Show Video time stamps

So this is part two into our look at why the church today, why the body of Christ today has not, cannot, and is not going to be Israel's replacement, and why there is no way in which it can be said that the church of today is actually functioning within what the Bible has repeatedly referred to as Israel's prophesied kingdom, that we are not in that kingdom today.

But before we get into some more of the reasons why this is so, I'd just like to spend a brief time on the subject of basic Bible interpretation. In the book of Proverbs, the word wisdom is found 53 times, because God's wisdom is the major theme throughout the whole book of Proverbs, mainly for the nation Israel, but by application to the Body of Christ, to all mankind as well. And it gives all manner of good advice and direction in life. I want to direct your attention to Proverbs, chapter 9, verses 4 and 5, which says, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith unto him. And now this is what wisdom is going to say unto that man who wants understanding. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Eat of my bread. That bread, of course, is the bread of life.

It's the word of God. If you want knowledge and wisdom, that's where you go. And notice that wisdom is speaking to the simple. Here, the simple. The simple is referring to an individual or individuals, plural group of people that's speaking to people.

There is another verse in Psalm 119 that also refers to the simple, a verse that I always like to remember. And that verse is Psalm 119:130, which says, the entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding unto the simple. And we also see the simple again back in Psalm 19:7, where it says, the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple.

Now, Strong's number for this word simple in the Hebrew is 6612, and in all of the verses that I just quoted. If you were to look up Strong's definition for simple, it would define someone who is simple as someone who is at least to some degree, naive. Naive, okay, at least naive about certain things. And there are certain things that they just don't know yet, that they are naive about certain things. But Strong's definition, this is kind of interesting, also connects a complete understanding of such naivety to the word. Pethiy. I'm not even sure if I'm saying that right. I've never seen this word before. It's spelled P E T H I Y, which adds to this naivety, the characteristic of being open minded.

These verses are compelling to me because I think they describe me. At least I kind of hope that they do. Especially when you couple these verses with what Paul has to say. In First Corinthians 1:26, where Paul says, for ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Not many wise men are called.

Now, the verse does not say that not any wise men are called. It just says that there aren't many of these folks who are called. Called to what? Well, called to salvation. So why am I bringing up these verses?

What's my point? My point is this. The smarter you think you are, and the more that you think you have the ability to arbitrarily reinterpret or spiritualize or allegorize various passages in the Word of God, the worse off you may actually be. That you might be far better off if you were simply one of the simple, at least for starters. And I believe that this is very much related to what Jesus had in mind in Matthew chapter 18, verse 3, where he said to his disciples, verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The word converted there means to turn back, as in turning back to that simple childlike open mindedness which is typical of a young child.

In part two of my previous series on Gospel perversions¹, we looked at the manner in which Paul condemns those who reject dispensational truth and who feel that they can interpret or spiritualize certain words and passages, insisting that they do not mean what they actually say. These are people who feel quite comfortable allegorizing multiple passages throughout the Bible, when in truth, God identifies only one passage in the Bible as an allegory, and that's Galatians 4, 21-29. In that it interprets an historical situation which you would not fully understand without some further explanation by God.

You know, sometimes it can be very interesting to see what AI, what artificial intelligence has to say about something. So I asked AI to interpret what that word simple means in the King James Bible in those verses that I just referenced about the simple. So what does AI do? Well, the first thing it's going to do is go look at the Hebrew and see how the Hebrew defines the word. Take that into consideration.

Then it goes and scans probably everything that any Bible teachers or commentators have taught over the years or preached on the subject, everything that can be found on YouTube and probably throughout the Internet. And AI comes up with a logical conclusion. Do you know what AI had to say about the simple and about the verses I quoted in the Psalms and Proverbs?

AI said it concluded that these verses emphasize the transformative power of the Word of God to filter and discern divine truth by the simple to filter and discern divine truth. Sometimes it's a great advantage to be one of the simple. So then, if it is true that the Word of God has the transformative power to enable the simple to be able to filter and discern truth, and I do believe without any shadow of a doubt that it does, my question is then, how are the simple supposed to filter and discern divine truth?

By listening to teachers telling them that the verses they are reading in their Bibles do not really mean what they say? Because these are people who contend that the church of today, the Body of Christ today, has replaced the nation Israel, that the church today is now Israel. And these folks believe that they are smart enough to allegorize virtually 90% of the Bible, which is all about Israel's prophetic kingdom program.

So sometimes it's a great advantage to be one of the simple. Because my contention is that if the God of this universe spoke this universe and everything that we know about it into existence, He is fully capable of speaking to us in his word, that He is fully capable of saying to us exactly what He wants us to know. Now, call me naive and simple if you wish, but I believe that God is capable of doing that and that God has done that. Now, does that mean that God can never use any literary devices like metaphors, similes, or figures of speech? No, it doesn't mean that at all.

Because the context of any particular passage will always make it clear what they are. And such literary devices will facilitate our understanding. For example, in John 10, a passage we examined closely in my previous series¹ on perverted gospels and Satan's role in promoting them, Christ referred to himself as a door. Actually, as The Door. Now, no one would read that passage and think that Christ is saying he's a literal door. It helps us in our understanding. You got to go through him.

In Isaiah, chapter 5, the prophet describes the nation Israel as the Lord's vineyard. Why is that an appropriate metaphor? Because God's intention was that they should bear fruit. The vine needed to bear fruit. That's John 15, verses 1 through 8, all about fruit bearing.

The whole tenure of the book of Hosea is that Israel was supposed to be Jehovah's wife, but that he is now divorcing them because of their idolatry and their unfaithfulness. But Hosea also makes it clear that there is going to be a restoration. There will be a faithful remnant that will make it through the tribulation when Israel's kingdom program resumes in the future.

And they will become the Bride of Christ, just as it says they are going to be in Revelation 19:7-9, and which we see become a reality in Revelation 21:9-10 in association with the coming down from heaven of the literal mountain of the Lord. If you remember, we went into the mountain of the Lord quite a bit last week, and we looked at that pretty thoroughly in part one. So context is everything. Now, there are a few more words I want to talk about here because they're very, very pertinent to what we're going to be looking at today.

Another one of those words is church. For example, what church are you referring to? There are basically three important churches that are spoken of in the Bible, and you need to understand the distinctions between them. A church in the Bible in its most generic sense simply means those who are called out, a group of people who are called out to follow God and what he is doing at any particular point in time. And in Acts 7:38, Stephen refers to the church in the wilderness of which Moses was the leader. In Matthew 16:18, we see the first mention of the church that Christ was going to build within the nation of Israel with Peter as their leader.

That particular church is appropriately referred to as the Messianic church, the church that the Messiah was going to establish with Peter, Peter as the leader. And in early Acts, you have at least eight more references to that particular church, the Messianic church whose leader was Peter, what they were doing, how the others were gradually being added to the church, and so on and so on.

Then when you come to Paul's Epistles, he speaks of the church 54 times. In all but four of those occurrences, Paul is referring to the church, the Body of Christ, the church of this current dispensation, of which he is the leader, he is the administrator. Those four occurrences where Paul is not referring to the church, the Body of Christ, Paul is looking back at that time prior to his conversion, when he was persecuting the Messianic church of which Peter was the leader. So a word like church can be very misleading. You have to recognize the context. Context is everything.

There are numerous other important words in Scripture which can be very misleading when you put them in the wrong context. We're going to consider a couple more here. Take the word faith, for example. What is it referring to? There are four contexts you're going to find for the word faith. Number one, faith can be referring to that singular body of doctrine which applies to us today, the one faith that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4:5. Faith can also be referring to the faith of Christ, which is the faithfulness of what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross to provide everything we need for salvation.

The faith of Christ, his faithfulness. If you have a Bible that has been translated from a legitimate Greek text, this phrase, faith of Christ, will appear in your Bible seven times. If you have a Bible that has been translated from a corrupted Greek text, this phrase is often translated as faith in Christ, not faith of Christ. Now, there's nothing wrong with faith in Christ. That's a good thing. But it's not the correct translation, so you don't really get the real meaning.

A third way, faith can also be referring to our own personal faith. That would be the faith choice, the individual faith choice which we personally make in believing that the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ and what he did, was totally sufficient for us to obtain salvation simply by believing it. And then faith can also be referring to whether or not we are faithful ministers of Christ as part of our commission and the sanctification process.

Then there is the word salvation. Very important word in the Bible. But what needs to be understood is that salvation simply means to be delivered from something, to be saved from something, salvation to be saved. Basically the same thing, to be delivered from something. In Exodus, chapter 14, verse 13, when Israel was facing the Red Sea in front of them and the army of Pharaoh behind them, what did Moses say to the people? He said, fear ye not. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, you shall see them again no more, forever. That salvation was the deliverance of Israel from their enemies and certain physical death as a result of the situation that they were in at the time.

And that is basically the same type of deliverance which Christ taught his followers to pray for in Matthew 6:13, where he said, pray, deliver us from evil. And of course, salvation can also refer to the deliverance from the power and penalty of sin and eternal death, eternal damnation and separation from God through our faith in the faith of Christ by that Gospel which has the power to deliver the power to save a person Today, in this dispensation of Grace. The gospel of the Grace of God, the correct gospel for today, the particular gospel that has the power to save someone at that particular time in history. And I just want to say a few more things about the word gospel.

And once again, context is everything. The word gospel simply means good news. And just as the words church, faith and salvation can only be defined correctly by their context, so it is for the word gospel. And to those who insist that there is only one gospel message for mankind throughout the Bible, I have some very surprising news for them. There are at least seven gospel messages in the Bible.

And so we need to fully understand the gospel message which applies to us today, so that we cannot be beguiled into embracing another gospel, which Paul says is a perverted gospel, and that the church of today is actually functioning in what the Bible has repeatedly referred to as Israel's prophesied kingdom, that we are not in that kingdom today.

So turn with me now to Matthew, chapter 19 for a look at the conversation between Jesus and the man who has come to be referred to as the rich young ruler. Matthew 19, beginning in verse 16. And behold, one came and said unto him, master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, which? Jesus said, thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now, I don't think it's very difficult for anyone to understand that Christ has just told this man that it was necessary for him to keep the law.

So this is the first problem we encounter here. In the Gospel accounts, Christ says it's necessary to keep the law. Paul says repeatedly in no uncertain terms throughout his Epistles, that we are not under the law. So who are you going to believe? Who are you going to follow?

Well, if you understand that the doctrines and instructions associated with Israel's kingdom program are not the same as the doctrines and instructions for the church today because they are associated with two entirely different dispensations, then you can believe both Christ and Paul, that Christ is providing instructions for people in Israel's prophetic kingdom program, and Paul is providing instructions and doctrines for the church of today.

Continuing on here in verse 20, the young man saith unto him. All these things have I kept from my youth up what lack I? Yet Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. So the man says that he has done all these things from his youth up all the way to the present time. Highly unlikely, I would presume. But let's just say for a minute that it's true. Christ then informs the man that that is still not enough. What he still needs to do is to go and sell what he has and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. And so what's the end result of this conversation?

Verse 22. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Now why would Christ have told the man to do that? Well, because back in Matthew 6:31-33, Christ had already told Israel, take no thought saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. So here's the second problem we encounter in the Gospel accounts, and in this account in particular. Is this what we're supposed to be doing today?

Are we supposed to be selling our possessions and giving the proceeds to the poor, those people who need it? Is that what you have done today? I don't think so. I don't think so. So of course, those folks who believe that the church of today has replaced the nation Israel, or that we are in the kingdom today, they will generally insist that here is another passage which is not meant to be taken literally. But the problem with that is that when the Messianic church was established in Acts chapter two, on the day of Pentecost, with Peter as the leader, that is literally what those believers began to do.

So let's go into Acts 2. In verse 38, Peter says, Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So Peter has just preached to all those who were in Israel at the time for the feast of Pentecost what they now needed to do. Verse 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread.

So you see about 3,000 more believers are added to the Messianic church as a result of Peter's instructions. But now look at what these believers begin to do. Verse 43 and fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and imparted them to all men as every man had need. So these believers were doing exactly what Christ told the rich young ruler he needed to do.

Turn over to Acts 4, and we're going to begin there in verse 32, we'll see it again. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought, or any of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all things common, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles feet. And distribution was made to every man according as he had need. So again these believers are doing exactly what Christ told the rich young ruler that he needed to do. Now it's also important to understand how important these instructions were to God at the time.

So we're going to continue on here in chapter five, beginning in verse one, read about Ananias and Sapphira here, an interesting pair. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the and great fear came on all them, and that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

So this man Ananias thinks it's okay to deceive Peter and the church into thinking that he has given everything that he owns over to the group. And because he does that, God strikes him dead. And several hours later, the same thing happens to his wife because she was complicit in deception. So I ask you, are you glad that this is not the way God is dealing with us today in the church of today? I think so.

Now I'd like to look next at what is clearly the most important reason why the church today has not replaced Israel, and why the church today cannot live and function according to the instructions and doctrines in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and early Acts.

And that is? Well, I'll start by giving you the short answer, and then we'll go on to the details. The short answer is, if you are living and functioning according to the instructions and doctrines in the Gospel accounts, and in Acts 1:8. You have no effective gospel salvation message. You have no gospel message that has the power to save a person today. So we're going to get into it about as deep as we can.

If you were to pick up a typical Gospel tract these days, or if you ever got into a discussion with other believers or even unbelievers about the gospel of salvation, what it needs to be believed in order to be given justification unto eternal life, what verses would typically be cited and why? We could start with First Corinthians 15:1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preach unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. The death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ, the faith of Christ, what he did for our sins, it's all in this passage here.

What's another one? Anyone who knows their Bible well would probably direct someone to the book of Romans for a comprehensive look at Romans chapter three, and what are undoubtedly the five most important verses in all of the Bible pertaining to our justification? And those would be verses 21 through 25. Romans chapter 3 verse 21, But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. Verse 25 says that it was the blood of Christ, Christ's death, the faith of Christ that provided the propitiation, that is the satisfactory payment for our sins. Notice that verse 22 contains that phrase faith of Christ, which we defined earlier as the faithfulness of what Christ accomplished on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, to be the propitiation for our sins.

You could also go to Romans 4 and see how that the faith choice which Abraham made and which every individual needs to make will result in righteousness before God. That righteousness will be imputed to those who make that faith choice, just like it was imputed to Abraham for righteousness, simply by believing what God says you need to believe. And in Romans, chapter 4, verses 24 and 25, we read again what it is that we need to believe, where it says that righteousness will be imputed unto us if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Christ was delivered, he died for our sins and rose again. Verse 25 speaks again of the death and resurrection of Christ for our justification.

So what we've looked at in all these verses is Paul's Gospel, the Gospel of the Grace of God. What you have in all these verses is the acknowledging and the necessary belief and reliance upon the fact that it was the death of Christ which is the underlying basis of our salvation. Believing that Gospel message, the message that Paul preached, the Gospel of the Grace of God. And I say all that so that I can say to you now that you will not find that Gospel message anywhere in the Gospel accounts or even in the preaching of Peter and the apostles as they were establishing and building that Messianic church in early Acts. At that time, in early Acts, which there are those who contend without any question that the Church of today was established with that Messianic Church in Acts, chapter two. And so now it is incumbent upon me to prove that what I'm claiming is true.

So let's begin with the Gospel account of Matthew. We've looked at some of these passages, these verses already in part one, and that was the first time we came across the word gospel in Matthew's account. That's in Matthew 4:23, where it says and Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. We read about that gospel again in Matthew 9:35, where it is repeated once again that Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. In part one last week we saw how that the 12 apostles were given their first commission in Matthew chapter 10, beginning in verse five.

And that was to go out and heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and even raise the dead, just as Christ had been doing as they went throughout Israel doing these miraculous things as signs of the good news associated with the gospel of the kingdom. In Matthew chapter 24, in verses 14 and 15, near the end of Matthew's account, when his disciples were asking Jesus about when the end of the world would come and when would there be this destruction of the temple which he had told them would occur, where not one stone would be left upon another of the temple. And Jesus begins to describe some events which are going to take place in the future during the Tribulation, like the Antichrist's abomination of desolation in the holy place of the temple, just as the prophet Daniel had spoken about. And verse 14 says, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. So it is this gospel of the kingdom which was being preached by Christ and his apostles throughout Matthew's account, which will be preached again when Israel's kingdom program resumes in the future.

We're not in the kingdom today. Why? Because the Gospel of the kingdom is associated with Israel's kingdom program. But we need to go back now in Matthew's account to see what else is also true. And this is Matthew 12.

Matthew 12 is a very important turning point in the history of Christ's first coming to the nation Israel. In Matthew 12:14 it says, Then the Pharisees went out and held counsel against him how they might destroy him. They got to get rid of him. It is at this point in Christ's ministry to the nation Israel that he understands he is being rejected by the religious leaders in Israel and that Israel's kingdom is not going to become a reality at his first coming. So what does Christ say to his apostles in chapter 16, Matthew 16:21?

He says, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and to suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day. And what is Peter's response to this unexpected information? Verse 22 says, Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Peter could not comprehend nor even accept the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to suffer and be murdered. And that was the perception of all the apostles, as we'll clearly see as we get in the gospel of Mark.

So turn with me to the Gospel of Mark. And we're going to look at verses 14 and 15 there.

Now, after that, John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. So here we read again in Mark's account that the same gospel of the kingdom is being preached, and that this is the gospel which they needed to believe. In Mark's account, by the time you get to chapter eight, that's where Christ knows that he's being rejected and that the kingdom is not going to become a reality at his first coming.

So we read in Mark 8:31, it says that Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again, and he spake that saying openly. And here we have Peter again. Peter takes him aside and began to rebuke him. The same thing we read in Matthew's account. Now, in both Matthew's account and here in Mark's account, the next event you would read about is a transfiguration of Christ on the mountain where Christ appears with Moses and Elijah.

The apostles witnessed this event. And when Christ and the apostles descend down from the mountain, this is what we read in Mark, chapter nine, verse nine. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen till the Son of Man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one another what the rising from the dead should mean. Now, if that's not enough, let's move on to Mark 16.

When you get to Mark 16, the crucifixion has already taken place, and Christ is raised from the dead. And in Mark 16, beginning in verse one, let's see what happens here. And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had brought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. They want to anoint the body of Jesus. And very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment. And they were affrighted. And he said unto them, be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him, but go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you unto Galilee. There ye shall see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly and fled from the sepulchre. For they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid.

Now, there's kind of a break here. We're going to look at something else that had already occurred at this point, and that's in verse nine. Now, when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went out and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. Now, this is talking about the 12 apostles.

Now, those men who had been preaching the gospel of the kingdom for three years, verse 11. And they, when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, believed not. Those who had been preaching the gospel of the kingdom for three years refused to believe that Christ had risen from the dead. Verse 12. After that, he appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country.

And this, of course, is referring to the two men who actually spoke with Jesus on their trip along the road to Emmaus in Luke, chapter 24. And then finally verse 14. Afterward, he appeared unto the 11 as they sat at meat and upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. So none of the apostles had believed that Christ had risen from the dead, at least initially.

Now let's go to Luke's account in Luke chapter 9. You have the parallel passage to Matthew chapter 11, where after having called out his 12 disciples or apostles, Jesus sends them out on their first commission. And in verse 5 it says, and they departed and went through the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. So they were preaching the gospel everywhere they went. Fast forward to Luke 18, where Christ with his 12 apostles, have now been preaching their Gospel message for nearly three years.

And at this point Christ takes them aside and says to them in Luke 18:31, behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated and spitted on, and they shall scourge him and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. And how did the 12 react to this new information? The same way we saw them react in Matthew and Mark's account, verse 34. And they understood none of these things. And this saying was hid from them. Neither knew they the things which were spoken. They had no knowledge, no understanding of the imminent death of the Lord Jesus Christ, much less his resurrection, as we've seen so far in Matthew and Mark's accounts. Now let's move on to Luke chapter 24. And Luke there picks up with some events occurring after the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Luke 24:1. Now, upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher. These are the women again, bringing spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they're coming to anoint the body of Jesus, as we've seen before, verse 2. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. And as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said to them, why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spake to you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words and returned from the sepulchre and told all these things unto the eleven. And to the rest it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of Jesus, and other women that were with them which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to be as idle tales, and they believed them not. None of those apostles who had been preaching the gospel for three years believed that Christ had risen. Verse 12. Then arose Peter and ran unto the sepulchre, and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves and departed, wondering in himself and at that which was come to pass.

So Peter sees with his own eyes now that the Lord is no longer in the sepulchre, and he still has no idea what is going on. And finally, in John's account, it's almost a carbon copy of what we just read here in Luke. But we have to go there. I want this to be seen in every Gospel, in every gospel account. So go to John, chapter 20.

John 20. Beginning in verse one. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, we can presume was John, and saith unto them, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying. Yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple which first came to the sepulchre. And he saw and believed.

Well, what did he believe? He believed what the woman had told him, that the Lord's body was no longer in the sepulchre. Because verse 9 says, for as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

So what we have seen in every gospel account is that the Gospel which had been preached by Christ and his followers during their entire ministry contained nothing having to do with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for anybody's sins. And not only that, but even at Pentecost, who some folks contend marks the beginning of the Church of today, not even at Pentecost did Peter have anything in the way of good news associated with the death of Christ. When in Acts chapter 2, Peter proclaims to all of those in Israel, this is what he says in Acts 2:22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

And the point of all these things that we've looked at, there is nothing associated with the gospel of the kingdom, which Christ and his followers preached throughout the Gospel accounts and through Acts 7, that has the power to save an individual today. There is nothing in that gospel message about the good news associated with Christ's death for our sins.

So if you think that the church today has replaced Israel, or if you think that there is only one gospel in the message throughout the Bible, or if you think that the church of today began at Pentecost, then you don't even have a gospel message that has the power to save anybody today. And so the question that you and our listeners should be asking at this point is if what I'm saying is true, what then was the purpose of that gospel of the kingdom and how were those people in Israel's program saved? You need to know the answer to those questions. So that is what we need to look at next. The Gospel of the Kingdom of Israel's program was good news in the sense that the kingdom's king had finally arrived and Israel's long awaited for prophesied kingdom was at hand.

It was just around the corner. It was theirs for the taking. They could have had it. The Lord Jesus Christ came to establish that kingdom. But obviously that is going to depend on whether or not Israel would accept their king. There isn't going to be a kingdom if you don't have a king.

And whether or not someone in Israel's program was going to be given eternal life or not at that point in which God was dealing with mankind, it was going to depend on whether or not they made a sincere faith choice to believe that this Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the prophesied Messiah, that he was indeed sent from God, and that he was indeed who he said he was. Nowhere in the Gospel accounts is that made more clear than in the Gospel of John.

The theme which runs throughout the entire Gospel of John can basically be summed up as an example of life through believing. But the question is believing what? When John summarizes the whole purpose of his book, what does he say they needed to believe? John, chapter 20, verse 30. John writes, and many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written. Why? that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life through his name.

In John 5:24, Christ says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth in him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. If you wanted to pass from death to eternal life at this point in Israel's Kingdom program, the way God was dealing with mankind at this point in history, you needed to believe that Christ was who he said he was and that he was sent by God to be Israel's Messiah. That is what their profession of faith needed to be. Now, if you want to hear that profession of faith, turn with me to John 11 and listen to this conversation between Jesus and Martha.

Moments before, Christ raised Martha's brother Lazarus from the dead, John 11:25, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Listen up now.

What did she say unto him? Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. Martha's profession of faith, and it gave her eternal life. You want to hear it from Peter? Turn to Matthew.

Chapter 16, Matthew 16:13. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I, the Son of man am? And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am ye. That's the group. That's all of them. And Simon Peter answered and said, speaking for the group, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Let me say it again. If you wanted to pass from death to eternal life at this point in Israel's Kingdom program, you needed to believe that Christ was who he said he was and that he was sent by God to be Israel's Messiah. That is the Gospel of the kingdom.

Speaking to Israel in John 8:24 what does Christ say there? He said, I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins. If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. They needed to believe that he was sent from God and that he was who he was claiming to be.

Now, I don't think we can retire this concept of life through believing the correct gospel without addressing John 3:16, a verse that everybody is familiar with, John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Now, what most people who love this verse, these verses collectively and without question, these are great verses. But what most people who hang their hats on this verse for whatever their reasoning may be, and my guess would be that the reason they love this verse is because in their minds it facilitates the presumption that there is only one gospel message in the Bible, because the verse does have the whole world in view.

And so they associate these verses in John 3:16 with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for our sins. But you cannot read the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for payment for our sins into these verses. They come from Paul because we saw in every gospel account that nobody had any knowledge of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as something associated with the good news and with the forgiveness of their sins. That information was never made known until it was given to Paul. For the church of today.

And as I've pointed out repeatedly today in the series, context is everything. Context is everything. The death, burial and resurrection of Christ for our sins is Paul's Gospel message. The Gospel message in the Gospel accounts is the Gospel of the kingdom. John 3:16 is in the context of the Gospel of the kingdom.

But then someone is going to say, how do you account then for the fact that John 3:16 has the entire world in view? And it does, but it is still in the context of Israel's kingdom program. And the whole world has always been in view ever since the establishing of the Abrahamic covenant that through the nation Israel, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And although the ultimate fulfillment of that blessing, that all the world will be blessed through Israel according to the Abrahamic covenant, although that will not be seen in its entirety until Israel's prophesied kingdom program becomes a reality, after Christ's second coming, God has always, always made a provision for anyone in the world that they could still be blessed by acknowledging Israel's God Jehovah, and by associating themselves with with the nation Israel during the Exodus. Who left Egypt?

Who all left Egypt? It wasn't just the Jews. It was a mixed multitude. There were some Gentile Egyptians who left with Israel because they were smart enough to understand that Israel's God was the only one true God. So they hooked up with the nation Israel.

In Joshua chapter two, Rahab the harlot shelters those Israeli spies who snuck into the city to case out the city of Jericho because she recognized that the Israel of God, Jehovah God was the, as she states it, God in heaven above and in earth beneath. And she becomes assimilated into the nation of Israel. And the same thing is demonstrated to us in the book of Acts with the recording of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8. If you want to turn there, the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter eight was a Gentile. He was a Gentile proselyte.

And as it says In Acts chapter 8:27, this man had come to Jerusalem for to worship. And on his way back to Ethiopia, Philip from the Messianic church which had been at Pentecost. Philip meets up with this Gentile man, probably through divine intervention, and starts teaching him from the book of Isaiah all about the Lamb who was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And Philip explains to the man how that this prophecy was speaking about Christ who had just been murdered. So the man understands that it would now be expedient for him to be water baptized, just as Peter had exhorted all of the nation of Israel to do in Acts chapter 2:38, as a result of Peter's preaching at Pentecost.

And so what happens next? Verse 36 says, and as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized. And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.

And then what does the eunuch profess? That he believes. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that Gentile man from Ethiopia, made the same profession of faith that was made by Martha in John chapter 11 and by Peter in Matthew chapter 16.

And we're still in Israel's program here. And just let me say something else about this very important verse, verse 37. If you have one of the Bible versions that have been translated from the corrupted majority texts, you may not even have this verse in your Bible. A verse that should facilitate the understanding of the sense in which God gave His Son to the world in a verse like John 3:16. And of course, this is just another tactic of Satan that he has used to undermine the only gospel message which has the power to save anyone today.

So throughout the Gospel accounts and in early Acts, eternal life was granted to anyone in the world who believed with all their hearts, just like the Ethiopian eunuch did, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that he was who he said he was.

Of course we believe the same thing today. But today what gives us eternal life is Paul's Gospel. Believing with all our hearts that Christ's death paid the penalty for our sins, trusting in that and in that alone, adding absolutely nothing else as a requirement for salvation. A gospel message that is nowhere to be found in the Gospel accounts or early Acts.

Why can't Paul's Gospel be found in the Gospel accounts in early Acts? Because it was necessary for God to have kept that gospel message hidden. Hidden in God, as it says in Ephesians 3:9. We looked into that, kept secret since the world began. Romans 16:25.

A hidden secret until that time when it was revealed to the Apostle Paul to be given to us by Paul in this present dispensation of Grace. It was all part of God's mystery program.

And that's why the first thing I brought to the attention of our listeners in this message in part one was a reference back to the two part series I did in September of 2025 titled Why Paul? What is the mystery? And what's so important about dispensational distinctions?² If you can't answer those questions, you will never fully understand all of what God has to say in His Word about salvation, about the Christian life and what God is actually doing today. And you certainly don't want to miss out on any of those things.

Let's close with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. And we pray that we all may be as the simple to be able to read your Word the way you wrote it to us and take it for what it says. And we thank you that your Word is so clear on matters of salvation, that simply by trusting in the faith of Christ what He did, and that alone, that we may have eternal life forever with you. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen.