Jews, Gentiles And The Church

All right, we’ll just quickly look through this outline that you’ve been supplied with, just covering the points very briefly. I was trained many years ago that review was an essential part of good teaching, so I never apologize for reviewing the material.

Both Israel and the Church derive their inheritance by descent from Abraham. That makes him a totally unique person. And Abraham is called ‘a friend of God,’ a title that’s not given to any other human character that I know of in the New Testament.

Then I pointed out that God made two covenants with Abraham—one in Genesis 15 and one in Genesis 17. The first covenant was fulfilled in the covenant of the law that God made later with Israel, and the possession of the land it promised was accomplished when Israel entered the land under Joshua. The second covenant was fulfilled only in the new covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

I pointed out four differences between the two covenants which are very significant. God called the first a covenant; He called the second My covenant. The first contained no provision for Abraham. If that had been the only covenant God made, Abraham would have been totally left out. The second provided for Abraham first and for his descendants after him. The first covenant was not everlasting. As far as I’m concerned, it’s already fulfilled and out of date. The second covenant is everlasting. The first covenant was sanctified by the blood of animals, the second one required the blood of Abraham and his seed.

Then we looked quickly at three pictures of Abraham’s seed in the prophetic promises given to him. His seed is compared to the dust of the earth, the sand of the sea and the stars of the sky. I suggested that there are certain features of each. Dust is not cohesive. It just goes anywhere in small particles, and no special place was allotted to the dust. On the other hand, sand, although it’s similar to dust, is cohesive, it holds together and it was allotted in the promise a special place, the boundary between the sea and the dry land. I suggested that that really describes the function of Israel among the nations subjected to the ceaseless pounding of the waves but never moved, and the dividing line between the nations.

Then the third picture, the stars of heaven, I suggest is fulfilled in the Church, and we quoted a statement of Paul in Philippians 2:15, which in the New International Version exactly states that promise. Then we took most of our study to establish the fact that Israel and the Church are two distinct entities, and I went through a great many Scriptures to substantiate that statement. For some of you it may have seemed I took an unnecessary amount of time and trouble to substantiate that. It all depends what your religious background is. If you’re fortunate enough to have no theological background, you probably have no theological hang-ups. You’re the happy kind of person. But most of us here, myself included, though I was not interested in Christianity as a young boy growing up or a teenager, in fact I rebelled against it, nevertheless I came to realize that a lot of thoughts had been implanted in my subconscious which was still there when I really came to believe in Jesus and the Bible. And it’s taken me a good part of forty years to even become aware of some of those subconscious hang-ups which are from previous traditions. And actually I don’t think it’s possible in the present situation in the world to overemphasize the importance of knowing the identity of Israel. It seems to me it’s one of the major crucial issues that confronts the world and confronts the Church. And the Church will be largely floundering and in confusion unless it has a clear understanding of the identity of Israel and the special purposes of God for Israel, and the fact that this is the period in human history when those purposes are to be worked out. So I’m not going to try and go over all that material again.

We’re going to look now at the section entitled ‘Inheritors in Christ.’ And here again I believe it’s necessary to confront and deal with a number of theological and traditional assumptions and hang-ups which are not based directly on Scripture. I pointed out that in order to get to the foundation of the rock and build on it in the parable of the man who built on the rock, Jesus pointed out that he had to dig deep. He had to clear away a lot of other substance which was not rock before he could get to the rock. And part of what we are doing in these studies is really digging away substance that is not rock, in order to arrive at the rock on which we can safely build.

Let’s turn now to Ephesians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16 which speak about what has been accomplished by the sacrificial atoning death of Jesus on the cross, in bringing into being a totally new entity and in that new entity, totally new relationships. If there’s one word that the Bible emphasizes about the Church it’s the word new, which immediately distinguishes it from Israel because Israel was not new. Israel had existed for fifteen centuries. And in this new entity, which is called by various different titles, a new man, a new creation, and so on, a new body, there are new relationships. But let me point out immediately and we’ll look into it further, outside of this new entity, the old relationships and the old orders persist. They have been done away in Christ. Outside of Christ they’re still valid, or they’re still in force. All right, beginning in Ephesians 2:14:

“For He [Jesus] Himself is our peace, who has made both one [who are both? Jews and Gentiles, that’s right. You see, both were pre-existent], and has broken down the middle wall . . . between us,”

That refers, of course, to the temple then standing at that time in which there was certain dividing wall beyond which Gentiles were not allowed to go. Paul is saying, in Christ there is no such dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles.

“having abolished in His flesh the enmity [that is the enmity between Jew and Gentile], that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances,”

So, in a certain sense, and we do not have time to go into this, by the death of Jesus, the law with all its commandments and its ordinances was abolished. I would say abolished as a means required for achieving righteousness with God. And it’s interesting that Paul refers to the law as the enmity. You see once people come under a law and are separated by that law from all other people, it creates an immediate tension between them and the other people. They’re different. And that has been the history of the Jewish people. It’s one of the factors that explain the opposition that focuses on Jewish people.

“having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man [that’s the purpose of God. That’s what the Church is it’s] one new man [formed] from the two [Jew and Gentile], thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”

As I see it, there was a double enmity that was dealt with by the cross, and it’s represented by the two beams of the cross—the first beam is vertical the second beam is horizontal. The vertical beam represents the God/man relationship. Now there was enmity between man and God, because the carnal mind of unregenerate man is enmity against God. That enmity was abolished by the cross. There was also enmity between Jew and Gentile, and that enmity was abolished by the cross. All enmity, both vertical and horizontal, was terminated by the cross, but those who have not come to the cross and have not experienced the work of the cross in their own lives, these statements are not true for them.

All right. Now what I’m going to point out is that outside of Jesus, outside of this new man, the old orders still exist. And I’d like to turn particularly to one statement in Numbers chapter 23 and verse 9. This is one of those remarkable prophesies that were given by Balaam. What’s very remarkable about them is that he came with the intention of cursing Israel and he ended up—against his own will and intention—by blessing them. And the grace of God is somewhat extraordinary to me because he was granted prophesies as beautiful and as majestic as anything anywhere in the Bible concerning Israel. I mean, these prophecies, you can read them again and again, they’re just glorious. And yet he was actually a kind of magician. God… I mean, let’s not ask God to explain everything He does. Verse 9, I’m reading in the New King James, but actually the old King James has got a clearer translation. Talking of Israel, Balaam says:

“‘For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him;
There! A people dwelling alone,
Not reckoning itself among the nations.’
Nations—goyim—Gentiles. The King James Version says,
…the people [Israel] shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.”

God’s highest will for Israel was to give them a land of their own where they would dwell as a separate people in their own land. But even when they lost that part of their inheritance through persistent disobedience, the second part of the statement still remains true, ‘they shall not be reckoned among the Gentiles’—or ‘a people that does not reckon itself among the nations.’ And one of the most remarkable facts of history is that that’s been true for two thousand years. Although the Jewish people have been scattered as no other nation has ever been scattered, amongst over a hundred different Gentile nations, and they’ve remained scattered for nearly two thousand years, it’s still true they don’t reckon themselves among the nations.

My first wife, Lydia, whom many of you knew, was Danish. She often said to me, ‘If you scattered the Danes amongst the nations, at the end of one hundred years you wouldn’t find a single Dane anywhere. They would all have been assimilated and lost their identity.’ And yet here the Jewish people scattered for two thousand years and yet retaining their identity. To me it’s such a tremendous proof of the authority of the Word of God. God said it would be that way, and it is that way.

Now let’s look at another statement in the New Testament that speaks also about the new relationships that are in Jesus Christ. We’ll turn to Galatians chapter 3, we’d better start at verse 26. Galatians 3 beginning at verse 26:

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all on in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Now I’m sure all of us that know Christ would embrace that statement and thank God for it. Nevertheless, it’s a verse or set of verses that has to be interpreted with some care. The one that people tend to focus on is verse 28, ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ As I understand it, the basic issue is the inheritance—you are all heirs of God. As far as the inheritance is concerned, there is no difference between man or woman, between Jew or Gentile, between slave or free. But that should not be taken to mean that there are not continuing valid differences between those categories. I think the obvious one is male and female. I think that that statement has often been sadly abused.

As I pointed out that day in a meeting we were holding in Miami. We still, in most churches, have separate restrooms for men and ladies, so even in the most spiritual churches there is a recognition that there’s still a difference. And if you read the New Testament, especially the other epistles, you’ll find that Paul has a lot to say about how slaves should behave themselves as slaves, how masters should behave themselves to their slaves, and a great deal about how women and men should conduct themselves in their relationship to one another. So it’s very obvious that it does not mean that all those distinctions are now finally and forever obliterated. We have to interpret Scripture in the light of Scripture.

And I believe that is also true also in respect to the statement ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek.’ As far as the inheritance is concerned, anybody who believes in Jesus Christ is a full heir, not a second-class citizen, not set aside in favor of somebody who has a better background, that’s absolutely incorrect. But it does not obliterate all these distinctions. And I discovered in studying this theme a very clear and interesting example of this fact in the difference in the way in which Paul dealt with Timothy and with Titus, both of whom were his disciples, his co-workers. Let’s look at that for a moment. Turn to Acts 16 verses 1 through 3, Paul and Silas are on what is commonly called ‘Paul’s Second Missionary Journey’ and this is how they set out.

“Then he [Paul] came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.”

He was a son of a mixed marriage between a Gentile Greek and a Jewish woman. Now according to the best accepted Jewish interpretations of these things, if your mother is Jewish, you are legally Jewish. Your father doesn’t necessarily guarantee that. So in the eyes of the Jewish community Timothy was Jewish because his mother was known to be Jewish. On the other hand, because his father was a Greek, he hadn’t been circumcised. Now it says of him:

“He [Timothy] was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.”

So, Paul was very careful not to either reject his own Jewish identity or belittle or reject Jewish identity in others. So out of principle he said, ‘We are going to treat Timothy as a Jew. Although his father didn’t do for him what should have been done, we’re going to do it. We’re going to bring him into the covenant with Abraham by the seal of that covenant which is circumcision.’ Even though at that time Timothy was a Christian, recognized in the church, Paul still recognized there was an element in his background which affected the way he was to be dealt with. But, if you turn back to Galatians now in chapter 2, you have a confrontation between Paul and the legalistic believing Pharisees who insisted that all converts to Christianity should be brought under the Law, that you could not come to Jesus Christ apart from coming under the Law, of which the distinctive mark was circumcision. And so this is what Paul says now about this confrontation. Apparently, he was led by the Holy Spirit and he went up with an issue, that is Titus, a believer, not a Jew, who went up to Jerusalem the Holy City, walked in the streets with Paul, and everybody knew: there’s Paul, a Jew, and there’s Titus, who’s not a Jew. And they’re together, and they both believe in this new religion. So the pharisaical party said, ‘You ought to have Titus circumcised. If he’s going to believe in the Messiah, he’s got to come under the Law.’ Now this is what Paul’s response was in Galatians 2 verse 2.

“And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles [that’s interesting, because in a certain sense it hints that there’s a different way of preaching the gospel to the Jews. I mean, that’s an issue we’re not going to go into.], but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”

See, he absolutely refused to have Titus circumcised. It would have made peace, it would have avoided a lot of controversy, but he wouldn’t do it. Yet he insisted on Timothy being circumcised. Both of them were Christians, both of them were co-workers with Paul. Why I bring that up is because it’s clear, New Testament evidence that not in every sense was the distinction between Jew and non-Jew obliterated in Christ, any more than the distinction between slave and free, or the distinction between male and female. We have to beware that we don’t snatch at Scriptures and just use them as a launching pad for some theory of our own.

I think most of us would agree that the statement ‘there’s neither male or female’ has often been abused and pressed to absolutely unscriptural conclusions. Now we’re going back to or going on with the theme that when Paul speaks about Israel, he does not use it as a synonym for believing Gentiles. He uses it to distinguish them from believing Gentiles. And we’ll look at four passages which are listed there in section 9, all of them in Romans. I need to say also, which is probably well known, that Romans is generally believed to have been written after Galatians. Now it’s in Galatians that Paul spoke about ‘the Israel of God,’ but it would not be historically correct to say, ‘Well, that was Paul’s final revelation,’ because after that he came out with Romans. And in Romans chapter 9, we have the statement ‘Not all those who are descended from Israel are Israel,’ so if you say that’s Paul’s final revelation, now we’ve really got it. I just have to point out to you that Romans chapters 10 and 11 were written after chapter 9. So—okay. So let’s look now at chapter 9 verses 30 and 31.

“What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.”

Notice the Gentiles did attain, became believers, became Christians, but Israel did not attain so they did not become believers in Jesus, but they’re still Israel. And they’re called Israel in distinction from believing Gentiles. Okay? We’ll go on to Romans 10 verses 19 through 21, where Paul is quoting a number of Scriptures that prophesy the setting aside of Israel and the calling of the Gentiles.

“But I say, did Israel not know? [His answer is they ought to have known because it was clearly stated in their prophets.] First Moses says: ‘I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will anger you [Israel] by a foolish nation.’ [Who’s the foolish nation? We are. Let’s bear that in mind. The Bible is bluntly honest about everybody including us.] But Isaiah is very bold and says: ‘I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.’ [Who are they? We are the Gentiles. We weren’t out after God, but God came out after us. Then he goes on…] But to Israel he says: ‘All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’”

Notice, they’re not believers. They’re disobedient and they’re contrary, but they’re still Israel distinguished from the Gentile believers. Okay Romans 11 verse 7 and verse 11.

“What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect [that’s the Jewish elect] have obtained it, and the rest were hardened.”

I would like to suggest to you as a matter of interpretation, most of the places where you read the phrase ‘the elect’ it refers to a Jewish elect. Not that it’s limited to that, but that’s probably what the writer had in mind.

“[Verse 11 about Israel:] I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.”

See the point again? Israel has not obtained. They still remain unbelievers. The Gentiles who believe have obtained, but that doesn’t make the Gentiles Israel. On the contrary, Israel is used to distinguish the unbelieving Jews from the believing Gentiles. Okay. And I venture to say if you obliterate that distinction, you’re going to make nonsense of the Bible. And then in Romans 11:25 and 26.

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, . . .”

What mystery? The mystery of Israel’s blindness. And let me say if you really come to grips with it, it is a mystery. It’s the most extraordinary thing. It’s inexplicable. You can read some of the rabbis of the Middle Ages, they talked about a suffering Messiah and a ruling Messiah, a son of Joseph and a son of David. It’s almost unbelievable that they couldn’t see who it was. It’s a mystery, and for whatever reason it’s a mystery that God arranged. See, when you’re dealing with the Jewish people bear in mind that there’s a blindness on them which God put on them. You just talk to them. Say, ‘Give your heart to Jesus,’ it doesn’t register. You’re dealing with something that you need to understand. It’s a mystery. All right. Let’s go back.

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion [which unfortunately has happened to most Gentile Christians], that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”

Notice again, although they’re hardened, they’re blinded, they’re still Israel and they’re distinguished from the Gentiles who are to come into the Church. Then it goes on,

“…when all the Gentiles have come in. [verse 26] And so all Israel will be saved, . . .”

I hope you see why I rather labored those points, because there are four clear instances in which Paul deliberately uses Israel to represent or to describe an unbelieving nation and to distinguish them from believing Gentiles. So, far from Israel being a synonym for the Church, it’s used to distinguish them from the Church. Okay.

Now we come to the practical application of the above. This is where we can begin to swim in clear water. And it’s taken a long while to get here but you see I am sufficiently aware of what goes on in peoples’ minds to know that if you don’t lay the foundation, if you don’t get down to the rock, the house you build will collapse when pressure comes against it. All right. There are three practical conclusions. Let’s look at the first one.

Old Testament prophecies about Israel still refer to Israel and mean exactly what they appear to mean. Now it’s somewhat amazing that it should take so long to arrive at that simple conclusion, which really is that God means what He says. But, you see, the majority of Christians really don’t understand that God means what He says in a whole lot of different areas. If we did, our lives would be a lot easier. Then I go on, There is no other way to make sense of many such prophecies, e.g.: I mean, you could list a hundred prophecies there, but I’ve just chosen a few of what I considered to be rather obvious ones, which are only meaningful if applied to Israel, which lose their meaning if you try to apply them to the Church. First of all Leviticus 26, which is a lengthy prophecy of Israel’s judgment from God, dispersion and eventual regathering. We’ll only look at just a couple of passages in it. Leviticus 26 verse 32 and 33, God says because you have been so stubborn and so disobedient, that’s the theme…

“‘I will bring the land [what land? It has to be the land of Israel. It can’t be any other land.] I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.’”

Now if you apply that to Israel it’s been completely and exactly fulfilled in every detail. If you apply

it to the Church, I just don’t know how you begin to apply it.

“I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.”

Absolutely true of Israel, its land and its cities. How could you apply it to the Church? I just don’t know. Then we turn to verses 36 through 39, speaking about the Jewish people in their dispersion amongst the Gentiles.

“‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall feel as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.’”

Now that’s an accurate description of much that the Jewish people experienced from the first century to the 20th century. But it didn’t start then. If you take the 26th chapter in its fullness, it began to be fulfilled before the end of the Old Testament dispensation. Why I’m say that is because its fulfillment has continued from, you could say, about 400 B.C. to 1900 or 1950 A.D. There’s been no change in the way that prophecy’s been worked out. There was no mysterious juncture in history when the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy became different, when it wasn’t fulfilled the way it had been fulfilled up to that point. You cannot find such a juncture in God’s dealings with Israel.

I’m sometimes reminded of the dear people of whom we are not part, who said that the gifts of the Spirit ceased at the end of the first century, they’re no longer for the Church. And you find dear persuaded Christians who are absolutely convinced that’s true. And when you ask them for Scripture, about the only one they have is, ‘When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part is done away.’ Well, as far as I’m concerned, there is no evidence in Scripture or in history that there’s ever been a point when God said, ‘No more spiritual gifts; no more supernatural.’ But the amazing thing is—and I love these people—but you talk to them, you can tell them that you speak in tongues, you can tell them that the sick

get healed, you can tell them that demons are cast out, they just cannot see it. Their mental block has blinded them. Let me say it’s not only Jews that are blinded. There’s a lot of blinded Gentiles too. It’s one of those strongholds that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, built into peoples’ minds which make them incapable of receiving the truth.

I was in a meeting once in Sweden in which I was asked to conduct a deliverance service. And I mean, it was a hall that seated about three hundred people. We’d moved from the main auditorium. It was absolutely filled with people, and people were getting delivered right and left. Demons were coming out screaming, people were writhing on the floor, it was really interesting. And I understand Swedish, and I saw this Pentecostal Swedish pastor— Now the Pentecostal people in Sweden have taken a very strong line: Christians cannot have demons. Okay. Well some of those people were his church members, and he walked around looking and this is what he said—I vouch for this. He said, ‘I don’t believe what I’m seeing.’ And he didn’t believe it. He did not believe it. He saw it, but he didn’t believe it. Why? Because he had a stronghold.

And that’s true in this matter that we’re talking about. There is a stronghold of theology built into the minds of Christians which makes them incapable of seeing the facts. You tell them, ‘Well, Israel has been restored. They’re in their own land. They’re rebuilding their cities.’ They can’t see it. It’s not important. It’s not important. Why? Because my theology says it’s not important. I hope I’m not unkind but it’s something that’s so vivid to me.

All right. Let’s look at another prophecy in Hosea chapter 3 verses 4 and 5. Again this is a prophesied judgment on Israel for disobedience and unbelief. Hosea 3:4 and 5:

“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.”

Now those were six things, all of which the children of Israel had at the time of Hosea. But Hosea said there’s a time coming when the children will be for a very long while without these things. That time for the northern kingdom began long before the end of the Old Testament dispensation. And it has continued until today. They are still without those six things. Why do I quote that? As evidence that there’s been no change at some unspecified point in history in the way that Old Testament prophesies are fulfilled. It’s still being fulfilled today the same way it was, for the northern kingdom, when they were scattered about 700 B.C. So both in Leviticus 26 and in Hosea chapter 3, you have prophecies whose fulfillment began before the end of the Old Testament, and continued till the present time.

Just as a matter of interest—and I’m not recommending going to movies—but how many of you saw a film called Voyage of the Damned? Yes, only a few. Well it’s a movie about a cargo of Jewish people who were released from Germany in the late 1930s and they were supposed to be going to Cuba for refuge. But when they got to Cuba, Cuba wouldn’t take them in. And so they’re then sailing the seas looking for any country, any nation, any government that would take them in, because if they go back to Germany it’s sure death for all of them. It just became so vivid to me that the prophecies of Leviticus 26 were being exactly fulfilled. They were running when a leaf blew in the street. I mean it was so vivid. It really troubles me when things are so clear and so vivid and people can’t see them.

Okay, we’re coming now to conclusion number 2. Conclusion number 2 is: We may expect unfulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament to be fulfilled in just the same way as those which were fulfilled in the New Testament. Okay? In other words, the New Testament has given us a clear authoritative pattern of the way in which Old Testament prophecies are to be fulfilled. There are scores of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in the New. Somebody has said that in the period of twenty-four hours centering around the death of Jesus, at least twenty-five specific Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in that period.

Now again, my point is, we have this pattern of how Old Testament prophecy is to be fulfilled in the New Testament. There is no evidence or suggestion that some unspecified time came when God suddenly decided prophecy would be fulfilled in a different way. So we have a pattern. Let’s look at it. How were the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in the New? Now the answer most people would give is ‘literally,’ which is quite true. But I always like to put a hedge around the word literally, because from my philosophic background I know that the moment you use the word literally you’re opening the door to something.

You’re opening the door for some other way and it’s not a legitimate door. I give this two examples. I say to Brother Jay Fesperman, ‘Jay, are you literally married?’ Well, I mean, he teaches a lot on the family, he’s sharp enough to know that opens the door to a lot of potential problems. ‘Well,’ Jay says, ‘I’m married, but not literally.’ Now I stay away from people like that. You understand the word literally is not a legitimate word to be joined with married. You’re either married or you’re not married. You might not get on too well with your wife, but you’re still married. Don’t tell me you’re married but you’ve got a soul mate somewhere else, because I won’t accept that. Now I want to make it clear I don’t entertain such thoughts about Jay.

Let me take another example. Let me take my good friend Don Bohl. I say, ‘Don Bohl, do you literally pay your taxes?’ What am I saying? I’m saying there’s a way to get away from paying your taxes. You pay them, but it’s not literal, you know. You tell the IRS that and see what they say. See what I’m saying? Well, it’s illegitimate to use the word literal about the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, because there isn’t another valid alternative. Now if prophecies are metaphorical, they’ll be metaphorically fulfilled. When a prophecy is given about a goat and it represents the King of Greece, it’s not going to be fulfilled by a goat; it’s going to be fulfilled by the King of Greece. But it’s the quality of the prophecy that determines the quality of the fulfillment. You may laugh, but what we’re dealing with is extremely important to your understanding of what’s going on in the world. And I want to tell you I believe Jesus is literally coming again. You know that? I believe He’s literally going to stand on the Mount of Olives. I believe it’s literally going to cleave in two, but I don’t want to say literal, because I’m not entertaining any other alternative method of fulfillment.

All right, well let’s look at some of the fulfilled prophecies in the life of Jesus, and you could add quite a number more, but just go through it. I think we will not look up all the references. They’re all there. You can check on them for yourselves. It was prophesied He would be born of a virgin, and He was born of a virgin. And I venture to say she was a real virgin. She wasn’t a metaphorical virgin. No, really, because I mean if you’re going to be metaphorical about anything, a virgin is one of the easiest things to be metaphorical about. I’ll give you an example. Second Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 2, now here is a metaphorical use of virgin. Paul says to the Corinthian church and you know what they’d been— prostitutes, pimps, homosexuals and all the rest.

“For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

Now that is metaphorical. I mean, you’ve only got to read the rest of the epistles to the Corinthians to find out they weren’t, most of them, really virgins. But you notice he says ‘as a chaste virgin to Christ.’ See what I’m saying?

All right. Number 2 about Jesus. He was born in Bethlehem, and He was really born in Bethlehem. Number 3, He taught in parables. That was prophesied in Psalm 78, and Matthew 13 states the fulfillment. Interestingly enough, I’ve discovered eighteen places in the New Testament, and there are probably more, in which it says that something happened in the life of Jesus ‘that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.’ In a certain sense, the life of Jesus was directed by Old Testament prophecy. Not merely did He believe it, but He walked it out.

Fourth, He was betrayed by a friend as prophesied in Psalm 41. He was hated without a cause as prophesied in two Psalms and Jesus Himself said this is fulfilled in Me.

He was condemned with criminals. I think we might look at that one for a moment. Isaiah 53:12, the last verse of this famous prophecy of the atonement, verse 12:

“Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors, . . .”

If you’d like to look at the fulfillment it’s Luke 22:37. And Jesus Himself again is the one who says:

“‘For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’’
And of course, when He was crucified a criminal was crucified on either side of Him.”

His garments were divided by lot. Again, you could make a whole lot out of that if you wanted to be metaphorical. I mean, I’ve got that kind of mind, I could do it. But the truth of the matter is, His garments were literally divided by lot. They literally sat down and cast lots for His garments.

His body was pierced without His bones being broken. That puts together two Scriptures—one of which says ‘They shall look on Him whom they have pierced,’ the other says, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken.’ And John is very careful in John chapter 19 to point out that each of those Scriptures was fulfilled.

He was buried in the tomb of a rich man. I’d like to read the New American Standard Version of Isaiah 53:9. It’s interesting, I think, if you go through and see how many of these prophecies were from Isaiah. That kind of study gives you an idea of the content of a person. Isaiah 53:9, this is how the New American Standard translates it:

“His grave was assigned to be with wicked men,
Yet with a rich man in His death; . . .”

They’re careful to bring out that the word wicked is plural but the word rich is singular, which won’t come out unless you direct your translation that way. But it’s correct. So He was condemned and crucified with the criminals, plural; but His grave was in the tomb of one rich man, Joseph of Arimathea. You see how it’s exact to the minutest detail, and how you need to be very careful in observing the words, because the change from plural to singular has a great significance.

All right, the final example, He rose from the dead on the third day. And I think there it’s worthwhile looking in 1 Corinthians 15 for a moment. The prophecy was given in Hosea 6 verse 1, but I want you to see what Paul says about this. In 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3 and 4:

“For I delivered to you first of all [or other translations say as of first importance] that which I also received: 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, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren . . .”

I just want you to notice that there were so many witnesses of the resurrection, more than five hundred witnesses, that’s not the primary evidence. The primary evidence is the Scriptures. That comes first. The human witnesses come second. See, it gives us some idea of the authority of Scripture. I really believe that the Charismatic Movement, and people like you and me, need to have a fresh revelation of the authority of Scripture. It’s not something we play about with. It’s not something that provides us texts that we can use to entertain people with. It’s something that we have to bow before.

In Colossians chapter 1 Paul makes two interesting statements. He says, ‘In two connections I was made a servant, first of the gospel, second of the church.’ Now we never can turn that order around. First we are servants of the Word. Then, if we are servants of the Word, we can be servants of the church. But if we become servants of the church without being servants of the Word, we will do the church more harm than good.

All right, now we come to one of the really exciting themes which is divine election, or if you want a more modern word choice—elect or chosen. But because of theological history we tend to use the word election, and I’m not objecting to it. It’s perfectly valid. What I’m saying now is Israel’s destiny is based on God’s sovereign election, not on Israel’s merits.

Now no Gentile Christians have any problem in seeing that. If they see it all they say, ‘The Jews certainly don’t deserve it.’ They’re perfectly right. What most Christians don’t see is the Christians don’t deserve it. The Scripture makes exactly similar statements about Jew and Christians. And incidentally, you might be interested to know how clearly the Jews see the Christians don’t deserve it. We had a celebration of opening our new prayer house in a restaurant here, quite a number of you were present. It was a most unusual occasion. As I said to Ruth, ‘I think only the Lord could have written the script for that situation.’ We had about fifty people at about six tables, something like that. But the far end of this special room which we had reserved were two tables of Jewish people. And guess what they were doing? They were helping a man to celebrate his hundredth birthday, and I’m telling you, he was lively. He was active. It really gave me hope. Anyhow, so those Jewish people—it blew their minds away. They had no idea what they’d got into, because the two Jims here got up and they led us in singing two Hebrew songs _______________________________.

Well, you know, I mean, those Jewish people they couldn’t believe that here was a group of Christians singing Hebrew songs together. A lot of other things happened, some of which I don’t think I’ll mention here this morning. Anyhow, why I tell you that is one of the Jewish ladies said, ‘You know, you really are nice people even if you’re not Jewish!’ You can laugh about people, but all people are the same.

When I was in East Africa, principal of a teacher training college there, we had Africans from about seven or eight different tribal groups. And I used to find out about the way they thought by giving them English compositions to write in certain subjects. And you know what I discovered, that every one of those tribes secretly believed they were superior to all the rest. There wasn’t one that didn’t feel that way. I think it’s something in human nature.

All right, so now we’re going to look at this theme of Israel’s destiny being based on God’s sovereign election. We’ll turn to Romans again, the 9th chapter. Now Romans 9 is a really difficult chapter, I have to admit. If you don’t understand all of it, you’ll not be the only person in that situation. Let’s look at Romans 9:10 through 16. Paul is here developing this fact that it’s not of works. We don’t earn God’s grace by what we do. That doesn’t mean works are unimportant. Please understand that. But it means that nothing we can do will ever earn God’s favor, which is His grace. One basic principle of grace is it cannot be earned. Anything that you can earn is not grace.

So then Paul goes to this very clear example of Rebecca who had twins in her womb, both by the same father, and yet before they were born God pronounced the destiny. Let’s read what Paul says.

“And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand [notice there’s where the where the emphasis is: the purpose of God according to election], not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ [Before they were born. Then elsewhere in Malachi:] As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.’”

And it’s really interesting to see the kind of person God hates, because he’s the good guy by modern standards. I don’t want to go into that, but modern standards would make Esau the good guy and Jacob the freak.

“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! [or, may it never be.] For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’”

God decides. You see, God’s justice is absolutely settled. It’s rigid, it’s unmoving, it’s a plumb line, but when it comes to God’s grace, nobody dictates to Him. If you want justice, help yourself. It’s all written in the book. You know every law and every law will be exactly applied. But if you’re wise enough to say, ‘Don’t give me justice, God,’ then I decide what I do with my grace.

One of the problems about the Church is we’re continually trying to advise God on what to do with His grace. I remember when I got back to Cambridge after I’d been away for six years and become a Christian while I was away. Some of the Christians at Cambridge who had never spoken to me said, ‘We could have believed it would have happened to anybody but you.’ Well, the truth of the matter is, it happened to me. I’m glad God wasn’t limited by their determination of where His grace should operate.

In fact, when I think about religious people I always want to say what David said, ‘Lord, let me fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men.’ I do not want to be at the mercy of religious people. Bob Mumford said, ‘Joe the Bartender has got a lot more compassion than most churchgoers.’ No really, it’s true. That’s why people go and sit in his bar—because he’s willing to listen.

“All right, now we come to the conclusion, verse 16:
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”

It’s not of human will, and it’s not of human effort, running. It’s of God showing mercy. If you’d like to go to James, if you want to turn there, ‘Of His own will He begot us with the word of truth’ [James 1:18]. He decided. You were born again because God decided, just as you were born in the natural because your father and mother decided. It didn’t have anything to do with you. You had no options. I was born in India. People say, ‘Why were you born in India?’ I said, ‘I didn’t have any options.’ That’s the thing about which no one has options. I firmly believe that man’s responsible for the choices he makes. I want to emphasize that. Most of my teaching is directed to that.

But we have to see that the ultimate and the primary decisions are made by God. He does it the way He wants. It says in Revelation 4, I think, ‘Thou has created all things, and for Thy pleasure and were created.’ Why is the universe the way it is? Because God wants it that way. That’s the ultimate reason. Why are you going through what you’re going through? Because God decided it would happen. Okay. Let’s look in Romans 11 verses 28 and 29. Now again this is dealing with the relationship between God and Israel.

“Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. [God still loves them because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, even though at the moment there is enmity between God and the Jewish people. Now the next verse:] For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Or if you want to say irrevocable, it doesn’t matter to me as long as you know what it means. They cannot be canceled. Now the strange thing is a lot of people will quote that about spiritual gifts, which is perfectly true. When God gives you a spiritual gift He never withdraws it. You may give up using it, but He never takes it back. You see, if He could take it back it isn’t a gift, it’s a loan. But the very people who will quote that in the context of Charismatic gifts don’t see that it was said about Israel. That’s the primary reference, the gifts and the calling of God to Israel and the Jewish people are irrevocable. Nothing that ever happens can change them. Why? Because it’s God’s election. The emphasis is on God’s choice. Turn back to the Old Testament for a moment just to a few passages in Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 41 verses 8 and 9. This is part of the promise of Israel’s restoration. I just want you to notice the emphasis, or rather I won’t tell you. I’ll ask you to see what it is that God most persistently emphasizes in these two verses.

“‘But you, Israel, are My servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
The descendants of Abraham My friend. [You notice that’s one of the places where he’s called God’s friend.]
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its farthest regions, [This is the regathering of Israel.]
And said to You,
‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and have not cast you away:’”

Did you see what I was aiming at? Chosen, that’s right. It’s because I’ve chosen you, that’s why. And then Isaiah 44, just the first three verses there.

“‘Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant,
And Israel whom I have chosen.
Thus says the LORD who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you:
‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant;
And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, . . .
So you see, where is the explanation—it’s in God’s choice.”

Now I don’t know where you are in your walk with the Lord, but I want to suggest to you that one mark of maturity is you begin to realize that everything that’s happened was because God chose it. And then you start worrying. That doesn’t mean you’re unconcerned, it doesn’t mean your careless, but it means, in a certain sense, you’re not always trying to prove you’re righteous or you’re good.

You know one of the marks—let me say it this way, you’ll meet men who’ve gone through life and they’ve probably become millionaires, determined to prove that they were better than what their father said they were. It’s one of the real motivating factors. Well, I think a lot of Christians are trying to prove to the Father how good they are, you know? Don’t. Just accept the fact He loves you. And He loves you— You know why He loves you? Because He loves you. There is no other reason. You can look in the Bible anywhere. There is no other reason. God doesn’t explain His love and He doesn’t give account of His grace. And when you can enjoy God’s grace that way, it takes a terrific burden of religious effort off you.

All right, now we’re going to turn to the statements of Paul and other writers about the Church, and my aim is to point out to you that the Church is just as much dependent on God’s sovereign grace and choice as Israel. There isn’t any difference. And let me point out to you also, we’ll probably notice it here: What’s the ultimate motive or end of God’s grace? Well, I’ll give you what I believe. I believe it’s God’s glory. God’s grace is ultimately directed to producing God’s glory. If we could have produced glory for God by our own efforts, that would have been fine, but we couldn’t. So the only way God is going to get the glory is out of His grace. And if you read carefully passages about grace you’ll always see they issue in God’s glory. That’s why I have hope for America, because I think it will be for God’s glory to show grace to this nation. Not because this nation deserves it.

“All right. Ephesians 1 verses 3 through 6:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, [Can you say, ‘Praise the Lord! We are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’?] just as [or just because] He chose us in Him [when?] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, [That gives me faith that I can be holy and without blame, God made that choice before He started the creation. Verse 5,] having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, [He predestined us, He worked out the plan for our lives, why? Because He wanted to. Now notice verse 6 which brings out the point I was saying.] to the praise of the glory of His grace, . . .”

His grace is going to bring forth the praise of His glory. We don’t need to read further. And then in Ephesians 2 verses 8 through 10—very familiar verses to those who have learned how to lead people to salvation. Ephesians 2:8 through 10:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”

Now, you can interpret that various ways, but I personally believe that it’s the faith that’s the gift of God. Because I tried to believe, I tried to understand the gospel when I was confronted with it. I used all my intellectual ability and I couldn’t believe. I could not believe until God did something for me. He delivered me and He gave me faith. And from then on I’ve not been able to un-believe. That’s the marvelous thing. But I take no credit for it. Going on:

“not of works, lest anyone should boast. [Deliberately ruled out you haven’t earned it.] For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Notice, God has got it all arranged in advance. Okay, then there’s a glorious verse in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, talking about God who is the last word in the previous verse. Second Timothy 1:9:

“God, . . . has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, . . .”

All right, so we were the recipients of God’s grace and the object of God’s purposes before time even started. That gives you a completely different foundation for your Christian life. It’s so important that we see it. We are no more deserving of God’s grace than Israel. If you could measure it, I’d say we were less. That would be my personal estimation of it, but that’s not really important.

I’d like to give you two other Scriptures which are not in the outline which the Lord brought to me. Romans 8:29 and 30, speaking about the fact that all things work together for good, which is the famous verse 28, Paul says of God:

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, . . .”

Please note that we are not predestined to go to heaven. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Okay? You see, if a person tells me he’s predestined to go to heaven and I don’t see anything of Christ in his life, I question his predestination. But when I meet a person who’s been conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, I can easily believe that he was predestined. It’s a misapplication of truth to suggest that people are predestined to heaven. They’re predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

“…that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Notice, every one of those statements is in the past tense. God calls the things that be not as though they were. When God makes up His mind, He says it’s happened even though it may be thousands of years away. And then just one more Scripture in 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 1 and 2.

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, . . .
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, [through] sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: . . .”

So why were they what they were? Because they were chosen. Was God’s choice arbitrary or unfair? You see, some people take the doctrine of divine election and they try to make it as awkward as possible. They ram it down your throat until it sticks there like a bone. But I find the doctrine of divine election is not arbitrary or unreasonable, because it says here we’re ‘elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.’ When God chose us, He knew what He was doing. He made the right choice. When God rejected others, He knew what He was doing. It’s not arbitrary. God didn’t sit up all one night with a list of names putting pin pricks against some names. God foreknew us. If you can once grasp that, it will make a tremendous difference in your view of God.

I want to put together those two statements in 1 Peter and in Romans 8, and I just want to give you a list of things that God did. And you have to look at both passages to get them all. But I’m not going to turn back to them now.

“First of all, first and foremost, He foreknew us. Okay, if you don’t start there you’ll miss it. Having foreknown us He chose us. That’s number 2.”

Having chosen us, He predestined us—He worked out the course that our life was to take. That’s all done in eternity. That’s all done before time began, if you can use that rather strange form of speech. Then, in time, He called us. How? By the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believed.

One thing was so clear to me, I was so ignorant spiritually when I met the Lord that when I heard the gospel I knew intuitively I had no right to expect I would ever hear it again if I didn’t respond. That wasn’t reason. I knew I had to make my decision at that stage. If God doesn’t call you, you can go to church all your life but nothing will happen. That’s why it’s so important to respond when God calls you. All right.

“In time He called us. When we accepted, what did He do?”

He justified us. He acquitted us. He counted us righteous with His own righteousness. He cast all our sins behind His back and He buried them in the depths of the sea. You’ve all heard after that He put up a sign that said NO FISHING. That’s right. Don’t you go fishing after what God has buried.

And then sixthly, and very few people get this one, He glorified us. Not in the past tense, not in the future tense excuse me, but in the past. He enthroned us with Jesus Christ. We’re there. Let’s see those six divine acts.

“He foreknew us.
He chose us.
He predestined us—that hand is for eternity, this hand is for time.
He called us, when we responded,
He justified us.
And He glorified us.”

Okay, if you have difficulty about the fact that He glorified us, let me turn you to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 for a moment, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 6 and 7:

“However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.”

Did you ever notice that? ‘For our glory.’ I think it’s the New English Bible that says, ‘We speak a secret hidden wisdom of God.’ Thrills go up and down my spine every time I use that phrase—a secret hidden wisdom of God. What is the purpose of this wisdom? To glorify us. It was ordained for our glory. If that doesn’t excite you, you just haven’t understood it. It’s thrilling, especially for me, because I was in search of wisdom. I tried every way I could to find wisdom, but this is a secret hidden wisdom and if you don’t come by the way of the cross, you’ll never get there. But the cross is the door to this secret hidden wisdom.

I want to finish this next section. I think we can do it. That’s number 12. I appreciate your attentiveness. You’re really a good group. I’m saying a lot of things I didn’t mean to say and I always know when that happens I’ve got good people in front of me.

All right. We’re dealing now with the Uniqueness and Newness of the Church. My purpose in introducing this is simply to point out that the Church was something totally new. It never existed before, whereas Israel had existed for fifteen centuries. You’re completely obliterating the identity of the Church if you try to make the Church Israel. It’s not so much for the sake of Israel that it’s important, it’s for the sake of the Church. If we try to fulfill Israel’s destiny we’ll miss our own. All right.

The Church Is a ‘Mystery’ Never Previously Revealed. Ephesians 3. We’ll read these words, Ephesians 3 beginning at verse 2:

“if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, . . .”

Or the administration. Doesn’t it excite you, that you and I can be administrators of God’s grace? Have you ever thought about that? God can give us a little piece of His grace to administer. When I pray for the sick now with Ruth, I feel I’m an administrator of God’s grace. I don’t have to account for what happened; I just have to let it happen. When I was always trying to think, Now, does this person really deserve this? nothing much happened. The question now is, Does God want this person touched? I’ve become in a very small measure an administrator of God’s grace. It’s quite different; it’s exciting. I’ll tell you something, when you’re an administrator of God’s grace, you’re almost irresistible. You can say and do and get away with things you could never do otherwise. But don’t you try when it’s not God’s grace.

I’ve been in Jewish setting where I told those people things I thought I would never dare to tell Jewish people. But I got away with it. In fact, they thanked me. But if it’s not the grace of God, you be careful. Now verse 3:

“how that by revelation He made known to me they mystery (as I have briefly written [already], by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), [which was granted by revelation] which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: [Notice, it was not known in other ages—nobody knew it. What is the mystery? This is it:] that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs [now the NIV puts in ‘with Israel’ which is perfectly correct in interpretation. The Gentiles were already there, Israel was already there, what was the mystery was God was going to create a new creation in which Jews and Gentiles would have an equal inheritance. Verse 7:] through the gospel, of which I became a minister [notice, he’s a minister or a servant of the gospel first] according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. [Notice the emphasis on grace all through that. Verse 8:] To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all people see what is the fellowship [or I believe administration] of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; . . .”

Hidden, nobody knew about it. That’s thrilling. Not even the angels knew about it. One person who didn’t know about it was the devil. That’s why he made his worst mistake. He organized the crucifixion of Jesus, see, which was the key to the mystery. If he’d known, he would never have done it. I’m sure he’s been regretting it ever since. Verse 10:

“to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenl[ies], . . .”

See my point? The Church was something that only God knew about. Nobody else in the universe had any idea of what was going to happen. Whereas Israel was a known fact of history for fifteen centuries. Let’s look at just a few other Scriptures. A New Creation, 2 Corinthians 5:17:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have becomes new.”

When you by faith enter into Christ, a new creation has taken place. Something has come into being which wasn’t there before. And the other Scripture we looked at in Galatians 6, you remember, in our previous session—6:15 and 16:

The only thing that really matters is a new creation. It doesn’t matter whether you were a Jew or a Greek, whether you were educated, uneducated, strong or weak, that’s all irrelevant. The thing that matters is you’ve become a new creation in Christ. And, praise God, the old has passed away. You are no long heir to the evil inheritance. You have a new inheritance. You see, that’s a cut-off point. When Jesus was buried, all the old inheritance was buried with Him. Your father and mother may both have had diabetes, but that’s no reason why you should have diabetes. Understand? Or whatever it may be. They may both have been alcoholics, but that’s no reason for you to be an alcoholic. It’s a new creation. The old has passed away. You need to know that and live in it. And then Paul says:

“And as many as walk according to this rule, . . .”

What’s this rule? New creation. Once you get too interested in who you were or even doctrinal issues, in a certain sense, you probably aren’t walking according to this rule. The devil has lots of ways to entangle us.

I was impressed in reading the Psalms about how many times David talks about the enemy’s snares that he set beside the path. What are his snares designed to do for Christians? Keep us from walking in this new way, entangle us, trip us up. If you walk according to the rule of the new creation you can avoid those snares.

All right. One other Scripture and we’re going to close this session. We go back to Ephesians 2 for a moment, verse 11, Ephesians 2:11:

“Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—[the Circumcision is the Jews, the Uncircumcision is the Gentiles. They were both existent.] that at that time you were without Christ. . . . [Verse 13:] But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off [Gentiles] have been made near by the blood of Christ. For He . . . is our peace, … [verse 14, and we’ll continue to the end of verse 15:] so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, . . .”

Notice the emphasis is Jews were there, Gentiles were there. There were problems for both, but in Jesus Christ God has created something new, which is neither Jew nor Gentile. It’s a new man. See, the problem is if we try to identify ourselves with Israel we’ll lose sight of the fact that we’re a new creation. It’s foolish for the Church to want to be Israel. The calling of the Church is a higher calling than that of Israel. People who want to identify themselves with Israel are really blind to their calling.

“Okay, we’ll stop there and, God helping us, we’ll finish that outline tonight.”