Category: faith

Paul and Dispensationalism #17

Monday, August 24, 2015

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13 KJV).

What else can the Apostle Paul teach us about dispensational Bible study?

Baptism has been called “religious TNT.” It has generated many explosive fights across denominational lines! Sprinkling? Pouring? Immersion? Only adults, or babies, too? Where? Who should administer it? What words should be said? What type of water is needed? For salvation or testimony? On, and on, and on… contentious people from all sides fuss and fight, spewing forth contemptuous words! “For ye are yet carnal [fleshly, worldly]: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1 Corinthians 3:3).

Paul could not be clearer. There is “one baptism” valid for us in the Dispensation of Grace (Ephesians 4:5). It is not, NOT, NOT, NOT water baptism! The only time Paul mentioned water baptism in his epistles, he wrote, “Christ sent me not to baptize” (1 Corinthians 1:17)! Our one—ONE—baptism is not performed by preacher or priest, but by the Holy Spirit Himself (today’s Scripture; cf. Colossians 2:11,12). The Spirit baptizes us into—NOT water but—the Church the Body of Christ and seals us (Ephesians 1:12-14). Immediately after we rely exclusively on Christ’s death for our sins, His burial, and His resurrection for our justification (1 Corinthians 15:3,4), we are made one with Jesus Christ, “members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones” (Ephesians 5:30). The Holy Spirit comes to indwell us Christians (1 Corinthians 6:19)—He equips us, that the doctrine we read and believe comes to life in our lives (Ephesians 3:16)!

We do not need Israel’s water baptism. We will not experience her fire baptism (seven-year Tribulation and Christ’s Second Coming in wrath). We do not need her “Holy Ghost” baptism in Acts chapter 2, when Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; Acts 1:5). No, today, the Holy Spirit does the baptizing, and we are thus “complete in Christ” (Colossians 2:10). The Apostle Paul teaches us that water ceremonies will profit us nothing, NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING spiritually!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Is there a simple way to present the Grace Message to children and teens?”

Paul and Dispensationalism #15

Saturday, August 22, 2015

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14 KJV).

What else can the Apostle Paul teach us about dispensational Bible study?

God dealt with Israel as His people from Genesis chapter 12 onward. Romans 1:18-32 explains how God had given the nations (Gentiles) over to Satan and graphic sins at the Tower of Babel (Genesis chapter 11). This shameful behavior typified the Gentiles up through the entire Old Testament Scriptures (and even today!). While Israel’s activities during that time were equally sinful (Romans 2:17-29), Israel at least had direct access to the Creator God (Romans 9:4,5). At least Israel possessed the words—the Law—of the eternal JEHOVAH God (Romans 3:1,2). Contrariwise; the Gentiles groped around in spiritual darkness (Ephesians 4:17-19; cf. Acts 17:22-29); “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:11,12); relishing Satan’s lifestyle (Romans 1:32); ignorantly worshipping stupid dead idols of wood, metal, and stone (Acts 17:29,30); “walking in their own ways” (Acts 14:16). Awful, just plain awful!

And then, God had pity on us! With Israel refusing to cooperate with Him, He activated a plan He had kept secret in Himself. He would turn to us Gentiles through Paul’s ministry. Paul preached to the Athenian idolaters: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). “Quit embracing foolishness, Gentiles! Change your mind! Trust that ‘Jesus Christ died for your sins, He was buried, and He rose again’ (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). This Gospel of Grace is the means whereby you can escape Satan, hellfire, idolatry, and your other vain behaviors!”

As today’s Scripture indicates, they (we) could literally become trophies of God’s grace. In contradistinction to their old, worthless lives of sin and death, their lifestyles could abound with truly good works—God’s life manifested in and through them (us) for all (especially Satan) to see!!! 🙂

Paul and Dispensationalism #1

Saturday, August 8, 2015

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Timothy 1:15,16 KJV).

What can the Apostle Paul teach us about dispensational Bible study?

God’s wrath that was about to fall on Jesus-rejecting Israel in Acts chapter 7 never came. For 2,000 years now, that prophecy has been delayed. Today, sinful mankind continues to rub God’s nose in his sin. They marry whomever they want, worship whatever they want, steal whatever they want, kill whomever they want, oppress whomever they want, say whatever they want, and do whatever else they want. They replace Jesus Christ’s crosswork with their (meager) “righteous deeds.” Haughtily, they ask, “Just what are You going to do about it, God? Not saying or doing anything about what I am doing? You must not exist, then!”

Paul plainly declared in today’s Scripture what happened to the wrath that was literally moments away in early Acts. As Saul of Tarsus, Israel’s leader in arresting, torturing, and executing Messianic Jews, he was the primary character in God’s crosshairs. God’s wrath could have literally crushed Saul of Tarsus! He was “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious” but he “obtained mercy,” because he “did it ignorantly in unbelief” (verse 13). Saul instead experienced “the GRACE of our Lord [that] was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (verse 14).

Saul’s worthless ministry was finished, permanently suspended. Now, he would be the first member of the Body of Christ. Saul would be the prime specimen of God’s longsuffering. Why has God’s wrath not yet fallen on this evil world? Look at Paul the pattern! The program that allowed Paul to escape God’s wrath is now operating today, that others may also escape that impending wrath. Oh, friend, may you not delay another second. Come by simple faith in Jesus Christ’s shed blood, His death, His burial, and His resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins. Follow Paul your pattern!

Peter and Dispensationalism #3

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16 KJV).

What can the Apostle Peter teach us about dispensational Bible study?

In early Acts, Peter preached that Messiah Jesus would return to destroy those Jews who incessantly rejected Him (Acts 2:32-40; Acts 3:19-26). The Prophet Stephen said he saw Jesus Christ standing at His Heavenly Father’s right hand in the third heaven, ready to come and judge apostate Israel (Acts 7:55,56). In a fit of rage, unbelieving Israel killed Holy-Spirit-filled Stephen… with Jesus-hating Saul of Tarsus encouraging and approving (7:57–8:3). Saul, along with the other Israeli Jesus-haters, should have been immediately consumed, burned up in God’s wrath. Yet, no wrath came! Why?

Thirty years later, Saul, now the Apostle Paul, reflecting on his salvation experience in Acts chapter 9, wrote in 1 Timothy 1:12-16: “[12] And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; [13] Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. [14] And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. [15] This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save [not punish!!!!] sinners; of whom I am chief. [16] Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”

As Peter learned (cf. today’s Scripture), God had given those Christ-rejecters in Israel yet another chance to escape that wrath. Paul was first to be saved into the Church the Body of Christ. As God operates our Dispensation of Grace, grace, love, mercy, and all longsuffering will dominate, thereby delaying divine wrath!

Ancient False Witnesses and Modern-Day Doubters

Monday, July 20, 2015

“Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,…” (Matthew 26:59,60 KJV).

As two false witnesses challenged the living Word of God, so two false manuscript witnesses attack the written Word of God!

The following question was asked on “Christian” television: “I’m afraid to believe what the Bible says because of all the changes that people have made to it over the years. Is it really God’s Word? The Bible says, ‘Blessed are those who believe and don’t see,’ but what if that’s not even true? … How can I strengthen my faith to believe in God’s Word?” [How to strengthen your faith in God’s Word? Doubt the “Bible scholars” and believe your King James Bible!]

Unlike most church leaders, the preacher answering the question admitted that there are differences in Bible translations because there are varying readings in Bible manuscripts. Yet, like most church leaders, he encouraged the questioner to use various Bible study tools, to track those translation changes, and then “make her own judgment.” Imagine! He said she could decide what words and verses were inspired of God and which were not. Reminiscent of cults, she could be her own authority. If she did not believe a certain part of the Bible was “really Scripture,” she had the preacher’s permission to omit it!

When lost people—those who lack the indwelling Holy Spirit—dictate to us Christians how to handle Bible manuscripts, and to embrace two error-filled Roman Catholic manuscripts (Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus) as having closer readings to the original autographs, we adopt a lost person’s mindset about the Bible. This poor lady doubted her Bible because people who doubted the Bible taught her. Her questioning the Bible as God’s Word demonstrates that Satan has extensively damaged her soul. The on-air preacher who provided little helpful insight into the matter, many like him lead our churches, Bible colleges, and seminaries the world over. No wonder no one believes the Bible! They are encouraged not to! Beware, dear friends, of “unbelieving Bible scholarship!”

Knowing Your Christian Life

Thursday, July 16, 2015

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6 KJV).

Yea, “Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (verse 7).

Dear Christian brother or Christian sister, have you ever found it difficult to live the Christian life? You undoubtedly answered, “Yes”—just like all of us! How are you doing with keeping the Ten Commandments? Like all of us, you are not doing so well, right? You do your “best” during the day, but at night you reflect on the previous hours and you feel so rotten. Deep down, you know you are failing miserably. Is this the kind of life Father God wanted to give us in Christ? Were we not miserable enough in our sins before we came to Jesus Christ? Despair no longer!

Frankly, you are not walking in Jesus Christ as you received Him. You came to Him by faith in the Gospel, in His finished crosswork as sufficient payment for your sins, but you have not appropriated that crosswork on a daily basis. Yes, you still live like you are in Adam. You are not thinking clearly. You are walking in your own abilities to manage sin, and we know that we cannot get rid of sin. It requires God’s power to put away sin—He did it at Calvary and you can do it at Calvary too!

Our life and sustenance is found in Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice, not in ourselves, religion, intellectualism, et cetera. We must be stabilized in the grace doctrines of Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, lest Satan deceive us and defeat us. We must be taught the King James Bible rightly divided. Once we learn and trust God’s Word, God’s way, it will burst forth from us in song and thanksgiving. The misery from religious futility will vanish! The confusion from false teaching will disappear! Dear saint, do not let Satan rob you of your joy in Christ. Do not let him steal your knowledge of who you are in Jesus. Take your stand by faith in these simple verses and let the indwelling Spirit do the rest! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “What is the Lord’s will for my Christian life?”

NOTE: Having expanded upon the “Original 7 studies” for the third time, our fourth foundation (studies #1501-#1507) is now installed. Onward we press in maturity… and to #2000! 🙂

Knowing Your Apostle Paul

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office” (Romans 11:13 KJV).

Yea, “…Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity” (1 Timothy 2:5-7).

I once asked a Roman Catholic priest about the “Petrine papacy.” While readily admitting that Jesus Christ sent Paul to us Gentiles (today’s Scripture), he preferred to follow Peter— “I do not care what the Bible says!” He wanted to follow Israel’s Apostle Peter. Never would anyone take “sacred tradition” from him. To abandon the centuries-old fallacy of “Pope Peter” was out of the question!

Christendom’s greatest error is the failure to learn where to go in the Bible to get our “mail” for today. Matthew through John is robbed of the Beatitudes, the so-called “Lord’s Prayer,” and the miracles (the “What-Would-Jesus-Do?” crowd). The Psalms and Proverbs are carelessly isolated. Almost all gravitate to the Book of Acts, especially chapter 2, Pentecost, and the other “Holy Ghost encounters.”

Prophecy said God would bless Gentiles through redeemed Israel (Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 60:1-3; Isaiah 61:6; Zechariah 8:20-23). With Israel refusing to convert in early Acts, God could not reach Gentiles. So, with Saul of Tarsus’ (Paul’s) conversion in Acts chapter 9, God instituted a program that He had kept secret since the world began. Salvation would come to us Gentiles through Christ’s shed blood without Israel!

Romans 11:11,12: “[11] I say then, Have they [Israel] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. [12] Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”

Through Paul’s Gospel—Jesus Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised again (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)—we have access to God by faith. May we study Romans through Philemon to learn through Paul’s ministry what God expects of us as members of the Church the Body of Christ!

Liberated to Serve

Saturday, July 4, 2015

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13 KJV).

Today, as we in the United States celebrate the 239th anniversary of our nation’s independence, we invite our Christian brethren worldwide to rejoice with us concerning our freedom in Jesus Christ.

When we proclaim Romans 6:14—“Ye are not under the law, but under grace”—people tend to assume “loose living.” Does “grace living” really mean we can now live any way we want? Lest anyone be misled in that regard, God the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to write in the next verse, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid [May God never let that happen!]” (Romans 6:15). Grace living is not Law-keeping, but it certainly is not Law-breaking either.

God still cares how we live, albeit He is not operating the “weak and beggarly” system of “bondage” (Law) that He once did with Israel (Galatians 4:9). God proved to the entire world that since Israel could not keep His commandments perfectly, no other sons of Adam (the Gentiles) could either: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them [Israel] who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world [Gentiles] may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).

We sinners cannot keep the Law. However, God in His grace provided us a way to escape that condemnation by sending Jesus Christ to offer Himself on Calvary’s cruel cross to pay for our sins. By simple faith in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the fully-satisfying payment for our sins, we can now be “made the righteousness of God in [Christ]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can be delivered from the penalty of sin (hell and the lake of fire) and the power of sin (flesh-walking).

Why are we Christians free? To selfishly live any way we want? NO! Today’s Scripture says we are liberated to now serve others, especially our Christian brethren, just as Jesus Christ selflessly served His Father and selflessly died on our behalf. That is grace living!!!!

Please see our 2011 Fourth of July Bible study “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land,” which can be watched here or read here.

Christ’s Calvary Crucifixion Covers Christians

Monday, June 29, 2015

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7 KJV).

Certainly, Christ’s Calvary crucifixion covers Christians!

In and of ourselves, there is nothing special about us Christians. Who we are in Jesus Christ, now there is something special!! We have the privilege of standing before Father God in the manner Adam did before the Fall! In Christ, we have the same standing before Father God as Jesus Christ Himself! A very exciting truth, one that precious, precious, precious few believers are ever taught (sadly).

Denominations always instruct them to strain and strive to have a right standing before God. They fail to realize that God places them in Christ at the very top of the ladder. Instead, they become busy in religion, desperately trying to reach the top rung Jesus Christ already gave to them! When you consider it, it makes your head spin how far off religious tradition brings one from the Holy Bible rightly divided.

What Israel has to wait for at Jesus Christ’s Second Coming (Acts 3:19-21), we have now received the atonement (Romans 5:11). When we trust the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished crosswork, the Holy Spirit places us into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). We then share Jesus Christ’s identity (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are just as close to Father God as Jesus Christ is—unconditional acceptance (grace).

It is when we come to the Apostle Paul in the Bible that we learn that God’s salvation is available as a free gift to all men (1 Timothy 2:3-7; Titus 1:1-3). What was once reserved for Israel is now being offered to every person in every nation under heaven today. Rich or poor, black or white, male or female, Jesus Christ’s merits are available to all. Jesus Christ is “the Saviour of all men, specially those that believe” (1 Timothy 4:10). While it is unto all, salvation is only upon all them who believe (Romans 3:21-28). Lost people can come to Calvary’s cross by faith, and Father God will welcome them with open arms, no matter what they have done. There is nothing that Jesus Christ’s blood cannot cover.

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Is there ‘healing in the Atonement?’”

God’s Grace Grants Great Gain

Friday, June 26, 2015

“And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:3,4 KJV).

God’s goodness and grace grant us great gain!

Chapters 1 through 3 of the book of Romans are God’s controversies with mankind. It is like a court setting, where the accused (mankind) is indicted and convicted of being wretched sinners, worthy of eternal damnation, the everlasting lake of fire. After discussing the sins of the Gentiles (nations) in chapter 1, God moves on in chapter 2 to review the actions of the “goody-goody” Jews, people who say they are “not as bad as the Gentiles.” As today’s Scripture says, just as divine judgment would come on the unbelieving Gentiles, the unbelieving Jews would experience that wrath, too!

The verses after today’s Scripture say: “[5] But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; [6] Who will render to every man according to his deeds: … [8] But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, [9] Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; [11] For there is no respect of persons with God.”

There are many today who have failed to realize that God’s goodness is temporarily keeping them from dying and going to hell. They enjoy His oxygen, His food, His water, His provisions, but they spout their ignorance about how “God does not exist!” They despise His goodness, His unmerited favor. They haughtily forget that He, if He so chose, could swat them and mash them as one would do a pesky fly. Grace delays the wrath! Oh, dear friends, may we turn from such silliness, foolishness, before it is eternally too late. Let us humbly come by faith alone in Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork, the epitome of God’s grace, that we one day not see God’s angry face.