The LORD Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body of Christ. Therefore, the LORD Jesus Christ, and the members of His Body are, THE CHRIST. 1 Corinthians 12:12. True or False? Please take a moment to respond at

http://ping.fm/YcTsl

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 2-17-2012

Question: The Apostle Paul never preached Acts 2:38, or for that matter Mark 16:14-18, Acts 3:19-21, and Acts 10:34-35, to Gentiles in the Gospel of Grace message. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! When the disciples left Jerusalem they preached to Jews only. (Acts 11:19). When Peter used the Kingdom key with the household of Cornelius, he was MORE than criticized by the Christian Jews in Judea. (Acts 11:1-5). Then seven or eight years AFTER Pentecost they acknowledged that God sent repentance unto life to Cornelius, a God fearing, Jew loving, alms giving, praying, worshipping Gentile, whose prayers went up to heaven as a memorial before God. But surely we should know that the Apostle Paul never preached Acts 2:38, or for that matter Mark 16:14-18, Acts 3:19-21, and Acts 10:34-35 to Gentiles in the Gospel of Grace message. Out of the 767 responses we received to this question, 88.2% of you got it right! Therefore, NOW, let us take a look at,

Facts to Understand the Book of Acts, part 8 of 9

Now, let me make this PERFECTLY clear, NO Bible teacher is obeying, or can obey Ephesians 3:9, or can prove that the Body of Christ will not be in the Great Tribulation, who teaches that this present, Age and Dispensation of Grace, began with Peter and his Kingdom keys, and that the Apostle Paul went right on continuing with the ‘Kingdom’ message and program which the LORD Jesus Christ gave to the twelve Apostles. PAY ATTENTION, if Mark 16:17-18 are the credentials of a Christian, there are no Christians.

To teach that the saints who were with Christ before He died were ‘Kingdom’ saints and that they did not become members of the Body of Christ until AFTER the resurrection of Christ, when they were transferred, is sound doctrine. HOWEVER, the difficult task is to define the Kingdom of Heaven; for there are different aspects and phases of this Kingdom. To say that the Kingdom of Heaven is the prophesied Kingdom which will be established on this earth when the King returns to earth and then the laws of heaven will govern the people on earth is only a part of the whole truth; for the LORD told His Apostles and disciples that their names were written in heaven, and that suffering on earth would mean great reward in heaven. (Matthew 5:12; Luke 10:20). They would be rewarded at the resurrection of the just. (Luke 14:14). Now LISTEN, there are no tares in the Body of Christ, BUT, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a mixture of wheat and tares. (Matthew 13:24-30).

Ok, so, we should see that ‘the Kingdom of God,’ ‘the Kingdom of Heaven,’ and "the Church" (the Body of Christ) are all indefinite, and cannot be dogmatically taught to mean one particular group of people or program of God, with the Holy Spirit’s approval. ALSO, therefore, the anti-dispensationalists, who use Romans 2:28-29 and Romans 9:6-7 to support their teaching that the BODY OF CHRIST IS ISRAEL, wholly ignore Romans 11:25-33 and hundreds of other verses that refute their foolish theory, a lie from the Pit itself!

When the LORD directed the Apostle Paul to write that Christians, in this Age of Grace, should be of power and love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), he certainly stated a wonderful combination, which every Christian should desire and strive to maintain. The sound mind refers to sound doctrine and to rightly dividing the Word of truth. (2 Timothy 1:13; Titus 2:1; 2 Timothy 2:15). Those who claim to be members of the Body of Christ and that that Body is Israel might well apply to themselves Romans 11:25, even if they are not Jews. In this verse Israel is blind and Christians are entreated not to be ignorant.

Have you asked some of these confused ‘Israelites,’ to what redeemed company the antediluvian saints, from Abel to Noah, belonged? Surely they were not baptized into the Body of Christ, and will not be in that glorious presentation mentioned in Ephesians 5:26-32. Surely they were not promised all the land of Canaan, as were the descendants of Abraham.

How important it is that we get the over all picture of ‘THE KINGDOM OF GOD’ in the Bible, and see that the BODY OF CHRIST is a part, as is also ‘the Kingdom of the Heavens.’ How equally important it is to know that the keys of the Kingdom which The LORD Jesus Christ gave to the Apostle Peter were NOT to open the door to let Jews and Gentiles into the one joint-BODY of Christ, and because the Apostle Paul said he persecuted the Church of God (1 Corinthians 15:9; Philippians 3:6; Galatians 1:13), we are not to prove, contrary to sound doctrine, that Paul was persecuting the ONE BODY of Ephesians 4:4-5 and Romans 12:4-5. You all follow that? Saul persecuted Christian Jews saved BEFORE the risen LORD revealed God’s hidden secret purpose, before the FALL of Israel, at the time it was not lawful for the Apostles to go to Gentiles (except proselytes). (Acts 10:28, and Acts 2:10).

The LORD’s good pleasure was to give the Kingdom to the little flock. (Luke 12:32). The LORD would go into the far country to get the Kingdom and return; and Israel would send word, “we will not have This Man to reign over us.” (Luke 19:14). On the day of Pentecost God added to the Galileans, the one hundred and twenty of Acts 1:13-15, three thousand Jews and proselytes; devout Jews from every nation under heaven. (Acts 2:10, and Acts 2:5). Then they established a ‘Kingdom’ COMMUNISM. (Acts 2:44-45, and Acts 4:34-35). Even when the disciples left Jerusalem they preached to Jews only. (Acts 11:19). When Peter used the ‘Kingdom’ key with the household of Cornelius, he was MORE than criticized by the Christian Jews in Judea. (Acts 11:1-5). Then seven or eight years AFTER Pentecost they acknowledged that God sent repentance unto life to a God fearing, Jew loving, alms giving, praying, worshipping Gentile, whose prayers went up to heaven as a memorial before God. But surely we should know that the Apostle Paul never preached Acts 2:38, or for that matter Mark 16:14-18, Acts 3:19-21, and Acts 10:34-35 to Gentiles in the ‘Gospel of Grace’ message.

***

In Ephesians 1:13 the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul declares that men are saved and sealed by hearing and BELIEVING the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation. Therefore, here, now, is declared unto you the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation: "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. BELIEVE today. The time is short.

THE HOPE OF ISRAEL. Some months after the Apostle Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans he and the beloved physician Luke, after a very stormy and dangerous sea voyage, reached Rome. “And when we came to Rome.” (Acts 28:16). Paul was a prisoner. Paul called the chief of the Jews together, and said to them: “for THE HOPE OF ISRAEL I am bound with this chain.” (Acts 28:20). BUT LOOK, a few years later the Apostle Paul wrote, in Ephesians 6:19-20 and Colossians 4:3-4, that he was the prisoner of Jesus Christ for Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1-2) for the MYSTERY OF CHRIST.

Peter was a Jew and he wrote to other Jews, to Israelites who believed, that they had been begotten into a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:1-6). Their inheritance was reserved in heaven for them. Some were promised a crown when Christ appears. (1 Peter 5:4). John, who had been associated with Peter, wrote that those saved under his ministry should not be ashamed before Christ at His coming: that at Christ’s appearing they would be like Him; and this was their HOPE. (1 John 2:28-3:4). The Apostle Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 12:13, that believing Jews and believing Gentiles had been baptized into the Body of Christ, and told them of the ‘MYSTERY’ coming of Christ to change the bodies of the members of that BODY OF CHRIST to bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:51-54). To the Corinthians, Paul wrote that the resurrection of both Christ and Christians was their hope. (1 Corinthians 15:19-26). The resurrection of Christ was a part of the gospel by which they were saved. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

In 1 Corinthians 12:12 the Apostle Paul wrote that the LORD Jesus Christ, and the members of His Body were…THE CHRIST. Read that last sentence a few times, and let it really sink in!

The Jews at Jerusalem would not believe 1 Corinthians 15:4, that the LORD Jesus Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; that is, in fulfillment of the prophecies of Moses and others. They rejected the sign of Jonah and Christ. (Matthew 12:40). Hear this plain, simple testimony of the Apostle Paul when he was arrested in Jerusalem, “of the HOPE and resurrection of the dead am I called in question.” (Acts 23:6). Again, in Acts 24:16, “And have HOPE toward God, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” And again in Acts 24:21, “Touching the resurrection I am called in question.” Note again Acts 26:6-8. When Paul uttered the words of Acts 26:22, “none other things,” he was NOT referring to the UNprophesied truth of Romans 11:30-31, Romans 11:25, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, and certainly Paul did not intend that Agrippa or any other person should believe that Moses and the prophets foretold that Jews and Gentiles would be baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, which was God’s program during Paul’s ‘ACTS’ ministry.

The Apostle Paul did not preach, after Acts 13:16, that believing Jews were begotten into the HOPE of being planted in the land of Canaan under the reign of Christ as King and Messiah on the throne of David. This HOPE OF ISRAEL is going to be realized in fulfillment of many, many prophesies; but NOT during the period that Almighty God is baptizing Jews and Gentiles into the ONE BODY of 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, to make the ONE NEW MAN of Ephesians 2:15. God will yet have a NEW ISRAEL (Isaiah 62:1-4), but NOT until He has completed the ONE NEW MAN, the filling up of Him that filleth all in all; ‘THE CHRIST’ of 1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 1:21-23; Ephesians 4:13.

God postponed the program concerning the Prophesied kingdom HOPE OF ISRAEL before Barnabas and Paul were sent forth in Acts 13:2. Israel will remain the outcast nation until God has accomplished His eternal, UNprophesied purpose, which is the JOINT BODY of Ephesians 3:6, and the presentation of Ephesians 5:26-28: Christ and the Church ONE FLESH. (Ephesians 5:31-32). Then God will do all promised in Romans 11:26-29, and Luke 21:27-33, and Acts 3:19, and Amos 9:11-15, and Ezekiel 36:24-38. The fulfillment of these Scriptures will indeed be the HOPE OF ISRAEL. But the BLESSED HOPE of Titus 2:13 is even a greater hope, and any Jew or Gentile who will receive Christ, and meet God at Calvary’s cross may experience this HOPE. The Body of Christ is included in the overall ‘Kingdom of God’ (Colossians 1:13; Ephesians 5:5), but ISRAEL’s hope is a different Phase of the Kingdom of God. (Luke 21:27-33).

Surely we have in Acts 2:5 to Acts 7:60 something of the meaning of Christ’s words in Luke 19:12-14, “A certain Nobleman went into a far country to receive a kingdom for Himself and to return…The citizens hated Him and sent a message after Him. saying, we will not have THIS MAN to reign over us.” The messages of Peter and the Eleven, and Stephen, were concerning the Nobleman. The Apostle Peter said, in Acts 5:29-32, that God RAISED UP Christ twice to be Israel’s Savior. In Acts 3:19-21 Peter told Israel that the heavens would receive Christ until the prophesied RESTITUTION. He called on Israel to repent. Peter told Israel why the Holy Spirit was sent: to witness that God has RAISED UP Christ in resurrection, to be Israel’s Prince and Savior to give them repentance and forgiveness of sins. This verse must be understood (Acts 5:32) to know God’s programs. Then, Stephen preached to Israel that he saw the Son of man standing in heaven; but that they were resisting the Holy Spirit at the time he was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 7:51-60). They stoned Stephen, as Israel would not receive the testimony of the twelve apostles or of Stephen or of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 5:31-32). They would not have THIS MAN to reign over them. They had already said, “we have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15). After Israel stoned Stephen to death, Israel was headed for the judgment of Matthew 22:7, in which, that awful destruction by Caesar’s army would be God’s army to kill the murderers of His Son.

The LORD Jesus Christ on the cross prayed for His murderers (Luke 23:34) and God was willing to charge their crime to ignorance, if they would repent. (Acts 3:12-21). Read Acts 3:17. But Israel added to their other sins, the sin of resisting and blaspheming the Holy Spirit and forbidding the Apostles to preach to Gentiles. The wrath of God came upon them unto the uttermost. (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16; Acts 13:45; Acts 18:5). It is interesting to compare the Apostle Peter’s message of Acts 3:19-21 to Israel, with the Apostle Paul’s message to Israel in Acts 13:39, complete justification by faith without the law, and then note why and when Israel stumbled and fell (Romans 9:29-33); and what Israel’s FALL, temporarily, meant for the rest of the world. (Romans 11:11-15).

***

In Ephesians 1:13 the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul declares that men are saved and sealed by hearing and BELIEVING the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation. Therefore, here, now, is declared unto you the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation: "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. BELIEVE today. The time is short.