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Bible Study: Lutz, Florida
Rightly
Dividing the Word of Truth
2
Timothy 2:15
Is there more than
one gospel in effect today?
Part
XVI
The
Covenant Gospel and Paul’s Gospel of Grace
1 Timothy 2
5: For there is one
God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
We’re
here to study God’s Word, so let’s get to it.
But
first let me make one of my teaching points clear.
I
am not saying the Apostle Paul is the 2nd Moses - o.k.?
The
ministries of these two men are as different as daylight is to darkness.
I
am saying there are “similarities” between these two men that are noticeable,
if you take the time to examine their lives and their particular calling; and
that’s all.
Moses
and Paul for example were both educated men and men of means at one time in
their lives; but God could not use them in that state. Obviously God found both Moses and Paul
insufficient for His purposes. However,
both Paul and Moses were made sufficient by God's
grace despite their insufficiency.
In
the last Bible lesson, I left off comparing the Apostle Paul’s receiving “the
gospel,” according to the revelation of the mystery, which had
been kept secret for long ages past (Romans 16:25), to Moses
receiving the Mosaic Law on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 31:18).
Moses
and the Apostle Paul were called to service and taught their specific and unique “Divine Orderings” or management of human affairs in the
world (a.k.a. dispensations) by the same person of the Holy Trinity; the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Some
review is in order for those who may be joining us for the very first time but
it’s also educationally healthy for all of us to review our studies from time
to time.
Repetition
is the best teacher of all.
Moses
The
LORD God gave the system of laws and commandments to Moses and told him to
teach them to the nation of Israel (Deuteronomy 6:1-2).
What
you may not be aware of is this.
The
Sinai Covenant or Mosaic Law was between the LORD God and the nation of Israel
only. Gentiles were excluded. But don’t take my word for it.
We
will go to Scripture to see what the book says.
Psalms 127
19: He (the LORD God) declares His words to Jacob (another
name for the nation of Israel), His
statutes and His ordinances to Israel.
20: (Read carefully) He (the LORD God) has not dealt thus with any nation; And
as for His ordinances, they (all other nations) have not known them.
Praise the LORD !
No
need for a seminary education to decipher that Bible message.
It
says what it means and means what it says folks.
But
in this ministry we compare Scripture with Scripture.
Never
build your defense or your principle on just one line or verse from the Bible.
Romans 9
4: who are the
Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the (what is the next
word) covenants and the giving of
the Law and the temple service and the promises
5: whose are the
fathers (Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob), and from whom is the
Christ (the Messiah) according to
the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever, Amen.
We’ll
take the time to examine one more before we move on.
Ephesians 2
11: Therefore
remember that formerly you, the (who) Gentiles
in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” (or
the Jews) which is performed in the
flesh by human hands –
12: remember that
you were (past
tense) at that time separate from
Christ, excluded (Now what does excluded mean? It
means the same thing today as it meant back in the day. Before the dispensation of God’s Grace and
the apostleship of Paul, Gentiles were excluded from) the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise,
having (read carefully please) no
hope and without God in the world.
The message above came
right from the Bible. You may not like
it.
Some of you may not
agree with it. But it’s in your
Bible. So you have to deal with it.
The
Mosaic Law was given to Moses and then Moses was commanded to teach this system
of laws to the nation of Israel. The
Israelites, in turn, were commanded to teach these laws to their children down
through the generations for all time. The
nation of Israel agreed to do all that that the LORD God commanded (Exodus
19:3-8).
The
Sinai Covenant is both a conditional covenant and an everlasting covenant
between the LORD God and the nation of Israel because it is linked to the Abrahamic Covenant (See Genesis 12;
15).
The
Apostle Paul
Without
a doubt we know far more about where and when Moses received the Law from the
LORD God at Mt. Sinai then we do about the Apostle Paul receiving “the gospel,”
according to the revelation of the mystery (Romans 16:25) from the risen Lord.
Anything
we suggest concerning this is pure speculation because Scripture is silent.
Paul
received his revelation from the risen Lord because this is exactly what the
Bible says. It is not my
interpretation. Check it out.
Galatians 1
11: For I would
have you (insert
your name here) know brethren, that
the (note: Paul uses the word “the”
here and not the word “a” with purpose. Study
the book of Galatians and you’ll find that the Apostle Paul warns the church in
Galatia about those who attempt to distort the gospel he preached to them) gospel which was preached by me is not
according to man.
12: For I
neither received it from man, nor was I taught it (Paul is saying he
did not receive “the gospel” from any man and this includes the twelve
apostles), but I received it through
a revelation of (who exactly) Jesus
Christ.
When
the Scriptures want us to know (and understand) something the information is clearly
written, as it is above.
I’ve
said this before many times and I’ll keep saying it until the Lord hauls me out
of here:
The
Bible may not tell us everything we WANT to know, but the Bible does
tell us everything we NEED to know.
Amen.
Sometimes
you have to search this book to find the answers and sometimes the answer you
seek is surrounded in mystery. In other
words, the Bible is silent.
Case
in point: the Apostle Paul’s unexplained absence in the wilderness of Arabia.
I
recommend leaving Bible mysteries right where you find them.
Speculating
on the Biblical unknown is just a bad idea from the start.
However,
there is absolutely nothing wrong with discussing these Bible mysteries in your
small groups. Just be respectful of your
peers in doing so.
We
can’t say for certain when or where the Apostle Paul received “the gospel” from
the Lord Jesus Christ but it’s safe to say it happened sometime between
37-41AD.
What
we do know is that the Apostle Paul wrote most of the New Testament.
There
are 27 books in the N.T. The Apostle
Paul wrote 14 of these.
And
a great deal of the book of Acts is devoted to Paul and his missionary
journeys.
The
directions for Christian living are found in the Apostle Paul’s epistles and nowhere
else. In fact, if you remove his letters
from the Bible, all Grace-Age doctrines disappear.
·
For
instance, if you were to take Paul's Epistles out of the Bible, you cannot find
anything about the Church, the Body of Christ, for no other apostle mentions
the Body of Christ.
· You
cannot find one of the great mysteries, such as the Rapture of the Church (1
Thessalonians 4; 1 Corinthians 15) or the mystery of the present hardening of
Israel (Romans 11).
· No
other apostle speaks of any of those mysteries.
Paul alone reveals them—the great doctrines such as Justification, Redemption, Sanctification.
Paul alone reveals them—the great doctrines such as Justification, Redemption, Sanctification.
· And
what is perhaps the most tremendous fact of every real Christian's life, that
of his personal union to the Lord in glory.
The great doctrines that Paul reveals may be outlined as follows—
1. The unrighteousness before God of all men.
2. The impossibility of justification by works before God—that is, of any man's attaining a standing of righteousness before God, by anything done by him. Do what a man may, he is a condemned sinner still.
3. The fact and the scripturalness of righteousness on the free gift principle—that is, of a Divine righteousness, separate from all man's doings, conferred upon man as a free gift from God.
4. Propitiation. That satisfaction of God's Holy nature and law for man's sins rendered by Christ's blood.
5. Reconciliation. The removal for man by Christ's death of that obstacle to righteousness which man's sin had set up between God and man.
6. The plan of the actual conferring of the gift of righteousness upon all who believe, without any distinction. This change of a sinner's standing before God, from one of condemnation to one of righteousness, is called Justification. Negatively, it is deliverance from guilt on account of Christ's shed blood, and deliverance out of the old creation, by identification in death with Christ on the Cross. Positively, it is a new standing in the risen Christ before God.
7. Redemption. The buying back of the soul through the blood of Christ from sin from the curse of the law—even death involving exclusion from God, under penalty; from the "power of death," which involves the hand of the enemy; and from all iniquity.
8. Forgiveness. The going forth of Divine tenderness in remitting penalty for sin, in view of the blood of Christ trusted in; and in complacency and fellowship, to creatures who before were necessarily under Divine judgment.
9. Remission of sins. That is the actual removing of transgressions or trespasses from the sinner, so that for all time and eternity his sins shall not again be upon him.
10. Identification (see above, Justification). The great fact that those who are in Christ were united with Him at the Cross, by God's sovereign inscrutable act; were crucified with Christ and buried with Him; so that their history is now ended before God; and when Christ was raised up as the First-born of the new creation, they also were raised up with Him, and their history began as new creatures in God's sight, in Christ, the Last Adam.
Of course, in the experience of the Christian, there comes a time when he is actually made partaker of this new life—that point of time when he is, as we say, saved,
or converted, or born again, etc. Nevertheless, the life that is in every Christian came up out of the tomb and it is in Christ Jesus that a man is created anew.
11. Incorporation. This tremendous doctrine Paul alone mentions and he makes it practically the foundation of all his exhortations to the saints with regard to their conduct and life. By "incorporation" we mean the fact that all those who are really saved and are new creatures in Christ Jesus become members of one organism, which is more real than the very earth we tread upon, called "the Body of Christ"—Christ Himself in heaven being the Head of this Body, and every real Christian a member of it. So that believers are thus members of Christ in heaven, and also member’s one of another here on earth. No wonder Paul is able to exhort the saints to love one another when they are members one of another (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12; and Ephesians 4.)
12. Inhabitation. The wonderful fact that the Body of Christ and each member of it individually is inhabited, indwelt, by the Holy Spirit Himself, and not only so, but that the Church is being "built together" as a great temple of God so that in the future God's actual eternal dwelling place will be this wonderful, mysterious company built into a building called "a holy habitation of God in the Spirit."
This mystery is a great and marvelous one, the fact that we are saved, are partakers now of the life of the Lord in glory, that the Holy Spirit indwells us.
13. Divine Exhibition. That is, that through the Church, in the ages to come, is to be made known that which God counts His "riches," even His Grace (Eph 2:7; 3:10).
These 13 doctrines of the Apostle Paul were borrowed from “Paul’s Gospel” written by, William R. Newell
The failure or refusal to discern the Pauline Gospel as a
separate and new revelation and not a "development from Judaism,"
accounts for two-thirds of the confusion in many people's minds today as
regards just what the Gospel is. William
R. Newell
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
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