Great Doctrines of Salvation

I thought all week about how I ought to do this. And other than give you an outline, what I thought I'd do is we sort of lecture a little bit today and then next week maybe I'll come up with an outline so that you can fill in the blanks. Basically what we're talking about, which by the way, this is your fault. I had this all figured out.

You said you didn't understand it and I had to go back and study some more. But what we started into last week was that there are more than one gospel. And although the gospel itself, the good news itself, for any time from Adam forward has to do and points to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a distinct difference in what the gospel message was in certain times, as an example.

What was the message that God gave to Abraham? Remember? When he appeared to Abraham, what did he tell him? What did he say to him? He made some promises to him. Right? And he told him he wanted him to do certain things. He wanted him to go out to a land that he would show him. He was going to make him the father of many nations. Was there any discussion there about the Lord Jesus Christ? Not as far as we can tell. But Abraham did what?

He believed God and he was accounted righteous. Would you say that what he believed God about was a gospel to him? Sure it was, because it was good news to him. So I think it's important to start with that we understand that what Paul wrote from Romans to Philemon is a unique, distinct body of information that is written directly to the church and the body of Christ, just to them.

And it is different than the message, information, even in the synoptic Gospels. And that's where the big distinction needs to come from. We need to recognize that Israel was God's people, yet they are, and here's the most important thing to understand about Israel, they are God's earthly people. You need to get that into your mind, that Israel is God's earthly people. And all the promises, and all the information, and all of the doctrine, and all of the gospel given to them was earth-based. I'll give you land. I'll change you wherever you are. I'll write the law on your hearts.

As distinct from the gospel given to the members of the body of Christ is heavenly and therein lies the big difference. All of the information that has to do with the gospel in this time frame has to do with us being heavenly people and not really earthly people anymore. So that's really where the big distinction lies. And I don't think you can really understand scripture clearly until you make that distinction. So when you're reading the Gospels, you're reading Old Testament, you understand who's it written to and what's the information that they are given. When Paul comes on the scene, his message is different. And let me give you an example.

The twelve apostles, or eleven plus Matthias, they met Jesus because Christ walked around at the beginning of His ministry and He called them, right? And they were Jewish men. Every single one of them was a Jewish man. And they knew him for three and a half years, roughly before his crucifixion. They all were aware and watched the crucifixion. They watched the fact that he went into the grave. They were witnesses to his resurrection life. They were standing there at the time that he ascended into heaven, right? That's their experience with Christ. Contrast that with Paul's experience with Christ. Under what circumstances did Paul meet Christ? On the road to Damascus, right? Who did he see? The glorified Christ. The glorified Christ, right? Did the other twelve ever know the glorified Christ? They didn't.

So therefore, the message is different. When you consider that the Apostle Paul, at the outset of his exposure to Christ, is the glorified man. That's how he starts. And from that day forward, everything he talks about is the glorified Christ. Do you see that? He does not have exposure or acquaintanceship with Christ before then. It has nothing to do with Jewishness, Messiah, any of that. He meets him, and that's another really important distinguishment to get straight in your mind, that here comes Paul the Apostle on the scene, and from the very beginning, his understanding of Christ and his exposure to Christ is much different than the other twelve. Okay? You alright with that? You look confused.

Now, the sequence, if you want to follow the the best place to read and kind of follow this in the in the book of Acts, up until Acts nine, Acts one through eight, going into nine. It's all the discussion is all about. the Christ being assumed up into heaven, Peter's proclamation at the day of Pentecost to the nation of Israel, and Peter is the man who is discussed up to chapter 9. At chapter 9, Peter drops off the page, and now it picks up with Paul, and the rest of Acts is about Paul. So the book of Acts is only about two men. and what you'll find if you spend some time studying through the book of Acts that the message starts to change in Acts 9.

It goes from earthly to heavenly and we'll discuss some of that today. You won't find the apostles talking very much about Jesus Christ as the Son of God. You'll see them talk about him as the Messiah of Israel But Paul, in his very first preaching assignment in Damascus, what's the first thing that comes out of his mouth? That Jesus is the Son of God. That's his whole message.

The apostles are talking about when Peter stands up at Pentecost and says to these Jews, you need to repent or you need to change your mind about who this Jesus is. What was the change of mind they were supposed to have? A lot of people will misconstrue the word repent in Acts 2 as something that the Jews needed to do. They needed to change their mind about their sinfulness. The content of the message is that they needed to change their mind about who this Jesus of Nazareth was.

From what to what? From what to what? Who did they think he was? The earthly king. This is the Jewish nation. After Peter says, this Jesus of Nazareth whom you took and you crucified, you need to change your mind about who he is. You guys who crucified him. Who did they think he was? A heretic. They thought he was a heretic. They thought he was an interloper. They said, we will not have this man to rule over us. So here comes Pentecost and the events and the signs of Pentecost and when Peter stands up he says, look fellas, this Jesus whom you crucified, you need to change your mind about who he is.

And from what to what? From a guy from Nazareth who is kind of a other side of the tracks to who? Let's look at Acts chapter 2 and I'll find it quickly here. Verse 22, men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by Wallace's hands and have crucified and put to death, whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. And then he quotes a thing from David, and then verse 29, men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David.

And he goes through Old Testament to prove that Jesus is down to 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel, by the way, let all the house of Israel, who's he speaking to? There aren't any Coloradans in here, are there? These are just Jews he's talking to. Let all the house of Israel now know assuredly that God has made Jesus, this Jesus, whom you crucified, what has he made him?

Two things, Lord and Christ. What's the word Christ mean? Savior. Messiah. Christ was not Jesus' last name. Christ is the title. There's three things going on here. He's Lord and Christ. And what's the third thing right before that? That God raised him from the dead. The reason that's so important is the resurrection to the Jews at this point was the pinnacle of understanding. resurrected but still where?

On the earth. When Paul comes on the scene you're going to see that he is past all of this. He is past resurrection and speaks from a heavenly standpoint. You alright? Am I losing you yet? So his teaching, all of the apostles teaching now is going to be from an earthly standpoint and it's going to be pretty much what I would call kingdom teaching and we'll talk about that now. So I want to distinguish three gospel messages and the first one is what I would call the gospel of the kingdom.

Let's look at Matthew chapter 1, 14 and 15. And you know what? To speed it up, let's do this. Bruce, you guys look up Matthew 1, 14 and 15. Holly, look up Luke 8, 1. Look up Luke 8, 1. I'll give you one here. You, Bruce, look up at Luke 11, 1 through 4. So Mark, did you get Mark? Mark 1, 14 and 15. So read Mark 1, 14 and 15. It's right after Matthew 14, 1. I'm sorry, 14, 1, 14 and 15. Mark chapter 1 verse 14 14 and 15. Yes.

Now after John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand Repent and believe the gospel. Okay, John the Baptist goes into prison Jesus' message and ministry goes to Galilee, and He's preaching, right? What's He preaching about? It says right here, He's preaching about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is different than the body of Christ. And here's what He was saying.

The time is fulfilled. In other words, the time of waiting is fulfilled. And the kingdom of God is at hand. What does that mean? The kingdom of God is at hand. Does any of your other translations say it different than that? Does everybody's verse 15 say the kingdom of God is at hand? On the 14th, they add, at least in the translation, It's the gospel of God. Not the kingdom of God. So they added the word kingdom? Interesting. It should be gospel of God, but it does have a 15 kingdom of God. And how about the kingdom of God is at hand?

Does it say that or here? What does that mean? Here's Jesus Christ, Son of God, on the earth, saying to the Jewish disciples, the kingdom of God is at hand. What does he mean? I'm among you. That's right. I'm the king and I'm here. If the king walks in, then with him comes his kingdom, because wherever he is, is the kingdom. Right? You alright with that?

So he's saying to the Jews, the kingdom of God is here, because I'm here. The next thing he says is repent. What's repent mean? Change your mind about what? Who he is. Change your mind about here I am. Change your mind and then he says and believe the gospel. What's the gospel? Well it certainly cannot be 2 Corinthians 15. It can't be because Jesus hasn't died yet. He hasn't been buried yet. He hasn't been resurrected yet. So what's the good news? The good news is that the King is here. You okay with that? So would that translation mean the same thing?

The gospel? The gospel of God. The good news of God. About what? About His Son. So it's important to understand as you're reading the Gospels that you pay attention to what's being said and who it's being said to. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Change your mind and believe the Gospel. The Gospel was the Kingdom. God is here. I'm the King. If you believe that, what happens? You were saved, were you not? To what? To the Kingdom! Okay? Excellent.

Luke 8.1. That's me. How far? Luke, just 8.1. Okay. Yeah, just the first one.

Now it came to pass afterward that he went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. Kingdom of God. What's he talking about? The Kingdom. Now we'll talk about the Kingdom in a minute. But the Kingdom is what? If I said to you, tell me what the Kingdom of God is, what would you tell me it was? Or is? What is it? It's for the Jews. What is it though? Not who's it for. What is it? It's an environment in which there's a theocratic economy set up in which there is a king. Jesus Christ is the king and his kingdom is populated by all the members that are in it.

When he says to Nicodemus, unless the man be born again, he will never see the kingdom of God. What's he telling Nicodemus? He's talking only about the Kingdom of God. Now, we use that verse for salvation now, and it's appropriate for now. Unless a man be born again, he will never see the body of Christ. Will he? Unless a man be born of water and the Spirit, he'll never enter into the Kingdom of God.

We have the guy we prayed for, my dear friend Sharm, when he first came to our Tuesday Bible study, he was always working for the kingdom. And I told him, no we're not. And he got really upset. Because he thought his whole job as a Christian was to go out and recruit people for the kingdom. The body of Christ is totally different. When we get to that part of it, hopefully you'll see. Now, here's the one that we got going on last week.

Luke 11, 1-4 Now it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. So he said to them, When you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. So the effect of these disciples repenting and believing the gospel is set forth in this prayer. They understood that from their perspective what was God offering them? The kingdom. they were offering, God was offering him his son and he also was offering him something very interesting they were all going to be heirs of the kingdom which is kind of cool so because the disciples believed that Jesus was the king and the messiah when the Lord teaches them to pray he teaches them to pray based on what they are okay now this interesting statement if this prayer is suitable for the disciples at the time before the Savior's death and before the gift of the Holy Spirit, it must be evident that it could not be suitable after they had known the blessings of redemption and their union with the Lord Jesus Christ. I would say that nine out of ten churches in America pray this prayer every Sunday.

You know what's interesting about it? It has nothing to do with them. Nothing to do with them. Does that show you, at least in part, how Judaized we've become? But it's not a bad idea. Let's go through it then and we'll see whether it's a good idea or not.

A knowledge of the Father because Christ was declaring him on earth, but his will had not yet been done. Had God's will been done yet regarding Christ? Answer no. What's his will? Crucifixion hasn't happened yet. Christ came to do His will and now, for believers, He's already done it. So that we could not pray, Thy will be done. We would thank Him that His will has already been done.

Though it is right for the disciples to pray this, it wouldn't be appropriate for us. There is no knowledge of the forgiveness of sins It is looking for forgiveness on the ground of work rather than rejoicing through grace. See that? What's the criteria for my forgiveness according to this prayer? Whether I forgive somebody else. What's the criteria or the ground for me being forgiven today? It's the completed work of Christ, right? Am I forgiven? Do I have to ask for it?

You don't ask for something that's already yours. It would be like me every day going to God and saying, Oh Lord, would you please give me Donna as my wife? That's how kind of dumb it is. If you played that on a trumpet without the words, would it pass? That would be fine. That would be good. That would be awesome.

It is a prayer regarding man in the flesh rather than a man in the spirit. Christ and the Spirit are in no way referred to in this prayer and this is consistent for Christ has not yet finished his work and so therefore he does not lead their souls into that work because it isn't done yet. The Holy Spirit has not yet come so you won't find him in the prayer. The prayer is suited to the disciples And it really shows us where they were. Now, to answer your question, I'm going to read a paragraph to you. If a soul goes back to their state, the disciple state, then the prayer will suit them.

But the soul using it intelligently must feel that he has neither forgiveness of sins, nor the life of Christ in which through the Spirit he is free from the law of sin and death. If you make this prayer, sort of your gospel, you do not have any assurance of your sins being forgiven. Do you? It's only based on what you would do. It's based on what I would do.

You would not be aware that your victory over sin was Romans 8.2. The spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free, has already set me free from the law of sin and death.

You know, for the sins that we're still doing, when we repent of those, we're not really asking for forgiveness, because we already have it, but we're asking that we can... I don't know. It's important. What do we ask for? I mean, lots of our prayer life now, as we grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, is thanking Him for what He's done. I thank you, Father, that X is true, Y is true, 1, 2, 3, 4. It's like 1 John 1, 9, confessing your sins. And that is the mechanics that Paul gave us to restore us to fellowship.

What's interesting about that verse It does not say there that we should ask for forgiveness. It says that we are to confess our sins. Why not ask for forgiveness? Because you're already forgiven. It says now that if I were to buy this prayer and I had an issue with Hassan, I would have to go to him and forgive him so that he would forgive me. As a member of the body of Christ, no matter what Hassan did, he's forgiven by me and the reason is because I'm already forgiven. Paul said that we aren't to forgive others because we are already forgiven.

That's different. There's a fine line I guess you could get, and I know it's further along in the Bible that that's no reason to. you know, continuing what you're doing, they're like, well, it's already forgiven. So I've got a license to do it. Right.

A couple more things about this prayer. Instead of growing up into Christ and reaching into perfection, this prayer does the following. It asks to get my daily bread. It asks for escape from temptation. It asks for deliverance from evil. which all these things are necessary in their place, but they're not occupying the individual with the realities of Christianity.

If Christianity had a place in this prayer, it would manifestly have been suited for the disciples as much as for Christianity, but Christianity has been left out. It cannot be a prayer suitable for believers. And if I go further, what I find is that there's no moral power in this prayer. There's no correct idea of the things of God, though they, to the joy and rest of their hearts, were in surpassing ways sheltered by Jesus himself.

This is a step up from where they were, but it's a step down from where we are. So it's kind of like the prayer against the law. That's exactly right. It's the difference between law and grace. That's basically what we're talking about. So, hence, when saints nowadays limit their standing on that prayer, they cannot practically rise above the apostles at the hour of the prayer. They can't rise above their hope or their intelligence, and it's sad to say, they really don't. Okay? Now, you know, I grew up in a Catholic church. We said this prayer all the time. along with a couple others, as you became a believer you wondered what the heck was I thinking when I prayed that? Like this thing called the Hail Mary?

Give me a break with that. It's a forward pass. So, here's what I want you to understand so far. At this point in time, in the nation of Israel you have the Lord Jesus Christ and the twelve disciples and they are learning the gospel of the kingdom and the prayer fits the gospel of the kingdom. Okay? Let's go to the next step. Any questions? Maybe you'll have a bunch.

Isn't that the other one that always seems to be misinterpreted for the audience was the Beatitudes. It's all the Beatitudes. We try and take that and contort it as not anything to do with us. It may be good ideas, you know, but it's not meant for us. When you look at all of it, it doesn't fit for us. So there's really no new prayer? There's no, like, go-to prayer?

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. I told you, John 17. Well, and John 17 is a prayer that we'll talk about next, which is at least the beginnings of where we're going. But there are some prayers in Colossians and Ephesians that really will change the direction. Okay. The next step I want to talk about is in time frame.

Now we move forward. Jesus is crucified. He's buried. He's resurrected. And I want to talk about what I call the earthly gospel. The Lord Jesus is resurrected now. This is a huge advancement from where the disciples were before. And you'll find even in John chapter 20, verse 22, the Lord Jesus says, receive you the Spirit. Remember that? So the apostles now are to realize that not only do they believe in God, but also they're to believe in the Lord Jesus himself. Remember that?

Right in there he says, you believe in God, believe also in me. Up till this time he said you need to believe what God says about me. Now he says you need to believe in me. And they received from him the commission go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned. Mark 16.

What's the gospel now to be proclaimed? This is after the resurrection. This is the time in which, and after Pentecost, this is the time in which Peter is in charge. The gospel message pretty much goes to the Jews only until Cornelius' house when the Spirit of God comes down on Gentiles and it just surprises Peter to no end. He runs back to Jerusalem and he tells the other disciples What happened at Cornelius's house, and he said, believe it or not, fellows, God intends to save those Gentiles too.

Still earthly though. The gospel at that time was that everyone believing Jesus risen and taking his place in accordance with this fact on earth through the baptism would be saved. That was the gospel, to believe in the resurrected Christ. Nothing wrong with that. The gospel now conveyed salvation and the power of the Spirit on the earth, but nothing more than that. The power of the Spirit on the earth. Where is this verse? In Mark 16, I'll read it, you don't have to go there.

These signs shall follow those who believe in my name. Shall they cast out demons and shall speak in new tongues, they shall take up serpents and drink any deadly thing that shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. And they, the apostles, they went forth and they preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the words with the signs that followed. What you will find, until Paul comes on the scene, you will find lots and lots of miracles. the Lord Jesus performed lots and lots of miracles. What were miracles for? Why did he do them? Just because he was showing off? Why did he do them?

His power to the Jews. He was showing the Jews that what his message was from God and he demonstrated that it was from God by being able to do these signs and wonders. Well, After Pentecost, here go the apostles out and they're preaching and they can do all of this stuff. Peter raised a woman from the dead. They can heal people. And guess what?

It's to the Jewish nation. The Jews always demanded a sign. In the Old Testament times, if a prophet or a Jew was going to make a proclamation, he better have a sign from God that backed up what he was saying. It's not going to rain for 37 years or whatever. It's something, some sign. So the Jews are always looking for a sign as a verification from God that whoever was speaking was real. And if you didn't have a sign, you got the rocks, the stones off your head.

So, the nature and the character of the gospel presented here has to do with earthly blessings. How do I say this? You know the part, and I don't know exactly where it is, where it talks about right after Pentecost, it talks about how the church functioned. How did it function? Do you remember that? How was it functioning? It was functioning communally. They all turned in their money. They all lived the same. They all met for the breaking of bread. And guess where they all went on Saturday?

They went to the temple. So they're still concerned about earthly blessings. And there are people in Christianity today that look at that part and ask, oh, that must have been the perfect church, because they were... That must have hurt somebody's ears upstairs. They were living communally on the earth and all their needs were being met and they were praying together and hanging out together but it was still earthly. I can't overemphasize that point. Let's see.

It's important to notice that the nature and character of the gospel presented because according to it must be the consequent blessing and if I, like Apollos, preach only the baptism of John as he did in Ephesus Is it any wonder that believers at Ephesus, as we see in Acts 19, knew nothing more and never had heard that the Holy Spirit was now on the earth? Remember that incident where Paul runs into these believers in Ephesus and he says, well, what gospel did you believe? Want to look at it? Let's look at Acts 19.

Verse 1, And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul having passed through the upper regions came to Ephesus finding some disciples and he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Why would he ask him that question? Why would he?

Were these people believers? The answer is yes. They believed in John's message. Were they saved? Absolutely they were. But Paul says to them, He said, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? What was their answer? We have not so much as heard whether there even is a Holy Spirit. What are you talking about? Why is that so important? Because the hallmark of you and me as believers is the fact that we possess the Spirit. That's what makes you a believer. The same thing happens in Acts too.

When Philip went to Samaria, he preached and there was all Peter went there and asked if they had the Holy Spirit. They hadn't. So what does Paul do here? He said to them, unto what then were you baptized? So what was the message? What was the gospel message that you received? And their answer was, we were baptized into John's baptism. And you need to understand a little bit about baptism here. We view baptism as an ordinance in which there are waters involved, and it is there too.

But all through the Jewish culture, like do you know that all the people in the desert were baptized unto Moses? Did you know that? What it meant was, by going through that, you identified yourself with what Moses was teaching. When John the Baptist started baptizing people, why did he do it? Because it was a sign, Jews gotta have a sign, that they bought into what John was teaching. What did the baptism do for them? Gave them the bath for the day. What did it do spiritually for them? Nothing. They were identifying themselves with what John taught.

And when they heard this, then Paul said, John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. That was his message. The man that comes after me, this guy walking right down the road here, he's the Lamb of God, he is the Christ of God. You need to believe on him. at the time that John proclaimed him, had he been crucified?

No. Buried and resurrected? No. Were they believers, saved saints? Absolutely. Were they members of the body of Christ? No, they weren't. Not yet. How about the thief on the cross? Member of the body of Christ? No. Why not? When did the body of Christ begin?

When he ascended into heaven. No, at Pentecost. The Spirit of God came and what did he do? He started baptizing or taking human beings, taking them out of Adam and putting them into Christ. That was the beginning of the church. So, was the thief on the cross, is he totally happy, fulfilled, saint, wonderful? Absolutely. Not a member of the body of Christ? Ascension and Pentecost. Ascension and Pentecost? The Pentecost is when the Spirit of God came from heaven from the glorified Christ. Ascension was when Christ went to heaven.

Wasn't it simultaneous? No, 40 days. Acts 2, quickly. I'm sorry, Acts 1, where it is. It is in 40 days, I think it's maybe a week. He goes up into heaven, they look steadfastly into heaven, because he told them to in verse 8, but you shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Now he spoke these things while they watched. He was taken up in a cloud. Hold on a minute. Here we go. Back up into verse 4.

He said, after being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized you with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." I think it was ten days. What were you reading right there? Acts 1, 4 and 5.

Some had not advanced past the gospel that was preached when Christ was on the earth. Many more think that they've gained a real height of grace when they proclaim with much energy and faithfulness the truth that salvation follows and is assured to the soul on believing in the risen Christ. Bear with me. It is doubtless a truth of unspeakable magnitude that a lost sinner, at a distance from God and under fear of judgment, and finds himself now through faith in Jesus Christ fully and finally saved by him. Sounds like us, doesn't it? Is there anything more than this?

There will be. It marks a new and wonderful era of grace and the mercy of God and of the descent of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost. Peter insists on this blessed truth showing that the manifestation of the power of the Spirit was indicative of the time when it should be fulfilled. to Acts 2. It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I've already read these verses but I want to read them again because they fit in here.

Acts 2.36. Let all the house of Israel, all the house of Israel, not the members of the city and county of Denver, know assuredly that God has made Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And the Savior was Lord and Messiah. And hence, beginning in verse 40, Peter calls on Israel, saying, Save yourself from this crooked generation.

And then they gladly received his word and were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued, now watch this is the part I mentioned before, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need.

And they continued daily with one accord in the temple. Breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all people. And the Lord added to the church daily, as should be saved.

Now, there's nothing wrong with that, is there? Isn't that wonderful? So next week, bring your checkbooks. The point is this, that this is wonderful as far as it goes. And this is the way the early church functioned. They were all blessed earthly. Earthly. Keep that focus. They're all blessed earthly. And it isn't that they're not members of the body of Christ. They are.

But they do not have the advance of the information that's going to show up when Paul shows up. Because like I said, when Paul meets Christ, he meets him as the glorified man. and it makes a huge difference in what his message is going to be. To reiterate, salvation is based, whether you have an earthly gospel or a heavenly gospel, it's based on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The problem we have today is the fact that this is the pinnacle to which believers aspire to. They never aspire to go any farther than this.

I'm saved, right? I'm going to go to heaven. I have eternal security. I belong to a really neat, loving church. And God, for the most part, meets all of my needs. Boy, that sounds Eureka to me. Is there more than that? There's a ton more than that. And what the ton more is, is understanding who you are as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. who exactly God says you are. Here's the gospel preach. Said was the great leading characteristic of those who accepted the gospel. And on earth they were in the unity of Christ's body by the Spirit.

I'll read the rest of these and then we'll quit. Though that truth has not yet been revealed, this gospel, as one can see, does not present heaven before the soul. nor does it separate men from the earth. True, it has set men in the power of the Spirit, and that selfishness has lost its influence and rule, and they had all things in common, but a hope apart from and outside the earth was not yet presented. Nor were they regarded as no longer connected with man as man is on the earth.

On the contrary, they were a beautiful expression of God's grace to man on earth. Individual selfishness is set aside in the power of the bond of which united them. They were continued daily in one accord in the temple." This is wonderful news and most believers today operate based on this news.

But next week we're going to talk about the fact that they have left the church has left the earth and gone to heaven and that you have been separated from the man of the earth and now you're a new heavenly man that's the real difference so next week we'll talk about did you have your hand up? next week we'll talk about the church gospel so the gospel seems development and revelation. Yes it is. Like building blocks. Yes.

But do each of these segments remain part of the gospel or do each continuing aspect, does it replace the previous? I would say this, that if A non-believer came in here and we gave him the gospel of the church, that he would have a much better starting off point than if he came in here and we gave him the gospel of the resurrected Christ. If we start him in heaven, he's more likely to stay there. Now, however, when you study the book of Romans, what's interesting about the book of Romans, which is Christianity 101, it's a survey course, you never leave the planet. Not in Romans, you don't. You never leave what? The planet. You never get off the earth.

It's all about God coming here and doing what he did here. But it begins to talk about, in Romans 8, your position in Christ. No condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus. That word in gets to be really important. So keep thinking and next week we'll finish up this little part and then we'll talk about the gospel of the church. And hopefully you can see the difference. And write your questions down if you have them. The people that weren't here today, they're going to really be confused next week. Yes. Okay.

Thank you, Father, for this time. We thank you for how clearly you define exactly who we are in your Son, and that we are these heavenly men. And Father, the prayer we would have today is that you would open up our understanding and our hearts and minds, that we would enter into the fullness of who we are in your Son, where he is. We thank you. We pray in the Lord Jesus' name. Amen.