You Don't Need To "Ask" Jesus To Save You

John 11:25-27, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”

God's plan of salvation for mankind is so simple. In our text passage above, Martha simply BELIEVED on Jesus and was saved. This was the same Gospel preached throughout the Old Testament by ALL the prophets. Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

Sadly, humans have a horrible tendency to complicate everything, including God's plan of salvation. Here is a helpful sermon excerpt from Pastor Max D. Younce's sermon titled: 'Rapture Versus Revelation.' This excerpt explains that a lost sinner DOESN'T have to “ask” Jesus to save them, because God is already freely offering “TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE” (1st Corinthians 1:21b)...

Don't Ask Jesus To Save, He Wants You To Accept Him

Jesus Christ has already paid for your sins. So Jesus doesn't forgive sins! You read correctly. Jesus does NOT forgive anybody's sins, He has already paid for those sins with His precious blood. So you don't need to ask Jesus to save you, nor do you need to ask Him to forgive your sins. The work of redemption has already been completed by our dear Savior.

Why is this important to know? It is important that you understand how simple it is to be saved, so that you can go to Heaven someday. Religion has never saved anybody! I mean that. My father used to wisely say: “Religion is the worst thing that ever happened to this world.” My Christian Dad was right! Religion has never granted anybody access into the Kingdom of God. You cannot get into Heaven by trying to get there, you must trust completely in the Lamb of God. John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Jesus is that precious Lamb!

Jesus exclaimed to Nebuchadnezzar in John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Someone once asked the minister John Wesley why he kept preaching on the subject: “Ye Must Be Born Again,” over a thousand times. Wesley replied: “Because 'Ye must be born again!'” Dear friend, Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again! NO ONE will enter into God's Kingdom without being born-again by the Holy Spirit of God (1st Peter 1:23). We are born again by the seed of God's incorruptible Word, that is, by the truth of the Gospel (1st Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 1:16).

You don't need to ASK God to save you, He is already freely offering to save you, if you will simply accept the sacrifice of His only begotten Son on the cross as full-payment for your sins, believing that Jesus is risen from the dead. 1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” What a wonderful Savior!!!

Now, having said that, it is okay if you do ASK Jesus to save you. I got saved when I was 13 years old. I was sitting in a pew in back of an old-fashioned Baptist church in Chicago (a rare find in Chicago, for which I count myself very blessed to have been there at that time). It was a Sunday morning during the summer. I believe it was 1980, but I cannot remember the exact year that I was saved. I didn't think at the time to write the date down, but I wish I had, so that I would know the exact age I was saved. But it doesn't matter, because I DO remember a place, and what happened that day.

I don't remember the title of the sermon that my pastor preached. But I do remember what he said that compelled me to get saved. The preacher said that if you can commit sin and have no conviction about it from the Holy Spirit, you are not saved. I knew immediately that I didn't have the indwelling Holy Spirit. I knew that I wasn't saved. But I sure wanted to be. At the invitation time, I was too shy to walk down the aisle to learn how to be saved. (This is why every preacher should ALWAYS tell people how to be saved right from their pew.)

So in my pew, as best that I knew how, I asked Jesus to save me, crying out silently from within my soul. I had grown up in Sunday school, and my father was a Skid Row preacher, so I had heard often the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus, the Christ, the only begotten Son of God; who died on the cross for my sins, was buried and then resurrected from the dead after three days (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). So believing those facts, I prayed from my soul for Jesus to save me. I knew in my soul that I was calling out to a RISEN SAVIOR! I believed Jesus was the one to whom I was speaking in my soul. I know that I got saved that day, because the blessed presence of the Holy Spirit has bene with me ever since that glorious day.

So I did ASK Jesus to save me, which is okay. However, I doubted my salvation for the next several years. I kept wondering if I left something out of my prayer. I kept hearing pastors teach people to “pray a sinner's prayer” to be saved. That is what every religious tract that I read also said to do. I was confused. No one has ever taught me that I could simply BELIEVE to be saved. I thought that the way you believe is through saying a prayer.

It wasn't until two decades later that my salvation beliefs were finally SOLIDIFIED, when I read a helpful book by Pastor Max D. Younce titled: 'Salvation And The Public Invitation' (backup link). The reason why the book had such a profound impact upon me is because it exactly described the manner in which I had been saved, from a pew. Dr. Younce explained from the Bible that you can be saved just by BELIEVING the Gospel, without praying or walking down an aisle in a church. I had never heard any preacher say that before, but the Holy Spirit confirmed in my heart of hearts that what Pastor Younce was saying is THE TRUTH.

A heavy burden was lifted off my soul. For the first time in my life I had a 100% grasp on God's simple plan of salvation. All those years that I had worried, was because preachers kept lying to me, misleading me to think that you must pray a sinner's prayer to be saved.

And then years later I read a helpful sermon article by Pastor Bob Gray Sr., in which he said that Jesus doesn't forgive sins, He has already paid for them with His blood. You simply need to accept God's free gift of forgiveness through faith alone in Christ. That is so simple!

I thank God for preachers who keep God's plan of salvation SIMPLE, the way God intended for it to be. I love something that one of my favorite free grace preachers, Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold said:

“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe.” —Pastor Yankee Arnold, a quote from the excellent MP3 sermon titled, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN!”

Amen and amen! I get so frustrated hearing local pastors in Pensacola tell their congregation to “have a relationship with Jesus“” to be saved. That is NOT the Gospel. That is confusing to people, because Judas had a relationship with Jesus, but died in his unbelief and went to Hell forever. What does that even mean, to have a relationship with Christ? Why use terms that the Bible doesn't use? Why add to the Gospel? Sadly, I even handed that bad pastor (who made that comment) a copy of Michael P. Bowen's helpful book: 'I Never Knew You,' which apparently he didn't even bother to read. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force them to drink it. You can give a pastor THE TRUTH, but you cannot force them to heed it.

I recently spoke with a member of that church, with the bad pastor who says you need a “relationship with Jesus” to go to Heaven. That church member told me that you have to be water baptized to go to Heaven. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how messed up our churches are today doctrinally! This is why I like to teach all my blog readers the golden nuggets of truth that I have learned over the years, to help SOLIDIFY your salvation beliefs. I want you to have the blessed inexplicable joy and peace that I have, knowing 100% without question that my name is written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). I NEVER doubt my salvation anymore, because I understand it.

You don't need to ASK Jesus to save you, God is already eagerly OFFERING you His free gift of salvation, just for the taking by faith. You don't need to ASK Jesus to forgive your sins, because He has already paid for them with His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 1:5). Simply BELIEVE that Jesus did it for you, and you will be instantly, irrevocably and eternally saved by God's grace. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty! Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. Jesus is precious!!! Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.

 

Why Young People Shouldn't Attend Pensacola Christian College In Florida

Romans 14:9-12, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Something is very wrong with Pensacola Christian College (PCC). By God's grace, I have decided to write against them for the rest of my life, until they repent of their abusive behavior toward hurting people. I have always disliked big retailers, big churches and big colleges, because they have so much support and money that the little guy doesn't matter. If you have ever complained at Walmart and tried to get justice for being mistreated by their employees, good luck! The management doesn't care! That has been my firsthand experience with several big companies, and sadly Pensacola Christian College and their shameful Campus Church pastors.

In 2021 I attended Campus Church at PCC. Their senior pastor, Jeff Redlin, didn't like me from the time that he met me. My first impression of him was that of a coward, as I saw the back of his head walking away from me, after I had just told him kindly that I was sleeping homeless in Walmart's parking lot in Pensacola on Mobile Highway. Pastor Redlin didn't care. I know he heard me because I saw the startled look on his face, but he decided to just walk away, which is his character. 

I download all of the negative reviews on Google to take the time to study them, to see if I am the only one who sees the abusive culture at PCC. I was shocked how many hundreds of negative complaints I found. Here is one complaint against PCC, by one of their former abused students, just one of hundreds...

Gavin Bufford (2017)
 
Pcc is the worst school ever. It was a complete waste of my time and money. They kicked me out for going to the wrong Sunday school class. And that was a year ago. They still will not release my transcripts which has put me behind in my college career. They schools not be called a Christian college if they cannot even live by what the Bible has to say. If I was able to take it all back and not go there I would in a heartbeat. I am warning you if you are thinking about going DONT DO IT!!!!

SOURCE: Google reviews of Pensacola Christian College

Well said Gavin, they don't give a damn about individual people at PCC. The cult system comes first, individual people don't matter. I learned that firsthand in 2021 and 2022. I don't have a place to go to church on Sunday nights. I can't find any good churches in Pensacola, where I live, that is open in Sunday nights. I had left Campus Church where I attended for a few months in 2021, because Pastor Redlin has mistreated me, and I felt like he just didn't care about me as a human being. I had shared with him my ongoing struggle with neck stenosis and radiculitis (spinal cord damage) and that I have been divorced and lonely since 2006, when my former wife abandoned me.

Pastor Redlin couldn't have cared less. He even scolded me (I was 54 years old at the time) for mentioning that I hoped to find a wife at Campus Church. Where else am I supposed to find a wife, if not at church? PCC thinks once you are divorced, life is over, you must remain single forever. That is NOT what the Bible teaches in 1st Corinthians 7:1-2, it says that to prevent fornication in the churches, everybody should be married. God said that!

Pastor Redlin has a wife! What a selfish and uncaring little man! Anyway, don't take my word for it, here is what Danielle has to say negative about the PCC cult...

Danielle Tate (2016)
 
Neither Christian, nor an accredited college. Only "Pensacola" is correct, and that's only because they haven't decided to secede and form their own fundamentalist country yet. Don't go here if you're a Christian; they don't actually follow the Bible. They just use it as an excuse to treat people like trash. And if you're not a Christian, stay away from PCC and please remember we're not all like that!

SOURCE: Google reviews of Pensacola Christian College 

They sure do TREAT PEOPLE LIKE TRASH at PCC Danielle,  like they cruelly did me in 2021 and 2022. What cold-hearted snobs! PCC are a bunch of academic types, not church builders, who woefully lack God's compassion for people. I am still banned in writing from attending Campus Church at PCC (as of August 2, 2022 by Pastor Jeff Redlin), just because PCC refuses to reconcile with me. I offered (and still offer) to do whatever they require to make the peace, but they won't do it. They have thrown me under the bus, and couldn't care less if I have a place to attend church on Sunday nights. Jeff Redlin gets paid a lucrative 6-digit salary annually! Campus Church took in $3,500,000 in 2020-2021, yet they charged people $10 to attend a meeting in July of 2021 on how to share the Gospel more effectively. What greedy charlatans!!! PCC loves money, not people!!! If you enroll at their college, you will regret it.

I painfully learned firsthand that PCC discriminates against single people, whether divorced or single, it doesn't matter. The following negative review of PCC is very accurate, if you are a normal person, you won't be accepted or like PCC...

Sally Clark (2018)
 
This school is discriminating against singles!!! I have a brother who attends unfortunately...I am visiting from out of state in a few weeks and wanted to have him hang with me for the weekend. I am 30 yrs old waiting for God's timing to get married...is it my fault I'm not married yet ? Absolutely not. Yet the school rejected the request to have my own brother stay with me over a weekend. I understand safety for those who have messed up family but I 30 years old and am highly involved with ministry. They discriminate ALL singles. Jesus was single. Totally unbiblical, very cultish and I can't imagine how many ppl they have hurt bc of their legalistic rules.

SOURCE: Google reviews of Pensacola Christian College 

Here is what Mara has to say about the culture at PCC...

Mara Ranian (2018)

It is a shame and disgrace that female students wear short pants on Campus while not in connection with Physical Education. It's as though modest apparel was thrown out the window. Fundamental Christians will be disappointed with PCC. Fundamentalism turns liberal at this college. If you are a Fundamental Christian, look somewhere else.

SOURCE: Google reviews of Pensacola Christian College

Here is a negative review from one of PCC's former students, who agrees with me that PCC is cultish...

Nathan Smith (2016)
 
Be very careful. I went one year and though there are some godly men and women there, the overall culture is very narrow minded and has a philosophy of scripture PLUS man's preference with an emphasis on man's preference. As a result, many of their positions do not jive with scripture but take positions two or three steps further than scripture, much like the Pharisees within Scripture. In some ways, I would say this is close to being a cult. I have advanced seminary degrees from other conservative institutions and the Biblical exegesis and exposition of PCC is very shoddy. Please do not judge Christianity or the God of the Bible by interactions at Pensacola Christian College.

SOURCE: Google reviews of Pensacola Christian College

The old adage is true that: "Tyranny is rarely seen except by those who are oppressed by it." Just ask Benjamin, who tore his ACL and had surgery the next day, but was then threatened to go to church or else. That is the abusive authoritarian culture at PCC. Even the U.S. military shows more compassion on wounded soldiers, than PCC does on their students! PCC is an abusive authoritarian cult. Please, please, please, if you are reading this and are considering attending PCC, please RUN from this place while you still can (or become another victim)...

Benjamin Daggett (2016)
 
After four years in PCC I cannot in good conscience recommend this school. Although the educational experience was good. The student life department controls and monitors every action of the students on campus. Instead of letting adult college students make their own decisions, the college enforces things like church attendance and bed times. The college zealously enforces its church attendance rules. When I had a torn ACL and had surgery the next day, I was told I had to go to church or be forced go to a video recording of the service on Saturday. Also since my leg was swollen and in a big bolky cast I asked the Student Life department if I could wear shorts to class since pants were painful to put on and wear but I was told I still had to wear pants. Dean Omen said I could wear "athletic" pants but those do not solve my problem. The school is more concerned with enforcing rules than actually caring for its students.

SOURCE: Google reviews of Pensacola Christian College

I haven't edited the typos in these reviews. People use their mobile phones, which is easy to make typos. I didn't want to edit anything, so you can see exactly what they said. Here is  more information that you need to know as a prospective student about the abusive prisonhouse culture at PCC...

A M (2017)
 
Went to this school for 1 year. After growing up in a conservative Christian environment and going to a Christian school my entire life, this place was overly controlling. I felt that I concentrated on not getting into trouble instead of concentrating on school work. The staff there I found to be very manipulative and controlling at all times. They control where you go to church, when you eat, sleep, how clean you keep your living quarters, what you wear, and where you go to, even away from the college, at all times and the place has more hidden cameras installed to "catch you" that a level 5 prison couldnt even beat (my roomate was on the security staff). The dormitories have a phone in each room but those phones are disconnected at "lights out" which I believe was 9 or 10pm if I remember correctly. As a young adult trying to figure out life and how to live and act on your own, you will not figure it out here. Its an artificial atmosphere. You cannot ride in elevators or walk after dark with any member of the opposite sex, staff or not. Men and women can go to the beach but must go to oposite beaches in Pensacola and cannot meet up for lunch or socialize. If you get sick you have to go to their medical staff and they had a room with other sick students that you had to stay at all day long during school hours; you couldnt just get sick and stay in your own bed in your dorm. I had a job paying off my tuition costs at their campus print shop and I remember working with other students there and we couldnt even communicate with each other there. I went seeking a Christian education and wanted to grow in Christ with likeminded people but left disapointed and disgruntled at their broken system of doing things.

SOURCE: Google reviews of Pensacola Christian College

I have several HUNDRED more negative reviews about PCC!!! One or two people may be wrong, but several hundred people complaining about the abusive cultish authoritarian police state culture at PCC cannot all be wrong. Please RUN from this horrible place!!!

Something that I learned a very long time ago—through the inexplicable pain of going through an unwanted divorce in 2006, rejection from uncaring self-righteous churches over the years, losing my home and retirement to pay for legal expenses, suffering horribly since 2004 with painful stenosis and radiculitis in my neck, and losing everything I owned along the way—is that PEOPLE JUST WANT TO BE LOVED. There is no love at PCC, only lots of rules. The PCC cult system always comes first, individual people don't matter.

I am now 55 years old. I have four adult children between the ages of 29 and 33. I am a proud grandfather of seven grandchildren. Praise the Lord. I care about people. I am a normal person. I went to a Beach Boys concert last October in Pensacola. PCC would NEVER accept anyone who did that. PCC are NOT normal, not even close, neither are they godly Christians. They are a cult of religious snobs who are out of touch with reality. Yes, I went to see The Beach Boys, and I'd go see them again if they came to town. I love music! Mike Love was 80 years old when I heard and saw him sing last year. Mike still sounds great! He has a great sense of humor. What an awesome event! I am so glad that I went to see and hear them. Carl Wilson's son was also there singing, who sound just like his dad (who died of cancer in 1999). Being a Christian doesn't mean that you have to stop enjoying life.

A religious hypocrite like Pastor Jeff Redlin would no doubt condemn me for going to see The Beach Boys, while he won't even allow me to attend Campus Church anymore (even though I apologized three times in June, July and August of 2022 for offending them by criticizing them, and offered to do whatever they require to reconcile with the PCC family, and my offer is still valid). Sadly, they refused. The pastors of Campus Church and PCC (I mailed apology letters to both) totally ignored me for SIX WEEKS. I got frustrated and criticized them again. Only then did they tell me that I was banned from attending their church. What jerks! That is what they wanted in the first place, to get rid of me. SHAME on PCC. Something is VERY wrong with the spiritual atmosphere at PCC. They don't love individual people. They don't have God's love or compassion for hurting sinners. The system always comes first, people don't matter.

I moved 9,000 miles from the island of Guam to Pensacola in July of 2021. When I attended Campus Church at PCC in 2021 for a few months (where every student is REQUIRED to attend three times each week), there was no feeling of the presence or power of the Holy Spirit. They have nice religious singing, but the preaching is very boring and shallow, lacking substance and fire. You WON'T grow in the Lord as God wants you to young person, you will become a religious snob like PCC leadership, cold-hearted, formal and unforgiving of people who rub you the wrong way. That is what the heathen world does, not a godly saint.

There is no humility at PCC. There are no second chances. PCC has more students, church members, support and money than they know what to do with. I'm not kidding! So YOU as a student will be expendable, just like I was expendable as a church member. They just don't give a damn at PCC. The machine comes first, people fall through the cracks, but no ones cares. Security is everywhere, making you feel like you're in a fascist Nazi camp. Sadly, they don't know how to treat people with love and respect at PCC, and even worse, they don't have any desire to learn. PEOPLE JUST WANT TO BE LOVED; but you won't be loved at PCC, you will be tracked, monitored, watched, followed, controlled and abused.

People Just Want To Be Loved

1st John 3:17, “But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

Something is VERY WRONG at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Florida. They treat people like garbage! I have copied all of the negative comments hundreds of victims of PCC and Campus Church have made on Google, to read them all, for my own comfort, after being horribly mistreated myself in 2021-2022 at PCC by the pastors of Campus Church, particularly that little man Jeff Redlin, their shameful incompetent senior pastor. They need to FIRE HIM!!!

Here are the comments from some angry parents up in Wisconsin, of a female PCC student who locked herself out of her car at Walmart in Pensacola, who called PCC's security department for help, but no one cared or lifted a finger to help the girl. So she ended up asking a complete stranger, who could have abducted and attacked her, for help. The stranger smashed out her window so she could get into her car. SHAME on Pensacola Christian College for not helping their needy students. Young person, RUN from this hellish place!!! ...

GrassRoots Photo Boards (2018)

I am appalled at the lack of Christian concern on the behalf of PCC for our teen daughter. She works to support herself at college, and locked herself out of her car at the WalMart parking lot at night, after dark. We are in Wisconsin and could not help her. She remembered that she was advised in a meeting at the beginning of each semester to call security if anything happened to her vehicle off campus, "especially young ladies". When she called security, they reminded her that she might have triple A insurance (she doesn't), and gave her the name of a locksmith, which she could not afford. They could offer no other help because "we don't have the resources". With 5000+ students, and a campus church that includes families, it seems there would be some resource that could be brought into play. She found a complete stranger and asked him to break into her car, and he was kind and gracious to her. She never received any follow up call, or the slightest token of concern for her welfare. The world takes care of its own better than that.

SOURCE: Google Reviews Of Pensacola Christian College 

You need to think twice before attending the cult at PCC, where the system always comes first, but INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE don't matter. As you can read for yourself, I am not the only victim who is saying these things. PCC is out of control, too big for their britches! People just want to be loved, and that includes helping needy people. When I first started attending Campus Church at PCC in 2021, I was sleeping in Walmart's parking lot on Mobile Highway.  The ungodly Woodspring Suites Hotel in Pensacola where I had made a 30-day confirmed reservation a month earlier, cancelled my enter stay without warning because I emailed them to let them know that I would be one day late, because the United Airlines flight from Guam was delayed because of a mechanical issue, which by law needed to be fixed before the plane could leave Guam.

Consequently, I missed my connecting flight in Honolulu to Denver, and ended up staying overnight in Hawaii. I emailed the hotel. Since Guam is 15 hours ahead of Pensacola because of the time zone difference, they receive the email BEFORE I was supposed to check-in the first day. But because I said I would be a day later arriving, they cruelly cancelled my stay in their greed, since it was the 4th of July weekend. I even told them that they could bill my credit card for the entire stay upfront, but they refused. My reservation was for $55 per night for 30 days. But since local hotels were charging $450 per night over the 4th of July weekend, in their greed they took advantage of my calamity, as thieves and liars do. That is why I had made my reservation a month in advance. Those wicked people at the Woodspring Suites Hotel in Pensacola will answer to God for leaving Jesus out in streets to sleep (Matthew 25:40, 45). I wouldn't want to be in their shoes!!!

Well, I told Pastor Jeff Redlin about my situation at the 4th of July picnic at Campus Church that I attended. Pastor Redlin had a startled look on his face, like he didn't know what to do. I saw his cowardice as he walked away. The face of a coward is the back of someone's head as they walk away from someone in need!!! Jeff Redlin is a coward, a little man, a weasel, a runt who mistreats people and doesn't have the decency to even let them attend church anymore. It didn't matter that I apologized to the pastors of Campus Church, and also to PCC leadership, for criticizing them on social media, they still refuse to forgive me.

I literally begged three times, in three separate letters which I mailed to PCC and Campus Church in June, July and August of 2022, asking if I could please just come back to attend Campus Church. I promised them in return that I would humbly remove all my criticisms from social media and never put them back, but they refused. Frankly, I think they are stupid! I guess they would rather have another enemy, and I am a big one to have, since I am aggressive to expose them and have lots of social media to do it on! So I am not bound to my promises to PCC, because they don't want to reconcile, so be it. My offer to reconcile with the PCC camp still stands, if PCC ever matures in Christ enough to love hurting and needy people as they should. By God's grace, I will continue to help hurting people expose the cult at PCC, until PCC learns that PEOPLE JUST WANT TO BE LOVED!!!

Pensacola Christian College is a cult!

My Recent Articles At Jesus-Is-Savior.com

Beginning in 2006, I had decided to start a "Recent Articles" webpage for my ministry's multiple websites (now at 9 websites and 9 blogs), so that my web visitors could read my latest thoughts, website additions and so that I could share things of interest for everyone's edification in the Lord. By God's grace I have continued, and plan to continue this page.

Also, I was using my mobile phone today while waiting at my monthly doctor's appointment to get my pain medications, and I noticed that most of my blogs were difficult to read. So I went into settings and learned how to make all my blogs read better for mobile users. All 9 of my blogs should be easier to read now. Eddie Boston is a Christian friend, one of my loyal web visitors for many years. Eddie is a prolific writer, so I asked him to write some articles, which he has graciously done for the Lord. I am also sharing my banjo blog here, which is more of a hobby, but I wanted to share all my blogs with you, if you are interested:

• https://stewart1611.blogspot.com
• https://rightdoctrinematters.blogspot.com
• https://giftofeternallife.blogspot.com
• https://www.faithalonesaves.org
• https://bibleprophecy666.blogspot.com
• https://godcannotlie.blogspot.com
• https://ineedawalk.blogspot.com
• https://eddieboston.blogspot.com
• https://banjoheaven.blogspot.com

As technology changes, so does the way that people access information. As of right now, and increasing quickly each year, less and less web visitors are using desktop or laptop computers. Presently, 40% of all my web visitors are using mobile devices. But I admit I am behind the times, trying to catch up, so I am trying to learn how to adapt to mobile gadgets. I appreciate everyone's patience, and suggestions if anybody has some helpful ideas. My ministry is not just for the Lord to help you, it is YOU! The Apostle Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 3:2, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:”

I so much am thankful to Google (even though they've censored my websites horribly for the past several years), for giving me the freedom to express my thoughts on Blogspot. I love Blogspot, it is so easy to use, fun and free. I give Blogspot the highest ratings! I encourage you dear reader to also start your own blog. You are welcome to email me with any questions, using the contact form on the blog's main page. So without further ado, here are all my Recent Articles, which I am posting here so you can read them more easily on your mobile device:

• † † † : THE KING JAMES BIBLE READ BY ALEXANDER SCOURBY (Listen 2 entire Bible in just 75 hours)
• † † † : New Blogs: 'I NEED A WALK,' 'GOD CANNOT LIE,' 'BIBLE PROPHECY' (read: “I Never Knew You”)
• † † † : MAKING A DIFFERENCE (a new radio broadcast by Dr. Shelton Smith of the Sword Of The Lord
• † † † : What Is The Gospel? | Another Gospel (Pastor Harry A. Ironside; few churchgoers get it right)
• † † † : BLOG | RIGHT DOC | RSS | ETERNAL LIFE | TWIT | PINTE | FAITH | FACEB (Jesus is precious!)
• 10-28: My Contact (Gmail sends some emails to the trash; So if I didn't reply to anyone, that is why)
• 10-28: Baltimore High School Student Fails All But 3 Classes Over 4 Years, Ranks Top Half Of His Class
• 10-28: Not Every One That Saith Unto Me, 'Lord, Lord' (the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation Refuted)
• 10-27: Pensacola Christian College Cult EXPOSED! (They don't care about people or right doctrine!)
• 10-27: Gun Control: Illuminati Tyrannical Grab For Power (Canadians now helpless against tyranny!)
• 10-27: New Communist Law In Canada: People Cannot Buy, Sell Or Transfer Handguns (we're next!)
• 10-27: Salvation Roadblocks: Deserving Hell (helpful life changing sermon, Pastor Jared Pozarnsky)
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• 10-25: THE ILLUMINATI PLAN TO ENSLAVE AMERICANS (insightful truth articles by Dr. Henry Makow)
• 10-24: The Gospel Of The Kingdom (Dr. Philip Mauro, Kingdom of God based on Gospel, not Israel)
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• 10-22: Pastor Steven Anderson Exposes Prophet-For-Hire Jeff Redlin At Pensacola Christian College
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• 10-17: The Wickedness Of Promoting Pastor John MacArthur (he says that Jesus' blood is not God's!)
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• 10-14: It's Not The Shedding Of Jesus' Blood That Saves, But The 'SPRINKLING' Of That Shed Blood!!!
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The LAW And The GOSPEL

Chapter Three from, “The Gospel Of The Kingdom” (1928) | Download Book As .PDF

by Dr. Philip Mauro (1859-1952)

 

 THE Bible distinguishes—not seven dispensations, each having a character exclusively its own, but two great eras of God's dealings with mankind; the first of which was preparatory to the second, and the second of which is the completion of the first. Their scriptural designations are:

First: The Old Covenant; or the Law and the Prophets; or simply, the Law.

Second: The New Covenant; or the Kingdom of God; or simply, the Gospel.

This division is not man-made, artificial, conjectural; for it comes to us plainly marked in the structure of the Bible itself, which is composed of two grand divisions, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. (And it should be noted that the word "Testament" is one of the renderings of a Greek word that is sometimes, as in Hebrews 8:6-10, and should be always, translated "Covenant").

Furthermore those two grand divisions of the Bible are clearly marked and separated, the one from the other, by the long stretch of time that intervened between them, there being a period of four hundred years between the last Book of the Old Testament and the first events (Luke I) recorded in the New. GOD HAS SPOKEN: TO THE FATHERS—TO US.

This scriptural division of God's dealings with men into two great eras is referred to in a number of passages. I have already cited Luke 16:16, "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is preached," and John 1:17, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Another passage that clearly distinguishes them and also sheds light upon the whole subject is Hebrews 1:1, 2, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son."

By this passage we learn that God has spoken in two different eras: (1) "in time past," and (2) "in these last days." Here we have something certain, and therefore we can safely build upon it. How valuable is the information that these days of the Gospel of Christ are "the last days"! But the dispensationalists must explain away the meaning of these words because, for one reason, their scheme provides for at least one dispensation after the termination of the Gospel era. There are, however, other passages that confirm and settle the meaning of this one. Thus Peter, speaking of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, said: "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts 2:16, 17); which plainly locates the day of Pentecost in the era which God's Bible calls "the last days."

Likewise the same apostle writes concerning Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, without blemish and without spot, saying: "Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." (I Pet. 1:19, 20). And the apostle John says with characteristic brevity and emphasis: "Little children, it is the last time" (I John 2-18).

Then we have the words of Paul who, referring to the things that befell the Israelites in the wilderness, said: "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world (lit, the ends of the ages) are come" (I Corinthians 10:11). And again it is written concerning the first coming of Christ that "now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb. 9:26). It is worthy of special note that this last passage contains the adverb of time, "now," emphasizing the fact that the period of our Lord's coming and of His sacrifice belongs to "the end of the ages." We recall that the "Scofield Bible" places it in the era of the law, and does so for the purpose of separating His words (and particularly His Sermon on the Mount) from us, God's children, and allocating them to an imaginary Jewish Kingdom of a supposed future dispensation. How satisfying to the heart, and how fatal to this modernistic and pernicious error are the words of Hebrews 1:1, 2, quoted above, which plainly declare that God "hath in these last days spoken UNTO US by His Son"!


THE LAW OF MOSES AN UNSPEAKABLE BLESSING TO ISRAEL

And now as regards the character of God's dealings with those who were under the Law and the character of the Law itself, it is difficult indeed to account for and more difficult to speak calmly of, the terms of disparagement and strong repugnance in which the leaders of the dispensationalists express themselves when speaking of the Law of God. Of our Lord it was prophesied that He should "magnify the law and make it honorable," but the aim of many of His ministers in these days seems to be to belittle the law and make it detestable. Take a few specimens from the writings of prominent dispensationalists: "The Law is a ministry of condemnation, death, and the divine curse." So says the Scofield Bible (notes to Gal. 3:24). But does God's Bible speak that way? We shall see. And another leading dispensationalist declares that, "The law was the instrument of condemnation, and only that." In fact, the leaders among the dispensationalists seem to take a delight—not as did the Psalmists, "in the Law of the Lord" (Ps. 1:2), but in inveighing in terms of strongest reprobation against it. In support of this view of the Law, reference is commonly made to certain passages in Galatians, and also to the seventh Chapter of Romans, which are misinterpreted in such a way as to cause them to render a semblance of support to that view. But before we examine those passages let us get the testimony of Scripture, which is clear and unequivocal, as to what the character of the Law actually is. We have already cited the testimony of Moses that the Law delivered at Sinai was God's love-gift to the people (Deut. 33:3). It is further stated in that inspired record of "the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death," that "they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words" (v. 3). And he goes on to say: "Moses commanded us a law," and that that law is "the inheritance of Jacob" (v. 4).

A number of passages earlier in the Books of Moses reveal that the law was given as a means of life. Thus, in Deuteronomy 4:1, Moses exhorts Israel to hearken to the statutes and judgments which (he says) "I teach you for to do them, that ye may live." (And to the same effect see Leviticus 18:5.) And concerning God's law he says: "For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. . . . For what nation is so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law" (Deut. 4:6-8). Thus the Law of God was given the people of Israel to be their life; and it constituted their wisdom, their understanding, and their greatness in the sight of all other nations. And a little farther on Moses says: "And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive. . . . And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments." (Deut. 6:24, 25). And he tells them that it was because the Lord loved them that He had redeemed them out of Egypt; and that "He is the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments" (Deut. 6:8, 9). Thus, they were to love Him, because He first loved them; and they were to manifest their love by keeping his commandments. And is it any different now? Is it not written, "We love Him, because He first loved us" (John 4:19)? And does not our Lord say to us, even as he said to them "If ye love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15)?

Finally, before leaving Moses, we call attention to Deuteronomy 30:11-20, where he tells the people that the commandment which was to be their life, was not hidden from them (for God had revealed it to them) nor was it far off. It was not in heaven, neither was it beyond the sea; but it had been brought very nigh to them that they might hear it and do it. "And His commandments are not grievous" now (I John 5:3); nor were they grievous then. For on that occasion Moses gave as the great commandment of the law, "to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments" (cf. Matt. 22:37). And he repeats in verse 20 the exhortation that they would "love the Lord," and "obey His voice"; and for the reason that "He is thy life, and the length of thy days."

According to Paul, the word which Moses had said was "nigh" into them, not afar off (in heaven or across the sea) was the very same "word of faith which we preach" (Rom. 10:8-13); citing in proof thereof two O.T. passages: "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed" (Isa. 28:16); and "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:32).

Likewise Peter testifies that the things ministered by the prophets during the era of the Law are the same that are now proclaimed by those who preach the Gospel (I Pet. 1:12). We are not saying, of course, that it is not a far better thing to be under Grace than under Law; for truly God has "provided some better thing for us" (Heb. 11:40), but we are seeking the testimony of God's Bible as to the character of His law, which the "Scofield Bible" grievously maligns; and its testimony as to just what it meant to the Israelites to be under the law of God instead of being left to their own ways, as were the heathen all around them. And we have seen that Moses, the mediator of that Old Covenant, declared to them repeatedly that, in the possession of the law of God they were unspeakably blessed, and chiefly in that it provided a way of life for all who set their hearts to obey it. Looking a little further we note that the Book of Psalms opens with a glowing reference to the blessedness of the man whose "delight is in the law of the Lord," and who meditates in it "day and night" (Ps. 1:2). And there are other passages, not a few, which testify that the law of God was a thing in which the heart of man could (and therefore should) find delight, and find also profitable meditations continuously (Job. 23:12; Ps. 119:70, 77, 92, 174).

Now as to the effects of the law, so far from it being true that it was "the instrument of condemnation and only that," or "a ministry of condemnation, death, and the divine curse," the testimony of the Holy Spirit is that "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul"; and that "the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Ps. 19:7, 8). And the same Psalm declares as to the value of the commandments and judgments of the Lord, that they are "More to be desired than gold. Yea, than much fine gold"—more intrinsically valuable than great quantities of the richest treasures of earth—and that, so far from being distasteful and obnoxious, they are "sweeter also than honey and the droppings of honeycombs" (v. 10, marg.).

The writer of Psalm 119 adds his testimony that there are wondrous things to be seen in the law (v. 18); that it was better to him "than thousands of gold and silver" (v. 72); that he loved it beyond his power to express (v. 97); that by its precepts he got understanding, and learned thereby to hate every false way (v. 104); and that "great peace have they which love thy law; and nothing shall offend them" (v. 165).

Solomon too bears witness that "the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light" (Proverb 6:23); and that "the law of the wise is a fountain of life" (13:14). Light and life were surely there for all who sought them; and many sought and found. Solomon also records the words, "Keep My commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye" (7:2).

Isaiah, in foretelling some of the glorious things that Christ (whom God designates in that passage as "My Servant") should accomplish, says that God had given Him "for a light of the Gentiles"; and that "He will magnify the law and make it honorable" (Isaiah 42:6, 21). Is not this a rebuke to those who traduce the law and make it despicable? Likewise during the Babylonian captivity God, in recounting the great things He had wrought for Israel and His many acts of mercy on their behalf, emphasizes the giving of the law as one of the chief of them, saying: "And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them" (Ezekiel 20:11).

Also through Hosea, God, in recounting the offences of Israel, said: "I have written to him the great things of My law; but they were counted as a strange thing" (Hosea 8:12). And through the very last of the prophets of Israel, and in almost the last words of his message, God calls to them: "REMEMBER YE THE LAW OF MOSES MY SERVANT, WHICH I COMMANDED UNTO HIM IN HOREB FOR ALL ISRAEL, WITH THE STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS" (Mal. 4:4).

Is it possible in the face of these testimonies to maintain that the law was imposed" upon Israel because of their own improvident choice? that "At Sinai they exchanged Grace for Law; they rashly accepted the law"? or that "The Law is a ministry of condemnation, death, and the divine curse," an instrument of "pitiless severity"? If not, shall we allow these false and derogatory things concerning the holy, life-giving and soul-enlightening law of our God to be any longer preached and taught amongst us without earnest protest on our part?

This is a serious matter indeed; and therefore I trust that my readers may be moved to join in a solemn protest against the further publication and sale of a book that many unwary children of God accept as a "Bible," and which contains so grievous a misrepresentation "amounting to a vilification" of the holy Law of God.


WHAT THE NEW TESTAMENT SAYS CONCERNING THE LAW

But it will be asked whether God's servants under the New Covenant, the apostles of our Lord who have been taught by Grace, do not give a different character to the Law, from that ascribed to it by Old Testament writers. We have quoted the words of Christ that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them; and also Paul's word to the same effect, that the purpose of the Gospel is to "establish the Law." Further our Lord declared that "the weightier matters of the law," which the Pharisees had omitted, are "judgment, mercy, and faith" (Matt. 23:23).

The apostle Paul also, whose words are cited as authority for the teaching we are now examining, speaks clearly and forcefully to the same effect. He says that "the righteousness of God," which is now manifested apart from the law (i.e. by the gospel) was "witnessed by the law and the prophets" (Rom. 3:21). Further he declares that "the commandment" was "ordained TO LIFE"; that "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good"; and that "the law is spiritual" (Rom. 7:10, 12, 14); which testimonies carry the more weight because they are found in that very passage which is supposed to teach things derogatory to the law.

But does not Paul say that the law brought death and a curse? that those who are under the law are under a curse? and that no one can be justified by the law? The reply is that the law is indeed a two-edged sword, bringing life to those who submissively receive it and who set their heart to obey it; but bringing death and condemnation and a curse to those who despise it, or who only profess respect for it with the lips while in their hearts they continue unchanged in their own ways. But precisely the same thing is true of the Gospel. For the ministry of the gospel, like that of the law, while a ministry of "life unto life" to all who with humility receive and submissively "obey the gospel," is likewise a "savour of death unto death" to all who refuse it, or neglect it, or who profess with the mouth, but continue unchanged at heart (2 Cor. 2:16). For the word of Christ is salvation and life to all who receive it; but concerning him that receives not His words He Himself has said: "The word that I have spoken"—the very word that was given for his salvation—"the same shall judge him at the last day" (John 12:48). Precisely so is it with the commandment of God; for in that very passage Christ declared that "His commandment is life everlasting" (v. 50).

Indeed, the consequences threatened to "them that obey not the gospel" are represented as being even more severe than those threatened to them who refused obedience to the law (2 Thess. 1:7-10). And in Hebrews 10:28, 29 it is put this way: "If he that despised Moses' law died without mercy;—of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God"—etc.

Returning to Paul, we note that after saying that "the commandment was ordained unto life," he immediately adds that he "found it to be unto death" (Rom. 7:10). Why so? Because Paul was a Pharisee. He had been thoroughly indoctrinated into rabbinism, one of the cardinal doctrines of which was this very teaching as to the earthly and "Jewish" character of the Kingdom which has become the cornerstone of modern Dispensationalism. He had been schooled in a barren orthodoxy. He was "called a Jew," and made his "boast of the law" (Rom. 2:17, 18, 23); but he had yet to learn that "He is not a Jew"—though "called a Jew"—"who is one outwardly; . . . but he is a Jew who is one inwardly" (vv. 28, 29).1 Of course to such it will be found that the law was "unto death"; and precisely so with the gospel. But all who were like Ezra, of whom it is recorded that he "prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it" (Ezra 7:10) have found that it was indeed "ordained unto life." Paul clearly states the principle here involved when he says, "But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully" (I Tim. 1:8). And the same is true of the gospel as well.

Then as regards the statement often heard in these days, that those who were under the law were under a curse, what Paul says is that "as many, as are of the works of the law are under the curse" (Gal. 3:10) which is quite another thing. For Paul is here remonstrating with those who were relying for their salvation upon the rites and ceremonies (the "works") of the law, upon circumcision, keeping of days and the like. "A man," he says, "is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ" (Gal. 2:16). So it was under the Law precisely as now under Grace. And it should not be necessary to say that a man can no more be saved by Christian rites and observances (baptism, the Lord's supper, keeping holy days etc.) than by those of Judaism. So the apostle declared in another place, saying, that "Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore?" (Was it because righteousness was unattainable by the law? Not at all; but) "Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law" (Rom. 11:7); and as we have seen from the word of Christ Himself, faith is one of "the weightier matters of the law"; and of course no amount of "the works of the law" will serve instead.

Continuing in Galatians, Paul asks whether they had received the Spirit "by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith" (3:2); and whether he himself, who had ministered to them the Spirit and had wrought miracles among them, had done it "by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith" (v. 5). And then he declares that—so far from what the dispensationalists teach as to there having been a complete change in the principles of God's dealings with men—God acts now upon precisely the same principles as of old, "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness." And adds as a corollary: "Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham" (v. 7).

This verse clearly identifies those who are to inherit the promises made "to Abraham and his seed" (v. 16), and it completely rules out the natural descendants of Abraham. The last verse confirms this; for there we read, "And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (v. 29). And this, as most impressively shown by the "allegory" in the next chapter, makes it evident that there remain no unfulfilled promises of blessing for the natural Jews as such. To this I hope to return.

Further in chapter III of Galatians, Paul takes up the question whether the law is against the promises of God" (v. 21). According to dispensational teaching the answer would be "yes." For, as we have seen, the so-called "dispensation of promise," which embraced the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and their descendants for several generations, terminated at Mt. Sinai where Israel "rashly accepted the law"; and thereupon a new dispensation (the law, with its ministry of condemnation, death and the curse, and with a character and ruling principles totally different) was inaugurated. Thus it is clearly the teaching of the Scofield Bible that the law is against the promises of God. But Paul rejects with indignation the idea that "the law" is in anywise contrary to "the promises of God," saying: "God forbid" (v. 21); and he goes on to show that the law had a great purpose to fulfill introductory to the coming of the One who was to accomplish eternal righteousness and to be the Fountain of eternal life to all the world. For he says: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster"; and what for? "to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (v. 24). And he adds: "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (v. 25). So far, therefore, from speaking with disparagement of that divinely-given "schoolmaster," or saying that his ministry was useless and worse, he shows that it was most necessary and important. It did not vacate the previously given promises. It did not introduce a new era characterized by contradictory principles; but "It was added" (to what God had previously done) "because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made" (v. 19). And a further purpose of the law, in preparation for the gospel, was "that every mouth might be stopped, and ALL THE WORLD BECOME GUILTY BEFORE GOD" (Rom. 3:19).

Following further the teaching of Galatians, we find that the law as given from Mt. Sinai on tables of stone was suited to an immature stage of God's dealings with the world (Gal. 4:1-4); and that the subsequent giving of the law into the hearts of a blood-washed people by the Holy Spirit (vv. 5-7) was the mark of the mature or adult stage of the same living person (so to speak). And from this we learn that the gospel, so far from being antagonistic to the law, sustains with respect thereto the same relation that the adult period of a man's life bears to his childhood.

And in this connection, the pertinent lesson for our present purpose is that "the works of the law" against which Paul was warning the Galatians (the observing of "days and months, and times, and years," (v. 10) and circumcision (5:2, 6), belonged to the childhood stage of God's dealings with His people. And it was for that reason that though they served useful purposes for a certain period, they were to be laid aside as outgrown things, now that "the fulness of the time was come (v. 4). As Paul said in another place: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (I Corinthians 13:11)—not, be it noted, because they were detestable or reprehensible, but simply because they were outgrown, and would be a hindrance to the duties of manhood.

We see therefore, that the very passages that are used now-a-days to breed feelings of aversion toward the law of God, and to make it appear as something wholly antagonistic to the gospel, teach the very contrary; namely, that the law was a stage of the divine work preliminary to that of the gospel; or in other words, that the law and the gospel are complementary stages of one and the same great work of God.

For the truth in this regard is, as has been taught all through the Christian centuries, that the law was a necessary part of God's great plan of Redemption even as is the Gospel. And as an excellent specimen of what enlightened servants of Christ, men who were mighty in the Scriptures, had always taught concerning the relation of the Law to the Gospel (before Dispensationalism was invented) I quote the following from Bernard's celebrated work, The Progress of Doctrine.

"A principle that is contended for and secured (by Christ's apostles in their teaching) is that the Gospel is the heir of the Law; that it inherits what the Law had prepared.

"The Law, on its national and ceremonial side, had created a vast and closely woven system of ideas. These were wrought out and exhibited by it in forms according to the flesh "an elect nation, a miraculous history, a special covenant, a worldly sanctuary, a perpetual service, an anointed priesthood, a ceremonial sanctity, a scheme of sacrifice and atonement, a purchased possession, a holy city, a throne of David, a destiny of dominion. Were these ideas to be lost? and was the language that expressed them to be dropped when the Gospel came? No! It was the heir of the Law. The Law had prepared these riches; and it now bequeathed them to a successor able to unlock and diffuse them. The Gospel claimed them all, and developed in them a value unknown before. It asserted itself as the proper and predestined continuation of the covenant made of God with the fathers, the real and only fulfillment of all that was typified and prophesied; presenting the same ideas which had been before embodied in the narrow but distinct limits of carnal forms in their spiritual, universal, and eternal character.

"The body of types according to the flesh died with Christ; and with Christ it arose again, a body of antitypes according to the Spirit. Those who were after the flesh could not recognize its identity; those who were after the Spirit realized and proclaimed it. The change was as great, the identity was as real, as in that mystery of the resurrection of the body which the same preachers showed; in which the earthly frame must lay aside the flesh and blood which cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, and must reappear; dead and raised again; another and yet the same; 'sown in weakness and raised in power, sown in dishonor and raised in glory, sown a natural body and raised a spiritual body.'"


NOTES

1. In passing let it be noted that, by the light of this verse, it may be seen that all the promises of God which read to Israel or to the Jews, are for the true "Israel" (Rom. 9:6; Gal. 6:16), and the real Jews. See the passage herein on "ISRAEL HATH NOT OBTAINED; BUT THE ELECTION HATH OBTAINED IT." (p. 236).

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