Ephesians Lesson 19 of 39 part 7

After posting the Lord started dealing with me about what we shared above about the trespass offering, because of what He accomplished for all on the tree. Through our acceptance of all we have become our own trespass offering. Our flesh has become our food, that is to say our spiritual nourishment and refreshment. We can see this as a fact by the shear numbers of people who are over weight, they're in need of spiritual revelation. They eat and eat seeking fulfillment of soul but none comes so they eat even more. Many go to their favorite spiritual watering hole but return just as parched and thirsty as when they went and often in greater need than before. When we learn of Him He then brings us to the scriptures as our food and drink just as He's promised and as He demonstrated.

II Corinthians 11:5
"For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles."
Wow! What does that say? I was not a half of step behind Peter. See, they were trying to put Peter up above him. And the chiefest apostle would have to be Peter most people would say. Now if Paul’s not behind him, where is he? Well he’s either beside him or ahead of him. Now for the next one, stay in the same chapter and come down to verse 22. This verse puts Paul out a step ahead. This is speaking of the Jerusalem leadership which would include the twelve, as well as some of the other head people of the Jerusalem assembly. 

II Corinthians 11:22-23a
"Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more:..."
See how plain that is? That’s the Holy Spirit writing through the pen of the Apostle Paul, that Paul is more the minister of Christ and a ministering flame of fire than anybody back there at Jerusalem. And this is what we have to understand. Now let’s go on to one more in the next chapter.

We're moving into note book 20 from here on. 

II Corinthians 12:11

"I am become a fool in glorying; (Paul didn’t like to boast, but he had to in order to convince especially the Corinthians that he was a special instrument in God’s hand) ye have compelled me: (you’ve forced me) for I ought to have been commended of you: (it was this man who had brought those people out of their abject paganism. It was his message that set them free, and brought them into a spiritual relationship with the risen Christ. It was this man’s Gospel that brought those pagans into a life of morality and hope for eternity) for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing."

Evidently there were some Jewish believers in the congregation who knew all about Peter and the eleven, and were stirring up those Gentile believers saying that Paul didn’t have the authority to lead the Corinthians. So Paul tells them he’s not behind Peter one bit, in fact he’s in front of him. So that should tell us that Paul is the man that is given, and ordained of God to go to the non-Jew, the Gentiles, the nations and he claims it over and over, the same as God did back when He was talking to Ananias back in Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9:15a

"But the Lord said, unto him, (Ananias) Go thy way: (to Paul) for he is a chosen vessel unto me (as a flame of fire set or called out), to bear my name before the Gentiles,..."

Did anyone catch that? "To bear the name of Christ" did you hear that? How many today can say that they "bear the name" of Christ and not be a fraud? I mean Paul did not claim it upon himself like so many others have, now did he? NO way! For the Lord, the Holy Spirit talking to Ananias says it to him. Now turn on over to the Book of Galatians chapter 1, and this is all to back up his claim in Ephesians chapter 3:2 which states:

Ephesians 3:2b

"...the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:" 

And the you-ward is speaking of Gentiles, the nations. So now let’s look in Galatians 1. 

Galatians 1:11-12

"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."   

Ephesians Lesson 19 of 39 part 6

It's all by Grace, Christ the Spirit, just as in the beginning Genesis 3:15. The fulfillment of promise first given or spoken to the first son of God, Adam. This is Good News!

The other argument that we sometimes get, and praise the Lord we don’t get many. We get very few arguments, and when we do get an argument its usually over water baptism. And in every instance the party will try to make it sound that if you’re not baptized in water, then you can’t be saved. When we say, back in answer that this is what Paul has said, then they’ll come right back and say, "But we go by what the Bible says, not what Paul says, or we use the whole Bible, we don’t just use Paul. Or our church teaches this or that about it!"
Well if that be the case, and you’re going to argue that you do what the whole Bible says then we take those right back to Leviticus chapter 5. This is a fun exercise, it really is, because it says it so plainly. Now we could use any other portion of the Old Testament, but this one says it so clearly, and it’s not real deep theologically. It’s just an everyday possibility for anyone of us. 

Leviticus 5:1-2
"And if a soul (or person) sin, and hear the voice of swaring, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it: if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. (he has to tell the priest what someone has said or he’s guilty) Or if a soul (or person) touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcass of an unclean beast, or a carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty. Now down to verse 5. 

Leviticus 5:5-6
"And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing: And he shall (that’s a command) bring his trespass offering unto the LORD for his sin which he that sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb, or a kid of the goats for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin."
Now do you know what to say? That’s what the Bible says. Isn’t it? Just as plain as day. Do we bring a sacrificial offering when we touch anything dead? No! Does God expect us to do it? No! Why? Because this was Law. This is all part of what Moses instructed Israel, and we’re not under that economy or dispensation. But we’re under the economy of Grace with the Apostle Paul. So when people say we go by what all the Bible says, they get their foot in their mouth before they can turn around, because there are so many things back here that cannot be done today. So what’s the difference? We’ve got to separate Law from Grace. If we don't we're violating the New Covenant of promise (this promise is in Genesis 3:15, which by the way supersedes all others) and by that become guilty of both the cross and the blood of Christ. And are more an enmity to God then the Hebrews ever were under their first economy.

Paul will never tell you that if you touch something dead, you go and offer a sacrifice some place does he? No! So always keep these things straight that when we say we have to listen to the Apostle Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13), that doesn’t mean we don’t read the rest of Scripture. That doesn’t mean it isn’t profitable - of course it is, because it shows us the very mind of a Holy God. It shows us what it was like to live under the yoke of bondage, (and as we've shared elsewhere the deception of the Priest's as instruments of Satan,) which was what the Law really was and still is. It’s what Peter called it in Acts chapter 15, and it’s what Paul called it in Galatians. It was a yoke of bondage, a burden to heavy to carry but now under Paul’s teaching of Grace, we’ve been set free from all that. The whole world has been Redeemed and brought back to a place of righteousness but sadly few know it. Now coming back to Ephesians chapter 3 for a split second, and we used some of this earlier, but let it sink in. It’s so important!

Ephesians 3:2
"If ye have heard of the dispensation (the economy, the administration, this is the parenthetical period between verses 8 and 9 of Psalm 2) of the grace of God (and like we’ve shown that Law came to Israel through Moses. How in the world did the doctrines of Grace get to the Gentiles? Well the next part of the verse tells us) which is given me to you-ward:"
Do you see what that says? You have no idea how many times we’ve had someone at my now famous kitchen table, and I will tell them this very concept, that all of our doctrines of Grace come from Paul. They’ll always say, "Well where do you get that?" Well here’s one good example, and this is just one. They’ll read that verse, and say, "I don’t see what you’re getting at." Then we come back and say, "Well then you didn’t read it." And they always come back with, "Yeah I did!!" So we have them read it as many times as it takes, usually about 3 or 4 times, and then they normally say, "Oh! I never saw that before!" We dare say there are multitudes just exactly like that. And here it is, "The dispensation of this Grace of God which was given to Paul, and Paul through inspiration and by the Grace of God has brought it to us Gentiles.” The Light of revelation has finally downed in the heart.

Ephesians Lesson 19 of 39 part 5

Here in Acts chapter 24 and in Ephesians he refers to it as the Grace of God.

Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."
Do you see how plain that is? Paul’s whole ministry was to proclaim this Gospel, the Grace of God. Now we think it may be appropriate if we come back to Ephesians chapter 3, for a moment to look at the word "Grace." As many because of the falseness of false prophets goes have believed a lie of major deception caused by Religion. So we'll clear the air so to speak or at best attempt to. We just can't walk by it any longer we can't sweep it under the fug and leave it there to rot.

Ephesians 3:2a
"If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace..."
Now like we've said, "very few people have any idea of the Grace of God." We don’t claim to know all that much, because it’s beyond full human understanding. How a Sovereign, Eternal, Creator God would do what He did simply because He Loves the human race. He took on human flesh, walked among men for three years on the dusty roads of Palestine, and then ended up offering His New Covenant inaugural meal. Then going to the Cross to suffer the most horrible death ever invented, all because of His Love for mankind. And through that death on the Cross He was able to pay the price of redemption for the whole human race, not just for a few chosen ones, but for the whole race. Now listen, that’s GRACE!

And that’s beyond our comprehension. He didn’t have to do that. He could have just zapped the human race and started over. But from day one, from the time that Adam and Eve first disobeyed God's voice, spoken Word, and sinned in the Garden of Eden, on up to the rebellious multitudes just before the flood, on up to the tower of Babel when again that group of humanity met in pagan consort, God could have zapped them, but He didn’t. He let them go on until He was able to find one man 200 years later in the Ur of the Chaldees we know as Abraham, and begin again something totally different, all because He refused to give up on the human race. And why didn’t He? GRACE! The grace which He had given the first man Adam, when to him He promised by way of a vow to bring a Redeemer through that Grace who would reveal His Grace and Truth to all and John in chapter 1 does so. John says the He was the Word from the beginning and will be the Word in the end. So Grace is not cheap grace but is indeed the benefit of our benefactor Christ, Grace is the person Christ Jesus and therefore Grace is Living just as Faith and Truth are Living. For God is not a God of the dead, Satan is their god, for God is God of the Living.

So everything that God does, and the patience of God toward the human race is all because of His Grace. Now we call that one of God’s attributes. It is something that is in the very make-up of the eternal God that prompts Him to give out all this divine blessing and Love on a rebellious human race. All we have to do is just look around us today, and just stop and think for a moment, why does God put up with it when everything is flying in His face in total rebellion? All God would have to do is speak the Word and we’d all be gone. But God doesn’t do that, and why doesn’t He? GRACE!

Under the Law (remember we said that the law is an external ministration of mans flesh voice and by that voice ministers death and death only) that wasn’t the case. Law was demanding, Law as we’ve said so often is what? Severe! It was severe, and there was no bending it. If you broke the Law back in it’s purity in the early stages, invariably the penalty was death? So that was the Law, and there wasn’t Grace in that except it was the Grace of God engineering a way for man to come back, but in reality Law is legalism, it is severe, it is the very opposite of Grace. Mans engineered liberalism pushes that aside and makes a joke of the Law and the laws legalism, for one has a right to do as one pleases, as one hears the voice of his flesh so he does. But now on the flip side, we have the Cross, we have the same God who gave the Law and all of it’s severity to Moses for Israel, to keep them within its corral under it tutorship. God now opens the window of heaven and through this Apostle’s writings we have the opening of the door of GRACE! As just stated mans religion has cheapened God's Grace and by so doing has made it of no effect on mans consciousness. The conscious of man has been seared with a hot iron through the habit of the many as warned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:

1Corinthians 11:29-32
"For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

Some people say, "Well don’t you make too much of Paul?" No! Paul knew only one thing, and that was "Christ crucified for our sins, and risen from the dead," and you can’t find that anywhere else in Scripture that we are to believe that for Redemption through which we are brought to so Great a Salvation except in Paul’s writings. So we don’t elevate Paul above that. But you see God, as He kept things secret as we saw, He has decided that it’s through this man that He would reveal the things that had been kept secret. That’s why Paul, over and over, uses the term "revelation," how God revealed to me such and such, and he writes it over and over again. It's all by Grace, Christ the Spirit, just as in the beginning. This is good News!

  

Ephesians Lesson 19 of 39 part 4

This Bible is for everybody not just for a certain select few or a particular group of people, and we want to be able to help everyone in such a way that they can study on their own, and search the Scriptures and see if these things are really so.

Acts 17:10-11
"And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
So after these believers heard Paul they searched the Scriptures (of course that was the Old Testament in those days) to see if what Paul was teaching was in accord with those Scriptures. So now let’s just pick the Scriptures apart word by word, 

Ephesians 3:2a
"If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God..."
This is where we stopped, and we’re going to stay stopped for a bit, because we're still not quite through with what we wanted to get across so far as, "why does Paul define this dispensation of the Grace of God?" Now remember every word that Paul writes, as well as every word that the Old Testament writers wrote, is inspired by the Holy Spirit. None of these writings were just the will of a person. And God is so open that He reveals even our short comings as a way of instruction for us. Even when Paul in so many words says, "this is my idea" it’s still inspired, and never lose sight of that. Every word is here because the Holy Spirit wants it here. When Paul says in Romans.

Romans 11:13a
"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles,..."
That’s not an egotistical man talking, but rather that’s the Holy Spirit speaking exactly what He wants Paul to write. So in verse 2 let’s see what he says.

Ephesians 3:2a
"If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God..."
We spent sometime defining a dispensation, and we hope it is now clear enough. What is so different about Grace? In Exodus chapter 3, up on Mount Sinai, God, spoke to Moses, and gave to him the Law, and then Moses toke the Law down the mountain and dispenses it to the Nation of Israel. So this was the dispensation of Law, and that’s the way we look at it in scriptures. Now some 1500 years later, on the Damascus Road, Saul of Tarsus, experiences the same God. And God does something different, which is His prerogative, because He’s Sovereign. Now He calls out to Mount Sinai, a different man whom we know as the Apostle Paul. And to Paul God reveals these doctrines of Grace, and Paul in turn dispenses these doctrines of Grace, not so much to the Nation of Israel, but to the Gentile world. These doctrines of Grace are our yoke or burden of learning of Him, He taught Paul and the Holy Spirit wants to teach us by way of Paul's writings.

 

                                           (Mt. Sinai -Moses - Law - Nation of Israel)

                                  The Cross (Mt. Sinai - Paul - Grace - Gentile world)
 
And of course in both cases the Law is going to have an influence on Gentiles, and Grace is going to have an influence on the Hebrews, when allowed. But as a group the dispensation of Law was given through Moses to Israel, and the dispensation of Grace was given through the Apostle Paul to all not only the Gentiles, but the Hebrews and kings. Now there’s only one other place in the New Testament where that term is used explicitly, and that will be in Acts chapter 20, and let’s look at verse 24. In all the other places in Paul’s writings he may refer to this Gospel as the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of God, My Gospel, and various others, but here in Acts chapter 24 and in Ephesians he refers to it as the Grace of God. 

Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

Ephesians Lesson 19 of 39 part 3

Remember God's ministers are ministering spirits of fire as stated in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14 to which Peter has this to say:

1Peter 1:12-16

“Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, 'Be ye holy; for I am holy.'”

And then John says this in Revelation:

Revelation 5:5-8

“And one of the elders saith unto me, "Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals (these seals hide the mysteries or secrets now revealed to the sons of God) thereof." And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.”

Revelation 5:9-10

"And they sung a new song, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And have made us to our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."

We’re going to find doctrinal things in Paul’s writings that won’t find anywhere else in scripture. But he doesn’t cancel what went before, it’s just an advance on it. Because now we’re coming from the very small knowledge that they had way in the beginning, and it’s just building, and building, and finally the promised Messiah came, and the Nation of Israel was in the promised land, they had the temple, but yet what did they do with the Messiah. They crucified Him, and the Hebrews continued to reject Him in those early chapters of Acts, and in so many words God says, "That’s the end of that dispensation of Law, we’re now going to dispense something totally new." It was just like moving from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. If you know anything about politics, it was as different as night and day between those two administrations. Well so is Grace and Law! We cannot mix them because they are so diverse, but it’s the same God. God never changes, but He changes His programs. Now God says, "Instead of all of the things that the Law demanded, I’ve already settled it in the Last Supper in the Marriage Feast of My Lamb and on through the Cross, now if you will just believe it I’ll do everything that needs to be done." People constantly proclaim, "Oh what freedom they have found!"

We’ve come now all most 2000 years and we’re still reveling in this Gospel that was begun by this Apostle, and that is it’s by faith and God’s Grace alone. Now we're talking about salvation. We're not saying that you’re saved by Faith + Nothing, and then you just go on and drift. No, No. But for salvation it’s Faith and Faith alone, and then when that happens God begins to work in and through us, and He doesn’t expect us to become tremendous saints over night. He's patient with us while we're in basic training, in the Holy Spirit training school where we learn how to rightly divide all these things we've been sharing and where we learn obedience and our total dependency on Him. In the same way as Jesus and Paul because when we're ready and made willing we accept the discipline of the cross through our partaking of the Lord's Supper, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb into the spiritual Life where we're made heirs and then we pass through death, resurrection and ascension clothed in Christ's body and covered in His blood. We then have entered the promised New Covenant and the abundance of Eternal Life in the power of His resurrection from which no man or evil spirit can touch us or remove us from the Fathers hand. We become ministers of His Grace, Love, Truth in Light laying our lives down for this Gospel if need be, which is Christ in us.

This Bible is for everybody not just for a certain group of people, and we want to be able to help everyone in such a way that they can study it on their own, and search the Scriptures and see if these things are really so. The Book of Acts calls people who do that Bereans.

Ephesians Lesson 19 of 39 part 2

What’s important is, what did God give Moses to tell the children of Israel? The Law. But they refused the revelation of the spiritual renewal which this Law has hidden within it, for the Law is righteous when heard and received a right. They like so much of humanity is stuck in the world of mans flesh and only hears that flesh's voice. Which speaks of the past and future not in the here and now of the spirit. Every man from Adam on has been given a still small quite voice of the conscious, the seed of woman which is Christ. It is this small voice less heard within us because of sin's rule or sway over our conscious, that leads all a stray. It causes nation to rise against nation and is the origin of all evil, for God tells us to love of brother and to care for them that wrong us, to resists not evil but to do good.

And of course the Law was in 3 parts. It was first and foremost the moral code, the Ten Commandments. It was the ritual Law - how to worship, and how to approach God with the sacrifices, and priesthood and so forth. Then it also had the civil law - how to deal with your neighbor and how to settle disputes and so forth. That was all dispensed at Mt. Sinai. But that Law ended and with it all of that which was attached to it. The Cross ended the ritual of temple worship, ceremonies, dietary, sacrifices and priesthood under that Law, because that was when everything was fulfilled dispensationally all that was under the Law. Now the materialistic, ritualistic and religious still press the observance of the Hebrew traditions in ignorance and contrary to God, the Father of spirits of all men. And this you see God in His wisdom could keep things secret as we see in Deuteronomy 29:29.

Deuteronomy 29:29

“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” 

Deuteronomy 29:29a

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God:..."

That means God can keep things totally secret as long as He wants to. And then He will reveal certain things when He is good and ready, and we’ve seen that all the way up through human history. So even though all the ramifications of the Law were fulfilled at the Cross, In Christ, yet we find that when we come into the early chapters of Acts, not a word has been said, "That you’re no longer under the Law." There’s not a word that’s been said, "That you no longer have to go to the temple, or keep the commandments as a system." 

That doesn’t come until this man Paul comes and says, "That if you have heard the dispensation of the Grace of God." This is in total opposition to Law, and is now dispensed by Paul. Through the revelation of Christ, our second Adam as a spirit man or as the Son of man. He taught the name of the Father of spirits, He taught spirit and spiritual Truth our relationship restored though it had actually never been broken but only hid by the darkness within the flesh of man. Now if you will come back with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 4, and while you’re looking for it let me remind you how dispensation was used in the Old Testament economy. When God was approaching Abraham, about beginning a nation (actually two nations one of the material and the other of spirit, spiritual) through him and he didn’t yet have a son, and so what did Abraham say to God? 

Genesis 15:2

"And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?"

What was Abraham saying? Eliezer was the man who managed all of Abraham’s wealth and affairs. Not only did Eliezer dispense orders to the servants, but he also dispensed when to sell and when to buy. Now you want to remember Abraham was wealthy. Why are we saying all of this? Because this is what Paul claims to be concerning the Grace of God. Have we found 1 Corinthians chapter 4? Let’s start with verse 1. 

I Corinthians 4:1

"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and (what’s your next word?) stewards of the mysteries of God."

Now if we’re a Bible students we'll catch on real quick that Paul is always referring to the mysteries that were revealed to him. And what are mysteries? Secrets! And Who kept them secret until revealed to this man? God did. And when God called Paul out of the religion of Judaism, and saved him on the road to Damascus, He sent him down to Mt. Sinai and poured all these things into him for about a year more or less, all the revelations of the mysteries. There are all kinds of mysteries that Paul speaks of in his writings, and since they were revealed to him he then became the steward of those mysteries. And if he was the steward of them then he was the administrator of them. When we understand that, then this Book becomes as plain as a 300 watt light bulb. It just lays right out in front of us. Of course this is a whole new administration or dispensation. Remember God's ministers are ministering spirits of fire as stated in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14 which Peter has this to say:

 

Ephesians Lesson 19 of 39 part 1 cont.

Ephesians 3:2

"If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward."

Dispensation is a word that we've refrained from using purposely, simply because too many people have heard nothing but bad things or for it's been given bad press about the word, even though they don’t have any real idea why. So we’ve known from day one that we had to be careful how we use this word, because we would turn people off because of the ignorance of others. And natural man being what he is judges without the truth first then tries to pick up the pieces later to restore the puzzle for clear observation, before they would give us a minute to listen. But we think by now we've built enough credibility with people and won’t get turned off when we use the word dispensation. Remember Paul uses this word even in chapter 1 verse 10, so it’s very scriptural.

Ephesians 1:10

"That in the dispensation of the fulness of time..."

We dealt with that back there, but now in chapter 3 he deals with the dispensation of the Grace of God. Well to quality a dispensation, it’s just a simple word from which we get the word stewardship, economy or dispensing. If we go to a pharmacy and give him our prescription, he then dispenses what the doctor has ordered, but along with dispensing the product he also gives you explicit instructions. We don’t just take the medicine haphazardly, but rather we follow the instructions that came with the dispensing. Now bringing it back into the scriptures, a dispensation is a period of time during which God laid particular dispensational instructions to the human race. Christ as the Spiritual Head of all who would choose renewed spiritual Life has done the same to sustain that spiritual Life within us.

The best way we can illustrate dispensation for the secular and Orthodox religious world is our own presidential administration. And the one we like to use it is the administration of Jimmy Carter and the one followed by Ronald Reagan. These were men with two totally different ideologies, but yet they both led the country under the same constitution. For a moment let’s go back to the Carter years, as he builds his own administration. He appoints his own cabinet, he appoints men who have the same ideology that he does concerning how the country should be administered to. It wasn’t so much the 4 years he was in the White House that made his administration, but rather what made the Carter administration was the ideology that he promoted by whatever he suggested to congress or how he handled foreign affairs, that’s what marked the Carter administration, but it ended.

Then there was a transitional period, and from that dispensation of the Carter years we went to someone with a totally different view and that was Ronald Reagan. He too was under the same constitution, and his term of office also came to the place where it ended. Whether he served 4 or 8 years is moot. What counted was the kind of ideology that his administration promoted for the country. So in short what makes an administration is, "What were they're dispensing?" Now you can bring that into scripture and we think you have a beautiful analogy.

 Before I say what is the obvious allow me to say that Moses first and foremost revealed Genesis 3:15 and 21 to the sons of Jacob, but they like so many after Christ's ascension refused to listen and therefore God calls him (Hebrews 3). When God called Moses and the Nation of Israel out of Egypt, he brought them around Mt. Sinai. He called Moses up into the mountain. What did He give to Moses? Law. And Law was a dispensation. It was a dispensing to the Nation of Israel, God’s demands upon the Nation as to how they were to worship, how they were to live; and all those things were part of that dispensation of Law. Whether it went 500 years or 1500 years is moot. What’s important is, what did God give Moses to tell the children of Israel? The Law. Why, because they refused the revelation of the spirit renewal first.

Ephesians Lesson 18 of 39 part 7

"Not of works, lest any man should boast." 
We don’t see that brought out anywhere else in scripture until we get to the Apostle Paul, and his letters to Gentiles. Jesus brought about mans change to that which was already in him but was not understood or listened to namely mans consciousnesses, the spirit of God. Jesus opposed the voice of the flesh when He had been in the wilderness for forty days and was hungry. This voice tempted Him in three areas the same areas that we are all tried and found wanting in. But as we like Paul came to understand trust God in our soul to rule we don't do a physical works as the Hebrew orthodox leadership dictated. For they lost sight of Moses teachings of Genesis. Now back to chapter 3.

Ephesians 3:1a
"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for (what people?) you Gentiles."
Most people don’t like to admit that. Most people can’t see that his apostleship was uniquely directed to the Gentiles. Though Paul still had a heart for his brothers the Jewish people. In fact it was such a heavy heart that he was willing to suffer eternal doom if they could be saved. So don’t ever accuse Paul of having turned his back on his own people, but always remember that God was the One that designated on the Damascus road conversion that Paul was going to be sent far hence to the Gentiles. Up until that time, from Abraham to when Paul is sent to the Gentiles, salvation for those 2,000 years was mainly reserved for the Nation of Israel. God dealt with the Nation of Israel through the prophets, and through Christ’s earthly ministry, through Peter and the eleven, but the Hebrews continued to reject their message of the kingdom of God within man to this day. For this was also the message of Moses but had been lost. So now God does something totally different, though not new. Only different in that He sent Paul to the gentiles because would not receive the teaching and that’s the best word that we can put on it. In fact, turn over to the Book of Philippians, and let us show you. We’ll get back to Ephesians in just a moment. Here he’s still talking to Gentiles, and look what he tells them.
  
Philippians 1:10
"That ye may approve things that are excellent: (different) that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ;"
Now in the King James the translator wrote excellent. But the word excellent in the Greek everywhere else in scripture is translated "different" What is the day of Christ, it what Peter calls the day star rising in our heart, where the spirit that God had hid in man is quickened and become a force again within us by being conjoined to the ontological essence of Christ. Now read it in that light.

Philippians 1:10a
"That ye may approve things that are different:..."
And indeed it is different. This whole Gospel of the Grace of God is something so different that if anything it has never been fully laid on Israel, or anyone else for that matter, and is something that is just mind boggling. That God could now turn to the whole human race without benefit of religion, priesthood, or temple, but rather He goes straight to the heart of the believer, and transforms him. In total agreement with the vow spoken to Adam, He as Father had infused His very nature into ours. And makes us a new person, and then places us into the One Body of Christ. This is all received by way of illumination of inspiration or revelation within our heart from which no one can remove it or change our position. For it is upon this rock that He builds His Church. Now coming back to Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3:1-2a
"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. If ye have heard..."
Now we’ve got to stop for a moment again. Remember that by the time Paul writes Ephesians it’s somewhere around 64 or 65 AD. He’s now a prisoner in Rome, and that’s why we call it one of his prison Epistles. This means that he’s been out there among those pagan Gentiles now for some 25 years. Now that’s not very long, and it took a long time to convince these Gentile pagans, not only to believe this Gospel of their salvation, but of this whole new lifestyle that they had embraced. So that’s why he puts it in this kind of language.

Moving into note book 19 now.

Ephesians 3:2

"If ye have heard..."

It’s a good possibility that they hadn’t heard yet. Even though the believers of Ephesus were the ones he was writing to, we’ve got to realize that there were multitudes around those believers who had not believed at all. But this is the way he puts it.

Ephesians 3:2

"If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward."

Ephesians Lesson 18 of 39 part 6

This study goes along with Israel’s Blindness as they both now run in parallel to each other in this dispensational period called the Age of Grace or the Church Age. What I mean by this is that natural man walks about his daily life separated from God and His rule or sphere of influence. He remains out from under the covering of the new covenant, unaware of the promises of God which form the foundation upon which the true Church of God stands and that they are redeemed from the sin nature that they are born into. When the first Love which was lost but lingers in the heart of hearts of man as the seed of woman planted there by God shortly after Adam and woman fell and is witnessed to in Genesis 3:15 is satisfied by the being restored to its lover. This lost Love is witnessed to in the Song of Songs and other related areas of scripture as the love of the chase virgin seeking to be restored in union with her lover and which man if he'll not remain but a fraud will freely acknowledge as his true state. In his need for this union and restoration of this Love. This is the Love Jesus restores through the sacrament of the Lord's Last Supper, in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb when rightly divided when He both as the propitiation and consummation of the ages gone before inaugurated in the New and Living Way through Love to the very heart of God for all man kind by His vicarious death.

Ephesians 2:19
"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;"
What a position, and we don't work for it. We don't strive for it, we don't brow beat ourselves, we don't grovel in the dirt, we don't somehow cause physical misery. We just step in by faith, and God does it all! Always remember that it's not what we do, but rather it's the fact that "GOD DOES IT ALL." For He works Hid works through the Agape Love restored within our heart of hearts through the ontological essence of His Son restored in and through Love and our receptivity of His Faith and God's Faithfulness in and by Grace in all Truth which are but Christ in us. So as stated Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians are on a higher plan than the foundational teaching found in Hebrews, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians and Galatians because they reveal our being in righteousness and spiritually conjoined to Christ and hid with Christ in God. And though still in a physical house on earth we are true citizens of the Heavenly realm and heirs of Christ.

For we even operate by His faith and not our own.

If we can get a grasp of Genesis chapter 3, which gives us the account of the fall of man, and the beginning of sin, and the curse (and Romans chapter 3, which gives the remedy for it, and where we find the first real instance of salvation by faith, and faith alone), then we’ve got a good share of the Bible understood. But the thought, that we must add Ephesians chapter 3 to the other chapter 3’s that we just mentioned escapes me. 

This chapter just simply explodes with things that most people never hear in Church. We can’t think of a single Sunday School lesson in all of our years in Church, nor a single Sunday morning sermon that was taken from Ephesians chapter 3. It’s a fact, preachers and teachers ignore this like it’s a plague, it’s as if they don’t want to be bothered with it. But here it is, and it’s just so full of what we as Grace Age believers have to understand. What it really amounts to is that all of these revelations that have been given to the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, had been kept hidden and secret in the mind and heart of God until revealed to this man. And to those who would be the willing to take the Way of the Cross through the Lord's Supper and on through His ascension back to the Holiest in the heavenliest.

Now we know and understand that people don’t like to admit that, and it’s simply because they’re so much more comfortable in preaching and teaching Christ’s earthly ministry. And teaching His earthly ministry is all well and good. But to remain bond by the traditions of man in mans religion is just what our Lord separated us from at His table and alter the tree and resurrection then within our heart of hearts, when we decide to no longer play the fraud game of man. We never take anything away from Jesus Christ and His ministry, and the people who hear us
us sharing the Truth know that. In fact we probably elevate Him far above what most people do. We’ve always used the expression, would to God that more people would ask, "Who in the world is Jesus Christ?" If you really ask, most Church people do not really know Who He is. They do not know Him as the Creator of everything. He’s the sustainer of everything as well as the Person of the Godhead who stepped out of that Triune God, and became flesh in order to go the way of the Cross and make away of entry into the promised New Covenant through the Last Supper. Part of which we've shared earlier in this study but can be found in a study of its own if the Lord tarries and is willing to allow us to share it. Well all of these things come out in Ephesians chapter 3. 

Ephesians 3:1a
"For this cause..."
What’s Paul speaking of when he says, "For this cause?" Well everything that he’d just expounded on in the first two chapters. Back up to chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 and we’ll see what we're talking about. These are verses we're sure you’ve seen in salvation tracts and so forth, but again this is the highlight of these two chapters.

Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; (and that’s where we get + nothing, because there’s nothing after that word faith) and that not of yourselves: (there’s nothing we can do. Why? Because) it is the gift of God: (now how much work do you do for a gift? Nothing. The minute you do even a penny’s worth it’s no longer a gift, but rather it something you’ve worked for.) Not of works, lest any man should boast." 
Well you don’t see that brought out anywhere else in scripture until we get to the Apostle Paul, and his letters to Gentiles. Now back to chapter 3.

Ephesians Lesson 18 of 39 part 5

God doesn't ignore nor set aside the Hebrews during this Age of Grace. The only thing the Hebrew now must do to come to salvation is come to themselves individually in the same way as the Gentile, and that's by believing Paul's Gospel. On man is set apart from this or left to his own devices as God has already Redeemed man as promised the first Adam and this covenant is what was hidden from view and understanding until the Holy Spirit has revealed it to us. When He does we're to allow it to sit on a shelf until such time as it become a living reality with us soul and heart of hearts. Then as a seed it has Life with our words and utterances because they are Spirit and they are Life.

Ephesians 2:18
"For through him we both have access by one (Holy) Spirit unto the Father."
We've got to go back to one of our favorite verses, and you'll find that in Acts chapter 16. Almost every morning we ask the Lord, "Give us hundreds if not thousands of Lydia's today." We know that it's possible for Him to do that. And here's what we're talking about in verse 14. Remember Paul had been up there in Northern Greece in Troas, Samothracia & Neapolis, and he's establishing little Gentile congregations, which have a few Hebrews in them. Now he has come down to Philippi, and evidently there wasn't a synagogue there, because he comes up on a few Jewish women meeting at a river side. They evidently are having their daily devotions. Anyway Paul had the opportunity to address them, and look what he says in verse 14.

Acts 16:14a
"And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, (so that makes me think they were Jewish) heard us:..."
We have to know every time that the Apostle Paul had an opportunity, he stopped and put forth this Gospel. It didn't matter whether it was a small group like these that he was sharing with, or pagan Gentiles coming out of their temple, Paul was at them with this Gospel of Grace in Redemption. We think this because this is the way He's had us doing it now for over 6 years, for it complies with what He told me back in 1971. So in the first part of verse 14 the scripture it tells us that these women heard us. But oh now is the part that we love to teach, and revel in, and pray for.

Acts 16:14b
"...whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul."
Now we want to remember that the Holy Spirit is a member of the Godhead just as well as God the Son, and God the Father. So we have to feel that the Lord in this case is the Holy Spirit that opened the heart. So the Holy Spirit opened the heart, and understanding of this Jewish lady of Thyatira. And as soon as that happened she believed the message that Paul was proclaiming.
You know it's no different today. You can have the greatest evangelist just preach his heart out, is he going to get any fruit without the Spirit? No way! We can share the Truth until we're blue in the face, but it won't get any response until the Holy Spirit opens peoples understandings. Now back to Ephesians chapter 2. Let's look at verse 18 again.

Ephesians 2:18-19
"For through him (what Christ has done on our behalf) we both (Hebrews and Gentiles) have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;"
Now just look at that verse we just read for a moment, and compare it again with verse 12. Because you have to compare scripture with scripture. Read verse 12 again if you will in order to properly contemplate these things. We're not to reason them through the literal processes of the mind but eat them if you will by contemplation. For this is what the LORD said we're to do in order to become a doer of His word and thereby share in His Life.

Ephesians 2:12
"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:"
Now look at verse 19 where we just left off and oh what a difference. We're not like our forefathers up there in verse 12 any more. We have chanced. How because of the LORD's Redemption and our being made righteous again through His workings not our own. When Paul's Gospel is hear rightly and taken effect upon our heart of hearts the very essence of Christ in seed form all man-kind has hidden within them as a seed and pearl of great price.

Mans religion teaches that its a works thing but the New Covenant is not about our working for anything, as that was Israel's down fall through its change from righteousness to Religion. They did not know or understand blind trust, the very trust which Abram, Enoch, Noah, and other righteous men exhibited and was recorded by Moses in his writings. Which writings all reveal Christ as their need and the answer to that need.

Ephesians Lesson 18 of 39 part 4

We're talking about the fact that through Christ all of humanity or the sons of the first Adam have been pardoned of their sin nature, all of humanity from even Adam on through the last human baby born of woman has the capability of receiving Redemption in Christ. This we know to be true through our own consciousnesses because of the seed of Christ though buried within our soul reveals this to be. Saul of Tarsus as a man fervent in zeal to do away with those of "the Way" was asked why he kicked against the pricks by the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. The picks was the witness of his consciousness that he was in the wrong and doing evil even through it was condoned by his religious counter parts in the Sanhedrin.

All right now come on this side of the cross. The Hebrews have been broken off of that root and fatness of Abraham, and who's been grafted in? The Gentile world. Don't just look at Romans chapter 11 as for believers. We feel it's the whole Gentile world that has been put in that place of privilege. Because of the parental head, Adam to whom the promise and vow to us was first spoken and then in Christ as the second Adam and now pour parental head we now stand. And my what a privilege. They can have a knowledge of salvation if they want it. But does that make every Gentile a believer? Of course not. It still has to be a choice by faith. Do you see that?

One of the beauties now is that the Body of Christ is being formed even though they're resting on the root and fatness of Abraham, it's now a combination of Hebrew and Gentile believers, who by faith have received Him. Oh the Hebrew must come the same way as the Gentiles now and that's faith in the finish work of the cross for salvation through the same gate, the garden cup in which no knows its contents, God's Will and the cross of death. The entry point into the New Covenant of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus. But now, in this age of Grace there are both Hebrew and Gentile coming together into the One Body of Christ and there is no enmity. The only enmity that remains remains on those who have heard and then refuse to accept the revealed Truth. And the sad thing is this, these people are those who make up the worlds religion and worship systems of man because they are trying to enforce theirs and mans morality by self effort. For when the flesh is crucified there can be NO enmity between God and man nor between man and man for we all are of One, one Spirit, one Love, one Faith, one Lord and one Body in the all in all.

We have a Jewish couple who are believers that live in Cleveland here with us. When we're with them we have such sweet fellowship. They believe like we do, and we're one in the Body of Christ. Brenda came up to me and said, "Now, I'm a Jewish believer, does that mean I won't go in the Rapture when you go because I'm Jewish? we said "Heavens no! I mean if you're in the Body of Christ then we'll all go together whether you're Jew or Gentile." There is that immediate affinity between Hebrew and Gentiles when we're in the Body of Christ, it's just that simple. Now coming back to the text here in Ephesians, and this is what Paul is hammering home. Once we enter into this salvation experience, we enter in through the blood of Christ. We enter in into that resurrection power, we can be united with all races of people from every country in the world, it doesn't matter because we're One in Christ. Now verse 17.

Ephesians 2:17a
"And came and preached peace to you which were afar off,..."
Who was far off? The Gentiles. Oh they were so far off they couldn't even comprehend God. But all of a sudden they're brought to a place where they have access and an opportunity for salvation because of the work of Redemption what is given to all. Now they have the same opportunity as the Hebrew had at salvation in the Old Testament economy. So let's read the verse again.

Ephesians 2:17
"And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, (the Gentiles, no not necessarily so because even the Hebrews were in that state at the time, though unknown to them) and to them that were nigh." (the Hebrews, see) See He doesn't ignore the Hebrews during this Age of Grace. This again to the break between verse 8 and 9 of Psalm 2 our timetable of God's working among us. The only thing the Hebrew now must come to salvation the same as the Gentile, and that's by believing Paul's Gospel. Now verse 18.

Ephesians 2:18
"For through him we both have access by one (Holy, Christ's ontological essence) Spirit unto the Father."

Ephesians Lesson 18 of 39 part 3

Picking up with Isaiah chapter 60:

Isaiah 60:3
"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light,..."
And who was Israel's light? The Messiah, The Christ! Now this of course in the literal sense is still future when Christ sets up His Kingdom. But for us living in this day of Grace, we have entered into this simply because of this Gospel of Paul's proclaiming, and not because of the covenant promises made to Israel. But instead of the first promise made to the first Adam, which is found in Genesis 3 verse 15, the Light of the Redeemer. Who we all know to be Christ. How do we know? not by a preacher but instead by our own conscience awareness. For in this promise is hidden the ontological essence of all mans origin, the Spirit of Life. Now coming back to the Book of Ephesians, verse 16 again.

Ephesians 2:16-17a
"And that he might reconcile both (Jew & Gentile) unto God in one body (the Church) by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were far off,..."
Who was far off? The Gentiles. Do you see that? It was those people who were out there without a Messiah. They, our forefathers didn't have the Word of God, they didn't have a knowledge of the one true God. They knew gods, but they didn't know the God of Israel for the most part. But now as we saw in an earlier verse because of the finished work of the cross, God can do all of this on behalf of the whole Gentile world. Always remember when God sent this Gospel, as we find in I Corinthians 15:1-4, to the Gentiles predominantly through the Apostle Paul, where did that put every Gentiles in relationship to God? He now has access to God just like Israel did in the past. And not through a priest, pastor or Rabbi but on an individual bases. Because He enacted the first vow He made to man-kind in Adam (though man knew Him only through his consciousnesses) now through Christ's work of total Redemption as the All in all we have fellowship restored.
  
Remember from Abraham all the way up to Paul's conversion, a period of 2000 plus years, it was only Israel who had access to God with just a few Gentile exceptions. Then Israel dropped the ball, the first time about 1500 years prior to Jesus' day they were on a downhill slide and God turned to the Gentiles through the Apostle Paul. And now for the past 2000 years on this side of the cross it's been Gentiles that have access to God with a few Jewish exceptions. But this to has been on a downhill slide for about 1500 to 1700 years now. Ever since the Gospel of God's Grace (in righteousness through mans Redeemer) became contaminated, twisted, and perverted by the reasoning's of sin filled men in what can be called the "Christian Religion", which joins the ranks with the "Jewish Religion" and all other religious forms.

This being so and said, Do you see how God always evens things out? Do you remember in Romans chapter 11, we have the analogy of the root and fatness of the olive tree which was setting on the promises and covenant made with Abraham? But Paul tells us, "because of Israel's unbelief, God broke off their branches, and put the Gentiles in their place." We share or receive of the root of Abraham by faith through Christ Jesus our High Priest. When we were there we said that for 2000 years the nation of Israel was literally living in that place of privileges, on the promises God made to Abraham. We mean every Hebrew had access to God. But did that make every Jew a believer? Oh heavens no! Now we suppose the Jewish people would argue with us on that point, but nevertheless only a small few were true believers. And why would any one believe that the worlds churches would be any different to this day? When they to have taken the same road of least resistance which the LORD Himself called the broad way. 

Ephesians Lesson 18 of 39 part 2

Remember the whole idea of the Abrahamic Covenant, and its being enlarged upon to Moses was what?

Exodus 19:6a
"And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation,..."
When we share this we ask the question, "What even today is the role of a priest?" Well he's a go between. In the future every Hebrew is someday to be a “go between” for Gentiles and Israel's God. Now that was the whole idea, but Israel lost sight of that, and so Israel begin to look within themselves, in the most literal, religious since and had no time for the Gentile world. We know from the prophets that they failed to listen to God or receive His Word, “to obey His voice”, delivered through them and this is why. This is also the problem in the church of this day as well, it fails to hear the warnings of Paul because many fail to read Paul's letters. Not in a literal but rather in the figurative since and this causes them great confusion and distress not to meant perplexities of soul. All right but now come back to verse 6.

Exodus 19:6a
"And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation...."
The word holy does not mean sinless, does not mean like God is Holy, but rather it means "Set apart." And that's what the nation of Israel understood. They were a set apart nation of people, and this is what God told Moses to tell the people. They were to be a set apart people, but on the other hand stop with me in the Book of Isaiah as we go back to Ephesians and we'll show you what we're talking about. These are some verses we haven't looked at in a long while. But in chapter 42 we'll see this is what the Hebrews lost sight of. 

As we get the Jerusalem Post, on the web a year or so back there was this article written by a Rabbi where he was speaking of the coming of their Messiah. The Messiah would be a God King who would not only just bring goodness and prosperity and peace to Israel, but to the whole world. The Rabbi had the right idea, because that is the purpose of Christ's return. He's going to be King of kings and Lord of lords. Yes, first and foremost over the nation of Israel, but to the whole world, not just Israel. Now here's where prophecy alludes to that here in Isaiah.

Isaiah 42:1
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: (upon the servant) he (the servant-Christ, the Messiah) shall bring forth judgment (or rule, government) to the Gentiles."
Well who's the servant? The Messiah, the Christ! But see Israel lost sight of this. But nevertheless in the divine purposes, God was going to use Israel as a nation of priests to bring all these Gentile nations to a knowledge of Himself, so that He wouldn't be just the King of Israel, but that He will one day rule and reign over the whole earth. This He has already started through the promise of Genesis 3:15 as our Redeemer. Through whom His Salvation will be operative within us.

Now the next verses are over in chapter 59 of this same Book. This is prophecy. This is all going to be out in the future from Isaiah's time, the last part of Psalm 2 verse 9 and continuing, it's still in the future from our time, but we feel we're getting awfully close. We just don't see an awful lot of time left. But then again the early mystics were saying the same thing, weren't they. If I were a Futurist and a Literalist this would be my reasoning but because I'm a "figurativist". I see things in a spiritual sense in other words in the Spirit as being now, the now of faith for faith is our substance and evidence of all things hoped for. For Christ is substance and substance is Christ, just as Christ is Faith and faith is Christ our evidence of all things.

Isaiah 59:20-21a
"And 'the Redeemer shall come to Zion, (Heavenly Jerusalem) and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob', saith the LORD. 'As for me, this is my covenant with them', saith the LORD;..."
Then the Lord repeats the then promised new covenant that is in Jeremiah 31:31 which he expresses, but now to complete the thought about Israel being a light to the Gentiles let's drop on down to Isaiah 60:1 but before we do listen to the rest of this verse:
LORD: "My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring," says the LORD, "from this time forth and forevermore." This is His doing and it started at Pentecost in Acts 2 when He returned as the Holy Spirit the revealer of all Truth to those who would receive and believe Him.
 
Isaiah 60:1-2
"Arise shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. (Now here we've got to watch our pronouns. Who is the thy to whom the LORD's glory is coming? Well the nation of Israel. And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you, Israel, the nation) For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, (a spiritual darkness, the reasoning of religion) and gross darkness the people: (Israel. And did it? Sure it did this is what Paul is calling a mystery in Romans 11:25 the hardness of heart caused by reasoning's religion) but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." Remember this is all future, but again, we're getting close.

Ephesians Lesson 17 of 39 part 8

Continuing with our thought:
We have to be careful saying that, because since we are now under Grace that doesn't give us a license. Come back to Romans chapter 13 for a moment. Just because we step into this Grace of God does not mean that we're free to do as we please, for after all God will wink at our sin. And after all we're in the blood, and we're more than just forgiven. You see this kind of thinking agrees with this Word. And if we understand the Greek here, it doesn't mean that you can't borrow money to buy a home, or car, but rather it means to defraud no one. Don't take advantage of someone and cheat him. 

Romans 13:8-9
"Owe (or defraud) no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." (that is the Ten Commandments! And Paul goes on to list them.) For this, (since love is now the key) Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shall not kill, Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Who in the world can do that, only but one, a believer? The unsaved world can't. Even those in the school of the Holy Spirits training can't as yet abide in this Law. For they have to pass through it before they can ever abide under it. As the yoke or heavy burden of it will then have passed away and the New Yoke of the Lord will have been accepted as we've learned of Him. They can try, but they will fall flat on their face before too long, but the believer, receiver is empowered to do that. We are empowered to Love our neighbor. We have the capability now to Love the neighbor because that is the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments and the beatitudes. In the Yoke of Love and this Gospel which is self sacrificing and self sustaining at the same time. Because its God.

Always remember the Law as Israel practiced it was always under the terrific threat of punishment if they broke them. We don't have to worry about death if we break the law for stealing. Does that mean we go ahead and steal? No way. We are still under those moral codes that the Holy Spirit empowers us to keep, but the basis for it is first to Hear and then to Love. After all what put Christ on the cross? His Love for the human race! He Loved us so much that He died for us, and that Love is supposed to be promulgated through us as believers, receivers in the everyday world. So as we enter into this complete freedom of Grace, that doesn't mean that we can be or remain lawless, but it's that the Ten Commandments with the beatitudes are not hanging over us like a noose or like a yoke, which the Scriptures says was too heavy to bear.

Moving into note book 18 with verse 16a.

Ephesians 2:16a
"And that he might reconcile both unto God,..."
Now we suppose the average Church or Bible based people probably wonder, "well what's the enmity that Paul is talking about when he says "that He might reconcile both unto God?" We're to realize that from day one, as soon as God separated the Hebrew from the Gentile there was enmity between the races. Just as there was enmity between God and man-kind as a whole (this also covered the Hebrews not just the gentiles or nations). Now let us take you all the way back to the Book of Exodus, chapter 11. And here the nation of Israel is getting ready to move out of Egypt, out of their slavery, and here again this is really the beginning of miracles so far as Israel was concerned. Just look at what it says.

Exodus 11:7
"But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: (anything that belongs to the nation of Israel) that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel."
You see a lot of people don't understand this difference. Did that difference ever stop? No! It carried all the way through. Now come on up to chapter 19, and now the children of Israel are gathered around Mount Sinai. Moses is up on the mount and is conversing with God, and he's going to be coming down with Ten Commandments before long. But look at the conversation between God and Moses. Let's begin with verse 3.

Exodus 19:3-4
"And Moses went up (that is up into Mount Sinai) unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, 'Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel (notice He did not say Abraham or Isaac because these were earthy people); Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.'"
Right there anybody who knows anything at all about the Old Testament, what happened to the Egyptians at the Red sea? They were drowned. What happened to Israel? They came through unscathed on the other side. What did God do? He put a difference between them. I mean He separated them but good. He even separated them from they're former root, Abraham because he and Isaac were of a totally different stock, they were righteous or spiritual because they trusted God they took Him at His Word. They did not question or doubt Him one iota. But this group or assembly does repeatedly throughout its history even until this very day. They've received to themselves the curse of Deuteronomy, the Law, the Psalms and Prophets and therefore God has given them a spirit of slumber or blindness, a familiar spirit. Paul calls it a mystery in:

Romans 11:25

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Now back to Exodus chapter 19 and verse 5:

Exodus 19:5

"'Now therefore, (because God has already shown how He can put a difference between Israel and the rest of the world, the cloud of fire by night and a shadowing cloud of darkness during the day) if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye (as a nation) shall be a peculiar treasure (something of tremendous value) unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:'"
Now, where does that put Israel? Just like it says. "above all people." What was that? Separating them. And of course Israel was very human, earthy and when they begin to realize that they were in an exalted position above all the other peoples of the earth, then they became bigoted. They got to the place that they just despised those uncircumcised Gentiles. Now we're not saying that God expected them to, but they did it because they were human. You know people still do that today. As soon as someone can get the upper hand over somebody, what do they usually do? They show how despicable they are. So the Hebrews came to that place where all through their history they are understanding that they were exalted in God's eyes, and these uncircumcised Gentiles meant nothing to them. So all of this had an effect on their whole outlook toward the non-Jewish world. This is what we see to-day in Islam, isn't it? Now reading on, and remember the whole idea of the Abrahamic Covenant, and being enlarged upon to Moses was what?