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We're going to look at this renewing of the mind and the fundamental thing we need to know to renew the mind as believers, you have to rightly divide the Scriptures.

There's two groups of scriptures in your Bible. The ones that are written by Paul, we call them the Pauline Scriptures, and then everything else, the non Pauline scriptures. And what you have to understand, just like when you go to the library, if you want a romance novel, you don't go to the textbook section. And if you want a textbook, you don't go to the mystery novel section.

Yeah, everybody understands there's a different context for reading different things. And there's a different context for the non Pauline scriptures and the Pauline Scriptures. So when we open the Scriptures, we have to go to the first page in the title page and ask, is it written by Paul?

If it's written by Paul, the context is the third column of our chart. So if you're in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, like we are on Thursday nights, or the Old Testament, or you're listening to Peter and the 12 preach at Pentecost, you're in the non Pauline scriptures. And then you've got to understand it in that context. What's the context? What's the program of God involved in those Scriptures?

And you realize that in the non Pauline scriptures, it has to do with God's prophetic program. And we call it God's prophetic program because it's what's revealed by the Old Testament prophets. If you're in Paul's scriptures, the program you're in is God's mystery program. And you see how this just continues to build, build, build. Once you know you're in God's prophetic program with Israel, you'll know the holy vehicle of service, the holy who he set as his vehicle of service in his prophetic program, it's the nation of Israel. In his mystery program, as revealed in the Pauline scriptures, it's the Body of Christ, us in Christ, what he's doing today.

And once you understand that you're involved in the non Pauline scriptures, you're involved in God's prophetic program with the nation of Israel, then you need to ask, when was this revealed? This is a critical one. This is actually the one thing that turned my whole understanding and magnified it in right division. When was God's prophetic program with the nation of Israel revealed? Zacharias, in the Gospel of Luke, tells us that what was happening in Christ's earthly ministry is what had been spoken about by all the prophets since the world began. So you have a program that the nation of Israel had been spoken about since the world began. (Acts 3:21)

And Peter repeats that Acts 3:21 at Pentecost, God didn't begin anything new. He didn't begin a dispensation of Grace. He didn't begin the Body of Christ. Peter explicitly tells us in Acts 3:21 that God is continuing something old. He's continuing what the prophets had spoken about since the world began.

Then you get to God's mystery program with the Body of Christ. And Paul now says two key passages, Romans 16:25 and Eph 3:1-10. Paul says that God's mystery program with the Body of Christ had been kept secret, had not been spoken about since the world began. Now answer me this question. Can that be the same program?

Can a program that was spoken about since the world began be the same program that was not spoken about since the world began? That's impossible. Right? It's a logical impossibility. The non Pauline scriptures have to do with God's prophetic program with the nation of Israel. And he had been revealing this, speaking about it through his prophets since the world began. Then he put that on hold, began a new program called God's mystery program, a secret program with the Body of Christ that was kept secret, that he hadn't spoken about before, since the world began.

The other thing we need to understand is this whole idea of blessings, especially to the Gentiles. How were the Gentiles blessed in God's prophetic program with the nation of Israel that had been spoken about since the world began? They were blessed with Israel and through her rise, through the salvation of Israel. But in God's mystery program for the Body of Christ, which hadn't been spoken about since the world began, the Gentiles are now being blessed apart from Israel and through her fall.

That's a huge difference, right? That's two different programs. One that wasn't spoken about, and one that was revealed since the world began.

One that gave blessings to the Gentiles with Israel through her rise, her salvation. Now God raised up the Apostle Paul to take blessings out to the Gentiles without Israel, apart from Israel through her fall. Can that be the same program? Gentiles being blessed with Israel and through her rise, and Gentiles being blessed apart from Israel through her fall. Can you get those two together in any way?

So you got the Pauline scriptures and non Pauline Scriptures. God's prophetic program with the nation of Israel, which had been spoken about, revealed by his prophets since the world began. That's why we call it his prophetic program with the nation of Israel. The Gentiles being blessed with Israel and through Israel.

This causes a great confusion in Christianity. I remember going to an EV Free church. And the head of the board there was teaching the adult Sunday school and they're in the book of Romans 5, which appeared to him to teach eternal security. But he went back to the Gospel accounts in the Old Testament and he had two columns.

One that looked like you could lose your salvation and one that looked like you couldn't. And when he goes back to the Gospel accounts, according to his counting, the ones that look like you could lose your salvation was longer than the ones that looked like you couldn't. And he despaired. He was literally in tears. Because he said, I can't teach eternal security anymore based on what I've seen in the Gospel accounts.

But you see, he's all messed up because he's not rightly dividing the scriptures. In the non Pauline scriptures, the salvation that's brought into the limelight, that's explained in full, that's fully revealed, is participation in Israel's national salvation, which is by faith plus works.

Individual salvation wasn't fully revealed, manifested, put in the spotlight, couldn't have been till after the cross. And it's Paul that does that. Not even Peter and the twelve. Because who were Peter and the twelve?

They were the friends of God. Peter and the twelve were friends of Christ. They were his people. But what God's doing today is he's taking salvation out to the Gentiles, who are his enemies. And he had to have an enemy preach the way of salvation.

That's how we're all born into the world, going all the way back to the fall of Adam. We're born into the world as ungodly sinners on enemy status before God. They knew in the Old Testament how individual salvation worked. Moses told us 500 years before, that Abraham believed God and God counted his faith for righteousness.

There you have individual salvation by faith, through grace, without works. But then that's one verse. Genesis 15:6. Then the whole rest of Genesis is about works that Abraham does, circumcision, offering Isaac, all this stuff. And that has to do with how Abraham's going to participate in Israel's national salvation, participate in that prophesied kingdom, having a privileged place in the kingdom and so forth.

And so it's important to realize, if you're in a non Pauline scripture, the default salvation you should start with, unless the context demands otherwise. The default salvation they're explaining in full and revealing is how one participates in Israel's national salvation. If you're in Paul's epistles, the default salvation, where you begin is that it's referring to individual participation in individual salvation. Then lastly, someone said, well, why does God need two programs?

This was a Reformed person who came out of Reformed theology. He says, what's wrong? Why can't we just have one? That's what all the theologians and the religious systems teach. There's just one program from Adam through Revelation.

They call it the Redempto, historical redempto program. Whereas the whole Bible is about man and his salvation, man and his redemption. But you know the problem with that? Anyone can see the problem with that. And it's a problem that demolishes the whole system.

They start their theology at the wrong place. They start their theology in Genesis 3:15, at the fall of Adam. Where would be the logical place to start your theology of the Bible? Genesis 1:1, not Genesis 3.

Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And we know from the rest of scriptures that not only did the earthly realm fall through Adam, the heavenly realm fell through Satan. So there's two realms that need to be restored unto his glory.

The non Pauline scriptures is the program of God's prophetic program with the nation of Israel which He'd spoken about since the world began, that provides for salvation to the world with Israel and through her rise and that associates with Israel's national salvation. And the purpose of that program is to re establish his glory on earth in the earthly realm. Now if you start your theology in Genesis 1:1 instead of Genesis 3, you'll realize, well, okay, he showed, He's always taught, he's always revealed how he's going to re establish his glory in the earthly realm. And now you might scratch your head and say, how is he going to restore his glory in the heavenly realm?

Now is human thinking and even angelic thinking, what would be the obvious answer there? How is God, if you're thinking as a human, -- pretend you don't know anything of right division -- if you're thinking like humans or an angel, who's going to restore his glory in the heavenly realm?

The good angels. I mean, wouldn't that be the logical thing? The good angels, he's going to use the redeemed humanity to restore his glory on earth and the good angels to restore his glory in the heavenlies. But God had a secret. God decided in eternity past he wasn't going to re establish his glory in the heavenlies through the good angels, his holy angels. He's going to re establish his glory in the heavenlies through another group of redeemed humanity called the Body of Christ.

And now we can understand how Ephesians 1:10 is going to work. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him. Notice it's both. The creation exists in two realms.

I use it as a clock. These are the wheels. You lift the face of the clock and you got those wheels in there. And if they don't work in perfect accord, what happens? You don't have very good time on the outside, right? And here he's explaining how he's going to not just restore his glory in the earthly realm that he made known since the beginning of the world.

Now his secret, what he kept secret. He didn't hide it in the Old Testament. Because God says in Ephesians 3:9 to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

He says it wasn't hid in the Old Testament scriptures. It was hid in God. God came up with this program in eternity past, wrote it down on the, you know, whatever heavenly vellum paper, took it into the deepest, darkest, safest, securest vault in all of heaven, locked it away, twirled the thing, no one can get to it. And he left it there until the risen Lord Jesus Christ revealed it directly to Paul.

And the rest of us learn it by reading Paul's scripture through the teaching and revealing ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is the basis of right division.

Now, when you open up to the Psalms, you'll know why David is praying that his human enemies be destroyed, not spiritual foes of darkness or something. No, David is referring to human enemies. And David's prayers are going to be perfect prayers. Perfect prayers, out in the tribulation period, especially in the last half, and especially at Christ's second coming, when they are being persecuted and tormented by apostate Israel on the one hand and the Gentiles on the other hand. And they will be praying that they'll be delivered out of that and they'll be delivered out of that by Christ's return. Delivering them out of that by destroying their enemies.

Now if you don't rightly divide, you're going to think how many here have been told you pray those kind of prayers today. But if you don't rightly divide, you're going to be praying completely contrary to God's will for today. Because in God's mystery program, the Body of Christ, he's not destroying his enemies, he's saving his enemies.

In John, in the non Pauline scriptures, John 15:13, John says explicitly in a simple short little sentence that can't be confused, Christ died for his friends, believing Israel.

That's not what Paul says. Paul says Christ died for his enemies.

If you confuse those. If you go to John for your individual salvation, you're going to have a big problem because you're going to read that verse and you're going to think you have to make yourself a friend of God, then God might save you. So you've got to join a religious system and go through their rites and rituals. Or you've got to join a theological system and do their thing and go through their rites and give enough money to the church, attend often enough, make yourself a friend of God, and then God might save you. But see, now you don't have to fall into that trap like my leader at the EV Free Church did, because you recognize that it's emphasizing participation in Israel's national salvation.

Paul tells us, while we were yet powerless ungodly sinners on enemy status with him, Christ died for us and he saved us.

If you don't rightly divide, you're going to have all kinds of confusion. I'm not saying you open The Bible, and you're going to understand every detail, every verse. But you'll know the context. You'll not be thrown aside and confused and think that it's for today when it's not.