A Dispensational Study of Bible Characters - by Pastor J. C. O'Hair

A Dispensational Study of Bible Characters 

by Pastor J. C. O'Hair

TRUTH WITHOUT COMPROMISE

We present here eight Bible characters for a Dispensational study: We have a colored chart of the Bible – an outline from Genesis to Revelation – showing the facts of this study in picture.

ADAM

Adam, the first man, lived before the fall, in the Garden of Eden, in a state of innocency; and he also lived after the fall, outside of the Garden, in a state of sin. Adam lived and sinned about 4000 years before Christ Jesus, the Second Man, came into the world to save sinners. Read I Corinthians 15:45 to 47 and 22.

NOAH

Noah lived before the flood in the same dispensation, under the same covenant, with Adam the sinner. Noah also lived after the flood under an entirely new covenant, with new promises, in a new dispensation, under new conditions.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness. II Peter 2:5.

ABRAHAM

Abraham lived part of his life under the covenant that God made with Noah after the flood, and he lived the last hundred years of his one hundred and seventy-five years enjoying blessings guaranteed to him through Noah, but also under the new covenant which God made; that is, the Abrahamic covenant. Under this covenant he spent the first twenty-four years in uncircumcision and the last seventy-six years in circumcision. It could be truly said, “The Abrahamic covenant was added to the Noahic covenant.” God made His covenant with Abram 430 years before the Law was given.

MOSES

Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, spent eighty years of his life under the Abrahamic covenant of promise, and the last forty years of his life under Israel’s old covenant, that is, under the law. Moses’ life was divided into three periods of forty years each. He received from Jehovah the Law for Israel about 1492 B.C. It is a very simple matter to see that Moses spent his life under two different covenants, although the Noahic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant continued into the Mosaic covenant. The Law was added to the promise – Galatians 3:19. Read Exodus 7:7 and Deuteronomy 34:7.

DANIEL

Daniel lived in the same dispensation of Law that was given through Moses to Israel. But Daniel lived in the Land of the Jews before the Babylonian captivity, before the “Times of the Gentiles” began; and then he lived in Babylon after the “Times of the Gentiles” began about 600 B.C.

JOHN THE BAPTIST

John the Baptist lived as a contemporary of Jesus Christ for more than thirty years. As the forerunner of Israel’s Messiah, John proclaimed the Kingdom message, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He lived long enough to know that Israel would not receive the King and His Kingdom. Therefore John lived before and after the King was rejected.

SIMON PETER

Simon Peter was in company with Christ for more than three years before the death of Christ. During those three years both Christ and Peter were under the law. The Holy Spirit had not yet been given. John 7:39. Simon Peter lived after the death and resurrection of the Son of God. Therefore he lived in two entirely different dispensations; first under the old covenant, and then under the new covenant. Simon lived in the days of the Son of man – then in the Holy Spirit dispensation. Read John 1:41 and Luke 5:8 to 11.

SAUL—PAUL

Paul, the Apostle, was saved before Peter preached to the first Gentile household, that of Cornelius. Paul Lived during the “transition” period, that thirty-year period covered by the Book of Acts. Then he lived and ministered for some years after the transition period had ceased, after he reached Rome as Caesar’s prisoner, delivered to that Gentile government by the Jews of Jerusalem. There was a radical change after Acts 28:28. Saul’s conversion is recorded in Acts 9:2 to 15.

DIFFERENT MINISTRIES

All of these men had very definite dealings with the God of Heaven. The omnipotent, everlasting God revealed Himself to each of these eight men. God committed to each of these men a definite ministry and each was responsible to God to represent Him on earth in the particular age in which he lived. Circumstances and responsibilities differed with different dispensations and covenants.

PROGRESSIVE REVELATION

Noah knew by tradition concerning the dealings of God with Adam; but Adam died before God revealed Himself and His new plans to Noah both before and after the flood.

Abraham knew by tradition and revelation the story of Adam before he passed out of the dispensation of “Innocence” into the dispensation of “Conscience” as a fallen creature. In the same way Abraham knew of God’s dealings with Noah, the arkbuilder and preacher of righteousness, before the flood, and of the new covenant that God made with Noah after the flood, when the human race was placed by God under the dispensation of “Human Government” or “Authority.” But if you will search the Scriptures from the twelfth chapter of Genesis to the twenty-fourth chapter, you will learn that Abraham knew many things from God that neither Adam nor Noah knew. A new dispensation had been ushered in, “Promise”. During the twentyfour years before Abraham was circumcised he had many revelations from the Almighty God, and during the years that followed his circumcision he received new Divine truth from heaven. Revelation was progressive—new truths constantly being revealed.

We learn in the fifth Chapter of Genesis that Lamech, the ninth from Adam, was 56 years old when Adam died at the age of 930. Lamech was the father of Noah and died five years before the flood. Shem was 93 years old when his grandfather, Lamech, died. Shem was 98 years old at the time of the flood, which was in the year of man, 1656. Lamech was contemporary of Adam and Shem, the eleventh generation after Adam. According to the eleventh chapter of Genesis, Shem lived 502 years after the flood and died in 2158 A.H. (year of man). According to the same chapter Abraham was born in 2008 A.H. He died in 2183 A.H. Genesis 25:7.
Notwithstanding the fact that Abraham was the ninth from Shem, Shem lived until Abraham was 150 years of age. See the connecting link from Adam to Abraham.

Recovery Of Truth - O'Hair - YouTube  

How God Saves Men

Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.

Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.

Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4

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Jesus is JEHOVAH The One True GOD (Click Here)

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Should A Christian Keep the Sabbath? by Pastor J. C. O'Hair

Dispensational Chart

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The Bible is God’s Word? What saith these Scriptures concerning the Christian Sabbath? Nothing. Concerning Israel’s Sabbath the Scripture speaks: Israel failed under the law. God abolished the Old Covenant.

It is because of this that the Son of God said to this same people: “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” John 5:17. It is because of His bleeding work in Gethsemane and on Calvary when He drank the cup and cried, “it is finished,” that He can still say with authority, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath day. Sabbath means rest. The only rest any sinner can find is Christ: “For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:10. God in creation rested in a perfect work of creation. The Lord Jesus Christ after he had died and abolished death sat down at the right hand of God. Israel found no rest under the law; only condemnation and wrath. It was their school-master to bring them to Christ that they might be justified by faith Galatians 3:24. The schoolmaster was not the ceremonial law alone but the moral law. The next verse states that the believer is no longer under a schoolmaster; which plainly confirms the declaration of God in another verse: “For ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14.

On the Sabbath Israel was to cease from works. But before the Sabbath was ever given to Israel, Abraham entered into God’s rest by faith which was reckoned to him for righteousness. When does the New Testament saint cease from His works? Not on the Sabbath day either the first or the seventh; but the moment he enters by faith into Christ and receives rest and eternal life. He then and there receives not a portion of land and earthly prosperity in Canaan, but heavenly citizenship in the Body of Christ. He does not worship in Jerusalem, but is blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, and is raised up to sit together in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus. The first day of the week is not the Christian Sabbath. Nor has the Christian anything to do with the seventh day Sabbath except to ignore it; for the Saviour by whom the believer is crucified to the law and also dead to the law, was dead on the Sabbath day and arose on the first day of the week to begin a New Covenant. “Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 8:13. Christ is the believer’s only Sabbath. We do not rest on a day, but in a Person.

God said to His earthly people, that which He has never said to His heavenly people: “It is a sign between me and you throughout your generations.” Exodus 31:13. “The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel.” Exodus 31:17.

The Sabbath was not a sign between God and Abraham; for he had no Sabbath day. It is not a sign between God and the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is not Israel any more than Jerusalem is heaven. Those who claim to be Christians and Israel should carefully read Romans 11:25: “A blindness in part is happened to Israel.”

There could not be a universal Sabbath, with morning in one part of the earth while it is evening in another.

Israel had a Sabbath, but no rest. The New Testament saint has rest, but no Sabbath. The Sabbath-keepers nailed Jesus to the cross. They had murder in their hearts several times because this great Benefactor wanted to heal one of God’s suffering creatures on the Sabbath day. How can a loving God rest when the whole creation is travailing in pain. Sabbath-keepers are austere, critical and never filled with the Spirit. They prefer to be Levites with the stones to kill the offender for gathering sticks on the Sabbath. But this is true legalism. Levites, stones and death go with the Sabbath. You cannot have one without the other.

The Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, mentions in his epistle several of the commandments, but he never instructed a Gentile believer to observe the seventh day. His statement concerning the matter is this:

“One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord, he doth not regard it.” Romans 14:6 and 7. Read also Colossians 2:16. Let no man judge concerning Israel’s days.

ISRAEL’S SABBATH BELONGED TO THE LAW DISPENSATION WHICH WAS A TEMPORARY COVENANT

“Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.” Galatians 3:19.

“What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son, . . .” Romans 8:3. Christ is the Seed.

I once attended a Seventh Day Adventist convention where there was a large gathering of these deceived people. There was a genuine religious atmosphere, much resembling the camp of Israel with its Judaism rather than the spiritual blessings which attend a gathering of members of the Church of Christ.

I found myself suddenly plunged in to an argument with two of their amateur preachers and presently surrounded by a crowd of their followers. When the crowd perceived that their two champions were being routed by the bombardment of God’s Word, one of their number hastened to the auditorium for their Goliath, and with him came another crowd.

In this human circle the debate continued and the big chief seemed overjoyed at the opportunity of exposing the stupidity of one who would dare challenge the scriptural validity of his religion. With little difficulty he willingly and readily answered from the Bible a number of question which I put to him very rapidly. Then said I, “you seem to know your Bible quite well: will you please explain to this audience Galatians 3:19?” “Certainly,” said he, “just as soon as I read it.” Then he read: “Wherefore serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.”

He was silent for some moments; not so quick to answer as before. I said, “we are waiting for the explanation.” “Well,” said he, “let’s have your explanation.” I said, “this is the first time you have asked this, and I have been leading you up to this question.” A few more silent moments and turning of the leaves. I turned to the people and said, “will any of his disciples volunteer to explain the verse in his stead?” More silence. The preacher looked me and said, “we are waiting for your explanation.” I said, “I know you do not understand that verse of Scripture, for if you did, and were honest, you would leave and denounce Seventh Day Adventism immediately.” He gave up so far as an explanation is concerned.

Much of Galatians has to do with the ceremonial law of Israel; but the verses immediately connected with Galatians 3:19 have to do with the moral law. So when God asks of the Christian. “Wherefore serveth the law.” He is referring to the law given at Sinai on the tables of stone. For it was this law that was added because of transgressions. I said to the Adventist preacher, please explain what the law was added to. But neither he nor any member of that circle knew.

I said, “if the law was added, it was unknown to man, before it was added, or in the Bible language, before it entered that the offense might abound.” “It was added till.” Till something happened. That something has happened Therefore the Law; covenant was a temporary covenant, and has served the purpose for which God intended it.

It was added to the gospel which God preached in His covenant with Abraham. It was added till Jesus Christ broke down the middle-wall of partition between Israel and the Gentile on Calvary’s cross. Ephesians 2:15.

Before the law, God preached the gospel to Abraham. Galatians 3:8. The covenant was by promise and the law did not and cannot disannul it. Galatians 3:17. The fourth chapter of Romans shows the relation of the law to the Abrahamic covenant fulfilled in the One who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification.

We praise God for the privilege of one day in seven, the first day of the week, which we can devote wholly special worship, rest and service. But the first day of the week is not the Sabbath any more than the Body of Christ is Israel. We are sure the first day of the week was a day of special privilege and rejoicing with the apostolic church.

How God Saves Men

Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.

Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.

Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4

Read the KJV BIBLE in large print (Click Here)

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Jesus is JEHOVAH The One True GOD (Click Here)

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He Showed Unto Them His Hands and His Side” Pastor J. C. O'Hair

I wonder how the lives of present-day Christians would be affected if the risen Christ should appear today as He did to His disciples after His resurrection.

“Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” John 20:19 to 21.

Perhaps we are thinking that if He thus should appear in person and say, “Peace unto you.” we would never again be disturbed, no matter how many contrary winds should blow, or how much uncertainty, unrest, lawlessness and violence should surround us.

What a transformation would take place in our lives! What zeal, enthusiasm, energy, and power would take possession of us, if the glorified Christ should suddenly appear and show unto us His nail-pierced hands and feet and the wound in His side and then say, “As My Father sent me, so send I you!”

“These wounds came to Me in the performance of My Father’s will; but I received them for you! These hands and this side mean redemption for you and they also mean, ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price. I send you to tell others that they too may be redeemed because I, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man.”

To make the individual personal application, bow your head in earnest prayer; try in your mind’s eye to see the glorious Christ standing before you, showing you His hands and His side, speaking peace to your heart and sending you out to witness for Him.

See what the result will be. The trouble is, that so few of us believe the words that He spoke to Thomas several days later: “Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” John 20:29.

According to I John 3:1 to 3 we are going to see Christ and we are going to be like Him. Therefore, in that Epistle, John urges us not to be ashamed before Him at His coming. I John 2:28.

We are to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We shall then see His hands, His side and His glorified face; and we shall give an account of deeds done in the flesh, II Corinthians 5:10.

“Therefore” . . . Therefore what? “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” II Corinthians 5:11. “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” II Corinthians 5:14 and 15.

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” II Corinthians 5:20.

There are so many sinners all around us. The majority of them are indifferent and unconcerned as to the truth, that Christ was wounded for our transgressions.

But almost as sad is the fact, that the majority of Christians are as little concerned about getting the saving message to them.

“buto you; as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” John 20:21

Christians, will you pray definitely that God will arouse you to your privilege and responsibility in the matter of telling to sinners the story of redemption through the crucified and glorified Christ? And sinner, will you right now receive Christ?

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” Romans 10:13 to 15.

How God Saves Men

Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.

Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.

Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4

Read the KJV BIBLE in large print (Click Here)

(A 10 Minute Video)

Jesus is JEHOVAH The One True GOD (Click Here)

 Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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Four Churches in the New Testament Scriptures by Pastor J. C. O'Hair

Our word “Church” is from the Greek “Kurios”, translated several hundred times, “Lord”. Why the translators used the word “Church” we do not understand, for it has caused much confusion and misunderstanding. The Greek word, from which the word “Church” is translated “Ekklesia”, This word “Ekklesia” is found 118 times in the New Testament Scriptures, translated 85 times, in the singular, “Church”; 35 times, in the plural, “Churches”; and three times “Assembly”. The word “Assembly” is used in Acts 19:32, 39 and 41. The Greek word, “Ekklesia”, means “Called-out”, and suggests a called-out company, or a gathering, or an assembly. Thus we can see the unfortunate translation, “Church.” It would have been far better had the word “Ekklesia” been translated, “Called-out” or “Assembly”, all 118 times.

                                  THE FIRST CHURCH

In Acts 7:38 Stephen spoke of the “Ekklesia”, or “Church”, “in the wilderness.” He was referring to Israel’s pilgrimage through the wilderness, about 1490 B.C. Surely the Israelites were God’s “called-out” people. He called them out of Egypt. He led them into Canaan. They were still the “Ekklesia” of God years after their pilgrimage was over, when they were worshipping Jehovah in the temple at Jerusalem. This leads us to ask the question; “how about the seventy souls out of the loins of Jacob more than two hundred years before the Israelites were in the wilderness?” Were not the seventy souls of Exodus 1:5 God’s “Called-out?” Two hundred years before this some of God’s people were in the household of Abraham. Genesis 17:4 to 14. One of the four churches referred to in the New Testament Scriptures is the “Church in the wilderness.”

                                  THE SECOND CHURCH

In Acts 8:1 we read of “the Church which was at Jerusalem.” In that Church there were only Jews. Acts 11:19. In referring to that Church, Paul said, “I persecuted “the Church of God.” Galatians 1:13. The Church in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost, was the Church of God. Before the day of Pentecost there were one-hundred-twenty souls in the upper room. They were the Called-out of God. Acts 1:15. To a called-out company the Lord on earth had said some months before the day of Pentecost, “Fear not little flock.” Luke 12:32. They were called-out. To them He said; “if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the “Ekklesia.” Matthew 18:17. This leads us to this question, “did the Church of God which Saul of Tarsus persecuted begin on or before the day of Pentecost?” The Post-millenarian’s answer to this question is, that the Church of God began before the flood. Some Bible teachers believe that the Church of God began with John the Baptist. Some Premillenarians teach that there was a Church of God before the resurrection of Christ, but that the New Testament Church of God began when the Lord Jesus breathed upon His apostles, saying “receive ye the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22.

Other Premillenarians—and the majority of them—teach that there was at least one Church before the day of Pentecost; but that a new and different Church of God began on the day of Pentecost. They support their teaching by the words of the Lord Jesus, “Upon this Rock I will build my Church.” Matthew 16:19. They also use I Corinthians 12:13 to support their teaching, “baptized by one Spirit into one Body.” Believers, they claim, could not have been baptized into the Church of God until the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. The believers added on the day of Pentecost, they teach, were added to the Church of God by the work of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:47. Then they claim that the expression “the Church of God” was not used before the day of Pentecost. All of these Premillenarians are Dispensationalists to the extent that they teach that the Kingdom of God was taken from Israel with the death of Israel’s Messiah, in fulfillment of Matthew 21:43 and Matthew 23:34 to 39. They teach that Israel’s national redemption will take place by the coming of the Son of man in power and great glory after God has accomplished His purpose in this age; namely, to build the Church of Christ. Therefore, they teach the postponement of the Kingdom or the suspension of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants that have to do with the restoration of the Kingdom and Canaan to Israel. They teach that when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in all Israel shall be saved. Romans 11:25 and 26. Therefore, they teach that the Kingdom of God which was at hand, in the message of the Lord Jesus in Mark 1:14 and 15, is not now at hand; but will be at hand when the Son of man shall return and fulfill Luke 21:27 to 31. That Kingdom of God is now in abeyance. Since the day of Pentecost the Church of God has been at hand. Therefore, they claim that the Church of God, which began historically on the day of Pentecost, is identical with the Church which is Christ’s Body, mentioned in Ephesians 1:19 to 22.

There are some Scriptures that seem to support the teaching that the Church of God began on the day of Pentecost and that that Church of God is the same as the Church which is Christ’s Body, mentioned in Ephesians and Colossians. Yet there are some Scriptures that seem to disprove both facts; that is, the one fact that the Church of God which Saul persecuted began before the day of Pentecost, and the other fact that the Church of God of the day of Pentecost is not identical with the Body (Church of Ephesians 1:19 to 22.) Let us consider them

Read the words of the Lord Jesus, in Mark 1:14 and 15: “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” It was at hand for Israel; because their King was at hand. Whether or not we believe that the Body of Christ began historically on the day of Pentecost or some years after, Premillenarians are agreed that the Kingdom of God that was at hand in 30 A.D. was not the Body of Christ mentioned in 64 A.D., in Ephesians and Colossians. According to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to Israel, “the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you.” Matthew 21:43. Now, if that Kingdom of God had been taken away from Israel before the day of Pentecost, there might be Scriptural proof that the Body of Christ began historically on the day of Pentecost. But the fact is, that the same Kingdom of God that was offered to Israel while the Lord Jesus was on earth was again offered to the same Nation after Pentecost. Acts 3:19 to 22. In Matthew 8:1 to 11, the Israelites were “Children”. Mark 7:27. In Matthew 23:34 to 39 the Israelites were “serpents”. In Acts 3:25 the Israelites were “Children”. Quite a transformation from “Children” to serpents, and from “serpents” back to “Children”. In Matthew 16:20 the Messengers of the Messiah were no longer to witness to the Nation that Jesus was their Messiah. But in Acts 2:32, the Messengers of the Messiah were witnessing to Israel that Jesus was their Messiah; “Let all of the House of Israel know.” The “these days” of Acts 3:24 referred to the same Israelitish Kingdom of God that was at hand in Mark 1:14 and 15. Yes or no? If yes, did the “these days” of Acts 3:24 refer to the Body of Christ of Ephesians 3:6, about which days no prophet ever spoke or wrote?

According to Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did not come to form the Body of Christ, but for Israel’s blessing in their land. Read Joel 2:18 and Acts 2:16. According to that same message, Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead to be the Head of the Church which is His Body, but to sit as King and Messiah on David’s throne. On that throne the Messiah and King will be the “Son of Man.” Matthew 25:31 to 34. Some months after the day of Pentecost Stephen saw the Messiah standing in heaven as the “Son of man”. The Lord Jesus is not the Son of man to the members of the Church which is His Body. No one can prove by the Word of God that the Nation Israel had been set aside, as a nation, or that the Kingdom of God had been taken away from them at the time Stephen saw the heavens opened and the Son of man standing. Acts 7:51 to 56.
We have taken too much for granted, without diligently studying the Word of God. In what respect was the Kingdom of God taken away from Israel, in the seventh chapter of Acts, that it was not taken away when Jesus was in their midst on earth? The Lord had to go to the cross in fulfillment of the Scriptures. How could He have gone to the throne of David before He went to Calvary, and have fulfilled the Scriptures? What Scripture prevented His return to establish His Kingdom after His sacrifice? The answer to this is; that the Body of Christ was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 . . . Ephesians 3:11 and II Timothy 1:9. So then this question, what was the difference between the Kingdom of God, offered to Israel before the day of Pentecost, and the Kingdom of God offered to Israel after the day of Pentecost? In the one case Israel was sinning against the Son of man. That was to be forgiven them. Matthew 12:31 and 32. For the forgiveness of than sin Christ on the cross prayed for them. In the second case, after Pentecost they were sinning against, or resisting, the Holy Spirit. That was not to be forgiven them. In the one case the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of the heavens, was being offered to them while their Messiah was on earth, Jesus of Nazareth the man approved of God in their midst by signs. Acts 2:22. In the other case the Kingdom of God was being offered to them after God had made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ and had raised Him up to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel. Acts 2:32. Acts 5:31. Repentance on the part of Israel meant the Kingdom of God restored unto Israel. Acts 3:19 to 26.

Twenty-seven years after the death of Israel’s Messiah there was an “election” of Israelites. But Israel, the Nation, was to be set aside until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Romans 11:7 and 8 and 25 and 26. When did this election of Israelites begin? Certainly before the day of Pentecost. While the Lord Jesus was in the flesh in the land of the Jews individual Israelites were saved. Whether or not they were born into the Kingdom of God or became members of the Church of God, there was something more than an offer of salvation, or entrance into the Kingdom of God, to individual Israelites. The proclamation of the Kingdom by John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus and the Twelve and the Seventy, while the Saviour was an earth, was for the Nation. When the Lord said, “the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you”, He did not mean that individual Israelites would not be permitted to enter into the Kingdom of God. No, He meant that the Kingdom of God which was offered to the Nation, and which shall yet be given to that Nation, would be taken away. While the Lord Jesus was on earth He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24. He was confirming to Israel God’s Kingdom promises. Romans 15.8. Messages concerning the Body of Christ were not messages of confirmation; but messages of revelation. They were not preached by the Lord Jesus on earth. The Israelites saved while the Lord was on earth did not become members of the Body of Christ mentioned in Ephesians and Colossians. But the question is, “would it be unscriptural to speak of that company of saved Israelites as the Church or a Church of God before Pentecost?” Did the little flock constitute an “Ekklesia?” If not, would we call them “the Kingdom of God”? Is there any name by which they might collectively be called? Were not all Israelites the children of the Kingdom? Matthew 8:11. The children of the Kingdom were not cast into darkness until after Acts 13:46.

The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, in fulfillment of Joel’s Kingdom prophecy concerning Israel’s Kingdom and Land, did not make the saved company of Israelites the One New Man of Ephesians 2:15. Just as before the death of the Messiah, individual Israelites continued to be saved, or enter the Kingdom of God, on the day of Pentecost and thereafter. Just as before the death of Christ, God was still dealing with the Nation Israel on Kingdom grounds; presenting to them the message of that Kingdom spoken by the mouth of Moses, Samuel and all of Israel’s prophets. Acts 3:21 and 24.

Perhaps, the most difficult task for the Bible student is to learn just When, during the Book of Acts period, the Lord ceased to deal with Israel, as a Nation, on Kingdom grounds. Certainly in the year 46 A.D., when the Apostle Paul said, “seeing ye have put it from you, Lo, we turn unto the Gentiles”, he was not saying that God would withdraw from individual Israelites the privilege of becoming members of His Church, Acts 13:46. He was there dealing with the Nation, as He was in Acts 28:25 to 28. With Acts 28:25 to 28 we have a most radical change in the program of God. With that judgment God began to withdraw spiritual authority and Church leadership from Israel and to usher in a period of Gentile favour wholly independent of Israelitish covenants, promises, rites and religion; and to reveal His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus concerning the One New Man and the heavenly position and blessings of the members of the Body of Christ chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. There is a decided difference between the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, of Matthew 25:34, the restitution to Israel spoken by the prophets since the world began, of Luke 1:70 and Acts 3:21, and the purpose of Christ given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, of Ephesians 1:4 and II Timothy 1:9. We must not confuse the Kingdom promises with the eternal purpose of God concerning the position of saved Gentiles in the Body. One was the subject of prophecy; the other was unknown to the prophets; hid in God. Ephesians 3:3, 5, 8 and 9.

 
                            THE THIRD CHURCH


In the study of this third Church mentioned in the New Testament Scriptures we can appreciate the unfortunate and obscure translation of the word “Ekklesia” to the word “Church”. Read Acts 19:32, 39 and 41. “The Ekklesia was confused”. “In a lawful Ekklesia”. “He dismissed the Ekklesia.” Who dismissed the Ekklesia? A heathen judge. Who made up the Ekklesia? There were several saints there, but the Ekklesia was an unruly mob of lost heathen. What a Church! As the word “Church” comes from the word translated Lord, “Kurios”, we know that mob should not have been called “Church”. The word Ekklesia is properly translated “Assembly” in the three verses. Suppose such an unruly mob had gathered in Jerusalem while the Lord Jesus was on earth, could they not have properly been called an Ekklesia? Certainly. Then was the word “Ekklesia” added to the Greek language because a company of saved Israelites was to be called “the Church of God” on the day of Pentecost? (Certainly not. If a mob of heathen could have been properly called an Ekklesia or an Assembly before Christ died, then a company of God’s redeemed people could have been called an Ekklesia of God, or a Church of God, while Christ was on earth.

Well, of one thing all students of the Word of God are sure; that is, that the Church which is the Body of Christ is not a building made of inanimate stones or other inanimate material. The Church which is the Body of Christ is a building made up of sinners saved by pure and unadulterated grace, without religion. Acts 2:8 to 22.

 
THE FOURTH CHURCH

“In Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the upper-heavenlies, or super-heavenlies, . . . . and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:19 to 22. “They two shall be one flesh; This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.” Ephesians 5:31. “In other ages was not made known to the sons of men. . . . That the Gentiles should be joint-heirs; of the joint Body.” Ephesians 3:5 and 6. “To make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.” Ephesians 3:9.

Is the Holy Spirit, in these verses in Ephesians, speaking of a Church of God, or the Church of God, which began before or on the day of Pentecost?

The generally accepted answer to this question among Premillenarians is, that the Church of God began historically on the day of Pentecost and that that Church of God which then began is the same Church of God called in Ephesians and Colossians, the “Body”. This teaching is supported by Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians. First Corinthians was addressed “unto the Church of God.” In I Corinthians 12:13 we read that “by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks.” The argument is, that the Church of God of the first chapter is the Body of the twelfth chapter; and that the Body of I Corinthians 12:13 is identical with the Body of Ephesians and Colossians. Another verse of Scripture used to support the teaching is Ephesians 2:20: “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner.”
Whether or not Premillenarians believe that the Church of God began on the day of Pentecost and that that Church of God is the same Church or Body of Ephesians and Colossians, they are agreed that the Body of Christ did not begin historically until Israel, as a nation, was set aside; and they should be agreed that the Body of Ephesians and Colossians was not in fulfillment of any promise that God made to Israel by the mouth of all of His holy prophets since the world began. If Israel was set aside, as a nation, on the day of Pentecost, then undoubtedly the Body of Christ began historically at that time, if not before. If Israel was not set aside until after Stephen saw the Son of man standing in heaven, or until after Acts 13:46, then it is more than doubtful that body of Christ began historically on the day of Pentecost or before. Therefore, it seems rather important that we search the Scriptures diligently to learn when the Lord set Israel aside. To be sure, the Lord on earth said to Israel, “your house is left unto you desolate.” Matthew 23:38 and 39. At that time He addressed them as a generation of vipers and as serpents. But after Christ prayed, “Father, forgive them”, God spoke to them in great mercy and addressed them, not as serpents, but “ye are the children of the covenants.” Acts 3:25. God wot that ye did it in ignorance. Therefore, repent. Acts 3:17. This was to “every one of you”, to “all the house of Israel.” Acts 2:38 . . . Acts 3:26 and Acts 2:36. Their house was not yet desolate. Their temple stood in Jerusalem and for years after Paul was converted God permitted him to become a Jew to the Jews. Surely God delayed the execution of the judgment pronounced upon the house of Israel, in Matthew 21 and 23 and 25. It was in the year 60 A.D. that God wrote by the pen of Paul to the Romans concerning the setting aside of Israel, not on the day of Pentecost, but after the thirteenth chapter of Acts; perhaps, not definitely until Acts 28:25 to 28. Israel’s house was no more desolate in the thirteenth chapter of Acts than in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. Were the natural branches any more cut off in Acts 15:1 to 19 than they were in Matthew 23:34 to 38?

Here is a sensible question: “If Israel was set aside with the death of Christ, if the Kingdom of God was taken away from Israel with the death of Christ, why did God’s messengers say to Israel, “to you first”? Acts 3:26 and Acts 13:46. Why were no Gentiles saved until eight years after the day of Pentecost? Acts 11:18. Why was it unlawful for an Israelite apostle to go to a Gentile with the message until Peter’s housetop vision? Acts 10:28. Surely we know, with but little study, that the dispensation of pure grace for Jew and Gentile alike did not begin with Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost. No messenger of grace today would preach to an unsaved Gentile, “repent and be baptized for the remission of sin,” Acts 2:38. Neither would he preach to any one Acts 3:19 to 21.

The teacher who has the Body of Christ begin historically on the day of Pentecost has for the program of that Body all of the program of the Book of Acts period, from Pentecost until Paul reached Rome. But they find very little of this program in the Body of Christ today, except in the counterfeit. They have no Scriptural explanation for the absence of the signs and visions and miracles and ceremonies that were practiced by the authority of the risen Christ during the thirty years after His death? They should either be recovered or explained away by an intelligent application of the Scriptures rightly divided, which is difficult, if not impossible, if the Body of today and the Pentecost Church of God are one and the same. We have either a different Church today with a different sphere of blessing or the same Church with such a different program that it might as well be a different Church.

Let us carefully compare Amos 9:11 to 15 with Acts 15:14 to 17, and we shall learn that God by the mouth of His holy prophet told Israel that there was to be a called-out company of Israelites and Gentiles; and we shall also learn that Peter and James declared that the Church of God of the Book of Acts was the called-out company to whom Amos referred. A study of the first chapters of the Book of Acts should convince us that Peter and the Eleven were preaching to none but Israelites, “none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:” And then Peter said, “God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.” Acts 15:7. This referred to Peter’s message to the Household of Cornelius; “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” Acts 10:43.

Some years after Peter’s ministry to the Gentiles the Apostle Paul wrote: “I am the apostle of the Gentiles.” Romans 11:13. And about that same time it was agreed that Peter and his associates should preach the “circumcision” gospel to the circumcision. Galatians 2:7 and 9. It is no easy matter to understand Galatians 2:7 to 9 in the light of Acts 15:7; unless we can learn in the Scriptures that the risen Lord gave Paul a message and ministry for the Gentiles that superseded His commission to the Twelve. Paul was the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Gentiles with the dispensation of grace and with the mystery among the Gentiles. Ephesians 3:1 to 9. Colossians 1:27. Peter preached to Israelites and Gentiles the “traceable” riches of Christ. The Apostle Paul finally preached to Gentiles the unsearchable (untraceable) riches of Christ. Ephesians 3:8. The word translated “unsearchable” really means “not to be tracked.” Included in the “not-to-be-tracked” riches of Christ was the Body referred to in Paul’s last Epistles as “the Mystery”.

In the second of Acts believers were added to the Church of God. They were all Israelites. About eight years later the first company of Gentiles was added. Acts 11:18. If the called-out company of Acts 15:14 to 17 referred to the Jews and Greeks of I Corinthians 12:13, baptized by one Spirit into one Body, then the one Body of I Corinthians 12:13 can hardly be identical with the Body of Ephesians 3:6. Membership in the Body of Ephesians 3:6 was a mystery not made known to the prophets of Israel, whereas the saved company of Acts 15:14 to 17 was prophesied in Amos 9:11 to 15.

God’s Son made under the law, sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, was a minister of the circumcision. Galatians 4:4. Matthew 15:24. Romans 15:8. His ministry to Israel was one of confirmation; that is, confirming what Israel’s prophets had foretold. Romans 15:8. That referred also to a message of salvation for Gentiles. Romans 15:9. The ministry of the Twelve, before and after the death of their Messiah, was also a ministry of confirmation. Hebrews 2:2 to 5. To Israel Paul likewise preached “none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.” Acts 26:22. “That Christ should be the first to rise from the dead and show light unto Israel and the Gentiles.” Acts 26:23. So the Apostle Paul had a ministry of confirmation, or “traceable” riches of Christ. But he had another ministry, about which Israel’s prophets knew nothing. He preached among the Gentiles the “untraceable” riches of Christ, concerning the dispensation of the mystery, which God would have all men to know; since He revealed it to and through Paul. Paul had a two-fold ministry; one of confirmation, and one of revelation. Otherwise we could never reconcile Acts 26:22 and Ephesians 3:8 and 9; the “none other things of Israel’s prophets” and the mystery hid in God from the beginning of the world; the “traceable” and “untraceable” message. Who could learn of the “dispensation of the grace of God” or of the “dispensation of the mystery” by reading Israel’s Old Testament prophets or the Four Gospels or the Book of Acts or even the first six Epistles from the pen of Paul?

As we said, Premillenarians are generally agreed that the Body of Christ did not begin until Israel was set aside, as a nation. The disagreement is concerning the time of that setting aside, or as to when the Lord cast the children into darkness, according to Matthew 8:11. As you carefully study the Book of Matthew and the Book of Acts, can you truthfully say that God sent any more judgment upon Israel in the Book of Acts than he did in Matthew? All can see that He did after the “Book of Acts” period, but not during it. Those who disagree with their Premillenarian brethren that Israel had been set aside when the day of Pentecost was fully come are called “Ultradispensationalists.” Some Ultradispensationalists teach that Paul wrote several Epistles before Israel was set aside, and in those Epistles he referred to an “Ekklesia”, a called-out” people, Israelites and Gentiles, which was the subject of prophecy. They teach that Paul wrote several Epistles after Israel was cast into darkness generally called his “Prison” Epistles, including Ephesians, Colossians and II Timothy; and that in those Epistles he referred to an Ekklesia” about which no prophet of Israel wrote. That “Ekklesia” is called “the Church which is His Body”. That Church was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Let us search the Scriptures diligently to see whether these things be true. This teaching suggests “The Book of Acts” Church and the “Body” Church. To which of these Churches did the Lord Jesus refer when He said, “upon this Rock I will build my Ekklesia?” The reason why we feel sure we can correctly answer this question is because outstanding Bible teachers among Fundamentalists have decided it for us. To which Church did the Lord Jesus refer in Matthew?
The Book of Matthew is a Book of signs and ceremonies; a message concerning the Kingdom, Matthew is very largely a Jewish Book. But how about the Book of Acts? Seven strictly Jewish words, found 86 times in the Book of Matthew, are found 250 times in Acts. The honest, open student of the Word of God will find no more radical change passing out of Matthew into Acts than he will passing out of Acts into Ephesians, Colossians and II Timothy. Signs and ceremonies and Judaism pass out of Matthew into Acts and go through Acts, all the way; but they do not pass from Acts to Ephesians, Colossians and II Timothy. They are missing; they have ceased; something has happened.
What happened to John the Baptist and the other saved Israelites who died while Jesus of Nazareth was a man in the midst of Israel? They certainly were not members of the Body of Christ mentioned in Ephesians. To this all Premillenarians are agreed. Were they members of some Church of God? If Israel was set aside when the Lord said to them, “your house is left unto you desolate”, and if the kingdom of God was then and there taken from them, and if the Body of Christ did not begin until fifty days after Christ arose from death, to what company of saved Israelites did the thief on the cross belong? Was he not in the same Church of God to which the thousands were added some weeks later? And concerning the 120 in the upper-room, were they not members of a Church of God while the Lord was in their midst as a man? Did they become members of a new and different Church of God on the day of Pentecost? Surely they were a saved group before the death of their Messiah and they were a saved company after His death. But if any one of them had died before the day of Pentecost, he would have died outside of the Church of God, according to our Premillenarian brethren who teach that the Church of God, began on the day of Pentecost. All of us should agree that he would not have died as a member of the Body of Christ mentioned in Ephesians; but we are by no means agreed that they were not members of a Church of God.

If it could have been that such a radical change could have taken place on the day of Pentecost, as is taught by our Premillenarian brethren who say that the Church of God began then, and if it is true that the “Kingdom of God” saved people from before Pentecost could have became “Church of God” saved people on the day of Pentecost, why could not an equally radical change have taken place with the close of the Book of Acts period and the saved people of the Church of God have become members of the “Body Church” of the post-Acts Epistles? Certainly the Scriptures show that just as radical a change took place at the close of Acts as took place in the Second Chapter of Acts.
The Premillennial brethren, who teach that the Church of God began on the day of Pentecost, teach that when Jesus was on earth He offered to Israel that literal physical Messianic Kingdom that was to be, and is to be, established on this earth, according to the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began. There are many chapters in Isaiah, Zechariah Micah, Jeremiah, Daniel and the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh chapters of Ezekiel that speak of “these days”. They spoke of the same Kingdom “these days” as are mentioned in Acts 3:25. Acts speaks of the very same Kingdom on earth that Christ announced in Mark 1:14 and 15. The very same Kingdom is spoken of in Amos 9:11 to 15 and Acts 15:14 to 18. In fulfillment of the Scriptures, the builders rejected the Stone. As the Kingdom offer was rejected, the attitude of Israel caused the Lord to withdraw the offer and postpone the Kingdom and change His program and build the One New Man before He would lay His hand the second time to restore the Kingdom to Israel. If Israel had received their King and Kingdom, would there not have been the fulfillment of Joel 2:1 to 18 and Amos 9:11 to 15? Certainly. Then if Amos 9:11 to 15 is a Kingdom promise, what has that prophecy to do with the One New Man of Ephesians 2:15? Did not Israel’s attitude toward God’s offer after the Holy Spirit came to witness to them again cause God to postpone fulfillment of the Kingdom program of Acts 15:14 to 17 until after He has made the One New Man of Ephesians 2:5. There is no more Scriptural proof that Jesus Christ would have taken the throne of David, if Israel had repented before His death than that He would have taken that throne if Israel had repented within a few years after His death. Christ was prophesied for that purpose. Isaiah 9:6 and 7. He was born for that purpose. Luke 1:29 to 33. He was resurrected for that purpose. Acts 2:25 to 30. He shall return for that purpose. Acts 15:15 and 16. Israel rejected the King and the Kingdom in Acts as well as in Matthew.

Did not the Body of Christ begin after that rejection? Does Acts 15:14 to 17 refer to the Body?
Surely Amos and the other prophets of Israel did not prophesy concerning the present position of Christ in the super-heavenlies, far above principality, power and dominion, and that present position of the members of His Body, seated in and with Christ in the super-heavenlies, described in the Body message in Ephesians 1:4 and 1:19 to 22 and 2:5 and 6. It is not so difficult to see that the “Body” Church of Ephesians 1:19 to 22 differs from the Church of Acts 15:14 to 18, when we study together carefully Amos 9:11 to 15, Acts 15:14 to 18 and Ephesians 3:5 to 11. Amos prophesied Gentile salvation with Christ on David’s throne. The Epistle to the Ephesians speaks of Gentile salvation with Christ and His Body seated, not on David’s throne, but in the super-heavenlies. Of this Body Amos never spake a word. Neither did any other prophet before Christ came, or while He was on earth; nor did the Twelve in their ministry to the House of Israel during the Acts period.

Be a true Berean and let the Holy Spirit lead you to diligently search the Scriptures, and you will rejoice in the two “Buts” in the Second Chapter of Ephesians, “But God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith He loved us”; and “But now in Christ Jesus”. How wonderful is this message of pure grace; saved, sealed and seated, all of grace and all by grace, on the basis of the shed blood of Christ, without religion, legalism, ceremony or ordinance. “They two shall be one flesh. I speak a mystery concerning Christ and the Church.”

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Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.

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The Christian and the World: Pastor J. C. O'Hair

 The Christian and the World: 

 Pastor J. C. O'Hair

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“BUT GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD GLORY, SAVE IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM THE WORLD IS CRUCIFIED UNTO ME, AND I UNTO THE WORLD.” Galatians 6:14.

According to the Word of God, Christians are both dead and alive, however paradoxical it may seem. In Colossians 3:3 we have the statement concerning Christians, “Ye are dead.” It is for this reason that they are instructed to set their affections on things above, not on things on the earth. In these verses, it is seen that in the mind of God the believer is dead to the things on earth. In John 1:10 is recorded the fact that the Christ Who made all things was in the world and the world knew Him not. The statement is, “the world was made by Him.” “All things were made by Him.” John 1:3. When Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners He came unto His own world and His own Nation received Him not. When He came to be the Saviour of the world He did not find the world as He originally created it. The world as He found it, and as it is at present, is described in I John 2:16, which we quote

“FOR ALL THAT IS IN THE WORLD, THE LUST OF THE FLESH, AND THE LUST OF THE EYES. AND THE PRIDE OF LIFE, IS NOT OF THE FATHER, BUT IS OF THE WORLD.”

It was Satan, the Prince of this world, who brought the world to this condition. But in spite of the world’s lustful condition, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And then follows the statement in John 3:17:

“For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Such a world surely was already condemned and deserved the righteous condemnation of God’s Holy Son. But His attitude toward the world is expressed in His words to a woman caught in sin, “Neither do I condemn thee.” God loved the world and sent His Son, by Whom He made the world, to be the Saviour of the world, and not to condemn the world. But the world so hated God that it spurned His love and murdered His Son.

Concerning His own people Christ said, “they hated Me without a cause.” “The world knew Him not.” “Which none of the rulers of this world knew; for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” I Corinthians 2:8. To one ruler the Son of God said, “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is My kingdom not from hence.” John 18:36. “My kingdom is not of this world.” He had said in John 8:23: “I am not of this world.” Out of the world the Father gave some believers to Christ. Concerning this little flock He prayed to His Father in theses words:

“I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
“I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14, 15 and 16 From these words of the Lord Jesus we learn that His redeemed ones are in the world but not counted by Him as being of the world; having been given to Him out of the world. To them He said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. To them He also said,

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.”

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” John 15:18 and 19.

Shortly before Christ uttered these words He had said to His disciples “Now is the Judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” John 12:31. He spoke of His death on the cross. There He was crucified by the world.

Christ was not of this world. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. Christ’s redeemed ones are not of this world. So long as any individual sinner remains in the world and of the world, he is guilty with the world of the crucifixion of the Creator of the world. He is dead in trespasses and sins, condemned and lost. His only hope for justification, and life, and righteousness is faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ. By the redemptive work of Christ the believing sinner is delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love. To be in Christ’s kingdom, which is not of this world, is to be seated with Him and in Him in the heavenlies. The believer is not condemned; but is accepted in Christ and complete in Him.

In the study of the Epistle to the Galatians we note the three-fold crucifixion of the believer. We quote Galatians 2:20— Galatians 5:24— Galatians 6:14:

“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

In the sixth chapter of Romans we learn that the believer is crucified and dead to sin. “He that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:7. So God’s Word teaches that the believer is crucified to the law; crucified to the flesh; crucified to sin; and crucified to the world. It is the crucified sinner to whom God speaks in I John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things of the world.”

According to the Word of God, the unbeliever walks according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air; and being without God in the world, he is without hope, because he will not receive Christ, the sinner’s only Hope. Ephesians 2:1 and 12.

“Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4.

The believer is of God, “and the whole world lieth in the evil one.” I John 5:19. “The world by wisdom knew not God.” I Corinthians 1:21. So most assuredly God does not instruct the sinner, who is in the world and of the world, to love not the world. Whether it be the political world, or the religious world, or the pleasure-seeking world, or the wisdom of this world, the whole world is in the evil one, and is not of God.

The expression “worldly Christian” seems paradoxical, because the Christian is not of the world. “If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” Romans 6:8. The believer is alive unto God through Christ. Romans 6:11. The Christian may abstain from worldly pleasures, such as dancing, card-playing, theatre-going, and have victory over habits that are called immoral habits and still be worldly, even without yielding to the lust of the flesh. The world, that is not of the Father, includes the pride of life. A Christian can be spoiled by a worldly education, discounting God’s statement, “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”; by failing or neglecting to heed this warning of God; “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8.

They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts, and these lusts include the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye, which are of this world which is hastening on to the judgment of God by Christ Jesus. Acts 17:31. But in this day of intellectual pride when men and women boasting of their modern scholarship, are heady, high-minded, wise in their own conceits, and presumptuous enough to demand for this twentieth century civilization a modern interpretation of Christianity, contrary to the plain teachings of Christ and His apostles, Christians must be exceedingly careful not to be worldly wise and identified in their thinking with the group of the world included in “the pride of life”.

When believers compromise with the world, either as to the wisdom of this world, with its intellectual and religious pride, or in the matter of worldly pleasures, they cannot obey the Word of God in which the believer is instructed to “be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” Philippians 2:15. While the Saviour was on earth He said, “As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.” John 9:5. To His disciples He said, “ye are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14. And while it is still true that this is the condemnation that Light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and will not come to the Light lest their deeds should be reproved, it is the duty and blessed privilege of the Christian to keep the light of Christ shining in this dark world, never forgetting, that Satan is the prince of the world, the god of this age, the prince of the power of the air, at the head of the rulers of the darkness of this world, and that not one of his prisoners can be delivered from him and his darkness except through that great Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. John 3:17 to 20. John 1:9 and Ephesians 6:12.

“We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” Titus 2:12.   

How God Saves Men

Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.

Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.

Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4

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Pure Religion — Pure Christianity by Pastor J. C. O'Hair

Pure Religion — Pure Christianity
by Pastor J. C. O'Hair 

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Perhaps the definition that we have heard of “religion” and “Christianity” are too general. The student of the Word of God desires something more specific, more comprehensive, more satisfactory.

For a clearer definition of the terms we should appeal to the Bible rather than to the dictionary.

In searching the Scriptures for these definitions, it will perhaps be less difficult to find “religion” clearly defined; than “Christianity”.

In fact, unless we diligently and prayerfully search the Scriptures, from the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus to Paul’s farewell to earth in II Timothy 4:5 to 8, we may say that pure Christianity and pure religion are identical.

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:26 and 27.

The Greek word translated “religious” is “THRESKOS”; “religion” is “THRESKEIA”, (this Greek word suggests the use of speech and the senses in worship). James was a religious man and wrote to a religious nation. James 1:1 and 2. Acts 21:18 to 25.

In Acts 26:5 Paul speaks of the particular sect of religion to which, as the devout Saul, he had belonged. He used the same Greek word, but qualified the religion, as “our religion”, meaning Israel’s religion.

Israel’s religion was “IOUDAISMOS”; that is, “Judaism”. This Greek word is used in Galatians 1:13 and 14. For have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ RELIGION, how beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, wasted it: And profited in the Jews’ RELIGION above many my equals in mine own Nation, being more zealous of the traditions of my fathers.”

In the verses quoted we have all the scriptures using the word “religion”. The “religious” proselytes of Acts 13:43 were devout worshippers.

Paul found some very religious Gentiles at Athens. He said to them, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.” Acts 17:22. This word “superstitious” in the Greek is “DEISDAIMONESTEROS”, and means literally “fearful of demons.”

The heathen rulers used the same Greek word in referring to the religion of Israel and Paul. Acts 25:19. That particular “superstition”. was that “one Jesus, which was dead, Paul affirmed to be alive”. The heathen in Paul’s day were very religious.

There are many religious sects in this country who use the Bible in propagating their religious doctrines and practices, but yet they are anti-Christian.

The only people to whom the true and living God ever gave religion was Israel. “Meats and drinks, carnal ordinances and divers baptisms were imposed upon them until the time of reformation”. Hebrews 9:10.

For more than fifteen centuries Israel was under Divine orders to carry on that God-given religion, It was given to Moses at Mount Sinai about 1492 B.C. Israel was God’s religious nation. “The Jews’ religion.”

Jesus Christ was born under that reign of religion. He was made under the law; circumcised when eight days old; attended the synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath and worshipped as a religious Jew.

He observed the feasts of Jehovah and taught Israel to obey the Levitical law of rites and ceremonies, He respected the seat of Moses. Galatians 4:4. Luke 4:16. Matthew 8:4.

While on earth the Son of God Was Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by signs; to Israel. Acts 2:22. He was Jehovah’s servant to Israel to confirm promises made centuries before. Romans 15:8. Matthew 15:24.

Pure Christianity was not promised by Israel’s prophets and confirmed by Jesus of Nazareth. Pure Christianity was given by Christ to the Apostle Paul some years after Christ’s earthly ministry had come to an end.

While on earth Christ did not preach the unmixed message of grace to Gentiles, although He taught Divine truth that was carried over into the dispensation of grace, which he afterwards committed to the Apostle Paul. Ephesians 3:1 to 11.

There was grace the Old Testament message and the kingdom message, but religion was mixed with grace.

Neither did Christ instruct the Twelve Apostles to indoctrinate Gentiles in the pure grace gospel, nor propagate pure Christianity, as He gave it to Paul to proclaim.

Some of the teachings of Christ on earth could apply only before His death or to His Kingdom reign over the house of Jacob on the throne of David.

Even during the “Acts” period there was a carrying-over of a mixed program and message of grace, law and religion. Acts 10:28. Acts 21:18 to 20. Acts 16:3. During that period Paul became a Jew to the Jews, as one under the law to those under the law.” I Corinthians 9:20.

But with the close of that “Acts” period Paul declared himself through with religion and clearly stated that Israel’s religion had been nailed to the cross of Christ and completely taken out of the way: “took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” Colossians 2:14.

Believers were no longer to be judged by religion. Colossians 2:15 to 18. Believers were complete in Christ. Colossians 2:10.

A new law, the death and resurrection of Christ, the putting away of sin, the abolition of death, had supplanted the old law that worked wrath. Romans 8:1. II Timothy 1:9 and 10. Romans 4:15.

Paul was the minister of this new message of Divine grace and special Divine favor upon the Gentiles, justified without the law; without religion or without a cause.

In his last epistles there is nothing of religion, no signs, no ceremonies. “Now abideth faith, hope and love.” I Corinthians 13:13.

Paul was crucified with Christ to the law; Christ lived in him. Galatians 2:20. “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21.

Paul rehearses his religious past in Philippians 3:4 to 6. Then adds: “what things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ.” He counted his past religion as “dung”. He had Christ. Christ is the believer’s life, the believer’s hope, the believer’s peace, the believer’s righteousness, the believer’s redemption and the believer’s all.

Christianity is Christ and eternal life. The believer is accepted in Christ, complete in Christ, blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, identified with Christ in death, burial and, resurrection, seated with Him in the heavenlies and waiting to appear with Him in glory.

He is not under the law. He is saved by faith in the redemption work of the Lord Jesus Christ, by grace, and grace alone.

Pure, unmixed Christianity is founded in Paul’s epistles, perhaps more clearly set forth in Romans, Galatians and those epistles written after Israel was judged with the close of Acts.

Christianity is Christ, Christianity is life, love and glory. Christ is the believer’s all sufficient One. It is all Christ.

How God Saves Men

Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.

Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.

Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4

Read the KJV BIBLE in large print (Click Here)

(A 10 Minute Video)

Jesus is JEHOVAH The One True GOD (Click Here)

 Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
cspivey1953@gmail.com

E-mail this BIBLE STUDY to all your friends