to separate from it.

"But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. 20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. 21. Afterwards I came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia;" That’s where his hometown of Tarsus was located, up there in southeast Turkey. All right, now then, we’re going to jump into chapter 2, because I’m showing the ‘But God’ here. Yes, the Twelve were sent to Israel. But God is sending this man to the Gentile world.

All right, now to show you again how clearly the Holy Spirit led Paul to write of these things, we might as well start at verse 1. Now this is all repetition. I know this is back in past programs, but they are probably several years ago. He says:

"Then fourteen years after,…" That is after that conversion on the road to Damascus. Now, if that was in about 37 or 38 AD, that jumps us up to 51 or 52 AD. There has been proof positive that this Jerusalem counsel was in that very timeframe, somewhere between 51 and 52 AD. The Twelve and Paul and Barnabas have this knock-down, drag-out meeting in Jerusalem. It’s to solve a problem that had stemmed from the Jerusalem church coming in behind Paul’s little Gentile congregations and telling them that they had to also practice circumcision and keep the Mosaic Law. In other words, they were trying to get Paul’s new converts to mix Law and Grace. No different than a lot of preachers today. They just cannot get off that kick of mixing Law and Grace.

Well, this was the whole problem that’s going to be settled now in Galatians 2, and the parallel, of course, is Acts chapter 15. All right, verse 2, Paul writes by inspiration. Never forget this is God’s Word. This isn’t Paul and his own thinking. This is the Word of God coming through the pen of the Apostle. He says:

Galatians 2:2a

"And I went up (That is to Jerusalem.) by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles,…" And what is THAT Gospel? Well, let’s look at it again for sake of new listeners. We have them every day. So bear with me when I repeat and repeat and repeat. I Corinthians 15:1 - 4. This is what we’re talking about. This is Paul’s Gospel of salvation that we must believe in this Age of Grace! I know most of you know it. I know that. But for benefit of others, we’re going to repeat it.

"Moreover, brethren, (He’s writing to Gentile Believers.) I declare unto you the gospel (Not ‘a’ Gospel, ‘the’ Gospel.) which I preached unto you, and which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; (As believers. Not blown about with every wind of doctrine, even though the Corinthians were his most troublesome.) 2. By which also ye are saved,…" Now, how can you make it any plainer than that? Impossible. It’s by THIS Gospel that people are saved. No other.

And then they tell us that there’s never been anything but one Gospel. I’ve shared this with the program more than once. I’ve confronted preachers who confront me and say, "There’s never been more than one." I said, "Oh, really? Adam and Eve were saved by believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, 4000 years before it happened?" And you know what their answer is? "Well, they must have." Isn’t that ridiculous? You mean Abraham was saved by believing in a death, burial, and resurrection? "Well, he must have." No, he wasn’t. It hadn’t even been dreamed of. They’d never heard of such a thing. Crucifixion, if I’m not mistaken, was an early Roman invention about 200-300 BC at the earliest. How could they believe in something that hadn’t even been invented, if you want to call it that. But anyway, here’s Paul’s Gospel of salvation.

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (It was God’s Divine purpose that Christ should go to the cross. It wasn’t an accident of history. It was all preplanned long before Creation.) 4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." That’s Paul’s Gospel, simple and yet profound. That’s what you must believe in your heart for your salvation!

You’ve heard me say it over and over, no human being who has ever lived or who ever will, can comprehend all that Christ accomplished at that cross of Calvary. It’s just beyond us. We take what little bit we can comprehend by faith. We know that when we believe it God has promised eternal salvation.

All right, back to Galatians, this is what Paul always refers to when he says, "My Gospel" or as he says in this verse 2:

"…that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, (That must mean the Twelve in a separate room by themselves.) lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain." Now, I can readily understand that. I think most of you can if you’ve ever tried to deal with corporate people. If you really want to get something done, how far up the corporate ladder do you have to go? As far as possible. If you want to get something done, get as far up that corporate ladder as you can possibly get. If you can get the head man, that’s the place to go. That’s where Paul had gone.

We found it out getting a man’s passport. He called only about a week before we were ready to leave. Now, you know it normally takes six weeks to get a passport. Well, the dear old gentleman was 85 years old. He had been in service for many years, and he had also had a top secret job with the federal government for many years, so he had everything going for him, but he didn’t have a passport and we only had a week to go.

So, I told him to go ahead and plan on it, and I’d jump on it as much as I could. Well, the fellow who was helping us in Minnesota jumped on the senator that he knew, and I approached our senator from Oklahoma. And they jumped right on it, both those senators, and you know what they did? They delivered that guy’s passport to his front door the day before we had to leave. Well, where do you go? Just as high as you possibly can, if you want to get something done! All right, now what’s Paul doing? He’s going to the top. Who’s at the top of the Jerusalem church? The Twelve. That’s obvious. The Twelve were the kingpins of the Jerusalem church. So, Paul makes sure that those are the ones he’s going to deal with to stop this infiltrating of his Gentile churches. It’s obvious. All right, read on.

"But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: 4. And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, (or secretly brought in) who came in privately (or secretly) to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:" Now we’ve got to be careful. They weren’t trying to get Paul arrested and thrown into a Roman prison. They were trying to get Paul to a place where he would agree to come back under the Law. Now, that’s how subtle religionists can be!

Again, we always like to emphasize to our television audience that we’re just a simple Bible study. I’m not trying to build an empire. As I said a few programs back, I have no intentions of building a college or anything like that. We just want to teach people how to study the Word of God on their own. I think we’re making some headway, I really do. Not I, but the Lord is masterminding the whole thing.

Okay, let’s continue on where we left off in our last program, how that Jesus sent the Twelve to the Nation of Israel, under the covenant promises. When Israel finally rejected everything concerning those covenant promises, God raised up the Apostle Paul, designating him as the Apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 11:13) and in a complete opposite role of the Twelve.

Now of course, the Twelve were steeped in Judaism and even the term of proselytizing some Gentiles. But, you know, I always take away any emphasis on proselytes because of what the Lord said concerning proselytes. He said to the Pharisees, "You compass sea and land to make one proselyte, but when he is made he is three times more the child of hell than you are." Well, what does that tell you? Proselytes were not any better off than the unsaved or lost Jew. So, I don’t put much on proselytes. But this man is not sent out to proselyte the Gentiles, he’s sent out to preach to them the Gospel of salvation and to see them totally saved on the merits of the cross.

Now Peter, James, and John, of course, haven’t quite accepted that. I guess in order to clarify, before we go back to Galatians where we ended in our last program, let’s just stop at Acts chapter 15. Many of you know what it says, but many of you many don’t. Acts 15, this is the parallel with Galatians 2. This is Luke’s account of the Jerusalem counsel as Paul’s account is in Galatians 2. But Acts makes it more clear what the problem really was. So, let’s look at it a minute before we go back to Galatians.

"And certain men which came down from Judea (which is Jerusalem) taught the brethren, (That is, Paul’s Gentile converts. We have to keep the language straight here. They taught Paul’s Gentile converts.) and said, Except (or unless) ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." Now, you want to remember that the Jerusalem church is ruled by the Twelve. So, these emissaries from Jerusalem could not have done what they were doing without at least the Twelve’s permission. I’m not going to lay the blame on them that they commanded them to do this, but they permitted it.

"When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto (What group of men?) the apostles…" See, I’m not reading anything in here that isn’t here. The Apostles were the key players. Like I said in the last program, if you want to get something done, go to the top. That’s exactly what Paul and Barnabas are going to do. They’re going to confront the Twelve in Jerusalem over this matter of their emissaries coming in behind Paul and saying, "You can’t be saved by Paul’s Gospel alone, you have to practice circumcision and keep the Law."

Sound familiar? Well, maybe not the same items, but it’s still – oh, you can’t be saved by faith alone. In fact, one of the speakers, who I suppose was in direct opposition to what I had said over in Greece, said, "James says that you cannot be saved by faith alone, it’s works and faith." Which shows James was still under the Law. Well, you know it’s pretty hard for me to sit still when I hear stuff like that, but anyway, that’s what we’re up against, but it’s always been this way. Way back here at the beginning of Paul’s ministry, they are already telling his converts, "Paul’s Gospel alone isn’t enough. You have to practice circumcision and keep the Law." Now you say, well, that’s just in one verse. All right, read on, verse 3.

"And being brought on their way by the church, (That is the Antioch church, up there in Syria. I’m putting that in only for clarity.) they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: (That’s Paul’s ministry.) and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4. And when they were come to Jerusalem, (The seat of all their problems) they were received of the church,… (the Jerusalem Jewish church)"

Now, we’ve got to keep all these churches separate. The Antioch church is Paul’s Gentile church, a Body of Christ church, saved by grace through faith in Paul’s Gospel plus nothing. But they’re going up to meet the Twelve who are the head of the Jerusalem church, which is a congregation of Jews who are still keeping the Law. They’re still practicing Temple worship, but they’ve embraced Jesus as the Messiah. That’s the difference.

"And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and the elders, and they (Paul and Barnabas) declared all things that God had done with them. (among the Gentiles) 5. But (Even with all of Paul’s and Barnabas’ excited report of what God was doing among the Gentiles.) there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,…" Now, you remember what Pharisees were. They were legalists, religious Jews. Some of them had been saved by believing that Jesus was the Christ and had become members of the Jerusalem church, but they still didn’t lose their legalism.

"…saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, (Now, keep track of who the pronouns are referring to. Who are the ‘them’? Paul’s converts. They had to be circumcised.) and to command them to keep the law of Moses." Now goodness sakes, what does that entail? Dietary laws. Saturday Sabbath. The ten percent tithe, or the one out of ten tithe, a tithe wasn’t ten percent; it was one out of ten. Big difference. But that was all part of the Law. Occasional temple worship. Feast days. The new moons. Now, why am I mentioning all of this?

Keep your hand in Acts. Come back with me to Colossians chapter 2. Now, this isn’t to confuse, I hope it’s to clarify. What a difference. Now, this is what Paul teaches the Gentiles in Colossi, and this is what they’re up against. The Judaizers wanted to cancel these things that Paul writes and put them all back under the Jewish Law. Verse 14, speaking of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection,

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,…" Now, you all know what ordinances are. They’re rules and regulations. Here I’ve got to be careful. What did it mean to be "against us"? Well, all those rules and regulations were contrary to God’s grace-believing lifestyle. It was just contrary to it.

"…which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross." So, all these Jewish rules and regulations that were a heavy thumb of oppression upon the Jewish people, they were crucified at the cross, so far as the believer is concerned. All right, now verse 15, again in reference to His death, burial, and resurrection,

"And having spoiled (or defeated) principalities and powers, he (Christ) made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." In other words, in His work of the cross, He was made victorious over all of these things that were in opposition. Now verse 16, here’s why I brought you here.

"Let no man therefore judge you (or condemn you) in food, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon…" Now, you’ve got to know your Old Testament and Judaism in particular. What set Judaism on their schedule? The new moon. The Jews would have somebody sitting on the highest point in the area to look for the first sliver of a new moon. Then that would declare a particular part of their religious calendar. I think the Muslim world does the same thing. They’re always looking for that first sign of the new moon. All right, now Paul is throwing all of that out. So, we’ll read it again.

"Let no man therefore judge (or condemn) you in food, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon (the beginning of a particular religious schedule) or of the (What?) Sabbath days:" Now, I just shared that with somebody the other day. They’re always writing or asking if the Catholic Church changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday? No, the Catholic Church didn’t do it. Paul’s Gospel did it. The early church met on the first day of the week, resurrection day, not on the seventh day. It was all crucified with the cross.

Now, this is what I want people to see. As plain as English can make it - we are no longer confined to these things of Judaism. They were all nailed to His cross. But verse 17 says there was a day when they were valid, because it was part of the Old Testament picture of what was coming. So, they were what?

"Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body (the Body of Christ) is of Christ."

Okay, now I hope that clarifies what we’re talking about at the Jerusalem counsel. Paul says that we’re not associated with any of these things of Judaism. We’re under a whole new ball game, and it’s as separated as anything can be. But most of Christendom keeps mixing them up. Mixing them up and the world is in confusion. All right, back to Acts chapter 15, let’s read verse 5 to pick up the flow.

Acts 15:5

"But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, (They were members of the Jerusalem church.) saying, (these Pharisees) That it was needful to circumcise them, (Paul’s converts) and to command them to keep the law of Moses. (Which I just covered in Colossians.) 6. And the apostles…" I don’t want to leave the Twelve out of this, because this is hard for people to believe that the Twelve apostles would be in such opposition to Paul’s ministry. Flagrant. Oh, maybe not up front. But they knew what these people were doing. That wasn’t all done in a corner.

You know, I had a young lady who came out of a religious system several years ago and she instantly became, I guess, one of my most avid students on her own. She came up with this tremendous thought, and I hadn’t even though it before, but it was valid. She said, "Les, didn’t the Twelve come awful close to the anathema of Galatians 1:6-9?" I’d never thought of it before. Yes, they came close. They didn’t go all the way. I’m sure they’re going to be in glory. You know what I’m talking about? No. Come back to Galatians again, because this is interesting. This is interesting. Even though they weren’t doing it directly, they were involved, or Paul wouldn’t have wanted to meet with them. But I’m sure they stopped short of it. But don’t worry, but there’s a lot of others that haven’t.

Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 - 9. I quote these verses constantly to people and especially to pastors and Bible teachers. Be careful, because the moment you add something to Paul’s Gospel of salvation, you’re under the anathema of God. And this is what she was questioning. Did the Twelve get close to this? Yes, I think they were close, but they didn’t get trapped in it. All right, here we go. Galatians 1 verse 6, where Paul writes to his Galatian believers, now, under this same set of circumstances that we’re dealing with in Acts.

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him who called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7. Which is not another; (It’s not something totally different.) but there be some that trouble you, (These false teachers that we’re dealing with in Acts 15.) and would pervert (or pollute or corrupt) the (What?) gospel of Christ." Now, how do you pollute or corrupt something? You add something to it that doesn’t belong there. I usually use the illustration, scripturally, of watering wine. It was just an easy way to produce more without any extra cost, and you could sell it for double, but it was a corrupt product. Well, that’s what they were doing with the Gospel, they were polluting it. They were adding something to it that didn’t belong. Okay?

"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Lost! Condemned. Anathema is the word in the Greek. That’s what’s waiting for people who pollute Paul’s Gospel of salvation. Now, this is frightening. I make no apology for it, this is frightening, but that’s what the Word declares, and I have to declare it. All right, then he repeats it for emphasis in verse 9.

"As we said before, so say I now again, If any (Now, the word man is italicized, it was added by the translators. But if any, man or woman or anybody…) preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, (That is from the Apostle Paul, in this particular case.) let him be accursed." That’s strong language. And people just glibly gloss over it as if to say, oh, well, it doesn’t really mean what it says. Yes, it does!!

There’s another verse in Scripture that is just as adamant. You might as well go look at it. Revelation 22 and this is just as frightening, because you can see how many people are guilty. Verse 19, got it? Don’t ever forget that this is in your Bible.

"And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Strong language? Boy, you bet it is.

Now, I’m a firm believer in the security of the true believer. You know I teach it constantly. Paul says, there is "nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ, neither death nor life nor power, principalities nor things in heaven nor things in earth, nothing can separate us from the love of God." Except, evidently, this. Because this is speaking of people whose names are in the book of life, and they’ll be taken out. I’m not the judge, God is, but the Word declares it.

Well, Paul says the same thing in Galatians, and I think this applies to preachers and teachers who are saved, but they blatantly add to the Gospel. They come under the anathema of God. Are they still under the security of the believer? I don’t know. But I would be awfully prone to think so, and consequently, you don’t know how I sweat over staying true to the Scriptures, without adding to or subtracting from, because I’m just as aware as anybody that this is anathema when you pollute or pervert the Word of God.

All right, in the few minutes we have left, come back to Acts chapter 15, because this is what we have to see so clearly in our mind, that here is one of these rightly dividing points. Jesus told the Twelve go NOT to a Gentile. To this Apostle Paul, He says, you go TO the Gentile. And in order to not have it mixed, He kept Paul from having anything to do with the Twelve until he had to meet with them to settle a problem, not to share their theology, but to settle a problem. Big difference. Okay, verse 7.

"And when there had been much disputing,..." Arguing. Yes, they argued over this, and the Twelve keep saying, "Paul, you can’t give these people this kind of a Gospel for salvation. You have to demand circumcision and keeping the Law." And Paul comes back and says, "No way will I give in!" All right, so after, who knows, half a day or more, finally Peter rose up. Now, if language means anything, I think Peter was kind of out of the whole thing. I think he was just on the sidelines listening to all the hubbub. Finally God activates him and says, "Peter, don’t you remember what happened over at the house of Cornelius twelve years ago? Don’t you remember seeing Gentiles saved without circumcision, without Law-keeping? Don’t you remember that Peter?"

"…Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago..." Now, here is a point I like to make to just show how clearly the Scripture reminds us that Peter never went beyond the house of Cornelius to the Gentiles.

He went right back to Jerusalem and picked up where he’d left off. He got condemned for doing what he did, but he never made another move to go to the Gentile world. Not a one. But twelve years later and this is why I maintain that the whole Cornelius event was to come to Paul’s defense. Oh yes, God was interested in that Roman Centurion and his soldiers, but the primary reason was to get Peter ready for this day at the Jerusalem counsel.

"…Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago (Twelve years, that’s a long time in anybody’s thinking.) God made choice among us, (That is, among the Jews, the Twelve in particular.) that the Gentiles by my mouth, (the house of Cornelius) should hear the word of the gospel, and believe." Now, we haven’t got time to go back, but if you remember the account of Peter preaching at the house of Cornelius compared to how he preached to Israel in Acts chapter 2 where the process was repent, be baptized, have the remission of sins, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. That was the process in Acts chapter 2. In that order. But in the house of Cornelius, it was reversed. While he was yet preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on those believing Romans, and then Peter says, "What hinders us from baptizing them?"

Completely reversed? Why? Because now we’re introducing the Gentiles to a whole new system of salvation. It is not through repentance and baptism and so forth, but by believing. That’s what Peter recognizes here. They heard the gospel. Now, it wasn’t Paul’s Gospel yet. We’ve got to clarify that. That hadn’t been revealed yet, but God can save them any way He wants to, and in this case, they believed Peter’s gospel that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, and when they believed it, the Holy Spirit fell on them, and they were designated in Peter’s sight as believers.

So, all of that took place so Peter, twelve years later, could come to Paul’s defense here at the Jerusalem council. So, Peter remembers, "Wait a minute. I recognize that when I was in the house of Cornelius, they didn’t do all the things that Judaism demanded. We didn’t circumcise Cornelius and his household. They didn’t agree to come under the Judaism Law." So, now he says that God’s doing something different. Logic tells me that. Now, verse 8:

"And God, who knoweth the hearts,…" You know, a lot of times I get questions, phone calls, and letters, and you know what my favorite answer is a lot of times? "Let God answer that. I can’t." That’s God’s prerogative. He’s the Sovereign One. He is once in a while going to do things that maybe we can’t figure out. He’s Sovereign. And Peter is saying the same thing. "Who am I to argue with how God is operating? He is seeing fit to save Gentiles by Paul’s Gospel alone, without Law-keeping and circumcision."

"And God, who knoweth the hearts,…" What does that mean? You and I cannot look at somebody and determine whether or not they’re truly saved. We cannot, because we can’t look on the heart. Whatever you call "heart." It’s that invisible part of us, but God can. So, Peter is using that as whatever you want to call it – a cop-out or an excuse or whatever, he said, look I can’t look on the heart, but God does.

"And God, who knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, (That is, his Roman soldiers in the house of Cornelius.) giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us;" Well, it took that to convince Peter that God was doing something totally contrary to what he had always been told. He would save Gentiles.

Now, you see, it’s hard for us to recognize the Jewish mentality concerning Gentiles. They just couldn’t accept the fact that the God of Abraham would forgive and save the pagan, immoral Gentiles, and they were. If you know anything about ancient history, they had no morality. They were worse than animals many times.

I was reading history while I was recovering from my hip surgery. I went back to Alexander the Great. He was constantly sacrificing animal after animal to his pagan gods and goddesses. Then, when he was ready to go into battle, he would just multiply it ten times over. That’s what the Apostle Paul was constantly up against.

We want to welcome all of our studio people first. I’ve always said I could never do this without a live audience, and we appreciate the fact that you’re so faithful. For those of you joining us in television, in case this is the first time you’re catching us, we’re an informal Bible study. Hopefully we’re making some headway getting people to not only understand their Bible but to enjoy it! And that’s the only reason we teach. It is to make the Bible something that is accessible, understandable, and enjoyable.

Okay, since this is a Bible study and time is precious, we’re going to jump right into our next series in the "But God or But When or But Now" and so forth. Today it’s going to be "But Whom." We’re going to go to Matthew chapter 16 and start at verse 13.

Now, I read this on the program several, several programs back. It is a statement by a Bible scholar way back in the 16^th century, the 1500’s, or about the time our King James Bible was coming about. In so many words, he said, "Whenever you open the Book, always determine to whom is it written? Who’s writing? What are the circumstances? What are the where’s, the when’s, the what for’s, and what have you’s. And then you’ll begin to get a good handle on some of these things."

So, we’re going to emphasize, now, that this is at the end of Christ’s earthly ministry. They’re up in Northern Israel. They’re up there at the headwaters of the Jordan River. That’s what is referred to here as Caesarea Philippi. In short order they’ll be making their way south to Jerusalem and the crucifixion. So, after three years of earthly ministry, we have this setting of Jesus and the Twelve. That answers a couple of the questions listed above. What’s the circumstance? It’s the end of His ministry. They’re ready to head back to Jerusalem. He knows what’s going to happen, but the Twelve don’t have a clue. So, who’s writing? Well, of course, it’s the Gospel of Matthew, so Matthew is writing it, but it’s regarding a conversation between Christ and the Twelve, particularly Peter, who is always the spokesman of the Twelve.

"When Jesus came into the borders of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" Now, I’ve got to always stop when things pop up that I hadn’t thought of before. We get questions every once in a while, "Why is Christ sometimes referred to as the Son of man and other times the Son of God?" Well, He was both.

Luke uses the term Son of Man almost entirely, because Luke speaks of His humanity. On the other hand, John is going to usually use the term the Son of God, because he speaks of His Deity. Always remember that these terms are synonymous with the two roles that Christ played. He was Deity. He was God. He could control nature. He could raise people from the dead. But on the other hand, He was human and He suffered the various human frailties that we all do. He got hungry. He got tired. In this particular case, He says, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" But it’s still speaking of God the Son or Jesus the Christ.

"And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." Now again, let’s stop and analyze this a minute. After three years of miracle after miracle after miracle, you want to remember the ones recorded are only just a sampling. In fact, let’s look at the last verse of John’s Gospel. I think that must be the clearest point on this, that we only get a sampling of His miracles and signs and wonders. The last verse of John’s Gospel, that would be John 21 verse 25. I would like to think that most people know this verse is here, but on the other hand maybe they don’t. This is what the Spirit led John to say, and so this must be true.

"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Now imagine! In other words, I have to think that almost constantly, every day, for three years, He was performing some sort of a sign, or wonder, or miracle. It was constant. And yet, now come back to Matthew, after three years of that, the rank and file of Israel didn’t have a clue as to who He was. They were trying to connect Him with some of the Old Testament prophets? Or maybe John the Baptist, who’d been beheaded some time back, maybe he’s come back to life? They were totally without a clue.

All right, so now the Lord comes back and addresses the Twelve, "Well, are you any better than the rank and file of Israel? Being with me every day for three years, has it made an impact on you?" All right, here’s the answer, and Peter is the spokesman. In verse 15 Jesus said:

"He saith unto them, But whom…" And that’s where I’m picking up the "But." Here we’ve got the first side of the coin, how after all of His signs and wonders and miracles the average citizen of Israel still had no idea whom He was, or why He was here. But the twelve, or eleven of them, at least, got it. So, Jesus says:

"…but whom say ye that I am? 16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Now again, we’ve got to stop. What’s the original term for Christ? Messiah!

Now, if you know anything about even the Jew today, even to a degree the secular element in Israel, but especially the Orthodox and the various other segments of Judaism, what are they looking for? The Messiah. Absolutely! For the last two thousand years what has been on the lips of every Jew who has any concept of Scripture whatsoever? What’s constantly on their lips, especially after they finish their prayer time? "Next year, Jerusalem!" Well, what are they thinking? The Messiah! The Messiah was everything. He not only would bring peace and prosperity and everything to the Nation of Israel, but He would also bring righteousness. He would not just be a ruling Messiah from a King’s point of view; He would also be the Redeemer.

So, this is all in their thinking, and that’s all wrapped up in that word Messiah. It was a crucial word in Israel’s language. That’s what Peter’s referring to. "Thou art the Messiah!" And what was the Messiah to be? A person of the Godhead. And what person of the Godhead was Israel familiar with ever since Abraham? Well, God the Son. The other term was Jehovah. This is the whole crux of the matter. You are the Promised Messiah and as such, you are the Son of God! What’s implied, then? You’re our Redeemer. Okay, and then the next verse.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon…" Now, what’s that telling him? You’ve got it all wrong? No, quite the opposite. The Lord is putting His stamp of approval on Peter’s statement, and not only was it a statement, it was a profession of his saving faith.

Peter was saved under the Gospel of the Kingdom. When we start separating the Gospel of the Kingdom from the Gospel of Grace and the Church Age, the question comes in constantly, what’s the difference between the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of Grace? Well, this is the Gospel of the Kingdom. But now don’t stop with just this one statement. What else was common everyday practice in the nation of Israel? The temple worship. They’re living under the Law. They’re under Judaism as we call it, and that included the food and dietary laws. It included all the civil laws of how they got along with each other in the neighborhood and so forth. It also included everything with regard to the temple worship, the feast days, whatever. Never in three years time did Jesus tell them to lay those things aside. They still practiced Judaism, but now along with that they were to believe who He was.

You remember how I’ve stressed over the last 15 years on television that the whole purpose of His signs and wonders and miracles was to prove to Israel who He was. They didn’t have a clue about Him going to a cross yet. In fact, let me show you that from Scripture. Move up from Matthew to Luke 18 and drop down to verse 31.

It’s been a long time since we’ve used this, at least on our program. Since our last taping, when I ended up in Galatians chapter 2, I’ve had to debate for the last four weeks, or three weeks, whatever it’s been, whether I should go back and finish Galatians chapter 2 or if I should just move on to another "But…whatever." Well, I decided I’d probably get to Galatians chapter 2 sooner or later anyway. So, I stopped there, and today we’re going to move on to another concept.

All right, since last taping I have read three distinct, different well-known men in Christendom, Bible teachers, Bible conference preachers and what have you. All three of them made the same statement – "There has never been more than one gospel. Paul preached the same gospel that Peter preached, but maybe from a little different perspective." I’m going to beg to differ. Maybe this humble, uneducated farmer shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to. I’m going to differ with them. They are totally wrong. There has been, in the past, two gospels – The Gospel of the Kingdom, preached by Jesus and the Twelve to Israel. And then during the same period of time, not for long, but for a few years, Paul’s Gospel of Grace, bringing the Gentile world into what we call salvation now by faith and faith alone.

But Peter is still dealing with the Nation of Israel, and I’m going to show you how his message doesn’t change. The emphasis is not on death, burial, and resurrection; it’s on the person. Who is He? Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? He’s not just a carpenter’s son. He’s the Messiah. He’s the Redeemer. He’s going to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He’s God!

All right, they didn’t have a clue about a death, burial, and resurrection. Luke 18 - we’ll start at verse 31. This is so explicitly plain. This isn’t gobbledy gook. Now, I know that there are some verses in here that are hard to explain. I had one call yesterday and it was a tough one to explain. But this isn’t. This is plain and simple.

"Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them,…" Now this is about in the same time frame that we just read in Matthew 16. They’re up in Northern Israel, and they’re making their way to Jerusalem in time for the feast of Passover, but it’s really going to be the crucifixion.

"…Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets (We’re going to be looking at them this afternoon.) concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished." They’re going to be fulfilled. Now, look at verse 32. Here’s His Deity. He knew what was coming. He could have named every Roman soldier that would have anything to do with Him. He could have named every Jew who would be in that crowd scornfully mocking Him. All right, so He says, speaking of Himself now.

"For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, (Rome) and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33. And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again." Plain and simple? Every bit of that was fulfilled, you know that! That’s not gobbledy gook that takes some seminary professor to explain it. It’s plain English. He knew what was coming. But look at the next verse.

"And they (the Twelve) understood none of these things: and this saying was (What?) hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." In other words, did they have any idea after He got through speaking that He was going to be crucified in a few days? No. Excuse me, I just keep using it over and over – they didn’t have a clue! They had no idea that anything else was coming except He was going to be bringing in this promised glorious Kingdom for Israel. That’s all they’ve got on their mind, and I’m going to show you that, but not an idea of death, burial, and resurrection.

All right, we are not going to take the time to go back and look at Paul’s definition of the Gospel of salvation in this Age of Grace that we’re now in, and we find that in I Corinthians 15. But the whole core of the Gospel of Grace is that this same Son of Man, or Son of God, Jesus the Christ, is going to do what? He’s going to be crucified and shed His blood. He’s going to be buried and He’s going to rise from the dead. That’s our Gospel of salvation, and what we must believe!

And then these people try to tell me there’s no difference between what Peter professed in Matthew, "Thou art the Christ," and Paul’s Gospel of faith in the death, burial, and resurrection? Come on! You don’t need that kind of an education to understand the difference. It’s as different as daylight and dark. Peter never preaches faith in the death, burial, and resurrection for salvation for the whole world, because that was hid from them. He just keeps telling Israel over and over that you crucified the promised Messiah. Repent of it, because God has raised Him from the dead, and He can still fulfill all those promises.

That’s the only reason he spoke of resurrection, that the One that they had killed was alive. Because, after all, you can’t have someone who is dead rule and reign. You can’t have someone who is dead do anything for you spiritually, so what was Peter’s emphasis? He’s been raised from the dead. He’s alive. He’s still the God of Israel. Repent of it! That’s why Peter emphasizes repentance. Repent of having rejected your Messiah, but Israel would not.

All right, now while we’re going that direction, let’s keep going to the right. Go to Romans chapter 15, and then we’re going to go back to Genesis. This is another verse that I’ve used often over the years, but it’s been a while now. Romans 15 verse 8. This is the Apostle Paul’s description of Christ in His earthly ministry. Look how plainly this puts it.

"Now I say that Jesus Christ (Jesus the Messiah) was (past tense verb) a minister of the circumcision (Which is another name for Israel in Scripture. He was a minister of the Nation of Israel.) for the truth of God,…" Not something that Paul dreamed up. Not something that the Jews were just falsely acclaiming. No, this was a God-given truth, that He was the minister of Israel. But for what purpose?

"…to confirm (or fulfill) the promises made unto (Whom?) the fathers:" Way back there in the beginning of Israel’s history. Now put that together. Why did Christ come? He came to fulfill all those promises concerning Himself. And Israel couldn’t get it. Now, I’ve got another verse for that. Come back with me to I Corinthians chapter 2, verses 7 and 8.

"But we (Now of course, I’ve said this over and over. Paul often times uses the plural pronoun ‘we’ when he’s in reality speaking of himself.) speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, (In other words, in a format of things that have never been revealed before.) even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:" Over and over that goes back to this concept that God knew everything before He ever created anything. Here’s another one of them: that this wisdom which God was going to impart to this man was known before anything was ever created. All right, now verse 8.

"Which (In other words, this wisdom and understanding of God and His purposes-) none of the princes of this world knew:…" Now, isn’t that simple enough? All of these things that pertain to God’s purposes for the human race, all the way up to who Jesus Christ really was, did they know it? No.

None of the princes of this world knew who He was. All you’ve got to do is go back to the Gospel accounts and read the night of His trial, the stupid questions they were asking that they should have known. That’s why I won’t watch press conferences. I can’t stand the stupid questions from these reporters. It just burns me up. But they were no different back here in Christ’s time. "Are you who you say you are?" He replied, "Thou sayest." And then they come right back and say, "Are you a king of Israel?" Ridiculous. But did they know? No, they didn’t know. Read it again.

"Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, (naturally) they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." Now you remember, old Pilate got an inkling at the last moment, but it was too late, He was already up there on the cross. But for the most part, Israel’s leadership, political as well as religious, didn’t know who He was. The rank and file of Israel didn’t know who He was, and so they crucified Him. Because He was an impostor. He was a derelict. He was somebody that shouldn’t even be permitted to walk in their midst.

Okay, four minutes left, we might as well go back and take a start, and we’re going to probably spend a good bit of the afternoon on this. Go back with me to Genesis chapter 3, and we’re going to see from various, not all by any means, but we’re going to see from various Old Testament passages what Peter was referring to when he said, "Thou art the Christ." Now don’t forget, how did Peter get the understanding of who He was? God revealed it to him. He said, "Peter, flesh and blood hasn’t done this for you. My Father which is in heaven has revealed it." In other words, revealed who He was.

Well, it’s no different today. Not a one of us can be saved without the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit. It’s a must. But you want to remember that back in those days the Holy Spirit wasn’t operating as He does today. Jesus could rightfully say that God the Father was the One who enlightened Peter as to who Jesus really was.

All right, come back to Genesis chapter 3. We’re going to have the very beginning of God’s scarlet thread of redemption that runs from Genesis to Revelation. You never lose it. It’s always someplace. Even in a book like Esther, where God’s name is never mentioned, you can still see that scarlet thread of redemption as it pertained especially to Israel and now as it’s come on to the Gentile world.

Now again, always remember, Paul wrote in Romans chapter 3 verses 1 and 2, and this is the verse I’ve always used when people call or write and ask, "Was Luke a Jew or a Gentile?" Well, I say he was Jew. And I have to use Scripture to prove that. That Scripture is Romans 3:1-2.

"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2. Much every way: chiefly, (This is the number one reason that Israel is so blessed above all the people’s of the world.) because that unto them (the Nation of Israel) were committed the oracles (or Word) of God." That’s been Israel’s privileged role. Every word of this Book was written by a Jew, and that’s why Paul said we should be looking up to them. We should be concerned about them, because they’ve given us everything that’s of most importance to us.

All right, so back here in Genesis, and we’ve only got a couple of minutes left, back in Genesis chapter 3, and you know the account. Adam and Eve have partaken of the forbidden fruit, they’ve been cast out of the garden and now, of course, God deals with old Satan himself. Verse 15, for sake of time. God is telling Satan, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman."

Now, I’m going to have to stop here. I haven’t got enough time to do it justice. But over the years as I’ve taught this verse, I have struggled with this word "woman" in Genesis 3:15. I mean struggled. I’ve had a hard time explaining what was He really talking about. Now, I’m not going to start with only one minute left, but I’m going to kill this minute by just looking at it.

"I will put enmity (I will put a source of constant confrontation) between thee (Now he’s talking to Satan, remember.) and the woman, and between thy seed (In other words, all the satanic demonic powers and/or the offspring or the cohorts with Satan, his angelic demons and so forth.) and her seed: (That is the seed of the woman.) it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Now, of course, the reference is to the cross. When through the manipulating of Satan, working on the masses, working on Israel’s leadership, working through Pilate, and so forth, He (Christ) suffered and died. But at the same time, through that death, burial, and resurrection, what did Christ do with Satan? Utterly defeated him. That’s what I would refer to as the power of the resurrection. That’s where Satan was totally and completely defeated.

It is good to see everybody once again. You had a good long break that time, so those of you in the studio can be turning back to where we left off in