The Dispensations (07/08/2001)

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Pastor David Mitchell

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Turn with me this morning to first Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 16 Please we're going to continue our study on the proper
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Bible interpretation and we're talking about that aspect of interpretation that deals with Dispensational considerations, so we're going to talk a little bit about the dispensations today and I Want to speak to you about a couple of things the principle of dispensations in the
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Bible language In other words, this is a biblical principle and in number two fact the dispensational difference differences deal with Have more to do with the change of application than they do with an annulment of truth a lot of people believe if you're a dispensationalist, it means that something that's true in one dispensation goes away and and Such as give you an example that that the
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Old Testament is law and the New Testament's grace Well, if you're not careful you'll oversimplify that and you'll think that there's no law in the
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New Testament and no grace in the Old Testament and that's not true. So We'll deal with these issues.
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Let's have a word of prayer and we'll begin Father we thank you so much for Your presence with us and we ask you to teach us today the sense of these scriptures and Lord help us
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If we know someone that's not here today to share some of this information with them father
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We pray that you'll use the teaching on proper interpretation To guard our church against false doctrine and to guard us against evil spirits
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Teaching spirits who might teach us other Gospels and other doctrines and father
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We pray that that you would teach us sound principles That we might do as you said in the scriptures and reason together, but use proper reasoning skills that you teach us and that we might have wisdom from above and Lord, we thank you for your word and we ask you to teach it to us at this time.
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Amen let's look at a at the Concept of dispensations from the point of view of Bible language for a few moments.
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Look at 1st Corinthians 9 16 We see a place where the word is actually found and let's see the connection in the context here 1st
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Corinthians 9 16 says for though I preach the gospel I have nothing to glory of for necessity is laid upon me.
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Yay. Whoa is into me if I preach not the gospel For if I do this thing willingly,
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I have a reward but if against my will a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me and this phrase a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me introduces the concept of Paul's terminology of the fact that there is a dispensation of the gospel
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Jesus talked about the gospel of the kingdom Paul talked about the gospel and in many places told exactly what he his definition the gospel actually
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Was he he put it in a nutshell that it means that Christ died
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For our sins was buried for our sins and rose again that we might have newness of life and To me the gospel the word gospel means good news.
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The good news is we can't save ourselves The good news is the salvation is not by works of the law or by acts of righteousness because if it were we would fail
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That is the good news. And so he calls this the dispensation of the gospel Now this word
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Dispensation we might as well take this one this place where we find it to stop and take a look at it
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It is a word that literally means the administration of a household the administration of a householder in the state
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Or a stewardship if you had been given the stewardship of a household or an estate now notice in verse 17 that the
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Apostle Paul Says that this dispensation of the gospel is committed unto Me that word committed is very important because what it teaches us is that when we have a dispensation
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It is in fact a stewardship and there is responsibility That is attached to it we are to be a good steward of it and so we start to see that these are parts of the definition of what a dispensation is now turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3 and let's look at another one
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While you're turning there be chapter 3 verse 1 while you're turning there this word for dispensation
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It comes from a Greek root word Which literally is translated three different ways in the
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New Testament Chamberlain governor and steward so we start to see what the root meaning of the word is now in Ephesians 3 1 for this cause
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I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles if ye have heard of The dispensation of the grace of God now
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Paul gives it a slightly different name The names of the dispensations by the way are not important at all.
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What's important is that we understand the the concept of The new revelation that God has brought into the world which is usually the mark of a new dispensation
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But he calls this the dispensation of the grace of God now you could combine that with the one we had previously and just call it the dispensation of the gospel of grace
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Because Paul has called it both In these two places, but notice once again in verse 2 remember however in the other passage
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It said it was committed to him in this verse. It says it is given me to you word you see how that's a stewardship
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It's a responsibility that he has because he is living in this dispensation Whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ we begin to see additional
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Concepts and the idea of what a dispensation is Focus on this word mystery for a moment and verse 5 says which in other ages was not made known that's a great part of a definition of what a dispensation is a
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Dispensation is not really a time period but it always includes a time period because we live in time so there is a point in time when
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God gives new or additional revelation or additional understanding of a
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Concept that's previously been given But that might have been a mystery in ages previous to this particular age when he brings it to pass
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And it might even be something that they looked into but they couldn't really understand it but they kind of were aware of it and Such as the case of the gospel
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The mystery what some people call the church age Christ in us the hope of glory
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It was a mystery that the prophets of old looked into but they couldn't quite understand it well there came a point in time when
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God brought the understanding and he did it during the three years when the Apostle Paul was out in the wilderness in the desert and Spent time with Jesus Christ and Jesus taught him these truths.
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This is when this mystery was revealed to mankind on the planet Jesus began the revelation, but He himself said that there are things
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I have not told you while I'm here with you because you can't understand them I will go to the father. I will send another comforter and when he comes he'll bring to your room your memorance from your memory
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Things that I told you but I'll also teach you in detail these truths so there were many of these truths that he didn't teach till after he ascended into heaven as the
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Holy Spirit and dwelt his people and And obviously the
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Apostle Paul is a great example of this where Jesus was continuing to teach what he taught on earth but in a deeper way through his
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Apostles and he really gave this Stewardship to the Apostle Paul in so many ways to understand this dispensation of the gospel of grace
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So it was a revelation. It was a mystery Other ages did not understand it verse 5 says and verse 6 says that the
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Gentiles should be fellow heirs Well, certainly that was never understood by a Jewish person before this time at least not during the dispensation of the law they didn't understand this and and the same body and for takers of his promise in Christ by the gospel it brings in he starts to introduce how the
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Abrahamic promise comes into play here and how they didn't understand how to put all this together and how could the
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Gentiles have a part in this and all of it is a part of this Gospel in this understanding this new revelation that was brought during this
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Dispensation that we might call the dispensation of the gospel of grace. Some would call it the church age
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Paul calls it the dispensation of the gospel of grace That Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and for takers of his promise in Christ by the gospel
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Whereof I was made a minister that means a steward I was made a steward according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power and to me
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Who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the
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Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ Well, the unsearchable riches of Christ had never been revealed before and that is a sure mark of a new dispensation so we can kind of see from from the this passage of Scripture many of the
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Attributes of a good definition of what a dispensation is It has a revelation a new revelation from God It involves a mystery that was not previously understood not known in previous ages
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And then it brings new responsibility Now what's interesting as you study the dispensations that men have laid out for us men going back to the 1600s and Perhaps earlier than that as they began to study these and enumerate them and try to give them names and so forth
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They don't always give them the same names and they sometimes will combine a couple of them into one and some will believe that's two
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And others will believe well, it's just one dispensation, but it includes two parts. That's not important but what is important is to understand that towards the end of these dispensations you see judgment and The judgment from God is because the responsibility was not taken seriously and So those if you put all that together,
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I think you have a good definition for what a dispensation is now let's go to Another verse and I want to show you let's let's go to Colossians 124 and Then I'm going to come back to another one in Ephesians, but I want to look at the one in Colossians first Colossians 124
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Let's just Well, let's go ahead and start with verse 24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the effect?
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Afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church
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Whereof I made a steward According to the dispensation of God now, he calls this the dispensation of God.
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It's the same as the Other two phrases where he called it the dispensation of the gospel the dispensation of the grace gospel of grace now
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He calls it the dispensation of God, but he gives further detail into what this dispensation is all about He says it is given to me for you so he's the steward of it and he is the one
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God used to bring the revelation that that dealt with this dispensation or Some of the deeper revelations and he says that this is done in order to fulfill the
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Word of God Even the mystery which hath been hid from the ages
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So here we see the concept of a revealed mystery and from the generations But now is made manifest unto his saints and here is the mystery
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Look at verse 27 to whom God would make had make known What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
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Gentiles which is Christ in you? the hope of glory We will demonstrate in the scriptures
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How different this concept truly is and I we were talking about this at the end of Sunday school
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I believe that there is a very very small percentage of Christendom today that understands this difference
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And I believe even those today who would argue against keeping the law so to speak or being bound by the law
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Really are bound by it and they don't even know it and the reason is they have concepts that come into their mind like Well, I see this thing that I'm supposed to do and I'm gonna make myself do it and Now all of a sudden they're doing it in the flesh and they're using a law approach
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When in reality the great mystery that Paul revealed that I think is almost a mystery again today
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Because there's been so much false preaching on the topic or non preaching of it And the mystery is
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Christ in you the hope of glory. I mean it deals with what we talked about last Sunday what does it mean to reckon the flesh to be crucified and To reckon it to be true that you're baptized into Christ and that you are actually in him right now seated in the heavenlies
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What does it mean to reckon that to be true? Well, it means that if you reckon that to be the case that Christ in you is the hope of glory
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Not any ability in and of yourselves or of your flesh to keep any law that God may have ever given
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That's not the hope of glory the hope of glory is this attachment this
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Relationship of Oneness between the Holy Spirit and the Spirit which is you the new man
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Which is seated in Christ in the heavenlies right now as we look at one another we see the bodies
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That the real us control and that's the whole object. The object is that Jesus Christ in unity with us in oneness with us
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Might use these bodies to accomplish his work in this physical world Now the only other alternative is found in Romans 8 and that is to walk in the flesh in which case this body uses us to the embarrassment of us and our loved ones and It is not the way it should be and that's a lack of faith that causes that in every case
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It's a lack of reckoning ability, but reckoning If you didn't grow up down south, it's a tough word for you
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Because down here we say is grandpa coming. I reckon he is. What does that mean? It means I believe he is
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It's a faith word. It's a faith word. You reckon yourself to be crucified
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It means God tells you you already have been you're just believing it and if the old you is crucified
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It can't be tempted It's dead It's going to do the will of God as the
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Holy Spirit and unity with your spirit move According to God's perfect will it's a beautiful concept
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It's a concept you could apply every moment of every day your life and you could almost forget everything else
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You've ever striven. Is that a word? Strived do we striven or do we strived?
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That Debra's not here. So it doesn't really matter. Our English teachers gone You have striven to do you can stop striving
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You know, that's what the Sabbath pictures by the way. The Sabbath is a picture of stopping the striving
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Stopping the works in and of yourselves to please God and to rest in Christ Rest in Christ and that's where the pleasing is and the peace is and all of it
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Well, we see this That Paul kind of touches on these things in Colossians 1 and he calls this the dispensation of God Which is
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Christ in you the hope of glory. It was hid from the ages and So that's really the same dispensation.
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You can call it the church age if you want to you can call it the the age of the gospel of grace the good news if you want to you can
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Be a real smart aleck and just say it's the dispensation of God Let's change the name of our church to assembly of God.
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I like that name. I Wish we had that name a church Christ is okay, but I really like assembly of God better Okay, we didn't get either one of them.
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We're Baptist. We're we're the followers of John the Baptist. Amen. Hallelujah Whatever we're the we're the rebaptizers.
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That's what we are Now, let me show you the other one that we skipped here. Let's go back into Ephesians I'm just showing you this word in the
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Bible language this morning for a few moments. I Believe we're back to Ephesians chapter 2 here
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Now, I'm sorry back to Ephesians chapter 1 Ephesians 1 1 what a powerful passage this chapter is
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My goodness, this is an awesome chapter. That's not really preached through very often in churches today
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Certainly not Baptist churches because the Baptist churches of today are Arminian they they've gone the way of Balaam they have
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Got to the place where they've emphasized man and his success so much That all that we're about today would be to come and find out how
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God can help us to be successful Well, the Bible is full of things. It tells us how to be successful But shouldn't we come together and just learn about God?
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I mean, that's that's what you go back 75 years Don't you think that's the sermon you would have heard? It would have been about the character of God.
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It would have been something about God Well, look at this chapter see if it's not preachable If you wanted to be in a church like that Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God Was it his will was it his doings?
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No, I better be careful here. I'm gonna go verse word by word through this. I don't want to do that this morning.
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All right By the will of God to the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus grace be to you and peace from God our
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Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Blessed be the God and Father of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, which has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Look at this in the heavenly in Heavenly places.
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This is where our blessings come from because this is where we are seated this morning Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself
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According to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace
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Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved tells us the purpose of it all in verse 6 is to the praise
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Not just of the glory of God But God got specific and showed which part of him he wanted to glorify here and it's his grace that attribute of himself
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Which is grace That's what he wants to be glorified by us that's what we're all about that's why he saved us
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That's why he gives us a life on this earth It brings glory to that attribute of himself called his grace
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The world could have said well, it's easy for you to love angels God. They're perfect God would retort and say well, what about these people?
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I'm loving He just won the argument He just proved by us
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That it's not the perfection that he loves and it's not the object that creates the love it's the lover
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It's he himself that is loved and the thing that proves it is us we can't get down on one another too much when we make mistakes and we disappoint one another
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Because we're still saved and it's that very part of it that shows God's grace It shows the thing that he wanted to show in whom we have redemption through his blood
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The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. It's almost blasphemous just to read this and not preaching
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Every jot and tittle isn't it? We kind of know a lot of it in our hearts Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence
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Having made known unto us the mystery of his will here. We're back to the mystery What's interesting about this passage?
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Is it the whole thing speaks about the church age? except for verse 10 and We're coming to it verse 10 is a parentheses
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The verse 10 helps us understand what the church age is all about and too many
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I think have focused on the church age as being the be -all to end -all and it's not it's a parentheses in and of itself in fact that Jews did not even see it coming all of the prophets of old
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They didn't see this little Parenthetical time period of 2 ,000 years. They just looked right beyond it to the main thing, which was the main thing the kingdom so It's interesting that verse 10 is right in the midst of this whole teaching on the gospel of grace
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The age of grace and we're moving up towards it Let's look what it says here having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to good pleasure
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Which he hath purposed in himself. Why does God do what he does? Because he wants to that's good preaching brother
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David verse 10 says That in the dispensation of the fullness of times
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He might gather together and one all things in Christ both which are in heaven
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Which are on earth even in him. Let me tell you what this little parenthetical church age is all about that.
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We're in It's reckoning this to be true already when it's really not it's not physically true yet It is spiritually true.
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If you want to get another take taste of it go to Matthew 13 many call it the Mystery kingdom teachings that chapter
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Matthew 13 the teachings of the mystery kingdom. What do they mean by that? Well, they're trying to give words to a concept that The kingdom is here, but it's only here in our hearts
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It is spiritual right now. It will be physical during the Millennial Kingdom and spiritual.
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It'll be both You'll see both realms come together And when it says you'll be kingdom priests
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That is the spirit of the church will be the spiritual role the Jewish nation will be the physical and spiritual tied in altogether, but the more physical and it'll all be
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Fulfilled here and this is alluded to in verse 10 the dispensation of the fullness of times when all things
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Come together in Christ. Isn't that amazing? We're supposed to reckon it to be true for us for ourselves right now down here in this world
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Which is really, you know, you could say that the little G God of this world Satan is running rampant today
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It is obviously not the kingdom age in the sense that it will be in the Millennial Kingdom when Jesus Sets foot on this earth and rules with a rod of iron
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But in our hearts This is his kingdom Already and it ties it together
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And then it goes on in these powerful verses in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being
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Predestinated according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ And whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation
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And whom also after that you believe now look at this you were sealed That is an attribute of the church age or the the gospel of grace age
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That is new a new revelation and a new fact of life That in fact makes it a different dispensation than what could have occurred before the cross
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Which is the earnest of his inheritance now, I want you to notice some things from this passage Let me say this before we move on though.
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This is another Dispensation that's mentioned in the Bible is the dispensation of the fullness of times and it alludes to the
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Millennial Kingdom But it is put right in the midst of the kingdom of grace because really spiritually
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There's not all that much difference if any It just is a physical difference on the planet as far as the what we call the theologians call it the economy in other words
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How God deals with man may be different from our viewpoint, but in the spiritual realm it all has to do with Jesus Seated in the heavenlies and us in him now let's note some of the characteristics of the dispensation of the gospel of grace and how it is different in Earth time from the dispensation of the law
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First of all, we're gonna we're gonna go back through this Ephesians 1 1 some of the verses in this passage to note some differences
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In the first verse itself it addressed notice that it's addressed to a new creation
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The Saints these things called Saints we have Saints in the Old Testament They're they're called we call them the
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Old Testament Saint Hebrews 11 kind of gives a hall of faith Goes down and lists many of them and then it comes into the
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New Testament talks about some who were saw in the sunder and Talks about the Fox's Book of Martyrs right there in Hebrews chapter 11 towards the end of it
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But it goes into detail here about those who are in Christ So we see a new creation
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We see it's written to those who are faithful in Christ Jesus this concept of being in Christ this
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Baptism of the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ is a new concept. That is true of this church age this dispensation
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You can go into Ephesians chapter 2. We don't have time to do it today, but starting with about verse 11
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It talks about how we who were far off or made nigh by the blood of Christ it talks about verse 14 how you have both made one and it's talking about the
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Jew and the Gentile of Twain one new man both unto God and one body
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Are made one by the cross those who were far off the Gentiles and to them that are nigh
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Which is the Jew it says for through him We both have access by one spirit unto the
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Father We the Gentiles are no more strangers and foreigners But we're fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God and are built up Built upon the foundation of the
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Apostles and the prophets and Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone So we see this habitation of God through the spirit, which is the church
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The church is the habitation of God now, not the temple the church is and so we see we see some differences
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You go into Galatians 3 it talks about the fact that there's neither Jew nor Gentile in this dispensation with regard to salvation and Spiritual standing before the
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Lord. There's no difference just like with regard to salvation spiritual standing. There's no difference between male and female
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And so all of this in verse 29 Galatians 3 It talks about if you be Christ in your
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Abraham seed and it goes back to the promise and shows how the law Did not abrogate did not do away with the promise
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But it was like a schoolmaster It teaches us to start learning about the age of the gospel of grace
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Where the promise is fulfilled in the seed, which is Christ and those who are in Christ And if you ever stop to think that perhaps this church age is to teach us about the next one
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If it's true that the law was to teach us about what we're living in could it be true that there are things about our dispensation that we should be learning about where we're headed and that that's why
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I think that He put verse 10 right in the midst of that where he said this is all headed towards the kingdom
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Well, it's all very interesting. Let me give you another point of difference here. It's a different realm
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It says there back in Ephesians 1 3 that he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ in the heavenlies
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So a difference is that if you were to look at the law and you look at something for example like the the wilderness tabernacle everything in that tabernacle was a type or a picture of the real thing in heaven and And actually as God's child now in this age of grace
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You have the real thing because you are seated in the heavenlies And that's part of the difference
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The law was a schoolmaster to teach us how far short we would fall if we tried to approach
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God through the flesh and It takes us to the place where we see the need for the relationship of oneness that we can only have
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Between the Holy Spirit and our spirit in the heavenlies and so it's a different realm
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The gospel of grace deals in the heavenlies the law dealt with the earth and God's people on the earth third
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Concept here as we find in verse 5 of Ephesians chapter 1 is this idea of being adopted or grafted in having predestined
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Predestinated us and to adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to good pleasure as well I've always found it interesting that the
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Apostle Paul being Jewish Included himself in this word us Most have taught that the
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Gentiles are adopted but truth is so was Paul And so the adoption has to do with this spiritual birth into The body of Christ and this being seated in Christ at the heavenlies and all of it kind of ties together
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We have this concept of the adoption that you don't find under the law you find it in the in the gospel of grace the fourth point
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I would say it's found in verses 6 and 7 God's grace is glorified and Emphasized this is not to say that we don't find the grace of God in the
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Old Testament In fact next Sunday the Lord willing. I want to preach a message that has to do with grace in the
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Old Testament But it's not to say that but it is to say that that attribute of God which we call his grace is
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Emphasized in the gospel age more than it was. It is the attribute that God has chosen to Emphasize and that it might be glorified
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Verse 6 says to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the
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Beloved There was no one in the Old Testament saved outside of the grace of God Abraham is used as the example by Paul of what salvation by faith is all about He said he believed
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God and it was counted unto him as Righteousness that means as if he were righteous which proves he wasn't
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That's grace So but the point is in the church age the gospel of grace
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This attribute is emphasized More than it ever was in the Old Testament verse 7 says in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sin
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According to the riches of his grace a lot of the understanding of the grace of God was part of the mystery of the
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Old Testament times they saw it they knew about it They were they they studied it together But they did not see it like we can see it praise be to God that we live where we do we were born in This generation.
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There's no I'm sure there'll be a greater generation. But if you look backwards, there's not a better time to have lived
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You might say well, I'd rather live where I could have walked with Jesus. No, you wouldn't Because I promise you the
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Apostles weren't with him every breathing moment and we are Because we live in him and he and us and we're attached and we're seated in him at the throne right now
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And they were not there is no greater time. If you look at history from this viewpoint when we could have been born
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How thankful we ought to be we have more power than any other group has ever had
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We have more concordances we have more Bible tools, I'm sorry computer tools
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We have more things that we can use But you know what
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We have to remember that our warfare is not carnal the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
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They're spiritual to the pulling down of strongholds. Do you know what the power is?
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The power is the throne where you're seated Think about it. I Mean if you're in two one of two places
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Either the old man is seated on your throne in which case you're fleshly and carnal and cannot please
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God and there's no power and you Don't even have power over sin and the same sin that haunted you last year is still with you this year or you're seated in Christ in the heavenlies and This body becomes a living sacrifice
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And it's useful in God's hand one of the two What an amazing power that we have that was really was not available in the
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Old Testament I mean they had power of their own kind think of Samson Think of Elijah they had power, but they didn't have this power
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This is amazing power that God has chosen to give us Another concept that's new to this age
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Age is found in verses 13 through 14 the previously unheard of Sealing or indwelling of the
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Holy Spirit in believers now in the Old Testament The Holy Spirit would come upon people for time periods, but that's not the same as what we have
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We have a permanent indwelling a sealing of the Holy Spirit within us Verse 13 in whom also we have trusted
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You were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the day of redemption
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Nothing that you can do in your experience of life that can change that fact
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The Holy Spirit is sealed within you And you have a choice
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You can like we talked about last Sunday. You can sleep on the couch if you want to And not be in fellowship or you can be one and when you're one you're seated in the heavenlies
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And there is nothing that can't be done. All of God's will can be done When you're connected in that fashion well, that's
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That's something that's new to this dispensation and we see several things in this passage
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Like This let me let me read to you what H a Ironside said in a book that he wrote called wrongly dividing the word of truth there was a book written called rightly dividing the word of truth by Schofield and Ironside wrote wrote a book called wrongly dividing the word of truth
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And I thought by the title that he was going to differ with Schofield But as I read both books, he really didn't but what
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Ironside did Was he pointed out some error that has occurred in the church since the time of Schofield is just like any other
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Man of God that God really uses usually when he passes off the scene his disciples blow it out of proportion
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You know, they they take his teachings and they say oh this boy if you're not right here and here you're not even saved
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I mean you you're not even right with God if you're not right with all these little points here and they began to take this And blow it out of proportion so much and get to the place where it was what we call ultra dispensationalism
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And Ironside was battling against that but he was not saying that it was wrong to believe in dispensations
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Here's what he said Paul's exhortation to the younger preacher. Timothy has Come home to many and it's where he said to rightly divide the word of truth
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Has come home to many with great power in recent years as a result There has been a return to more ancient methods of Bible study
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Which had been largely neglected during the centuries that the church's drift from the apostolic testimony now what he's talking about is is
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Ironside is pointing out that the ancient church believed in dispensations and they believed in rightly dividing the word of truth but as the
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Roman Catholic Spirit came into the world and began to build a
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Roman Catholic Church It went away from that and did not believe in dispensational teaching and I'll tell you what the proof of it is if you will
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Look at what the Catholics believe Especially their clergy Where did they get the little hats that they wear little things?
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What were they trying to to model Well, yeah, you're right, but there's another place that they got it, too
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I mean they got a lot of their beliefs straight from Babylon But why did they get that from Babylon who went there first?
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The Jew went to Babylon and came back with some interesting things, didn't he? It's interesting that they put an
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Easter egg on their table at Passover now where they get that Same place the church got it
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Babylon But my point is they try to wear the garb that the priests wore in the
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Old Testament Why is it that the Roman Catholic Church is based on law?
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They say oh, well, you know, this is our tradition. We know it's not in the Bible, but it's it's our tradition and it's true
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We've always done this this way Well, they haven't you can go through and study the years when the different things were brought into their beliefs
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It happened over a long period of time. It didn't all happen at once and So it they're very
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Legal oriented why because they did not rightly divide the word of truth They went into the Old Testament and they took things to be literal for the church
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Which were supposed to be patterns of spiritual truths and they took them as literal physical things and that's where they that's where they aired
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And this is what Ironside is talking about. He says that as a result of This Understanding of rightly dividing the word of truth in more recent years
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It has caused a return to the more ancient methods of Bible study Which had been largely neglected during the century of the church's drift from the apostolic testimony
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He might as well have said going into the Roman Catholic beliefs Augustine who was who was a
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Catholic, but he was back at the beginning Of the movement before it was totally apostate.
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You have to remember it did not happen overnight. In fact Augustine taught some good stuff he believed in salvation by grace through faith and Martin Luther went back and read
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Augustine and found some of his teachings on it and and God used that Augustine said this
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He said distinguish the ages and the scriptures are plain And that amazing if you distinguish the dispensations or the ages
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Then you can interpret the Bible correctly Augustine said that the Roman Catholic Church moved away from Augustine's teachings very quickly and went into The teachings that we see today
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Our inside continues he says and so there has been great emphasis put in many quarters and rightly
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So upon the study of what is commonly known as dispensational truth This line of teaching if kept within scriptural bounds
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Cannot but prove a great blessing to the humble student of the Word of God who desires to know
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God's will or plan in his dealings with men from creation to the coming glory a
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Careful examination of the volume of Revelation shows that God's ways with men have differed in various ages
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This must be taken into account if one would properly apprehend his truth. We're talking about how to interpret the
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Bible correctly this word strictly Speaking means house order.
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He's talking about the word dispensation. It means house order is what the Greek word means It might be translated administration order or stewardship in each successive age.
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God gives a man to man to a man of faith a certain stewardship or to men of faith a certain stewardship or makes known to them a certain order of administration in accordance with which they are responsible to behave a
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Dispensation then is a period of time in which God is dealing with men in some way in which he has not dealt with them before Only when a new revelation from God is given does a dispensation change?
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Moreover, there may be degrees of revelation in one dispensation all however having to do with a fuller
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Unfolding of the will of God for that particular age This was very definitely true in the dispensation of law from Moses to Christ We have the various revelations of Sinai both the first and second giving of the law then the added instruction is during the wilderness years the covenant with David and The revelations given to the prophets and his point is that those did not start new dispensations
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They were all part of the greater dispensation the circumstances in which
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God's people were found changed Frequently during this age of law, but the dispensation itself continued from Sinai until Jesus cried it is finished
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One must not get the idea that every additional revelation of truth in a given age changed the dispensation
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When it only enlarges it He gives a wonderful illustration
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Ironside did of how to understand what a dispensation is. He said he said imagine a young woman who answers an ad in the newspaper and she goes and she becomes a stewardess in in a household and The Lord of the household tells her the rules of the household
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He says now, you know, you must be up at 630 every morning because we have to have breakfast at 730 because we all go out to work in the fields and You also have to prepare a lunch
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Like a sack lunch for us so that we can take those out with us So she learned this and she would get up faithfully every morning early
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Prepare breakfast for the household and prepare the lunches and they would all go out to work and come back in and so forth
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Well, she got so good at this that eventually she saw another ad in the paper and it was for a larger household and a better Opportunity so she took it she went to the new household and the the lady of the house said
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Let's sit down and let me instruct you in the rules of our household. She said oh that won't be necessary at all
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She said I am well Studied in this and and I have great credentials and I know how a household should be run and she said well
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Okay, and she went on out. So the next morning she gets up about 6 and starts preparing breakfast and Oh about a quarter till 7
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She rings this real loud bell and she's got all the lunches prepared and she rings the bell and all of a sudden the family
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Comes in and they're all gruff and looking at her with hatred in their eyes and they said what on earth are you doing?
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She said well, I've prepared breakfast and the lunches are ready. They said we don't work in the fields.
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We're bankers Hey, you know, we never get up before 8 o 'clock in the morning well at that point in His illustration
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Ironside says and the poor bewildered Mary learns the importance of dispensational truth she was trying to run one household according the rules of the other and And It just won't work and there's been a lot of heresy in in in our day because of a
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Misunderstanding of trying to run this household according to the way that the old was run and it just simply won't work
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It always will end up At odds, well, we're just about out of time this morning
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But let me give you a beautiful closing truth I've got here in my notes probably 15 different passages of Scripture perhaps 20 that distinguish
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The gospel age from the age of the law and it talks about things
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It ends up with these concepts In 2nd
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Corinthians chapter 3 in verse 11. It says that the law was done away in 2nd
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Corinthians 3 13. It says the law was abolished in Hebrews 10 8 through 11.
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It says it was that the first was taken away so that the second may be established in Hebrews 8 13 it says that it the old was waxed old and it was ready to vanish away in Galatians 3 19 through 25.
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It says the law was until which it says the law was until Then you would be added and So that until implies that it was up to a certain point and then it would stop and then something new would come
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Then we see all these we see the passage in Galatians where it calls it the schoolmaster and it says in verse 25
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But after that faith has come we're no longer under the schoolmaster Luke 16 16 and 17 that we talked about last
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Sunday It says the law and the prophets were until John which implies it stopped at John So Colossians 2 14 kind of sums it up by saying blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us
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Which was contrary to us took it out of the way and nailed it to the cross. So it was nailed to the cross
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Now these things are true, but what's interesting about it? There are other distinctions for example, the kingdom of God is not outward
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Romans 14 5 through 6 deals with this talks about how Back to that during Paul's day and all through Galatians.
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He deals with it so Under grace we are complete in him
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Colossians 2 9 through 13 says and you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power
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Complete mature in Hebrews chapter 10 with verse 14 for by one offering he perfected forever them that are
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Sanctified and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more because he says I've placed my laws in their hearts and in their minds
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I will write them now where there is no remission Where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin, so you don't have to have the
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Old Testament economy anymore You don't need to have the offering system going on because where there is remission of their sins
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There's no more need for the offerings He goes on and says having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus By a new and living way you see it's a new it's contrasted with the old way of doing things
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It's a new and living way You can come boldly before the throne of God in Christ Whereas they only had one man once a year that could enter into the presence of God and that was the high priest
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So we see all of these differences It even goes on to saying Colossians chapter 2 that our death in Christ in verse 14 blotted out the handwriting of ordinances
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It's against us because we died in Christ if we're crucified the ordinances have no bearing on us because it's a they are physical things
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For this physical world and we're already seated in the heavenlies So since being in Christ blots out the law, no one can judge us
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According to Sabbaths feasts and so forth It's right in the same passage there with Colossians 2 verse 14 says blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
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That was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to the cross It goes on and says that having spoiled principalities and powers
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He made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. And then it says let no man therefore judge you
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Isn't that interesting? Do you know why the church is not to judge one another? Because we're seated in the heavenlies and the only way you can judge me is according to whether I'm keeping the law or not
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Think about it. Am I keeping the rules? Are you keeping the rules? Well not in my view So you must be backslidden and this whole concept of the fact that they are blotted out.
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The ordinances are blotted out Ties in with this let no man therefore judge you and meet or drink are in respect of a holiday
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Or of the new moon or the Sabbath Now that's interesting, how can that be?
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How can it be? Does that mean that the law does not relate to this age at all?
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Well next Sunday, I'm gonna preach a sermon on how grace is in the Old Testament But I want to close this message this morning, even though I'm Getting there.
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I'm about out of time. I can always tell that by your body language, but we're getting there
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But I can't close it without getting to the close How does the law then relate to grace
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If we see all of these 15 or 20 things that show that it's gone. It's blotted out. It's Crucified is nailed to the cross.
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We are dead to it and all of these things No man can judge us according to a Sabbath or a drink or what you eat
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Meat you eat and different things like that. How then does the law relate to grace? Well turn with me to Romans 3 31 as if you've got your
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Bible shut already, you've already quit listening. I Know why you shut it's because I said
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I got one more thing to show you. I didn't tell you it had five sub points But this this will make your day better to get this.
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This is this is awesome in The light of all these verses we've read that talk about how dangerous it is to bring the law into this gospel of grace
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It's funny that it ends with a warning against the opposite heresy, which would be to say that we don't have to worry about it now
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Romans 3 I'm sorry Romans 7 in verse 3
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Talks about this idea of that when a man is married according to the law If he were to marry another he would be an adulterer
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But if the wife if the wife's husband dies And she remarried she is not an adulteress and this is used as an example
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To teach that we are supposed to be married not to the law but unto
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Jesus Christ because The old has died it was nailed to the cross and this is the teaching in this passage
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Now when you go into Romans chapter 8 it deals with some of these truths as well It says that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
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But after the spirit, but what we find out in these passages is three things. First of all God has placed us in Christ Not that we might do away with the law, but in fact according to Romans 3 31 that the law might be established
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That we would not be servants of the flesh but servants of righteousness now secondly
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We have been crucified in Christ That we might serve God in newness of spirit not in the oldness of the letter that's found in Romans 7 6
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But the point is it says that we might serve God There are too many of that today in modern Christianity that say that grace means we just go out and live like the devil but we're set once saved always say and They teach that it means you're free
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Free to go do anything you want to because all things are lawful for me Paul said but they forget to add that he said
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Not all things are expedient They leave that off And it's so convenient to bring grace to mean that it means nothing to do with our living
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It has nothing to do with our experience and nothing could be further from the truth the
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Positional truths are there that we might live the experience experiential truths And a third point we see is all of this has happened in our lives that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
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Now, what does he mean when he says that the law might be established in us? It means literally to cause to stand the word means to cause to stand
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What does it mean when he says that we would serve in newness of spirit? Serve it's this word that brother
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Otis teaches so often Doulos the bond servant It means that we're a servant who wants to be serving
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Not one who has to serve and the Old Testament Saints unfortunately by the time
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Jesus got here had gotten into the mindset that they had to serve in order to be saved and They focused on that so much they missed the spiritual truths the next next week we're gonna see where they missed it and when and Then what does it mean?
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This is what I want to come to this is my clothes. I mean this whole thing is to get to this This is cool What does it mean when he says that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh?
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But after the spirit this word fulfilled Comes from a Greek word that means a fishing net that is absolutely crammed full of fish
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All in the meaning of the word is the idea of a crammed full fishing net That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us that the righteousness might be just you were crammed full of righteousness and Jesus said think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets.
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I have come to fulfill But you know what's awesome about this
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There are several words for fulfill in the Bible One of them is this word to cram a net full but when
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Jesus said I am NOT come to destroy But to fulfill it's a different word and I've got to show you this word before we eat lunch
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The word is you know my he and it means simply to cause to be and Our word generate comes from this
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Generation as in conception and the generation of the species
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Generation as in regeneration when we get born again and God gives us his genes so to speak and when
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Jesus said I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill a Better translation would be
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I came not to destroy the law But to cause it to be in the lives of my children
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It's not a thing we do y 'all It's not a thing we do. It's a thing that is It's a done thing
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It's a thing that as we reckon these things to be true and what it means to be spirit filled means
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It's our duty our responsibility. What is our great responsibility in this dispensation? There is one in every dispensation and there will be a judgment for those who don't keep the responsibility
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That's going to be the tribulation period by the way for this one But what is our great responsibility our great new?
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Responsibility in the dispensation which we live is to be spirit filled which means
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To be connected to the Holy Spirit in a vital Union Seated in the heavenlies and running this body
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That's what it means Jesus didn't say I came to fulfill the law and mean by that I came and taught you these things so you can go out and do the law better That would be to do it in the flesh and the whole problem we're gonna see when we get to the next week's sermon is they didn't want to be they wanted to do and When you focus on the doing you miss the whole picture the
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Doing should just be a result of who you are What did he mean when he said you're baptized into Christ and you were crucified in him and when he rose
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That power that brought him out of that grave is in you Reckon it to be so he meant make the connection
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Make the spiritual connection the real you can only exist in connection with the
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Holy Spirit It's the only way that the spiritual man the new man wants to exist It's the only way he will exist the old you the flesh everybody calls it the old man
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The old man loves it the other way around Put the old self on the throne and let the body tell everybody else what's gonna happen including
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God Let man be God Our great responsibility is to understand that when
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Jesus said I came to fulfill the law I came not that it be destroyed, but it might be fulfilled. He meant that it might be generated in the life of my people
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Generated that it might be born in their life that it would be caused to be by the connection by the relationship by the position
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Seated in him in the heavenlies. I'll promise you this week If you'll go out visualizing yourself the real you the new man the one that first John says cannot sin if you'll realize that's the real you the one
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That when Paul was having the struggle in Romans chapter 7 I do that, which I will not do and I don't do
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I don't find myself doing that which I want to do Oh wretched man that I am who will set me free from the body of this death.
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And what was the answer? Praise be to God for Jesus Christ Christ in us the hope of glory is the great
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Dispensational truth of our day and yet we find ourselves lowering ourselves and wanting to go keep a bunch of rules
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I am just sick to To My stomach over the independent Baptists I mean, that's all they're about is keeping rules and now the
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Southern Baptists have gone that way too in a different way But it's the trap of Satan if we could visualize ourselves as as being seated in the heavenlies
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Ephesians chapter 1 all the whole book of Ephesians and Walk that way
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You don't have to worry about all the stuff that's down there lower on the lower plane And This is how
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Jesus came to fulfill the law Is to make it be born in your heart and in your life written in your hearts and to cause it to be cause it to Come to pass
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Cause it to become to be so to come into being by that vital relationship and union that we have with him.
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That's power No other generation in the life of the history of the world has had the power
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That we have living in this age We're more responsible than any other gender we're far more responsible than anyone living under the law could have ever been
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Because Because what we do when we fail Is we fail a relationship?
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Not a thing. We don't break a rule. We break a heart Let's stand and have prayer together
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Father thank you so much for the great Apostle Paul who was great because he was so meek
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You humbled him so much and You showed him what great sufferings he would endure for your sake and the gospel sake but you gave him this revelation that we have this morning
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Father, thank you that you've caused us brought us to a point in our lives where we can see it as Paul saw it
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We thank you that Father we can apply it in our lives We thank you that is what your
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Holy Spirit strives for in our lives as he strives against the Spiritual adultery that we perform when we let the flesh bring other things into our lives
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Other affections Holy Spirit, we ask that you work in our hearts where you are the very
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Spirit of Christ work in our hearts Cause us to be and stay connected and Lord, may we see may we see many wonderful works come about this time our age in our lifetime in our generation works that you're wanting to perform in this world and you will perform in this
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Physical world in our time until the Lord Jesus Christ comes may many of these works be by our hands
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Because you've moved us and worked in us Our life is your life
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May our bodies be a living sacrifice And may it rightly be so And we ask it in Jesus name father
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We ask you to go and be with us in our fellowship time bless our meal together May our fellowship some of it be around these truths today and we ask it in Jesus name.