It’ll end with a failure on the part of the majority, apostasy in the church, wickedness increasing on the earth. And a remnant will be saved: those who accept the terms of the New Covenant of grace in which we live, repent of sin, and believe the Gospel. God will move in supernatural power to bring in His new age, the Kingdom age in which the Messiah returns and saves His people.
Tony Pearce
Which leaves us with one more question: Which rules do we follow if we accept that we’re in a new dispensation and there are house rules which you’re supposed to follow? Which rules do we follow? Those accepted into Christ, have to live by the house rules of this age. Do they have to accept the house rules of a previous age?
This is an issue highlighted in the Book of Acts, Acts chapter 15, where the issue is the Gentiles have been coming to Christ to the Messiah and certain legalistic Jewish believers are questioning whether they are obliged to keep the Law of Moses.
Let’s take it up in Acts 15. Verse 5 says,
5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” Acts 15.5
So, it says ‘the Pharisees who believed‘, that means that there were Pharisees who did believe in Jesus. There were Pharisees who came to believe in Jesus, but these Pharisees who came with their Jewish religious background said, ‘Okay, we accept these people now become believers in the Messiah, Jesus is the Messiah but they must also accept now the Law of Moses , which means they must be circumcised.
And, in their understanding, for them to keep the Law of Moses means that the laws from the previous dispensation should now be applied to this dispensation.
What is the answer? Verse 6,
6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” Acts 15.6-11
Can you see the point there he’s making? Okay, no, you don’t have to go back and keep all the laws of Moses. You’re now saved through faith in Jesus, by the grace of God. ‘We don’t have to put these laws upon these Gentiles because now they are redeemed through the grace of God, they’re saved through faith in Jesus‘, that is what Paul, the apostles and the elders are saying here.
We are now in a new dispensation called the dispensation of Grace. The ceremonial laws of the Torah no longer apply. In other words, the priesthood the sacrifices no longer need to be made because now, the final sacrifice of Jesus has been made.
You have certain laws which are applicable to Israel, to the Jewish people, including the kosher food laws, the legal Sabbath which are not obligatory upon Gentiles according to the New Testament, circumcision, etc.
Also, Jewish believers in Jesus are free to keep those laws. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he gives a choice whether you want to keep them or not, but you’re not obliged to. That was the point under the Old Covenant, you were obliged to. If you were going to keep the Law of God you had to circumcise your son, you had to keep the kosher food laws, and you had to observe the legal Sabbath. If you didn’t, you were out of fellowship with God.
25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfils the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. Romans 2.25-29
Now, the other point is that there are certain moral laws in the Torah which are repeated in the New Testament over and over. Again, you’ll find that the Ten Commandments are repeated in some way in the New Testament in many places by Jesus, by the apostles, and are assumed to be binding upon believers in Jesus.
There are some modifications regarding the Sabbath law but, as far as the moral laws of the Ten Commandments is concerned, they’re applicable to believers. Other moral laws also are applicable, for example, the Torah forbids homosexual practice and so does the New Testament.
So, these moral commandments are repeated in the New Testament, but they’re not the way in which we come to God. We come to God through faith in Jesus the Messiah, through a New and Living Way which Paul outlines in our last scripture we’ll look at today from the Book of Hebrews.
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 11 shows us how Christ’s death, Messiah’s death sanctify perfects the Sanctified. Verse 11 says,
11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Hebrews 10.11-18
If you’re observant, that verse 16 about writing their laws in their hearts is actually a quotation from the Hebrew scriptures, from the Book of Jeremiah chapter 31 in which Jeremiah the prophet is looking forward to the time when this New Covenant will be given. He’s recognizing that the the former Covenant, the Covenant with Moses was good, but it was not good enough to redeem people from their sins. It convicted people of sin, but it didn’t provide a way in which we could be redeemed.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31.31-34
That could only come through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah. Those people who observed and kept the Law of Moses and were faithful, were ultimately redeemed through Jesus.
Jeremiah was looking forward to it because Jesus hadn’t yet come. They didn’t know the fullness of redemption through faith in Jesus the Messiah.
So, this explanation works both forward and backwards in the sense that Salvation in Jesus is ultimately achieved through the sacrifice of Messiah which covers our sin and which causes the break which exists between humans and God to be taken away, because now Jesus, who is without sin, has paid the price so that we could be redeemed and come into the presence of God.
So Paul concludes in the next verse, in verse 19,
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10.19-25
Okay, Paul’s now saying there’s a New and Living Way, there’s a new dispensation, there’s a new way by which you can come to God, which is through the blood of the Messiah, through the blood of Jesus. And you can enter into the Holiest of Place, you can enter right into the presence of God through faith in Jesus.
That’s something which is available to every person on the face of this earth if they will accept it. But, the “if” is the big word there. You have to repent and believe. If you don’t repent and believe, you can’t come to God, and you can only come to God through faith in Jesus the Messiah because He is the One who has paid the price for the sin of the world.
Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 Listen, please, and let me speak;
You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42.1-6
That is why Jesus said, I’m the way
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14.6
You can be very sincere in your Buddhism or your Hinduism, or your Islam but, unless you believe in Jesus, you won’t be saved.
That’s a bit of a scandalous thing to say in the world today, but it’s true. There’s a New and Living Way, there’s One Way by which you can come to God through the sacrifice of Jesus who has paid the price for the sin of the world, and so Paul says that we should stir up ourselves, we should be faithful, and we should enter boldly into the presence of God holding fast the confession of our faith without wavering. Because He who promised is faithful.
9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; Deuteronomy 7.9
So God is faithful, He’s going to deliver on His Word. You believed all this, your faith might be quite weak, but your faith is put into a God who’s very strong. Therefore, we need to put put your faith into that God who is strong and He will then strengthen your faith which may be weak at this present time.
Trust in the Lord and keep the faith, and gather together to meet with the Lord, have meetings with one another even so as you see the day approaching. The day is approaching, there is a day coming when Grace will come to an end, it will end with judgment upon those who rejected the Lord and Salvation for those who accepted the Lord.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3.5-6
We have already pointed out it’ll end with a failure on the part of the majority, apostasy in the church, wickedness increasing on the earth, and a remnant will be saved, those who accept the terms of the New Covenant, day of Grace in which we live, and repent of sin, and believe the Gospel.
God will move in supernatural power to bring in His new age, the Kingdom age in which the Messiah returns and saves His people. So, if you’re worried about the state of the world (which you should well be because it’s dire), and you think that no one can sort it out (which they can’t), trust in God because He can.
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6.31-34
And when the power, the government is upon His shoulder, on Jesus’ shoulder, it’s going to be a bit better, not a bit better by the way, it will be totally changed, and there’ll be a new age, a new world order, a good new world order in which Jesus is reigning.
That’s what’s coming, that’s why we can have hope in the midst of this present world darkness, because we see that this dispensation which we’re living in now is coming to an end. We can’t stop that, but we can stop ourselves from going to the wrong place and we can help others to come into the new Kingdom of God by believing the Gospel, and believing in Jesus.
We should prepare for what is coming by doing what He says, by keeping the house rules the economia of this dispensation, the time of Grace through faith in Jesus, and by receiving His Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, and to help us through our lives. Amen, praise the Lord.
(I did run off a little article on the questions about the seven dispensations of the Bible which I put on the table at front, which you may be interested in. If you don’t know, GotQuestions.org is a good website to look into. If you have got questions about anything to do with the faith, they give you some good answers based on the scriptures; so, good scriptural answers, but my article is on the table if you want a copy, and if we run out, I can further copy them.)
Okay, let’s just have a word of prayer and then we’ll sing our last hymn.
Lord we do thank you that we live in the dispensation of Grace. We thank you for the grace of God which has redeemed us. We pray Lord you help us to receive from you all the blessings which we have through faith in Jesus, and we pray also for our lost world as people are so far from you and yet so much in need of you.
Lord turn their hearts back to you Lord. We pray for friends and family, for the souls of the people in this nation who will turning away from you Lord. May they repent and believe the Gospel before it’s too late, in Jesus’ Name, amen.