The Pentecost message of the Apostle Peter was the Gospel of the Grace of God for Gentiles. True or False? Take a moment to respond at

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And now the answer to the LLM Question of 3-22-2012

Question: The Gospel, which the Apostle Paul called MY GOSPEL, Romans 2:16, is called the Gospel of Glory. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! In 1 Timothy 1:11-14 we have from the Holy Spirit, through the pen and heart of Paul, “according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust”, “Christ Jesus counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.”, “and the Grace of our LORD was exceeding abundant.” Also in 2 Cor. 4:4 the Gospel, which the Apostle Paul called ‘MY GOSPEL’ (Romans 2:16) , is called the Gospel of Glory. (Romans 16:25). Now, out of the 714 responses we received to this question, 66.7% of you got it right! We can do better!! Therefore, NOW, let us take a look at,

The Grace of God, part 4 of 9

THE MYSTERY DISPENSATION IS BY DIRECT REVELATION

Perhaps every saved person really needs to receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, to have the eyes of his understanding so enlightened (Ephesians 1:15-17) that he can understand the meaning of “the Dispensation of Grace” of Ephesians 3:1-3, called “the Dispensation of the Mystery” in Ephesians 3:9.

The Greek word translated ‘Dispensation’ is, in Luke 16:2, ‘stewardship’. The apostle Paul was the LORD’s steward. He was Christ’s faithful steward of the Mysteries of God. (1 Corinthians 4:1-4). Every minister of Christ should be. The Apostle Paul testified, in 1 Corinthians 9:17, “a stewardship is committed unto me.” As we read Paul’s testimony in 1 Corinthians 3:10, we must surely believe that, so far as the Grace Gospel and Dispensation for Gentiles is concerned, Paul was Christ’s ‘chief steward’. He magnified his office as the apostle to the Gentiles. (Romans 11:13, 1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11).

God called the Apostle Paul, by His Grace, to reveal His Son in Paul, that Paul might preach Him among the Gentiles. (Galatians 1:15-16).

In 2 Timothy 1:12, the Apostle Paul spoke of his ‘deposit’. Paul suffered as an evil‑doer in jail, for Christ and the Gentiles. (Ephesians 3:1, Ephesians 6:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:8-9, and Colossians 4:3-4).

Why was the ‘Dispensation’ or ‘Stewardship’ or ‘Administration’ of the Grace of God for Gentiles called “the Dispensation of the Mystery’ from the beginning of the world ‘hid in God’? (Ephesians 3:9). Why did the omniscient God wait so long before He revealed the two great mysteries of Romans 11:25 and Ephesians 3:1 and Colossians 1:24-26, “a blindness in part to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in”, “the dispensation of the Grace of God for Gentiles”, “the secret hid from ages and from generation.”

Note why, in 2 Corinthians 12:4-11, God permitted Paul to suffer with a thorn in the flesh, “lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelations.” Little wonder that Paul testified that he was less than the least of all saints, so that he might by the Grace given to him preach the unsearchable riches of Christ among the Gentiles. (Ephesians 3:8).

By the pen of the Apostle Paul justified saints are instructed, in Romans 16:25, how to be established, “by Paul’s Gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery from the beginning of the world kept secret.”

THE GRACE OF GOD HATH APPEARED

In Titus 2:11 we read that the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. When did the Grace of God appear to all men? Did not the Grace of God appear to men years, even centuries, before the Apostle Paul testified (some twenty-five years after the death of Christ), “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’?” (Acts 20:24). It was by a special revelation from the RISEN, Glorified Christ that the Apostle Paul received the ‘Grace’ Gospel and ‘the Dispensation of the Grace of God’. Galatians 1:11-12 and Ephesians 3:1-3.

In 1 Timothy 1:11-14 we have another testimony from the pen and heart of Paul, “according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust” “Christ Jesus counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.”, “and the Grace of our LORD was exceeding abundant.” Also in 2 Cor. 4:4 the Gospel, which the Apostle Paul called ‘MY GOSPEL’ (Romans 2:16) , is called the Gospel of Glory. (Romans 16:25).

Thus we see that the RISEN, Glorified Christ, by very special revelations, sent the Apostle Paul forth with ‘the Gospel of Grace’, ‘the Gospel of Glory’.

As we compare the ministry of the Apostle Peter and the Eleven in the Book of Acts with that of the Apostle Paul, we find some real DIFFERENCES between the Gospel which the Twelve preached and the Gospel of Grace which Paul preached to the Gentiles. However some years later it was the apostle Peter who called God, “THE GOD OF ALL GRACE.” (1 Peter 5:10). It was the apostle Peter who wrote that Christ’s servants are stewards of the manifold Grace of God, who wrote of the ‘TRUE GRACE’ wherein ye stand. (1 Peter 4:10, and 1 Peter 5:12). “Heirs together of ‘the Grace of life’.” (1 Peter 3:7).

NOW, DIVINE GRACE DID NOT BEGIN WITH PETER AND PAUL

In Psalm 84:11 we read, “the LORD will give Grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” In Proverbs 3:34 we read that the LORD giveth Grace unto the lowly. This is confirmed in James 4:6 and in 1 Peter 5:5.

In referring to God’s chosen nation, Israel, their past and future, we read, in Jeremiah 31:2, “the people, which were left of the sword, ‘found Grace in the wilderness’.” Surely Divine Grace was needed, and will again be needed ‘in the wilderness’. What about the present day wilderness? With the very large majority of human beings today, God’s Grace is not only unused, but it is unwanted. Thousands upon thousands of religious church members prefer their religious doings to the ‘much more’, ‘over-abounding’ Grace of the God of all Grace. Lost religious sinners and other lost sinners obviously are not counting the cost, the folly and tragedy of despising or rejecting God’s saving Grace. Here is God’s word to these foolish, condemned children of Adam, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God: for we know Him that hath said,” “Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the LORD.” (Hebrews 10:28-33).

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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.

In Genesis 6:8, we read...BUT Noah found Grace in the eyes of the LORD..., If you will read the verses immediately preceding Genesis 6:8, you will catch more of the significance of the word ‘BUT’. “The wickedness of man was great on the earth”, “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” “The LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created.” God gave those who lived in the days of Noah fair warning of the awful judgment that was awaiting them. His warning went unheeded. Saving Grace was available. Noah found that Grace. This present age and dispensation of Grace will end very suddenly. Then, according to the declaration of the LORD Jesus Christ, “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.” (Luke 17:26).

The human heart is desperately wicked and deceitful, as God has stated in His Book. (Jeremiah 17:9.) In this age of rationalism and materialism and satanic counterfeit religions the spirit of apathetic indifference, with respect to salvation from the wrath of God, seems to be in control of the great majority of the children of Adam. This age is rightly described, in Galatians 1:4, as “this present evil age.” Satan, the great deceiver, is truly ‘the god of this age’.

In the midst of the present day disgraceful ‘sectarianism’, ‘ritualism’, ‘modernism’ and ‘fanaticism’, many religious church members, and millions of sinners not in the churches, willfully and intentionally reject God’s ‘Grace’ salvation.

Other sincere, zealous, religious people, in large numbers, seem to be either ignorant or afraid of the Grace of God. Many of them are willing to receive a limited amount of Divine Grace mixed in with their religious sacraments, carnal ordinances, water salvation (baptism), signs and visions; but they fear and tremble when asked to believe 2 Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 3:24-28, “God Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling; not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”, “By Grace were ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.”, “Being justified ‘freely’ (without a cause) by God’s Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” So, again I ask the question:

HOW MUCH GRACE IS TOO MUCH GRACE?

The willful, intentional enemies of the Grace of God, as well as the confused, ignorant, zealous, religious out people, who cherish a perverted Gospel, charge the messengers of the LORD, who preach the unmixed Gospel of Grace, with preaching too much Grace. Rather than go forward to the ‘all Grace’ message and program, which the RISEN Glorified Christ gave to the human race through the Apostle Paul, THEIR slogan is “Back to Pentecost” or “back to Jesus and the Synoptic Gospels.”

The Modernists much prefer the moral and law and religious teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in the Sermon on the Mount and the Golden Rule to the message of Act 13:39 and Romans 3:24-26, justification by God’s Grace through the Faith in the crucified, resurrected and glorified, eternal, sinless, omnipotent Christ. They are more interested in a program of religion education to educate sinners into salvation than in teaching the virgin birth and eternal Deity of the LORD Jesus Christ, His vicarious suffering on the cross, His bodily resurrection, His ascension and His present work for saints as Advocate in the presence of our Heavenly Father. (Hebrews 7:25-9:24)

The religious people, who want the Jesus they preach to be a HELPER instead of a Savior, want to feel that they really deserve and earn God’s favor by practicing the ethics of Jesus. They belong to the “DO IT YOURSELF” Society. They of course must think that the Apostle Paul taught error when he taught, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according, to God’s mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration…being justified by God’s Grace.” (Titus 3:5-8). They prefer to earn forgiveness of sins, by their work of forgiving others, according to Matthew 6:14-15 and Matthew 18:34-35, rather than to believe and accept the truth of Colossians 2:13 and Ephesians 4:32, and know that by the Gospel of Grace the believer has all of His sins forgiven, for Christ’s sake.

The “ritualists”, and ‘back to Pentecost’ religious church members, prefer the message of John the Baptist and the message of the Apostle Peter to Israel on the day of Pentecost, “baptism unto repentance for the remission of sins,” to the Grace Gospel which we quoted from Titus 3:5-8. When Peter and the Eleven preached the Kingdom Gospel to Israel on the day of Pentecost the risen LORD had not yet revealed His Grace Gospel for Gentiles when and because of the temporary FALL of Israel. (Romans 11:11).

The Apostle Peter’s Pentecost message was NOT ‘the Gospel of the Grace of God’ for Gentiles.

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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.