Grace Christian Fellowship
February 12 & 14, 2003
Gospel of the Kingdom vs. Gospel of Grace
The Bible is our history book and
God is the author. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews
12:2. Jesus endured the Cross for the
salvation of man, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father until He
makes His enemies His footstool. He will meet His church in the clouds when the
rapture takes place, then God will continue His prophetic program with Israel
and the tribulation will begin.
Paul is unique and distinct from
the twelve apostles because he is associated with us, the Church Age, The
Mystery, the Dispensation of Grace. All
the Bible is written for me to learn from but not all is written to me. It
is important to understand the difference between Paul’s ministry and the 12
apostles ministry:
·
Paul’s calling was a heavenly one, he was not taught by man on earth.
·
He was given the revelation of the mystery doctrine hidden from the Old
Testament writers.
· Paul was responsible and
accountable for the doctrine given to him by the ascended Lord in heaven. Paul
is our apostle. The Church age began with Paul.
·
Paul taught the Cross as our glory.
·
We are saved in this age by faith alone in Christ alone.
·
We are all one body Jew and Gentile alike.
· This is the dispensation of grace.
In this age, grace is manifested in the fullest. Each age had grace, but not to the degree this age has.
·
No water baptism in this age.
· We can add no works to salvation.
It is a free gift. Jesus paid the sin debt in full. All we have to do is
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is all you have to do.
Paul had a stewardship, which was
the management of the dispensation of grace. God works through the different
dispensations. 2 Tim 2:15 There are divisions in the word of God. Dispensation
simply means that God has split history up into ages/different periods where
man received different revelations from God. Please get the chart for a
formal definition of dispensation.
In every dispensation, God reveals something and man is given a certain
amount of time to respond. God has
split human history up into different dispensations. Each dispensation has its
own uniqueness. We must learn this and not overlap different dispensations or
we will get confused. We live in the dispensation of grace. Paul is uniquely
our Apostle to learn from in this dispensation of grace today.
There are differences between the dispensation
given to Israel and the revelations given to the Church Age:
·
Israel had a temple. The Church Age doesn’t have a temple. Our temple is our body. Those who are born again make up the body of
Christ.
·
The Church has no
routine sacrificing of lambs on an altar in the temple. Jews had to offer a sacrificial lamb. The
Church Age lamb was sacrificed at the Cross once and for all. Jesus shed His
blood for us and was our sacrifice on Calgary’s Cross.
·
Israel has an
earthly kingdom as promised by God to the Jews. The Church Age has a heavenly
kingdom, a heavenly calling, and a heavenly citizenship.
·
The Church is not
under the law and rituals, do’s and don’ts.
The Jewish people had rituals to perform and they lived by the law. The
Church Age is under grace.
We need to understand dispensations so we will
know God’s plan and purpose for us. God has given in His word His plan and
purpose. God wants us to see the pattern in the daily events going on around us
and apply the doctrine we have learned to the events going on now. Remember
the key to understanding the Bible is this: All of the Bible is written for
me but not all of the Bible was written to me. We can learn about God through
the OT, but we cannot apply the laws and rituals of that dispensation to our
lives today.
Note: Acts 17:10-12, John 5:39 Read the KJB daily. Start with Genesis. Read 3 chapters daily until you finish
Genesis. Then read 3 chapters from the
NT starting with Mathew. If you are faithful, the Holy Spirit will reveal
things to you and you will be amazed how your spiritual life will improve. You
will always need the teaching of your right Pastor Teacher. When you are going
through trials the Holy Spirit will lead you to the exact passages to help you
with problems. The more you read the Bible, the more the Holy Spirit speaks to
your soul. You will miss out on great blessings by not reading the Bible. Let
God speak to you. You will have a fantastic relationship with God and also a
fantastic best friend who will never leave your side.
Every dispensation is going to show mans old
sin nature, which is rotten and corrupt. The only thing that can save man and
give man hope is the grace of God. Through a new birth we become new creatures
the moment we believe in Jesus Christ. We now have a new nature; we are now out
of Adam and in Christ. We will live with God forever. Salvation is permanent.
We can not lose salvation. But we can fall out of fellowship by sinning. One of
the most wonderful blessings of the Church Age is that when we sin, we can
confess our sins to God the Father and be put back into fellowship with Him. 1Tim 1:11-16, 1Tim 2:5-7 We must know
where we fit in God's plan for our dispensation, so we can understand why
things are happening in our world today, and what is coming next. The Bible
strengthens our soul structure and we will not fear what others in the world
fear, because we know God is in control and He protects His children.
There are 8 dispensations distinguished in the
scriptures. Be sure to pick up a listing.
1
Innocence - this
is the period of time from creation to the fall of Adam.
·
It was marked by perfect
environment on earth. Adam and Eve
spoke with The Lord Jesus Christ daily and walked with Him.
Special message: Perfect environment does not guarantee
happiness. The only guarantee for happiness is trusting Jesus and God the
Father. Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. When we know Jesus we can
be in the mist of problems and hopeless situations and still have the peace of
God knowing God is in complete control working all things together for good. Rom 8:28 Even if we face death today,
we know heaven would be our home.
·
fellowship with
TLJC personally,
·
not sure how long
it lasted.
2
Conscience - this
is the period of time from the fall of Adam to the flood.
·
man was to live
by his moral nature
·
innocent blood
needed to be shed for forgiveness of sin. Cain offered fruit to the Lord. God
found the sacrifice unacceptable. Abel offered the blood sacrifice of the lamb,
which was acceptable to God. Abel believed by faith in God’s word and promises.
Cain rejected God’s way of salvation. The blood sacrifice of the lamb was a
symbol of the blood sacrifice Jesus would make on the cross. God was going to
destroy the whole world to end sin, except for 8 people, Noah and his family.
Noah told the people to repent, but they rejected the message. Satan infiltrated
the world with angelic beings that had sex with women and started a race of
hybrids, half-angelic and half-human. God sent the flood to destroy the world.
Man has failed once again.
3
Human Government
- this is the period of time from the flood to the Tower of Babel.
·
man was to govern
himself.
·
Nimrod,
forerunner of the antichrist, gets the world together to build the Tower of
Babel which was a religious temple built to worship Nimrod.
·
Satan’s first
attempt at a New World order, only one language spoken. God came down from
heaven and confused the language. The people could not understand one another.
God scattered the people all over the world and broke up Satan’s attempt at a
one-world order. The whole gentile world rejected God’s authority over them.
Once again man has failed.
4
Promise
·
God makes a
promise to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation of Israel.
·
God now turns His
attention to a man named Abraham who God chose to be the father of a new
nation.
·
God gave Abraham
specific promises, which God was going to fulfill for Abraham and his
descendants.
·
From him will
come a great nation and many descendants who will inherit the land of Caanan.
5
Israel/Law
·
Law, rituals
of OT Judaism given in the Mosaic
Covenant governing worship and social life of Israel.
·
John the Baptist
came to prepare the way for the Messiah. John baptized with water for the
forgiveness of sins.
·
John’s ministry
was over. Jesus begins His by choosing the 12 apostles who would learn from Him
and who would teach the Jews about the kingdom at hand.
·
Jesus dies on the
Cross as the sacrificial lamb for the forgiveness of sins. All things are ready
for a genuine offer of the Kingdom.
·
Kingdom was
rejected.
·
Jews stone
Stephen and rejected God. God sets Israel aside for an age
·
temple is
destroyed in 70 AD by Titus.
·
God is no longer
dealing with Israel in this Age.
6
Grace - this is
the period of time from Paul to the rapture of the Church
·
Paul is called to
be the 13th apostle with a unique mystery revelation. An ascended
Lord gave Paul’s ministry to him. His message was grace.
·
Jesus calls His
church to meet Him in the clouds. This is called the Rapture of the Church. All
who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be saved.
7
Tribulation -
this is the period of time from the rapture to the 2nd Advent
·
God is once again
dealing with Israel. God returns to his prophetic program for Israel.
·
Satan will send
the antichrist and there will be one world order.
·
Those who believe
in Jesus will be saved and those who do not believe and take the mark will burn
in the lake of fire.
·
The Second Advent
begins when Jesus comes back to earth to rule; delivering Jews and exalting
Israel.
8
Millennium
·
1,000 year
kingdom when Jesus reigns
·
TLJC fulfills all
the promises given to Israel.
·
Ends Satan’s
final rebellion.
Note:
Remember there has to be a crisis
to cause a one-world order where marshal law would be accepted. The rapture
will probably be that crisis. UFO’s that we hear about today are demonic beings
that are sent from another dimension, another sphere. They are not green aliens
with space ships from outer space.
Titus
1:1-3, 2Tim 3:10 It is important to trust Jesus today. Eph 3:1-9 Paul states he has been given a dispensation. He is to “manage” the grace of God. “…he made known unto me the mystery,…” It wasn’t shown to man prior to Paul but is
now revealed. This mystery is no where
in the OT. Strict practices and
doctrines we are to follow come from the epistles. Paul is preaching an entirely new message. He isn’t picking up where the 12 apostles
left off. There was something totally
different and unique to Paul’s message.
Unique to the Church Age. Pastor
Teachers need to emphasize mystery doctrine.
Baptism wasn’t part of Paul’s commission and it
just wasn’t that important to his commission. 1Cor 1:14-17 Water can’t
save. Only blood can save, Heb9:22. Paul’s message is a message of grace, Eph 2: 1-9. It is a
gift. We can’t do anything to earn
it. It is all about what God did. It has nothing to do with what we do. Baptism belongs to the gospel of the kingdom
given to Israel. Grace belongs to the
CA. We, CA believers, need to be
trained in the message of Paul, which is grace.
God’s purpose for our life is to take weak and
frail creatures like us and bless us here in Satan’s world. God wants His
people to accept His grace and live by His wisdom and power and follow the plan
He has for our life. We have a great calling. God wants to make something
fantastic out of us as we grow in grace and study His word. As we learn His
word and execute His plan we must relay on God’s divine power not human good or
human wisdom. Eph 3:10-12
When we understand why we are here and the
Pre-designed Plan of God for our life, we will have confidence knowing we have
a sovereign God who is in control. God has a specific calling for our life. If
I understand God’s plan and purpose I will have confidence and boldness. Stand by faith. God wants to do
fantastic things with our life. By His grace He will conform us into the image
of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.