Gospel of the Kingdom, Gospel of Christ | Bible Questions & Answers

you [Music] good evening everyone welcome to the Columbus Bible Church livestream question and answer session we appreciate you joining us tonight we especially appreciate the the Saints from around the world looks like we have some folks from Australia and otherwise on here so we're thrilled that you're spending time with us thank you for doing that I do want to start with a trivia question this one will be hard so two-part question the first is what superhero pin am I wearing and then the much harder that's the easy part harder question is what grace believer gave me that pin there was a Grace preacher that he used to he used to operate a comic book store and he gave me this pin and I don't know some of you might have crossed paths with him over the years so if you can come up with that answer put it in the comments and I will let you know what the answer is but I was just thinking about him so I put on the pin we had some tech problems with last night's video we're trying to sort them out so we may get last night's video posts that I'm not quite sure but I guess that's why it's a good idea to tune in live so let me open us in a word of Prayer we'll get started father God thank you for the Saints we thank you for the Word of God we pray that this time would be used in a way that pleases you we pray all these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen so we received a question and we'll probably spend the whole amount of time that we have tonight on this one question and the question concerned the difference between Paul's gospel and the kingdom gospel that was preached by the twelve and so we're gonna just spend we're gonna spend we're gonna go deep on this subject because it's important for you to understand this it goes to the clarity of the gospel in other words there's nothing more important today than being saved so you need to understand Paul's gospel and it's helpful to understand the difference between Paul's gospel and the gospel that was preached by the twelve so let's go ahead and jump in and I'm gonna project here a Word document and I'm hoping that this will be visible to you I will tell you the verse references anyway so get your Bibles get ready to follow along we're gonna look at a comparison of James and Paul's Gospels and it's really a comparison of the gospel taught by the twelve and what Paul taught and we will focus we'll spend some time on the book of James because that's where people have a lot of struggles so this column right here is James and we're going to look at multiple pages this column is Paul and we're gonna look at different dimensions different horizontal rows and we're just going to compare them side-by-side so that you can see the difference so get your fingers ready we're gonna be looking at some verses get Matthew chapter 24 Matthew chapter 24 Matthew 24 verse 14 Matthew 24 verse 14 and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come so the gospel that James and the twelve preached it was first preached by John the Baptist it was preached by Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry is called the gospel of the kingdom you see it described there in Matthew 24:14 get with me Romans 1 so James and the twelve taught the gospel of the kingdom what did Paul teach look with me at Romans 1 verse 16 Romans 1 verse 16 for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek the 12's gospel is called the gospel of the kingdom it's also called the gospel of the circumcision in galatians 2 and the gospel of christ is paul's gospel also called the gospel of the grace of god so the Gospels have different names you see that do the Gospels actually have different content that's what we want to answer next we know that we know that the 12 and Paul's gospel had different names but is the content different well it is look with me at mark chapter 1 mark chapter 1 and I'm gonna just scroll down a little here on our chart mark chapter 1 it's not this is not on our website we may get it up there but it is not yet mark 1 verse 14 now after that John was put now after that John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God so the Lord was preaching the gospel of Kingdom and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe the gospel so the the gospel the kingdom the content of that is that the the kingdom of God is at hand it sits nearby it's closed now I want to scroll down here and I want to actually go down to the bottom here so let's look nothing is easy is it so get with me mark chapter get Luke 18 and Mark 9 Luke 18 and Mark 9 so Luke 18 and what I want to show you in Luke 18 is I want to show you something about what the twelve understood before the cross so think of the timeline think of the twelve preaching the gospel of the kingdom before the cross now notice Luke 18 verse 31 Luke 18:31 then he took unto Him the twelve and said unto them behold we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished so the time element here is this is near the end of the Lord's earthly ministry it's right before he's going to go up to Jerusalem and he's going to be betrayed and crucified now notice verse 32 and the Lord is saying there that all things that are written by the prophets will be accomplished verse 32 for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spit it on and they shall scourge him and put him to death and the third day he shall rise again so Luke 18 couldn't be more clear before the Lord goes to Jerusalem he's telling them guys here's exactly what's going to happen I'm gonna be mocked I'm gonna be spitefully and treated and spit it on I'm gonna be scourge and I'm gonna be put to death and I'm going to resurrect the Lord has obviously clear understanding of everything that is about to happen and he tells the 12 beforehand now notice verse 34 and they understood none of these things so how many of the things that the Lord just spoke did the twelve understand none now notice this notice verse 33 and they shall scourge him and put him to death in the third day he shall rise again that's the Lord's death and resurrection right put him to death and the third day he shall rise again verse 34 they understood none of these things and this saying was hidden neither knew they the things which were spoken now ponder that just for a minute Luke 18 34 is absolutely definitive proof that when the twelve preached the gospel the kingdom it had nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ death burial and resurrection because in Luke 18 he tells them guys we're going up to Jerusalem when we get there I'm gonna be mocked and spitefully and treated and spit it on and scourge and put to death and then I'm gonna ride from the dead and he flat-out tells them that and they don't understand what he's saying well if they don't understand what he was saying and they were preaching the gospel for three years prior to that what does that tell you about the gospel the kingdom the gospel the kingdom can't can't have anything to do with the Lord's death it can't have anything to do with the Lord's resurrection from the dead now you say well I'm not so sure maybe you're miss reading the passage maybe it says something else in the original Greek get mark nine I know all the excuses hurt him all used most of them but the verses say what the verses say mark 9 verse 31 for he taught his disciples and said unto them so he's specifically teaching them he is explicitly telling them this information the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men and they shall kill him and after that he is killed he shall rise the third day he's telling them about the fact he's gonna die he's telling him he's gonna resurrect verse 32 but they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask him see they didn't understand the death burial and resurrection they had no idea get with me John chapter 20 John chapter 20 establishes this beyond all doubt John chapter 20 this is when Peter and the other disciple are at the Lord's supple cur there at the tomb and he's not there look at John 20 verse 9 for as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead ponder that with me the Lord has already been crucified he's already died he's risen from the dead they're at his empty tomb and he told them before he was going to rise from the dead and they still don't understand now what does that tell you about whether the gospel the kingdom included the preaching of the resurrection from the dead it couldn't there's just no possible way get with me 1st Corinthians 15 so we looked here at the content of the kingdom gospel and we see that it does not include the death Braille and resurrection let's compare that with Paul's gospel get first Corinthians 15 first Corinthians 15 first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 1 moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel he's explicitly declaring it which I preached unto you which also you have received and wherein you stand verse 3 for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures Paul's gospel is specifically said to be Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again the third day so here's what that tells you when you think about the difference between the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of Christ that's not like you say tomato I say tomahto and it's really the same thing they're not the same thing it's not just that the names are different the content of the gospel is different the content of the preaching of the twelve of the gospel the kingdom did not include the death burial and resurrection but the content of the gospel of Christ did include the death burial and resurrection now by the way have you ever met anyone that actually says tamato III if you have like let us know because that just seems to me unusual alright so now we need to go down to the third consideration and the third consideration is this what is the required response and what I mean by that is this if you heard someone preaching the gospel what were you supposed to do so get acts 2:38 Acts chapter 2 38 if you heard the preaching of the 12 and we're going to look in this instance after the cross after the resurrection acts 2:38 now by the way get look at verse 36 let's start there therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ so when Peter is preaching to Israel in acts 2 he says guys you need to understand the the Jesus of Nazareth whom you crucified he's the Lord and Christ now when he says that to Israel what should Israel's immediate reaction be well this this is bad right in other words we've stoned the prophets Lots we did that all throughout the Old Testament you know to be candid we do that all the time but this one now you really messed up because this time it wasn't just a prophet what did you do you killed the guy that was the Lord in Christ God might really be annoyed about that one right verse 37 now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart yeah no kidding you just messed up as bad as you could mess up and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do that is a great question right in other words you just told us that we killed the Messiah how he was the deliverer so what are we gonna do now verse 38 is the the answer then Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost so Peter says so there's there's good news there is something you can do I'm not going to tell you that the problem is unfixable here's the answer and what he says to them is repent and be baptized that was the response under the gospel of the kingdom again with me Acts 16x16 now in acts 2 the question that's posed to Peter is men and brethren what shall we do Paul gets a very similar not an identical but a similar question in acts 16 verse 30 from the Philippian jailer acts 16:30 and brought them out and said sirs what must I do to be saved that is the question for all eternity you get that question wrong there's no fixing at you you absolutely must get this right verse 31 and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house now notice what Paul says there is he doesn't say a thing about water baptism he says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in other words the response required under Paul's gospel the gospel of Christ was different from the response that was required under the kingdom gospel now let's go to the next dimension and it's going to get some of these things are trickier but we just need to spend the time to sort through them in this row what we're going to consider is whether faith was required as part of that gospel so get with me Hebrews 11 verse 6 hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6 Hebrews 11 verse 6 but without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him now Hebrews 11:6 is a trans dispensational truth and what I mean by that is that if you think about the dispensational chart it is something that is throughthe that is true throughout all time that God always requires faith okay he always requires faith the manifestation of the faith may be different the content of the faith may be different but God always requires faith because without faith it is what hard to please him challenging tricky no it is impossible to please him so under the kingdom gospel was faith required the answer is yes get Hebrews chapter four verse two Hebrews 4 verse 2 hebrews chapter 4 verse 2 for unto us was the gospel preached this is the kingdom gospel as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it so what happened when people under the kingdom gospel what happened when Israel had the gospel of the kingdom preached to them if they didn't have faith it was of no profit the the recipients of the message the audience they had to have faith for the message to do them any good that was true under the kingdom program now get with me Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 his faith required under Paul's gospel get Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast so is faith required under Paul's gospel the answer is yes and we know from Romans 10:17 that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God so we see that faith is required under the gospel of the kingdom all under Paul's gospel but obviously the content of the faith would be different because the message was different okay so now let's go to the next page next page here and the question here is is faith alone sufficient get with me Romans chapter 3 Romans chapter 3 verse 30 Romans 3 verse 30 seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith in the unand uncircumcision through faith now this is a very interesting verse it deals with the circumcision and the uncircumcision differently so let's read it again seeing it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith so there's different prepositions used with regard to the circumcision and the uncircumcision both of them have faith required that's that's obviously the case but the prepositions are different and what I'm going to say about the kingdom gospel and I'm going to prove this to you as we continue to go on is they were saved by faith but their faith was made perfect through works in other words it was not faith alone being sufficient and I'll show you that in in just a minute before we do that let's talk about Paul's gospel is faith alone sufficient for Paul's gospel the answer to that is yes look with me at Romans 3:24 Romans 3:24 Romans chapter 3 verse 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through what faith in his blood so what's required under Romans 3 is faith in his blood and of course we saw earlier from Romans 3:30 that the uncircumcision is justified through faith so under Paul's gospel we are saved through faith alone but under the gospel of the kingdom faith is required but faith alone is not sufficient so let's move on and let's understand why that is the question we're going to consider next is whether works are required as an expression of faith so let me give you an example what would have happened if when God said to Noah Noah I'm gonna flood the earth and Noah says well God I believe you but I don't want to build an ark you know that sounds like a lot of work I'm just really not interested so I believe what you're saying but you know I'm just you know I'm just not gonna do it what would have happened to Noah he would have drowned right I mean that's that's what would have happened and so he had to build an ark for this reason real faith would manifest itself in building an ark so let me give you a different example just to prove the point let's say you and I are in the same room together and I say to you the ceiling is going to collapse in 15 seconds so we need to leave the room we need to just walk out of the room and be away from the room because the ceilings gonna fall and if you look at me and you say yeah I I believe what you're saying but you don't move and you just sit there and you twiddle your thumbs you don't really believe what I have said right in other words if you really believed that the roof was gonna cave in on you you would say well I'm just gonna exit stage right you know I'm gonna just leave the room cuz I don't want to be squished but if you just sit there you're showing by your actions that you don't really have faith you see the point so our works required as an expression of faith get the book of James now one of the things you're going to encounter is this as you as you tell people the gospel in my experience the basic objection that you get the more common one than anything else is that's too easy there's something you have to do you have to get water baptized you have to endure unto the end you have to keep the commandments there's always some sort of work or works that people think needs to be performed and if you say to them if you quote to them Ephesians 2:8 9 for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works what will they say to you faith without works is dead it's it's like clockwork it is just absolutely what people do now that'll give me at James chapter 1 verse 1 the first thing you need to understand is this if you look at James chapter 1 verse 1 James 1 1 James a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad greeting the book of James applies during ages to come it applies after the dispensation of grace has occurred it is written it is addressed in James 1 1 to a specific group of people to the 12 tribes it's addressed specifically to Israel so in all the verses we're going to look at you can have the understanding you can have the assurance these verses do not apply during the disc during the dispensation of grace and so when you're talking to people about the gospel it's helpful to understand that about the book of James but what we want to do for our purposes right now is even though we know James is not written to us we do want to understand James as gospel so we can see the difference between the gospel that the twelve preached and what Paul preached so get with me James 1:22 James 1 verse 22 but be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves so under the gospel that was preached by James in the 12 is faith alone sufficient or do they also have to be doers they have to be doers if they're not doers they deceive themselves James 2:14 James 2:14 what does it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him and in James 2 a faith that doesn't have works will not save the person James 2:17 even so faith if it hath not works is what its dead being alone see under the kingdom gospel if you claim to have faith but there aren't works the faith is dead it's not real look with me at James 2:18 yeah a man may say thou hast faith and I have works show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works James 2 verse 20 James 2 verse 20 but will thou know o vain man that faith without works is dead verse 22 see us thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect now this is a description of Abraham and what it's saying there is only just read it again how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect so in other words Abraham needed to have a perfect faith and the way his his faith was made perfect or complete was by works under the kingdom gospel if your faith doesn't have works your faith is dead and your faith is not perfect verse 24 you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only see that's a specific repudiation of salvation by faith alone verse 26 for as the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also so clear as can be when you read the book of James works are required as an expression of faith to make faith perfect now that's not written to you it's a different gospel but you need to understand what this gospel is mark 16:16 now this is a great example a lot of people want to tell you that you have to be water baptized today to be saved and the answer to that is that's absolutely false but were there people at other points in time that had to be water baptized to be saved yes mark 16:16 he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved see doesn't that sound exactly like James to where it says faith wrought with his works and by works was made perfect in other words if you're under the kingdom gospel and you say I have faith what do you need to do you need to get water baptized Hebrews 11 verse 31 by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believe not when she had received the spies with peace so Rahab was justified by faith but then notice what James 2:25 says about Rahab likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by what works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way now what that verse is not saying there that's not saying that Rahab did so many good works that God said let me open the doors of heaven and let you in because you are tremendous that's not what it's saying what it's saying is that faith brought with her works and by works her faith was made perfect in other words Rahab had faith and then she performed works because that was required at that time so let's compare that let's compare that with what Paul says so works required as an expression of faith under the kingdom gospel under the twelves gospel absolutely are they required under Paul's gospel they are not faith and works for salvation are opposites today the addition of works for salvation negates grace now let me just say in case I forget someone's gonna listen to this and say well you're saying people shouldn't do good works that's not what I'm saying a believer should do good works but that's not how someone gets saved they get saved during the dispensation of grace by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone don't add anything to that anything you add to that corrupts the gospel of Christ Galatians three - this only what I learn of you received ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of the faith see when Paul writes to the Galatians and he's trying to correct them he asked them the question how did you get saved how did you receive the spirit was it by the works of the law or hearing of faith he's saying it's one or the other well which one was it it was the hearing of faith Ephesians 2 told you that Romans 3:20 therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight so do you get saved today by the deeds of the law no you don't Romans 3:20 7 where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of works nay but by the law of faith therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law now just let's do a quick comparison here Romans 3 says that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law when we were looking at James just a minute ago verse 24 you see how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only Romans 3:28 and James 2:24 say different things what a lot of people do is they will take those those those pastors will take Romans and James and they'll make stuff up and what they'll say is Romans is justification before God James is justification before men or they go to the Greek and they play all sorts of games they try to do something to take two verses that say different things and pretend they're the same well the answer to that is this believe the Bible literally as it is written don't revise it don't change it believe it as it is written but recognize who it is written to Romans is written to you James is not written to you because it is written to people in the future when the gospel of the kingdom is being preached Romans 4 verse 5 but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness God doesn't save you today when you work to please him he saves you when you have faith in what his son did because God counts that faith for righteousness Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy he saved us now get with me Romans 11:6 Romans 11:6 this is one of my favorite verses in preaching the gospel Romans 11:6 and if by grace then is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work and what that's telling you today is this grace and works are opposite you're not saved today by 90 percent grace and 10 percent works some people have the idea that God saves by grace but you got to live it God saves by grace but you got to keep the commandments God saves by grace but you lose it if you do a B or C that's all just silly talk the way that grace operates today is it is not of works if you add even one work to grace it ceases to be grace so what have we seen here what we've seen here and I'm going to just scroll up a little here is you need to understand that under under James and under the the gospel that the twelve preached works were required as an expression of faith in other words if you really had faith you would do the works and if you didn't perform the works what it really meant is you didn't have faith so works were required not because you could do enough works and God would save you but because if you did works they made your faith perfect that's what James 2 specifically said what happens today during the dispensation of grace is that when you try to get saved by your works you insult the grace of God what you need to do is to quit trying to work for your salvation and you need to have faith in what Christ did for you so you can see that the gospel the twelve and the gospel the Paul different with regard to whether works are required as an expression of faith what I want to look at next is both James and Paul use Abraham as a pattern of justification and so let's look how Abraham is presented both by James and by Paul so get James chapter 2 James chapter 2 James chapter 2 okay and I am I am now informed that there are some folks that say tomahto and so good to know get James to 21 James to 21 was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar verse 22 see us now how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect and the scripture was fulfilled which saith abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God get with me romans 4 verse 12 romans 4 verse 12 romans chapter 4 verse 12 and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised now get one more passage get Genesis 22 Genesis chapter 22 Genesis chapter 22 Genesis 22 verse 12 and he said lay not thine hand upon the lad neither do thou anything unto him for now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy son thine only son from me now let's put all these verses together what James 2:21 said was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar I just think for a minute did Abraham actually complete that act did he actually offer Isaac well he didn't because he was interrupted God said no don't do this the point is what that tells you is under under the gospel that was given to the twelve under the kingdom gospel under the gospel that James taught it's not that the performing of the work was such that you perform the work and now you earn it because the work is so good it's not that because God didn't let Abraham complete the act of offering Isaac but it was when Abraham clearly demonstrated his willingness to do it that God viewed his faith as perfect as complete at that point in time I'll give you another example of that that people sometimes wonder about we saw earlier in March 1616 that it said he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved so how did the thief on the cross how did he go to heaven right how did he go to paradise as described in Luke 23 because the thief on the cross didn't get water baptized well here's what happened the thief on the cross had faith in the Lord's message to him and so when he had faith and by the way his heart was such that if they had let him down off the cross which they wouldn't have you know what he would have done he would have gone and gotten water baptized so when he had the heart of faith God counted that for righteousness he counted his faith is being made perfect it would be the same as this what happens if you're in Matthew 3 and you believe John the Baptist preaching so you get in line to be water baptized and you're in line you're waiting and before you get to the front of the line you have a heart attack and you die what happens does God say oh he was so close if he just lived five more minutes he could have been water baptized and gone to heaven that's not what God says what happens is God saw the man's heart he knew that he had the willingness to be water baptized and so God would have counted his faith as being perfect now let's compare this with what Paul says so get with me Romans chapter four Romans chapter 4 in verse 2 for what if Abraham were justified by works he hath we're up to glory but not before God verse three for what saith the scripture abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness Romans four verse nine comethis blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also four we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness verse ten how was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in in uncircumcision answers the question not in circumcision but in uncircumcision so what is that saying abraham was first justified in genesis 15 which was before he was ever circumcised because he was justified by faith at that time he then gets circumcision and then is described as being justified in circumcision look with me at Romans four verse 11 it likes to move around like that Romans chapter 4 verse 11 and he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised that he might be the father of all them that believed though they be not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed unto them also verse 16 therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all get Genesis 15 Genesis chapter 15 verse 2 and Abram said Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus and Abraham said Behold to me thou hast given no seed and lo one born in my house is mine heir verse 4 and behold the word of the Lord came unto him saying this shall not be thine heir but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir and he brought him forth abroad and said look now toward heaven and tell the stars if they'll be able to number them and he said unto Him so shall thy seed be and he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness so what's going on here what's going on here is this what we know from Genesis 15 in Romans 4 was that Abraham was first justified in uncircumcision and he was justified not by circumcision but simply by having faith then he was he received circumcision and then he was commanded to offer Isaac he proceeded to do that he made preparation to do that god of course interrupted him but under the gospel that's given to the circumcision the faith is made perfect by works so what Abraham had to do after circumcision was given unto him is he had to manifest his faith by works just very similarly to what James describes and that's why you see James to talk about Abraham all right now let's let's go back to the chart for a minute and just compare this over time so let's let the chart load the the Bible says different things at different times it simply does before the flood God warned of a coming flood after the flood he put the rainbow in the cloud and said I'm never gonna flood the earth again so today we don't worry about a worldwide flood and that's because we understand there is chronological progression within the Bible we get that but here is where people struggle here is where they have trouble they open the New Testament in Matthew and they think well there's the Old Testament and there's the New Testament and I get it the old stuff that was for way back then but the New Testament is for now and so Matthew to Revelation is all for me but that's just not so and what's happening is people are treating the 27 books of the New Testament as all saying the same thing when the books themselves tell you they're not when the books tell you that John the Baptist is preaching the gospel of the kingdom and the twelve are preaching the gospel of the kingdom and the Lord before the cross is preaching the gospel of the kingdom and then on the other side of the cross during the early part of the book of Acts Peter and the twelve continue to preach the gospel of the kingdom but then Paul comes along and he says I have a mystery I have hidden wisdom that's now been revealed and his gospel has a different name his gospel is the gospel of Christ it's nothing else for the kingdom and his gospel is salvation by grace through faith without works as opposed to this gospel which required works as a manifestation of faith what happens is you need to rightly divide the different Gospels in scripture get with me Galatians 2 so you can see this clearly Galatians chapter 2 Galatians chapter 2 look with me at verse 7 but contrariwise when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter so Paul was given the gospel of the uncircumcision Peter was given the gospel of the circumcision now you know this but just think through this with me our circumcision and uncircumcision the same thing well what does the prefix unmeaning so circumcision and not circumcision are opposites they're different so I realize that what happens is you've probably been taught at some point there's only one gospel in the Bible but it's just not so there's multiple verses that disprove that I think people sometimes want to believe that because what they what they think is John 14:6 I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me that's a true statement no one comes to the Father but by Jesus Christ but that verse doesn't say there's only one gospel people sometimes when you tell them there's more than one gospel they think oh what you're saying is you can be saved by any different religious viewpoint no that's not we're saying at all you you can only be saved by the gospel that God has revealed during that particular time today can you - what would happen if you did this what if you said God I read Paul's epistles I enjoy them they're pretty good but Matthew through John is just way better I mean have you read it I mean it's fabulous so instead of being justified by the gospel of Christ I'm gonna be justified by the gospel the kingdom because I read Matthew through John and it speaks to me it's my truth right I'm living my truth by living out Matthew through John you realize that's just crackers right I mean you can't do that you can't say to God yeah I know that this is what you want to do today but I'd rather do this you can't do that there's only one gospel today for you to believe but there's different Gospels in the Bible because there's different periods of time where God is doing different things so you you as a Bible student you have to embrace you have to accept the fact that there is more than one gospel in the Bible because the Bible just repeatedly says it it's not that there's an option where you can pick which gospel you want to believe your responsibility is to believe the gospel that has been given for the time period in which you live and since you live during the dispensation of grace the gospel that is meant for you is Paul's gospel so the way you get saved today is Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again the third day the moment that you trust that that you have faith in his blood you're eternally saved get with me Matthew chapter 7 recently received an email from a listener and the question was this listener had heard a sermon and what the person did in the sermon is they went to Matthew 7:23 and it says and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity and what that person did is he preached if if you don't have sufficient works if you're still performing works that you shouldn't you're not saved you're not in the faith and he preached that to someone today out of Matthew 7 preaching to someone today out of Matthew 7 is no different than preaching to them at a Leviticus right now thing about this with me Galatians 4:4 Jesus Christ was made of a woman made under the law you realize that before the cross the Old Testament law is still in effect look at me at Matthew 19 Matthew 19 Matthew chapter 19 Matthew 19 and look with me at verse 16 and behold one came and said unto Him good master what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life similar to the questions we looked at earlier in acts 2:37 in acts 16 verse 30 verse 17 and he said unto him why call us thou me good there is none good but one that is God but if thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments you realize during the Lord's earthly ministry he tells people to keep the Old Testament Commandments he tells them to keep the Old Testament law guilty Hebrews 9 Hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15 and for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament that's Jesus Christ from verse 14 further adem ssin of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance for where a testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the testator for a testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth verse 15 says that Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Testament verse 16 and 17 tell you that a last will and testament takes effect when the mediator dies so if that's true if you read the books of Matthew Mark Luke and John are they New Testament in doctrine or are the Old Testament in doctrine they're Old Testament and doctrine because they cover the time by and large before the cross so you realize when someone goes to Matthew 7 and says this is the gospel for how you're saved today it's the same as going to Leviticus he's preaching to you Old Testament doctrine that is not applicable for you today get with me Romans 16 Romans chapter 16 Romans chapter 16 it is possible to unsettle people by teaching them from the Bible it is possible to deceive people by teaching them from the Bible because if what you do is you take a perfectly good verse from another dispensation and apply it today you're going to confuse them you're gonna teach error look with me at Romans 16 verse 25 now to him that is of power to stablish you this is how a believer gets established today this is how he gets solidified in the faith this is how you get stable this is how you get grounded now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel because the gospel the kingdom will not establish you today and then notice what it says and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery here's what in my opinion why write division matters so much if you don't come to understand right division if you don't come to understand that Paul's your apostle if you don't come to understand the distinctive nature of Paul's revelation if you don't understand that what you're instead gonna think is give me anything in the New Testament it's all for me see if you don't understand Paul's distinctive revelation the the book of Hebrews maybe for you and so maybe the book of James and so maybe the book of Matthew and there's tons of verses in Matthew and James and Hebrews there's people in Hebrews that fall away there's people in Hebrews that draw back unto perdition in Matthew you have to endure unto the end to be saved in James faith without works is dead see if I wanted to put you under a state of maximum uncertainty and fear this verse after verse after verse that you can use in the Gospels that you can use in Hebrews two revelation to tell people they're not saved but it's a misuse of the scriptures because today we're governed by Romans to Philemon the gospel that applies for us today is found in Paul's writings well we hope that was helpful to you we hope that gives you clarity about the differences between Paul's gospel and Peter's gospel between what's revealed and Romans to Philemon and what you find in Hebrews and James and Matthew so we're gonna go ahead and we'll adjourn for the evening let me close us in a word of Prayer oh my God thank you for this time we thank you for your perfect word we thank you that you've provided it for us and we just pray that we pray Lord that during this time of uncertainty and confusion we pray that people would be comforted by the gospel we pray that they would have peace and that they would rest in what your son has done for us it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray amen you

Channel: Columbus Bible Church

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Length: 59min 36sec (3576 seconds)

Published: Sat May 09 2020