Grace Explained 107_Differences in the Bible

Today's study we will look at some of the differences in the bible and show how that the bible is laid out past, present and future.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, and welcome again to another episode of Grace Explained. Today we're going to take a look at the Bible itself and if the Bible contradicts itself. I've talked to many people before, and one of the reasons that they don't want to believe the things I believe, or they don't want to believe Christianity, is that there's a book written by men and not written by God. And that's a whole different study in itself, and we'll look at that, you know, sometime soon. But one of the things is that the Bible contradicts itself, or I get um some people that talk about how um the Bible's hard to understand because it says one thing in one place and another thing in another. And the reason is is because their lack of understanding of how the Bible is laid out. Um I struggled for many years trying to understand the Bible. I read the Bible, didn't do me any good. I read other versions of the Bible, that didn't help out. I just didn't understand the Bible, and it was um tough for me to understand. If you will, turn to um 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15, and we're gonna look at a verse, and this verse um kind of changed my spiritual growth. It kind of changed how I how I read the Bible, how I understood the Bible. And I started, it became like I had a friend, he would call them aha moments. It was one of those things I'd go, aha, okay, now that makes sense. Um, because God's not a God of confusion. God wants us to understand the scriptures, God wants us to understand his word, and and he didn't write it for us to not understand. So we're not going to look at specific things that are contradictions that a lot of people bring out. The purpose is really to show you a main difference or distinction in the Bible that would help you maybe answer some of those questions. And the one thing is when you read the scriptures, always remember, always remember, always remember the context of which the scripture and of what you're reading. And number two, not just the context of what you're reading, of what you're reading, but the who's he talking to? And when is he talking? And what about? So if you will, look at 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15, he says, Study to show thyself to prove unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So when you look at the scriptures, one, we should study them, we should study the scriptures. Two, um, in studying it, we do that so that we're not ashamed. And it means pretty much that we're not ashamed in the word, we're not ashamed in the scriptures, we're not ashamed in our faith because we understand some things. And we may not be able to answer all the questions, I surely can't, but there's, you know, a lot of things just come down to faith. And um, you know, you have faith in understanding things, and um, you have faith in um in the word of God because that's where faith comes from, is is by the word of God. Uh so now, so now we look at the rest of this verse, it says, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now that that word rightly dividing um is a good word, doesn't need to be translated any other way, but a lot of people like to take it and say, well, the Greek word means to cut straight. Okay, well, cut straight means to rightly divide. I mean, what we're doing is we're we're taking the word of God, we're understanding that the word of God is the complete word of God, but we also got to understand that that there are things written that are not written to us today as members of the body of Christ in the in the dispensation of grace. There are things written even the nation of Israel had to rightly divide the uh the the Old Testament. Um you know, they could not go back and and read the passage of scripture where He where God is talking to Noah and tells them to build an ark. If they started building an ark um after they got out of out of um Egypt, that wasn't going to do them any good because that's not what God was doing at that time. So the point is God had specific things that he wrote to specific people at a specific time. If you will turn to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, and it's really based upon time. When we think of time, we think of time being broken down into three different elements, three different elements of time, past, present, and future. That's how we look at time. You know, what happened yesterday, what's going to happen tomorrow, and what's what's going on today. So you have things written that way that are past, present, and future. So if you look at Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 11, he says, wherefore remember, now again, this is Paul speaking to the saints at Ephesus. The saints at Ephesus are Gentiles. Okay, they're not they're not Israelites, these are Gentiles. He goes, Remember, wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. He says, You remember in time past that you Gentiles who were called uncircumcision by those people who were circumcised? And the people he's talking about, those who are circumcised, were the Israelites. Those were the ones that God gave the covenant to that were circumcised. And he says, remember, there's two distinct people in the world. There's the circumcised, Israel, and then there's the uncircumcised, the rest of the world. So he says, remember that in times past, when you were called uncircumcision, that at that time ye were without Christ. Christ didn't come. We looked at this verse the last couple of weeks. Christ did not come for the Gentiles. He remember he told the apostles, don't go into the way of the Gentiles. And we're going to look at that verse again. But he says, listen, you're not, this isn't what you're doing. You're, you're, you're not to the Gentiles were without Christ because they were unbelievers. He goes, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. So here you are, you're without Christ, you're aliens from everything that God promised to Israel, you're strangers from the covenants that God promised to Israel, you have no hope and you're without God in the world. That's a bad place to be. But then you look at verse 13, he says, but now. So in the past, you were without all these things. You were lost. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Guess what? Because Christ came and died on the cross for your sins, and because of the gospel that I'm preaching to you, the gospel of the grace of God, which is how this whole study started, that because of this, you're now made near by the blood of Christ. You now who are afar off are now made close by the blood of Christ. So in times past, you're without God and hope, but now you're made close. And then if you go on and you look at at um at verse uh seven, so and one thing I want to I want to quickly bring out to you is that now there's a difference. And the difference is who's speaking, who's he speaking to, and what books is he speaking in. And we'll look at this. Um Ephesians chapter 2, verse 7, he goes, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. That that that idea of the the ages to come, that's that that's that's that tribulation period, and that's that that period um that's that's in the future, that has not happened yet. Okay? So when you think about the Bible being being broken into pieces or rightly divided or cut straight, you have Genesis through Acts, that's time past. You have Romans to Philemon, that's but now, that's today, and then you have uh Hebrews to Revelation, that's the future. Those those scriptures are gonna be used to help those saints in the future. Can we learn from them? Yes. Are they written to us as members of the body of Christ? No. So we've got to understand the whole Bible is written for us, but it's not all written to us. There's only a certain part of the scriptures that's written to us, and that part of the scriptures written to us is Romans to Philemon. Um Matthew chapter 10, Matthew, and we've looked at this verse before, and this passage before, in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 5, he says, These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. So we just talked about that. They were without Christ. In times past, you've got to remember, they were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. So they were without Christ. And he says, um, he says, Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So who was the twelve apostles to go speak to? Who were who were the twelve apostles to preach to? Who are they to teach? The lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So you see here that their message is to the nation of Israel. The whole purpose of Christ coming down was to save his people, was to save the nation of Israel, because again, through the nation of Israel, all the nations of the earth were going to be blessed. But now he has the 12 apostles and he's going, listen, you guys need to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You need to go and you need to preach to the nation of Israel, because this is who the message is being preached to. It's being preached to the nation of Israel. Now, on the other hand, let's look at Paul. If you look at Romans chapter 11 and verse 13, Romans chapter 11 and verse 13, he says, For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my office. So Paul makes it very clear. His message, his gospel, his doctrine, the things he's teaching, is not to the nation of Israel. It's to the Gentiles. And he says, For I speak to you, Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. You go back and you look at at um at um Matthew 10. Who was there? Who was there? Um who was the apostles? You had 12 apostles, and those twelve apostles are going to the nation of Israel, and there's a reason that they're going to the nation of Israel, because the nation of Israel, there's 12 sons of Jacob. There's 12 sons of Israel. And so there's 12 apostles for the 12 tribes of Israel. Guess what? There's one apostle for the Gentiles. And Paul says, I speak to you, Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. He didn't magnify himself, he magnified his office as the apostle of the Gentiles. So as the 12 apostles were told not to go to the Gentiles, you now see Christ being told that he is the apostle of the Gentiles. A big distinction in the scriptures isn't the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it's prophecy and mystery. That there is things that have been in times past, things that have been prophesied all the way through that will happen, and still some things that have not happened yet. And then there's something that has been kept secret that wasn't revealed until now, until today, until this dispensation. And when I say today, I mean the dispensation of grace. So if you look at Acts chapter 2 and verse 16, Acts 2 and verse 16, he goes, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now, if you remember in Acts chapter 2 and 3, you're talking about the day of Pentecost. And a lot of people believe this is when the church started. Well, again, the 12 apostles were not speaking to Gentiles, the 12 apostles were speaking to Israel. They were trying to get lost Israel saved. Those who did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, those who didn't understand what his death was about, those who who had a problem with him being God, those people, he's speaking to them, and he says, the things that you're seeing right now with them speaking in tongues and everything, he says, these, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. So the things that were going on there in Acts chapter 2 are things that Joel prophesied about. Okay? Now if you look at Acts chapter 3, verse 13, he says, Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus, which before was preached unto you. So the whole the whole purpose of their message was believe that Jesus is the Christ. Believe who who they said who he said he was, believe that he was your Messiah. And if you'll believe that he was your Messiah, and you go ahead and you believe and you trust in that and you trust in that, and listen, you'll be a part of this kingdom, and you'll be a part of the things that God has prof has prophesized about. And we'll go into this more in other studies, but I'm just kind of doing a quick overview in this. But there are so many verses that talk about the things that were prophesied, the things that were prophesied, the things that that through the Old Testament scriptures are prophetic scriptures of what was going on while Christ was on the earth and right after Christ was ascended. But if you look at Romans chapter 16 and verse 25, Romans 16, 25, he says, Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel. It's interesting, Paul says, it's according to my gospel. It's not according to Peter's gospel, it's not according to John's gospel, it's according to my gospel. And where did he get this gospel from? He got it from the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's not he's boasting himself. Again, he doesn't magnify himself, he magnified his office, but he's he's going ahead and he's telling them this is what this is the gospel that Christ gave me to preach. And what gospel is that? That's the gospel of the grace of God. And he says, he says, which establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. Can I tell you that prophecy and mystery are not the same thing? Something that's been that's been prophesied about is something that's been spoken about. If if a prophet has has spoken this word, he's a prophet. He's telling you something that's going to happen. He's he's kind of foretelling you that this is going to happen. And he's a prophet, and that's what prophecy is. And so all the things with the Lord Jesus Christ and his earthly ministry and all the things about his death, burial, and resurrection, all that stuff's been prophesized about. All the things that happened at the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 and 3. That's all been prophesized about. But now you come to Paul and he says, the things that I'm teaching you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, I'm preaching you Jesus Christ, but not according to prophecy. I'm preaching you Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. Which, if you look very closely, he says, which was kept secret since the world began. He didn't say, I'm gonna preach you the preaching of Jesus Christ according to revelation of the mystery, which was spoken by the prophet the because it was never spoken by any of the prophets. What Paul is preaching now is something that is being being prophet is is not being prophesized, but is a mystery. That's what he's doing. As he's speaking now, this is a mystery. And the things he's speaking about is a is a mystery, something that has been kept secret since the world began. Listen, I'm sure most of you maybe haven't, but if you've ever read a mystery book, they don't tell you who did it at the beginning. They don't they don't tell you, foretell who's who did it at the beginning. It kind of takes away from the fun of the mystery. You don't find out until you read the last chapter who did it. And that's because it was kept secret. And no one knew about it until the end. It's the same thing here. No one knew about the preaching of Jesus Christ the way that that He gave it to the Apostle Paul because it was a mystery and kept secret. One of the other things is the purpose. What is our purpose? Well, if you look at Genesis chapter 12, verses um one through three, Genesis 12, 1 through 3, the purpose that God set up for man was to live on this earth so he could fellowship with him on this earth, and so he could reign on this earth. And that was this promise that he gave to Abraham and he gave to his descendants. And if you look at Genesis chapter 1, he said, or 12 and verse 1, he says, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So he's telling them right there, the Abrahamic covenant, that all the nations are going to be blessed through you. And he says in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 5, he says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the what? The earth. Everything has to do with a kingdom being set up on this earth. That God is going to set up a kingdom on this earth. And so he makes a covenant with Abraham. I'm going to give you, I'm going to make through you and your seed, I'm going to make all the nations of the earth be blessed through you and your seed. And guess what, Abraham? I'm also going to give you all this land because this is where I'm going to set up my kingdom. And so the issue was to have heaven on earth, kingdom, the kingdom of heaven on earth. If you look at Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 21, he goes, that your days may be multiplied in the days of your children in the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers, that's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, fathers, to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth. So when people talk about the kingdom, when people talk about this heavenly kingdom, this thousand-year reign, the millennium, things like that, they're talking about heaven on earth. Because God set up the earth, he put man on the earth, he wanted to fellowship with man on the earth, and he was and and he was it was going to be heaven on earth until the fall. But there's a difference. Today we're not part of the nation of Israel. Today we're not being blessed by the nation of Israel. Today we're members of the body of Christ. And we're members by the body of Christ, of the body of Christ, by simply putting our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed blood, and by God's grace, him saving us and giving us eternal life. So, where are we part of this heaven on earth? Is that part of our kingdom? You hear people talk about all the time. Christianity, Christians talk about the kingdom all the time. Is this our hope? Is this what we're looking for? Look at Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 5. He says, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Now, if you look, he says, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before the word of truth of the gospel. So there is a hope for us, but where is that hope? It's not on the earth. We're not looking for God to set up his kingdom on the earth. We're looking to be with Christ in the heaven. And that's what we're looking for. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20. He says, for our, Philippians 3.20, for our conversation is in heaven. That word conversation means citizenship. Where we're from. Our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven. From whence we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So where are we looking? Where's our citizenship? It's not the kingdom of heaven on earth. Our citizenship, our conversation where we're from, is in is in the heavenlies. That's our hope. That's where we're going to be. We're going to be in the heavens. Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 1 and 2. He says, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth. You know why that is? You know why we're to to have our affections on heavenly things, on spiritual things, and not on earthly things. It's because this is not our inheritance. We're not going to have, we're not looking for earthly blessings. We're looking, we we've already been we've already been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And so when you understand that that your inheritance, your citizenship, where you're going to spend eternity is not the kingdom of heaven on earth, but you're going to spend eternity in the heavens. Because in the very beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And when you understand that he has a purpose both in heaven and both on the earth, he's going to use the nation of Israel and the promise he gave to Abraham for the earth, and he's going to use us, the members of the body of Christ, which was kept secret before the world began, in the heavenly places. So there are things that seem different in the scriptures, and they are. But it doesn't make the scriptures wrong. It just makes it so that people can understand God's purpose. God's total purpose, not just on the earth, but God's purpose in the heavens. So we need to we need to be able to know what God is doing today. We need to understand what He's doing today for us as members of the body of Christ in the dispensation of grace. And we need to understand it, have an understanding of his word, and the way we do that is by rightly dividing the word of truth. If you don't know for sure that you're a member of the body of Christ, if you don't know for sure that you have eternal life, remember that God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And by simply putting our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, that God will give us the free gift of eternal life through his grace. If you have never made that decision, we pray that you would make that decision today. Until next time.