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Go ahead and grab your Bible. I'm going to ask you to turn to two places to begin with, Romans chapter 10 and Galatians chapter 3. I don't usually do that, but you guys are Sunday night crowd. You all can handle it, I'm sure. Romans chapter 10 and Galatians chapter 3. We are studying from the Bible the difference between Israel and the church. We've mentioned a couple times now about the different groups that have taught a lot of false doctrine and error because they fail to differentiate between the two. 2 Timothy 2.15 tells us to study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Right division sure helps straighten up your Bible for you. It will iron out your doctrine too. I mean it saves you from all sorts of mistakes. First and foremost you have to have a final authority, then you need to know how to use it. So both of those are extremely important. On Wednesday night, I handed out this timeline. Let me see if I can find mine. I believe everyone has one now. Does everybody have the timeline that I gave still? If not, we still have a couple copies floating around. Remember the kind of color there on the top, I guess that's, is that considered olive? Is that olive green on the top there? That's whenever God was dealing with just the godly people. That's before he made a covenant with Abraham and he chose Abraham later on. That's the blue there. But before that, God was dealing with just those that wanted to deal with him. Ones like Enoch and Noah and Job. Any of those that sought God found them and he had a good relationship with them so long as they were obedient to him and they desired a relationship with him. But then in Genesis chapter 12, and then in Genesis chapter 17, God chooses Abraham. He starts dealing with Abraham, and from that direct seed, Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob. Jacob becomes Israel, that becomes the nation of Israel, his 12 sons there. Got the 12 tribes of Israel, that's God's chosen people. That's still the apple of his eye, okay? That's still his chosen elect people there. He does with them through the entire Old Testament from Genesis 12 on. Okay, they are primary focus. And that's what we have in the blue there on the timeline. The purple, because in between the blue and the purple, we have Jesus Christ right there. I should have put like a red line or something. That's Calvary right there, because Jesus' death marks the end of the Old Testament. We looked at Hebrews 9, 16, and 17. It says that a testament is not in effect until the death of the testator. So your New Testament does not start at Matthew 1. It starts at Matthew 27, because that's when Jesus died. That's the end of the Old Testament. But see, that's why we transitioned over to the purple there. That is whenever God, salvation is now by grace through faith, but it's still, God is still dealing with Israel. Okay, the church begins there, that's whenever you get saved that way, but from Calvary up until Acts chapter eight, we're saying, that's whenever God is dealing still with the Jews, even though it's salvation by grace through faith. So the church begins there and it starts to the Jews only, but at Acts chapter 10, that's a monumental event, because that's when the Gentiles are now opened up to the gospel as well. Acts chapter seven, that's the last appeal to Israel. That's whenever Stephen was preaching there in Acts chapter 7, they rejected him for the last time. Acts chapter 8, the bottom there in the purple, the middle arrow there, Acts chapter 8, the Ethiopian unit gets saved. Acts chapter 9, we went over that some this morning, that's whenever Paul got saved. And in Acts chapter 10, that's whenever whosoever will gets in. It gets opened up to us Gentiles as well. But let's see, you've got Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10 verse 12, because now that's where we left off is that now it's open to all of us, now there's not a difference between, no difference in the church between Jew and Gentile. Romans 10, verse 12, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now it's not just to the Jew, but it's to both of us, okay? Jew and Gentile, whoever calls on the Lord, they shall be saved. Galatians 3, Galatians 3, notice both of these references are after Acts 10. Galatians 3, verse 27, Galatians 3, verse 27, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Amen. Okay, so the biggest shift that we have covered so far is the shift from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Okay, that's what I have down here in the orange. That's the shift from the Old Testament to the New Testament, which is defined at Calvary, not at Matthew 1 and Mark 1 and Luke 1 or anything like that. It is at Calvary. It happened at Jesus' death. When God's attention was on Israel in the Old Testament, God was giving them signs, miracles, wonders, and prophets, and was expecting from them works, tithes, and obedience. Okay, so whenever God is dealing with the signs, he's dealing with Israel here, starting in Genesis chapter 12, he's focusing on Israel, and it's all based on works. It's based on works. He gives the law in Exodus chapter 19. So he expects him to follow the law, works, and he's giving him signs. So he's providing signs. He provides promises like blessings, the financial blessings and fruitfulness, health. He provides physical things for Abraham's physical seed, right? He would reward them with prosperity, riches, health, and fruitfulness. God did not expect Israel to live by faith in the Old Testament. That's why He provided signs. Remember Hebrews 11.1 tells us now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Since the Lord is providing signs here and he's giving them things to see, he's giving them fire from heaven, he's giving them healings, he's giving them resurrections from the dead, he's giving them different signs, he's expecting them, since they see something, to obey. He's not expecting faith in the Old Testament because he's providing things for them to see, okay? The word faith appears in your Bible 247 times. You want to guess how many times it's in the Old Testament? Twice. Two times. I'm going to show you both the references. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy chapter 32. I'm sorry, if you didn't leave a marker there in Romans and Galatians, you needed a marker in both of them. So if you found them good, I'm sure you can find them again. I put an extra work on you, but that's good. Deuteronomy chapter 32. I find it interesting not only that there's only two references in the Old Testament to faith, but what they are a reference to. Okay, God did not expect faith where works and signs are. Okay, so whenever you find out Israel, when the focus is on Israel, you see works and you see signs. Okay, this is important. Deuteronomy chapter 32. We're gonna start in verse 15. Start with a little context here. Deuteronomy 32, 15. But Jeshurun waxed fat. Jeshurun is another name for Israel. It's kind of a poetic name for Israel. But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Thou art waxen fat. Thou art grown thick. Thou art covered with fatness. It must be the holidays. Then he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods. With abomination provoked they him to anger." Israel's not in good standing with God right now. They're very backslidden. Verse 17, they sacrificed unto devils, not to God. to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the rock that beget thee, thou art unmindful and has forgotten God that formed thee. They're extremely backslid, verse 19. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be, for they are a very forward generation, children in whom is no faith." The first mention, the first reference of faith in the Bible is in the Old Testament and it's God stating how Israel has no faith. He says they're backslidden, they're worshiping false idols, they're making new gods to worship them instead. He said Israel has no faith. That's the first reference in the Bible. Turn to Habakkuk. There's a fun one, Habakkuk. Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. Okay, it's fifth to the last book in the Old Testament there, Habakkuk chapter two. This is the second reference to faith in the Old Testament and it's the last reference to faith in the Old Testament. The first one being God saying that Israel has no faith. Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 2, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. Habakkuk 2.2, and the Lord answered me. and said, write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. So the second and the last mention of faith in the Old Testament is a prophetic reference to an appointed time that will surely come when the just shall live by faith. This is God giving us a little sneak peek into what's coming. Because two times in the Old Testament he speaks about faith, and the last reference is, hey, there's coming a time when the just shall live by faith. Romans 117, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Come back to Galatians chapter three. I apologize again, I didn't have you keep a marker there. Notes don't do a whole lot good whenever I just go right over them. Galatians 3, Galatians 3 verse 11. So the Lord in Habakkuk's letting us know that there will come a time when the just shall live by faith and it said in Deuteronomy that Israel has no faith. Galatians 3, 11. But that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Verse 12, And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So in verse 11, we're told the just shall live by faith, verse 12, and the law is not of faith. So when the law is enforced, there is not faith. The focus is not being in faith because they have a law. God just demanded obedience in the Old Testament. He said, here's the law, here's what I expect, do this. and I will be your God and I will take care of you and all the other promises. He said, here it is, obey. Here's some signs you're doing right. Here's some signs you're doing wrong, okay? But it's not focused on faith. So the shift from the Old Testament to the New Testament is one from works and law to one of grace and faith. So here we have, let me add this here with the church. The focus is grace. and faith. But see, there's still this area of transition in here. There's still this area in here where it's still, God is still focused on the Jews who require a sign, right? So the Jews require a sign, now it's by faith though, so we have a conflict of interest. Because you got the Jewish people that require a sign, but God expects us to live by faith. So there's a conflict of interest there. Remember, the shift from the Old Testament and the New Testament happened in the Jews first, from Calvary to Acts chapter eight. This led to some confusion for a people group, the Jews, that had been a works and law focused group for a couple thousand years. Okay, they got used, since Moses, to follow the law, follow the law, follow the law, you know, obey the law. And they, for a couple thousand years, they're doing that. And then Jesus Christ comes, he fulfills the law at his death at Calvary. So it's fulfilled, and now they're saying, how do we be Christians? What is this faith thing that we're supposed to go by? Where's my signs? I'm used to the signs. Grandpa told me about signs. I want signs. I don't understand faith, they didn't have it. Turn to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. I'm trying to leave a little time for questions at the end so I hope I don't confuse you too bad or anything but if you have some questions write them down and I can Lord willing answer them at the end. Acts chapter 15 which is after Acts chapter 10, correct? opened up, the Gospels opened up to the Gentiles at this point in time. But there are still a lot of Jews that are coming out of the Jewish faith and trying to figure out what is this grace by faith stuff? What are we doing here? Acts chapter 15 look at verse 1, give you an account here. And certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." You see their problem? They're talking about New Testament salvation after the cross, but they're coming back here to Moses and the law saying, you've got to be circumcised. Because the Old Testament law said if you're not circumcised you're going to be cut off from Israel, you're going to lose your salvation, okay? So they're confused because they said, we expect you to be saved, we know you believe in Jesus Christ, but you have to add this aspect of the law here, okay? Let's see, verse 2. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they chatted a little bit, right? They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. So Paul and Barnabas didn't have a solid answer to them or at least not one that they accepted. So they said, well, take it to the apostles, right? So they're going up to Jerusalem and we're going to find out, do we have to be circumcised to be saved? Verse 3, And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phinis and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. Right? It's open to the Gentiles. And they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. So a bunch of Gentiles are coming back with them. Praise the Lord, we're part of the church now too. It's been opened up to us. This is fantastic. Verse number 5, But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." This is something that the Lord showed me, honestly, through another author I was reading. I thought this was fantastic here. Because notice, we've got this group, Judaizers, these are called Judaizers. And what they're doing is they're trying to say, okay, you can be saved, but you got to keep the law, okay? Salvation is by believing on Jesus Christ and get him circumcised and keeping the law. So they're trying to add things to salvation. The question is, are they saved or are they not? Because can you believe that salvation is by grace through faith and keeping the law? Does it negate your salvation? If you call on Jesus Christ, you believe in him and you're trying to add works to it. Are you saved or are you not saved? Well, in verse five, but there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed. What does it mean if you believe? That means you're a believer, right? So they're believers. But they thought you had to be saved by grace through faith, plus keep the law, plus be circumcised. You know what this does. This gives me hope for all those like Church of Christ. Church of Christ believes you get saved by grace through faith and you gotta get baptized. And there's a lot of people in the Church of Christ that believe on Jesus Christ. They've asked him to save them. They believe death, burial, and resurrection for Jesus Christ as full payment for their sins. And then they hop in the water because of what you told them to because they said, hey, that washes away your sins. And so they're believing, but they're doing some works too. Are they saved? Well, if they're believers, that's how I'm seeing it. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." Verse 6, and the apostles and elders came together for to consider this matter. So they're meeting together. You have to keep the law and be circumcised to be saved. Verse 7, and when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, You know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. Right, Peter's the one that went down and talked to Cornelius and all those folks got saved, verse eight. And God which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us. Let me see, that was Acts chapter 10, that's in our sheet here. first row of the green, that's one of the Gentiles got the Holy Ghost. Verse 9, And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Verse 10, Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they. So saved people, former Jews and Gentiles, are now purified by faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 tells us that, for we walk by faith, not by sight. If you see it, it's not faith. Okay, and so now he says, now listen, the Judaizer said, yeah, you can believe, but you're still going to keep the law. He said, no, you don't have to. We're justified by faith. Okay, that time has come. We are appointed to be justified by faith. God does not deal with the church by signs, and he does not expect us to keep the law. You say, why is this important? because of various different groups today that try to keep you, try to make you keep parts of the law, or try to make you work for your salvation, or to accept signs that were for unbelieving Jews. There's a lot of error that goes around in these different groups because they're like the Judaizers. They say, yeah, believe on Jesus Christ, but add unto it the law. or certain aspects of the law, or baptism, or something else. Let's add something else to it. And they said, no, we're under grace now. It's the church, we're dealing with by faith and not by signs, not by works. Turn to Exodus chapter 31. Exodus chapter 31. One of these famous ones, I'm sure you've heard of the group, are Seventh Day Adventists. Right, you've heard of Seventh-day Adventists, they're the ones that worship on Saturday, but they're still, I don't, I'll have to look and see how they believe salvation is. They're believing on Jesus Christ, but they're still worshiping on Saturday. Okay, they say, we gotta keep the Sabbath, that's one of the Ten Commandments, so we're keeping the Sabbath, we're keeping the Sabbath, we need to do that, because God makes a big deal about keeping the Sabbath, and he does, in the Old Testament, when he's talking to Israel. Problem is, we got a group over here after Calvary that is reading someone else's mail, and just like the Judaizers, they're saying, hey, you need to keep this aspect of the law to be saved on the other side of Calvary. Exodus chapter 31, verse 14. Exodus 31, 14. Part of the law here. He shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you. I wonder who the you is? That's Israel. Everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death. For whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Israel. Verse 15, 6 days may work be done, but in the 7th is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath. Gee, I wonder who the Sabbath is for, the children of Israel. Okay? Shall keep the Sabbath. To observe the Sabbath through their generations for a perpetual covenant. Remember the covenants in the Old Testament, they're directed towards the Jews. There's no Gentile-directed covenant in the Old Testament outside of Abraham, or not Abraham, Adam. There we go. Edimic covenant. Verse 17, Exodus 31, 17. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. So not only is the Sabbath specifically a covenant between God and Israel, but the Bible says it's a sign, but the Jews require a sign, but the Greeks seek after wisdom. It is a sign for Israel. Okay, why do we not have to keep the Sabbath? The Sabbath is still Saturday. The Sabbath did not move to Sunday, okay? The Sabbath is still Saturday. It's still the seventh day of the week. Consult the calendar. It will verify this, okay? But the Sabbath did not move. We don't keep the Sabbath. We worship on the Lord's day. Why? Because it's different. We're on this side of Calvary. We're not on the other side of Calvary. God gave Israel the Sabbath as a sign between Himself and Israel. There's a couple more references on that in Ezekiel 20, but we won't turn there right now. That's Ezekiel 20, verse 10 through 12 and 18 through 20. But remember, 1 Corinthians 1.22, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. Turn to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. entire denomination, the Seventh-day Adventists, they've made a doctrine and a denomination based on something that was directed towards Israel. They said, well, I read a little bit in the Old Testament and I see the Sabbath is being kept an awful lot. Yep, God's dealing with Israel. He made a covenant with Israel and said you need to keep my Sabbath. It's a perpetual covenant between me and Israel. And it is a sign between me and Israel. And it's just, it's for Israel. Acts 20, verse 7, New Testament, this is after the cross. Acts 20, verse 7, and upon the first day of the week, that is Sunday, upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight. Some very important things we need to get from this passage. The disciples met on the first day of the week. That's when they broke bread. They're eating together. That's good. They were Baptist. Paul preached to them. Paul preached very long to them. He preached until midnight. That's very biblical. Strap in, we've got four or five more hours. All right, we're going to have a good service tonight. So don't worry, I only have like this much notes left, so the rest of them are going to be like, uh, uh, uh. But this is New Testament. This is after the cross. Turn to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. So in the New Testament, Paul is preaching with the brethren, preaching to the brethren on Sunday, not on the Sabbath. Romans chapter 13, starting in verse 8. Romans 13, 8, owe no man anything but to love one another. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Here we have Paul as giving a recap of the Ten Commandments. That probably sounded pretty familiar, right? Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal. He's given the Ten Commandments. Which one is he leaving out? Keeping the Sabbath. One of the ones he neglected to mention for a reason is keeping the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath is not, will not fall under the category of loving your neighbor as yourself. Okay, he purposely leaves out the Sabbath because now we're in New Testament. Now he understands that there's a difference there at the cross, that we don't have to keep the Sabbaths like Israel did in the Old Testament. Because now the Jews that are saved after the cross, now these are Jews meeting not on the Sabbath. Okay, the church would start off being made up with a bunch of Sabbath breakers. They're not keeping the Sabbath anymore. They're worshiping on Sunday. The only way that you can try to make a Christian today keep the Sabbath is to fail to see who God is talking to, when He's talking to them, and what He is talking to them about. The Sabbath is clearly an Old Testament command to the Jews as a sign to the people who require a sign. Ok, let's move on to another one. I'll just give you a couple of examples here because we're seeing some of the false doctrine that's out there because they don't understand who God is talking to during these different times. The rightly dividing the Word of Truth, they don't understand that. Turn to 1 Corinthians Chapter 14. 1 Corinthians Chapter 14. We touched on this one a little bit, I'll be brief over it. But last time we talked about speaking in tongues, about how every time in the Bible that speaking in tongues is taking place, there are unbelieving Jews present there that are in need of a sign. Why we find some signs in the New Testament after Calvary is because of this transition period when God is still dealing with the Jews, but He's transferring it over to living, justifying, being justified by faith, right? So, you've got these Jews, Old Testament Jews that are used to a sign, having a sign. So, He starts off in the New Testament after the cross, He starts off with some signs to convince some Jews about some things. Speaking in tongues is one of those things. But notice, as things progress, and as the Jews start understanding, okay, it's by faith. We're supposed to go off of things that we don't see. We're not getting signs anymore. Even Peter, and even Paul, start off doing all these miracles. And all these signs and these wonders, there's healings, you know, the handkerchief and things like that, that they're bringing their sick out there. And even the shadow is passing by and they're getting healed by the shadow, right? Those are signs going on. Those start tapering off. Those start tapering off as the Jews stop being the primary focus, but still stay in view of the Lord. Those miracles start tapering off to where at the end of Paul's life, He's got health concerns and he can't even heal himself. He's now traveling with Luke who is a doctor because he needs the help. He needs the help of a physician to help him maintain and keep going on for the Lord. The signs are going away. Why? Because the requirement and the focus is no longer on the people that require the signs. 1 Corinthians 14, look at verse 22, this whole chapter is on speaking in tongues, pretty much all of it is. And what's interesting is those people that speak in tongues do not follow the rules outlined in 1 Corinthians 14 for speaking in tongues. But let me point this out to you, we'll just hit a couple of them here. 1 Corinthians 14, 22, the Bible says, wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe. but to them that believe not. But prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe." So you've got a transition period. You've got a time when these people that are used to signs and getting signs, there's tongues being spoken as a sign. The Bible says it's a sign. Wherefore tongues are a sign. The Jews require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom. So tongues are a sign and it's not for them that believe. So why in the world in 2022 would you go to a church that they practice speaking in tongues and they're saying, well, we're a group of believers, we believe Jesus Christ, we believe the Bible, and we're gonna stand up here speaking in tongues, that's the initial evidence of having the Holy Ghost and all these different things that they say when the Bible says it's a sign for those that don't believe. Why are you practicing something for non-believers if you're assembling together as a group of believers? You're missing out on some logic there. Look at verse 19, 1 Corinthians 14, 19. I had rather speak five words with my understanding than by my voice I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. Paul said, I'd rather come into the church today and speak five words that you understand than preach for four or five hours and you not get a thing out of it. It's not beneficial. Speaking in tongues is not beneficial. Why? Because it's for unbelievers, not for believers. Why? Because all it does is breed confusion. Look at verse 23. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, remember prophesy is just stating something that's going to happen in the future. If they come in and say, hey, Jesus Christ is coming back. Praise the Lord, here's what's going to happen, okay? You're preaching. Let's see, verse 24, but if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all. You might end up getting saved if you're actually preaching, but if you're speaking in tongues, he's gonna think you're a maniac. Signs are for a Jew that require a sign, so that they may keep up their works. God's not dealing exclusively with the Jews anymore. We don't need signs to help us keep and maintain works. God expects from us faith, so he withholds from us signs. He says, I gave signs when I just expected obedience and there was no faith. But now that you have faith, you don't get the signs. Hebrews 11.1. For faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11.6, 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. If the Bible says in Hebrews 11.6 that without faith it's impossible to please God, how is a church that's working on signs for the Jews, from the Jews in the Old Testament, how are they gonna please God if they're rejecting living by faith? They can't. They're doing something that's for unbelievers, they're trying to do signs, they're trying to do miracles and wonders, all the charismatic movements, you know, hey, let's do this, let's handle snakes and drink poison and end these healings and bop it on the head and everything like that, they're trying to do signs for Israel, they're not pleasing God. There's no pleasing God there. So you have the timeline here. We talked about there in the green that now we don't have the signs anymore. Now it's by faith. We're part of the church. There's no longer a difference between Jew and Gentile. We are in the church. That church, it lasts up until the tribulation. That's whenever the trumpet sounds, the bride of Christ, the body of Christ is out of here, we're lifted up, there's no longer a church here. And when the church leaves, whenever those that are justified by faith leave, the focus goes back on Israel, the focus is back on the Jews, and since the focus is back on the Jews, guess what comes back? Signs. Turn to Revelation chapter 11. Revelation chapter 11. The signs, the miracles, the wonders, they fade out there in the first half of the New Testament. They're fading out as the focus is going from Israel and going on to anybody who wants to live by faith, justified by faith, whosoever will. Revelation chapter 11, look at verse 3. because remember the church is out of here in Revelation 4, the church is gone, that's the rapture happening, called up to heaven, Revelation 4, we're gone. Revelation 11, verse 3, and I will give power unto my two witnesses, this is Moses and Elijah, give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days clothed in sackcloth. So we have prophets again. Verse 4, they have prophets, we won't be here. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. So Moses and Elijah come back, and if anybody goes against them, fire is coming out of their mouth and devouring their attacker. That is a sign. We can't do that today. I don't know if you know this or not, we do not breathe fire. Okay, that is a sign of when things to come. Verse six, these have power, these two witnesses, these have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy. Who did that in the Old Testament? Elijah did. You remember this? Elijah did. He shut it up, there's no rain. What is that? That's a sign. and have power, verse six continued, and have power over water to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as oft as they will. Who did God use to turn the water into blood and to smite the earth with a bunch of plagues? That's Moses. So here we have the focus is back on the Jews and the signs return. Moses and Elijah even return to witness to the Jews in the tribulation when God's focus is back on them. So see, that's why during our time, we're not focused on science. It's not to us. Those signs are for Jews. So see, we have here, I tried to help you out a little bit on this, the color-coded timeline here, this kind of brown color. I put in there when God is focusing with Israel there at the top in the blue, Genesis 12 through Acts 8. So that's anytime you're reading something between Genesis 12 and Acts 8, you know that this is primarily focused on the Jews. Okay. There, there are different aspects that we can definitely get benefits from. Okay. But doctrinally that's to the Jews. New Testament is the death of Jesus through the end of Revelation there. Okay, that is New Testament because that's the fulfillment of the law. That's the death of the testator. And that's why I put up there in the first line, when God chooses Abraham, signs are given. That's whenever signs are beginning to be shown to people because he's dealing with Israel. But whenever down here, the first line on the green, when the gospel is opened to the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10, signs are beginning to end, okay? They're fading away. Signs ended except for unbelieving Jews. That's when the signs are drying up. And Jesus' death ends the Old Testament, that's when by faith begins, the yellow there. Okay? By faith alone begins. There at the end of the church, the rapture, that's when by faith alone ends. Okay. During the tribulation, they're not saved by grace through faith. They're saved by believing on Jesus Christ and working and enduring to the end. They've got it tough. We've got it easy. All we've got to do is believe. It's just faith by us right now. They've got to believe on Jesus Christ and maintain good works, keep the law. They've got a lot of things to do. Endure to the end. That's why You notice there in the very bottom in the blue in the Tribulation, it is for Israel, there is a reference there, Jeremiah 30, verse 7. It's not to the church, 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, we're not appointed to wrath. Jeremiah 30, verse 7, that's whenever it says it's a time of Jacob's troubles. That's when signs return, that's when Moses and Elijah are back. And some New Testament books of the Bible that are directed toward them are Hebrews, Okay, Hebrews, that's Jews, Israel. Okay, that's directed to them. James, that's written to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. Matthew chapter 24 is directed toward tribulation Jews. Okay, and there's various different passages that are still pointed prophetically to Jews in the tribulation, even though they're in the New Testament. So there are some books that you need to watch out for because a bunch of false doctrines taught out of books still in the New Testament but written to Israel in the future instead of to us doctrinally.
No, That's For Israel
Series The Church and Israel
Sermon ID | 1252211345582 |
Duration | 43:06 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - PM |
Language | English |
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