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Good evening, welcome to our service this night here at Faith Ward Baptist Church. It's very good to see you all here on this Sunday night. Let's all find our seats, please, and take your songbooks, we'll be in with our congregational singing this evening. Let's go to hymn number 134 to begin, number 134. My anchor holds number 134, let's sing it out nice and loud together, starting on that first verse. The angry surges roll, hymn number 134, sing the parts if you know them. Though the angry surges roll, on my tender streaming soul, I am peaceful for I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I it out together on that first verse. Hymn number 63. What a day a glorious day that will be, what a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land, what a day a glorious day that will be. There'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no pain, no more verdict over there, and forever I will be when the one who died for me, what a day a glorious day that will be. What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day a glorious day that will be. And a great singing tonight. Alright, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Ezekiel chapter number 31. We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms. Congratulations to the Noble family on the birth of baby Giovanni. And thank you to everyone who participated with the San Diego Soul Winning Marathon, 85 people out soul winning and 33 salvations. And then the weekly singing class has resumed every Sunday at 5 o'clock. On the back we've got the preaching class every Tuesday night at 7. If you want to participate, show up having prepared a five minute sermon. No spectators are allowed, meaning we don't want people coming just to hear the preaching. But rather only those who are actually participating in the class, meaning that you're prepared with the sermon to preach. And that is every Tuesday night. You can see brother Segura for more details on that. And then keep praying for the ladies that are expecting. And then we've been doing this series of soul winning marathons that just started yesterday with the one in San Diego. And there are going to be a bunch more of these. The next one is this coming Saturday in El Paso, Texas. And as I mentioned this morning, El Paso is closer than you think. It's actually closer than L.A. It's closer than San Diego. So just because it has Texas in the name doesn't mean that it's far. Because actually if you look at a map, you know, you have New Mexico. Like this is New Mexico. El Paso is like halfway into New Mexico basically because it kind of like sneaks under New Mexico. And so going from El Paso to Dallas is like way further than going from El Paso to Phoenix. So you can get to El Paso and like don't quote me on this but I want to say it's like five, five and a half hours. I mean it's much closer than you think. And so in fact they're on New Mexico's time zone because they're so far west. So anyway that's available if you want to participate in that or if you know anybody in that region. Be sure to let them know about it. See brother Daniel Reiter up front here for more details about that. And then other upcoming events are there listed for April and that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning for the past few days. So going back to Thursday, anything from Thursday? Okay. Anything else from Thursday? What about Friday? Anything from Friday? How about Saturday? Okay and this is outside of the event because obviously we'll put down you know the 33 from the event. But anything else outside of the event on Saturday? And then what about today Sunday? Okay. Four for the main group of brother Scott. Another one here. Okay gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Anything else from today? Got it. Okay and all right very good. With that let's sing our next song. Come lead us. All right turn your song books to number 183. 183, Oh How I Love Jesus. Hymn number 183. We'll start on that first verse. There is a name I love to hear. Hymn number 183. Let's sing it out together. Number 183. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing its worth. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. It tells me of the Savior's love who died to set me free. It tells me of this precious blood, the sinner's birth between. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. It tells me of my Father and I in store for every day. And though I tread a dark sun path, he'll sunshine all the way. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. It tells me of the Father and I in store for every day. And though I tread a dark sun path, he'll sunshine all the way. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Oh how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. Write on my heart every word number 232. Let's sing it on this first verse together. Hymn number 232. Tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story of precious sweetest ever to serve. Tell of the angels and for the rest. Sing as they welcomed his birth. Looking to God in the highest peace and good tidings to earth. Tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story of precious sweetest ever to serve. Fasting alone in the desert. Tell of the days that have passed. How for our sins he was handed. Yet for true love he did not. Tell of the angels. Fasting alone in the desert. Tell of the days that have passed. How for our sins he was handed. Yet for true love he did not. Tell of the years of his labor. Tell of the sorrow he bore. He was despised and afflicted, hopeless, rejected and poor. Tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story of precious sweetest ever to serve. Tell of the cross where they built him. Riding in anguish and pain. Tell of the grave where they laid him. Tell of the kingdom again. Love made that story so tender, clearer than ever I see. Stayed lightly, weep while he whispered. Love made your hand so holy. Tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story of precious sweetest ever to serve. All right, this time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Ephesians chapter number three. Ephesians chapter number three, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number one. Follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads Ephesians chapter three, starting in verse number one. Ephesians chapter three, the Bible reads, For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you, word, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel. Whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power, unto me, whom less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Christ Jesus, to the intent that now under the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore I desire that ye fate not at my tribulations for you which is your glory, for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Dear Father in heaven, please fill the pastor's spirit and may we all receive wisdom from the sermon today and be identified. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Man, the title of my sermon tonight is The Dispensation of the Grace of God. The Dispensation of the Grace of God. Now there's a false teaching out there known as dispensationalism. And this idea of dispensationalism is based on this word dispensation that occurs a few times in the New Testament. In fact, it only occurs four times in the New Testament. It's not a hard word to understand, but this word has been perverted in its meaning and corrupted into meaning something that it was never intended to mean. So the word dispensation just literally means what you would expect it to mean if you know what the word dispense means, right? So if I talked about dispensing something like, for example, a soap dispenser, right? What is a soap dispenser? It is something that delivers soap. It distributes soap. It gives out soap. A PEZ dispenser is going to give me PEZ, right? Any kind of dispenser, if you can understand that, then you can understand this word dispensation because dispensation is giving out or distributing or doling out. Another similar word that's found in the New Testament is the word stewardship, which has to do with being in charge of something, being entrusted with something, and then you decide, you know, how it is spent or how it is doled out. That's what it means, this word dispensation. It's not hard to understand at all. Go if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Now, the false teaching that's out there is that dispensations are periods of time like eras or epochs, and sometimes this definition has even made its way into the dictionary. Because the thing about the dictionary is the dictionary is just reflecting the reality of how people use a word. So if people use a word wrong for long enough, then eventually that just becomes one of the definitions because definitions in the dictionary are based upon usage, okay? And so sometimes even dictionaries, if you go down to definition 3, 4, 5, they'll say something like, oh, it's a period of time where God is dealing with people in a certain way or whatever. And this idea of dispensationalism is foreign to scripture. Just because the word dispensation is in the Bible doesn't mean dispensationalism is in the Bible, okay? For example, you know, the Bible says presbytery, but I'm not Presbyterian, okay? The Bible says Nazarene, that doesn't make us Nazarenes. The Bible says Church of Christ, it doesn't mean that we should join the Church of Christ, okay? Because people can name something after something in the Bible, but that doesn't make it so. Now, what's wrong with dispensationalism? Well, dispensationalism is all based upon this idea that there's a dispensation of grace. That's where this all comes from because as I'm going to show you in the Bible, the word dispensation is only used four times. Now, they say there are seven dispensations, but the word's only used four times. And the only dispensation that they have a name for that's in the Bible is the dispensation of grace. Well, here's the problem with the dispensation of grace being a period of time, is that all periods of time are the dispensation of grace because God's grace is something that is in all ages. So this is what they'll say, well, we're living in the age of grace, or we're living in the dispensation of grace. But right there, you've already failed just by making that statement because of the fact that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Because of the fact that Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. You see, Abraham was saved by grace through faith. David was saved by grace through faith. The Bible clearly spells this out in Romans chapter four, when it says, Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works. So people have always been saved by grace through faith. It's never been by works. And whenever people think that they were saved by works in the Old Testament, I always want them to explain to me, if a filthy rag can't save me now, how can a filthy rag save anybody back then? Because all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And so if a filthy rag can't do it now, how could a filthy rag have done it back then? It's absurd. So the true dispensational teaching revolves around this idea of different modes of salvation in different periods. So right now we're saved by grace, but in the past we weren't, and in the future other people will be saved some other way. But we're living in the dispensation of grace, we're living in the age of grace. Now amongst independent fundamental Baptists, the vast majority of them don't believe that. But yet they'll call themselves dispensational. They'll say, we're dispensational, we're dispensationalist, but they say that they only believe in one salvation in all ages, that it's always been by grace through faith. Well, amen, I'm glad they got that right. But the problem is they're taking this corrupt teaching that teaches salvation differently in different ages, and what they're doing is they're sanitizing it and then using it as their doctrine. The whole thing just needs to be thrown in the trash. Okay, do you see what I'm saying? I'm not expressing myself perfectly, but what I'm trying to say is that this doctrine started out as a thing of dispensation of grace versus other dispensations where you're not saved by grace, and then what they're doing is like watering it down, like, well, we're not going to go that far, but let's take all the stuff about dispensationalism we like. Really, the whole idea of dispensationalism was never in the Bible and should just be thrown in the garbage, and we shouldn't try to salvage part of it and be like a quasi-dispensationalist. We should just totally get rid of it because it's totally unbiblical. Now let's see this word in the Bible and see what it actually means. 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 16, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Verse 17, For if I do this thing willingly I have a reward, but if against my will a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. Now again, dispensation has to do with giving out or doling out. He's saying, look, I don't have a choice to decide, hmm, am I going to share the gospel or not? Should I be a preacher of the gospel or not? Should I evangelize or not? He said, no, no, no, necessity is laid upon me, he said in verse 16. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Like, I'm busted if I don't preach the gospel. I have been entrusted with this dispensation of the gospel. God isn't giving me a choice here. God told me, you're going to preach the gospel, Paul. This is what you're going to do. And I better do it or I'm busted. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. So when he says a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me, what he's saying is that the responsibility of dispensing the gospel, of distributing the gospel, is committed unto him. If we compare verse 16 to verse 17, what is parallel with dispensation of the gospel? Preaching the gospel. By preaching the gospel, you are dispensing the gospel, right? Pretty easy to understand. Now, this is the first time we see the word dispensation in Scripture. And right there, we can see the definition of it is the standard definition that we would expect. So it's nothing hard to understand. Now, go through Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three is the Scripture where they get this idea of the dispensation of grace. Ephesians chapter number three uses that term, and I'm going to show you from the context what it's actually saying. And it's going to be consistent with what we just saw in First Corinthians nine. Look at Ephesians chapter three, verse one. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which has given me to you word. Now remember, in First Corinthians chapter nine, he used the wording, the dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. Here he says, the dispensation of the grace of God is given unto me, which is another way of saying the same thing, right? So he's been committed or given this dispensation of the grace of God to you word. So who am I going to distribute it to? Who am I going to dispense it to? It's been committed to me so I can dispense it to you, meaning the Gentiles, right? Because he's talking to the Ephesians. How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote a four and few words whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirits, by the spirit that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual work of his power. That's kind of a mouthful. It's kind of a long sentence with a parenthesis stuck in there. So let's kind of boil this down and see what he's saying here. He says in verse number seven, whereof I was made a minister. Now the whereof is pointing to the gospel. So he says the gospel at the end of verse six, whereof I was made a minister, okay? So here's the thing. The dispensation of the grace of God is committed unto Paul toward the Gentiles because he's made a minister of the gospel, giving them this message of the good news, verse six, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. That's the message. That's the mystery that in the past was not understood and not known, but now at this time it's made manifest. Now it's clear that that's what God is doing. Now, again, dispensation here when it says dispensation of the grace of God is not saying that this is the period of time of grace because there was grace before that and there's going to be grace after that. There's always been salvation by grace. It can't mean that. Instead, it just means a giving out of the grace of God by preaching the gospel and preaching that message of God's grace and dispensing that information of the mystery, okay? Now here in Ephesians chapter three, he talks about the fact that it's this mystery that was not known in past ages. You know, people in the past didn't really understand, verse six, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. You know, that kind of came as a surprise to a lot of people in the New Testament that the Gentiles will be brought into the fold. Now obviously in the past, Gentiles could be saved. In the Old Testament, Gentiles get saved. The Bible records various Gentiles believing on the Lord and calling upon the name of the Lord and, you know, you think of Nahum and the Syrian, but you can think of lots of other examples as well. So it's not that Gentiles didn't get saved in the Old Testament, but rather they were not part of the same body in the Old Testament. You see what the Bible says there in verse number six, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, okay? That's the thing that is surprising, because in the Old Testament you have this dichotomy between the nation of Israel and the Gentiles. You've got the Jews and the Gentiles and they're two separate distinct groups, but according to Ephesians chapter two, we've both been made one in Christ Jesus. According to Ephesians chapter two, God has broken down the middle wall of partition between us and that we Gentiles who in the past were aliens of the commonwealth of Israel, we were strangers and foreigners, now we've been brought nigh by the blood of Christ and the Bible says we are now fellow citizens with the saints. So I am a citizen of Israel, according to Ephesians chapter two. You are a citizen of Israel. We have been made fellow citizens. We've been naturalized into Israel, whereas in time past there was this wall of partition between us, Jews, Gentiles. Now in the Old Testament, Gentiles could get saved, but in order to be part of the nation of Israel, to actually be one of the chosen people, they had to actually join the nation of Israel. And to join the nation of Israel, they had to be circumcised and keep the Passover and join. Now again, they could be saved just by believing. I mean, Naaman the Syrian believed. He's in heaven right now. He never joined the nation of Israel. He didn't get circumcised. He wasn't one of the chosen people. He wasn't an Israelite. He wasn't a Jew, but he still was saved. Whereas in the New Testament, being saved and being the chosen people are the same thing, in the New Testament everyone who is saved is one of the chosen people. Circumcised or uncircumcised, Jew or Gentile, it makes no difference because we've been brought nigh by the blood of Christ and that God has made the Gentiles, verse 6, fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel. And what's interesting is it says in verse number 9, to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So what is he saying here? Verse 11 the Bible is saying that this idea of the Gentiles being in one body with the Jews and that us all being together as a body of Christ in the local church whether we be Jew or Gentile, this is not an afterthought with God, but this is an eternal purpose that he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So long before this was ever made known, according to verse 9, even from the beginning of the world, God had this in mind, where he's going to bring the Gentiles into the fold and there's going to be one shepherd and there's going to be one flock and his house is going to be a house of prayer for all nations. This was always the plan, but the Bible says that in the past that plan was hidden. Right? It was hid in the past, but now it's made manifest. Manifest means that it's open, it's exposed, it's obvious, anybody can see it. You know, sometimes I wish it were a little more obvious to some of these dispensationalists, but according to the Bible it should be obvious. I mean if the Bible says it's manifest, that means it's obvious, it's apparent, it's something that we should all be able to see. Shame on you if you can't see this when God says it's manifest, when God says that it's been revealed. It's no longer a mystery because the Apostle Paul has made this known and explained to us in Ephesians 2 and 3 that the Gentiles are one fold, one body with the Jews. That's what the Bible is saying here. Now, again, the teachings of dispensationalism are that oh, there's different modes of salvation at different times, dispensation of grace, dispensation of the law. Folks, the law can never save anyone. It's not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins. There's always a shadow of things to come. A filthy rag never saved anyone. So then the modern independent fundamental Baptists come along and say, well, we're not saying different modes of salvation, you know, but, you know, it's just different ways that God deals with humans and so, you know, in the Old Testament, he's dealing with the Jews and the nation of Israel and in the New Testament, he's dealing with the church and then in the tribulation, he's going to go back to dealing with the Jews. That's a different dispensation. But, folks, this is not what the word dispensation even means. Number one, you're using the wrong word because if you, once you throw out the dispensation of grace, there's no more dispensation mentioned in scripture as being a period of time. Once you realize the dispensation of grace means giving out grace, just like dispensation of the gospel, once you realize that, there's nothing left. So why are you hanging on to that term? Get rid of that term. And I've heard these dispensational say like, well, I don't see you offering an animal sacrifice, so you must be a dispensationalist. Well, here's the thing, I don't need to be a dispensationalist because here's all I need is just two testaments. Why do I need seven dispensations? All I need is two testaments. No, I believe in an Old Testament and a New Testament. That's it. That's all I need. Old Covenant, New Covenant. That's what we need. We don't need seven dispensations. Here's the problem with dispensationalism, okay? The problem with dispensationalism is that it says that we're basically going to move backwards in God's plan. So in the Bible, God's plan is moving forward, where basically we go from in the Old Testament, he's dealing with one specific nation, the nation of Israel, other people can be saved, but Israel are his chosen people. Then in the New Testament, he opens that up and says, hey, I'm bringing the Gentiles into the fold, it's going to be one flock, one body, I'm breaking down the middle wall of partition, and you guys are fellow citizens, and there's neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ. Folks, that doesn't get repealed. It's not like, all right, let's rebuild that wall of partition. Folks, no. He broke down the wall of partition between us. He broke down the enmity. He brought us nigh. He's not going to turn around and say, okay, now you Gentiles go far away again. Let's build that wall again. That's what dispensationalism is in a nutshell. If you don't understand anything else, or if you don't take anything else away from the sermon, just realize this. Dispensationalism is the teaching that says that we're on a program in the New Testament, and that later we're going to revert back to an Old Testament type program. And that just simply isn't true, my friend. God's plan is moving forward. And he's not going to re-institute division between the Jews and the Gentiles in the future. It's stupid. He broke down the wall of partition between us. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. We're not going back to that. That doesn't make any sense. And that's what dispensationalism is teaching. So even if they don't buy into the heresy of different salvation in different times, the wrong thing about this doctrine is teaching that somehow God's going to revert back to where it's no longer the church but it's going to be Israel again. Okay? That's a false teaching. Now the Bible talks about in Ephesians 3 here, it talks about there being various ages. And those aren't formal divisions of time. It's just talking about ages like periods of time. Just, you know, past ages, coming ages, the age that we're living in right now. Those are not formal divisions of time but they're just ages or periods of time. But notice what the Bible says in verse 21 of chapter 3. It says, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Now, when these independent fundamental Baptists want to hang on to dispensationalism and say like, well, we're not saying dispensation of grace because we know salvation's always been by grace but, you know, we don't want to call it the age of grace so here's what they'll say. We're living in the church age. So you've probably heard this term a lot, you know, the church age. We're living now in the church age. The problem with that term, the church age, is that it implies that eventually that age is going to come to an end. And in reality, that age will never come to an end because what does the Bible say right in front of you there in Ephesians? It says, glory in the church throughout all ages, world without end. That means there's never going to come a time in the future where we stop being in the church age, which means that this term becomes meaningless, the church age, because if every age is the church age, then there's no church age. Just like if every age is the age of grace, there's no age of grace. So all of this doctrine falls apart when you actually shine the light of Scripture upon it. Okay. Also, the problem is that the Bible even calls Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness the church in the wilderness. That's what the Bible says. Moses was with the church in the wilderness. And in fact, Jesus talks about the church as already existing in Matthew 16. And so I believe that the first New Testament church is Jesus Christ and his disciples, right? That's basically the proto-church. And then basically when Jesus Christ dies on the cross, then the New Testament begins, and that group of people that Jesus put together of the apostles and his disciples and so forth you know, that's the first church. And so that group of people is a New Testament church. After Jesus dies on the cross, they're a New Testament church at that point, right? So when they're gathered together in Acts chapter 1, you have an assembly of people. You've got a bunch of born-again baptized believers. In Acts chapter 1, 120 people gathered together in the upper room, and it's the New Testament because Jesus has died. That's the New Testament church. Now, a lot of these dismissations will teach, well, the church starts at Pentecost. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says at Pentecost they were added to the church. Right? 3,000 people are added to the church at Pentecost, but the church is already in existence in chapter 1. Jesus is the one who founded the first church. He put together that assembly of believers. He had that following where he's the first pastor of that church, and then it became a New Testament church. As soon as the New Testament starts, which is when Jesus died on the cross, and it's a New Testament church. It didn't have to wait until Pentecost to start. But you also have an Old Testament church because you have Moses with the church in the wilderness. You have the tabernacle of the congregation. And so the church is a phenomenon that occurs in all ages, and so there's not going to be an end of the churches where the church age ends, and God's going to go back to dealing with Israel. Wrong. It's the church in all ages. It's the church from here on out, buddy, because it's just the church. Okay? Not the church age. Just the church. In all ages. World without end. Amen. So let's back up a little bit to Ephesians chapter 1 because I want to show you all four mentions in scripture of this word dispensation. And I hope that the sermon's making sense to you this evening. Maybe you've never even been exposed to dispensationalism. Then consider yourself lucky that you haven't been tainted with this foolish doctrine. But if you have been, then you need to understand, you know, what's wrong with it and why we don't believe in it. Number one, the reason we don't believe in it is because it comes from a wicked source. It comes from a source that's teaching different salvation at different times. And here's my thing about that. When somebody tells me that salvation was by works in the Old Testament but by faith in the New Testament, you know what that makes me think? It makes me think that person doesn't even understand salvation. It makes me wonder if they're even saved. Because I'm thinking, how can you be saved and think that people got saved by works in the Old Testament? You must think that works is some kind of a valid way of achieving salvation at some point. So I guess you don't understand that works are a filthy rat. In the eyes of a holy God. Because all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Like, how can you not get that? And so I'm not saying that anyone who believes that isn't saved, but I'm saying that I strongly doubt the salvation of anyone who believes that. Maybe if they're just a new believer and they're a little confused, but when a pastor gets up and starts preaching that people were saved by their own deeds in the Old Testament, you know, I'm just going to assume that that pastor isn't saved. Because he thinks that works salvation is possible. Well, you know, not right now. So like, you used to be able to be saved by works. But then Jesus died on the cross so your works can't save you anymore. If my works could save me before Jesus died, so Jesus died on the cross to make works less effective? No, he died on the cross because works were never effective. Because works could never save anyone. Because animal sacrifices could never save anyone. Because it's not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sin. I mean, how do you actually think that an animal blood can cleanse you of your sins? Some cow blood is going to cleanse you of your sins? Kind of a doctrine? It's just a symbol. It's just a picture. You know what, it's just as silly as if you thought that if I dunk you out there in that tank that your sins will literally get washed off by me dunking you in that water. Folks, that's just as absurd. Getting dunked in that water does nothing for you spiritually. It's the symbol of what it represents that does something for you spiritually. And it's the exact same thing with the Old Testament sacrifice. It was what they represented. The precious blood of Jesus. Only the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins, not the blood of an animal. Okay, so saying, well, they had to do those sacrifices in the Old Testament in order to be saved. Folks, no, they had to believe on the Lord, just like you get saved now by believing on the Lord. It's that simple. Okay, and so this idea that says, well, it's not modes of salvation, but it's these periods of time, these dispensations where God is dealing with man. What you're doing is you're taking a doctrine invented by unsaved people who thought work saved you in the Old Testament, who based their entire doctrine on the mention of one dispensation of the Bible, dispensation of grace. And then you're saying like, okay, let's get rid of the dispensation of grace because people have always been saved by grace. But let's keep the seven dispensations, even though we just eliminated the only one that's mentioned in the Bible. It makes no sense. So number one, dispensationalism is bad because it comes from a bad source. It comes from a doctrine teaching wrong salvation. But number two, dispensationalism is bad because it basically implies that, or doesn't imply, it teaches that God's going to move backwards in his plan. He's going to rebuild the wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles. He's going to kick out the Gentiles out of the body once. It makes no sense. So Ephesians chapter one, look at verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So, you know, you believed and you've been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. You have trusted in Christ. You have believed in Christ. And so you have redemption through the blood of Christ. Okay. Now, it's through this, through salvation, through believing in Christ, through the blood of Christ, that you've obtained that inheritance in verse 11. Okay. You've obtained an inheritance. And in verse 10, it's through that same blood, through that same salvation. Get the context, you know, from verse number 7 all the way to verse 14. Let's get this context here, is that it is through salvation, through his blood, redemption, believing, faith, that he has gathered together in one all things in Christ. And this is, again, explained in chapter 2, that he gathered the Jews and the Gentiles into one. They're no longer two separate groups, but they've been made one, according to Ephesians chapter 3 as well, made one, brought together. So what does this word dispensation mean? Well, you're not going to believe this. It really just means the same thing that it meant everywhere else. Okay. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ. Now, again, what they're going to do, they're going to impose a definition on this word that the dispensation of the fullness of times is the period of the fullness of times, or the time epoch of the fullness of time. That'd be a little redundant. The time of the fullness of time. But what the Bible's actually saying is, it says the dispensation of the fullness of times, it's saying the dispensation that's going on in the fullness of times. Like, we've reached, in the New Testament period, the fullness of times, right? The Bible calls the New Testament period the fullness of times, or the last days, or the end times that we're living in, okay? And the dispensation of the fullness of times is the dispensation that's going on during the fullness of times. Okay? grace of God, the dispensation of the Gospel, it's the preaching of this mystery that God has brought the Gentiles nigh by the blood of Christ and that we've obtained an inheritance in him. So this really isn't hard to understand when you put away that preconceived idea and just get the right definition for the word dispense. Then it all makes perfect sense. Verse 9, having made known unto us the mystery of his will. And again, if we use chapter 3 to interpret chapter 1, chapter 3 said that this dispensation of the grace of God was that basically he would make known this mystery. So that's the same thing it is in chapter 1. It's not something different in chapter 1 from what it is in chapter 3. It's this preaching or dispensing or giving out or spreading this message of the grace of God that the Gentiles have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ and are now, along with saved Israelites, God's chosen people, right? Whether we're Jew or Gentile, if we're saved, we're the chosen. We're the holy people in the New Testament. Now let's go to one more place here. Go to Colossians chapter 1. This is another parallel passage here from Ephesians. Go to Colossians chapter 1, it says in verse 24, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery. So even means I'm going to define what I just said for you. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the mystery. Even the mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations, meaning that there were ages of time that went by, generations of people that went by that did not understand this mystery because it was hidden, it was not yet revealed, it was not yet manifest, but now is made manifest to his saints, whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, and on and on the passage goes. So notice, it says, I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, verse 25, which is given to me for you. So again, we have the same pattern of the dispensation is entrusted to me by God and it's for you, it's toward you, why? Because a dispensation has to have a recipient. See a period of time doesn't need a recipient, does it? A period of time is a period of time, but a dispensation has basically three elements, three people involved, I should say, four elements, but three people are involved in a dispensation, okay? A dispensation involves three parties. First of all, you have the one that is setting up the dispensation or entrusting someone as the steward of the dispensation, right? Someone who's appointing the dispenser, that's party number one, right? You have God entrusting something to the dispenser and saying, you're going to dispense this and woe is unto you if you don't dispense it. I'm committing unto you, I'm entrusting to you a dispensation of the gospel, a dispensation of the grace of God. You are doling out the gospel. You are doling out the message of God's grace. So party number one is the one who entrusts, the one who commits, the one who gives to some steward of this dispensation. Does everybody understand party number one? Party two is the person who receives this commission, the person who gets the dispensation, they get the responsibility, it's going to be their job to dispense. And then party number three is the person to whom they are dispensing. Who do I give this message to? Who do I distribute this to? So again, let's go back to the illustration of stewardship because remember, dispensation and stewardship are the same thing, okay? Stewardship has to do with money and a household. Dispensation has to do with, in this case, the gospel and spiritual things. But let's look at the carnal illustration for a second, right? Let's say that in my home, I am the one who's going to represent the Lord Jesus Christ in my home, right? I'm the head of the home, I'm representing Christ as the husband in the home, right? So I'm the one who pays for things. I go out and I work and I make money, right? So I make the money, but those of you that are married know that just because you make the money doesn't mean you're the one spending the money. All right, so I make the money, but who spends the money? My wife spends the money. So here's the thing, I bring home my paycheck and I give it to her. I am committing it to her. I am entrusting it to her and it's a dispensation of that paycheck that she has been entrusted with. She is the one who is in charge of the dispensation of that money. Does everybody understand that? So you know, I bring home X amount of money. I bring home 1,000 bucks, I give her 1,000 bucks, she's got 1,000 bucks, okay, now there's trust there because I'm trusting her to dispense this according to my will. Just like Jesus Christ is trusting the Apostle Paul to dispense according to his will. And so I trust my wife and I say, okay honey, I don't want to worry about dispensing this money, I don't want to spend money and I have other things to do, I'm too busy making money, I'm too busy doing other things, you know, this is your job, this is your responsibility, I'm committing to you the dispensation here. This is your stewardship, you are the steward, you are the dispenser. Now she receives the dispensation from me, she is the dispenser, and then who does she dispense this to? You know, she is going to dispense to the children, right, making sure that they get the food that they need, that they get the clothing that they need, that they get a little pocket money for knick-knacks in the way of allowance or whatever. She's going to dispense this to the power company, she's going to dispense it to the water bill, the house payment or whatever, she is doing the distributing. Does everybody understand? That's all this word dispensation means. It's not a period of time, it's not an epoch or an era, it is, and we are living in a period of time called the New Testament, but let me explain to you about the New Testament, it never ends. That's the difference. Here's the difference between the New Testament and the church age or the dispensation of the church or the dispensation of grace, is that those dispensations end, whereas what I'm teaching, two testaments, this isn't just semantics. The difference is that the New Testament doesn't end. That's why we don't need the Book of Mormon, we don't need another testament of Jesus Christ. Okay, the New Testament goes on forever, it's eternal, it doesn't end. That's what's wrong with dispensationalism, they have a period of time that we're in now that's going to end. Yes, this world as we know it will come to an end, but the New Testament doesn't end. The New Testament is eternal, it's a covenant that lasts forever. And the church is eternal, there's no church age because the church never ends, the church is going to give glory to God in all ages, that's what the Bible actually said. So I hope that that illustration with my wife makes it a little clearer what is meant by a dispensation. If I give her money to distribute, I'm committing to her a dispensation. That is called stewardship, she is a steward of the resources that I'm giving her. Now let's say that my wife was a spending addict, and there are some women out there that are shopaholics, there are some men out there that are shopaholics, but there are people out there who they just can't stop spending. It's an addiction, it's like a gambling addiction, or a drug addiction, or alcohol addiction. I mean, I kid you not, people out there have a shopping addiction. In fact, a friend of mine who has struggled with some other addictions in his life too, he has struggled with drug addiction and gambling addiction and things like that, the same person who struggled with those gambling and substance addictions, he told me that he also struggled with a shopping addiction, where he was just constantly on Amazon just ordering things. He just couldn't stop ordering stuff, he just couldn't stop buying things, and he just bought and bought and bought, and there are people, and maybe this is a little bit outdated of an illustration, but you know, they're up in the middle of the night watching the Home Shopping Network. I don't think that's a thing anymore, I think Amazon has kind of replaced that, but before Amazon it's still around, but it used to be on the phone and you're ordering like all kinds of necklaces and electronics and stuff, you know, Ginsu knives or whatever, it used to be people would call and order stuff, and it's an addiction with some people, and you know what, there are some wives out there, they just can't stop spending money, and you know, the finances are in the toilet, not because the husband's not making enough, the husband's making enough money, it's just that no one could make enough money based on what she's spending, nobody could keep up with that. You know, he's making money to put it in a bag with holes, because the more he makes, the more she spends. Now you may not believe me, but it's out there. Every husband's like, oh yeah, I believe you, I believe, but the thing is, the thing about that is, thankfully my wife is not a spending addict, thank God, and so the virtuous woman in the Bible says the heart of her husband does safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. He doesn't need to go out and risk his life making extra money because she's not blowing all the money, so he doesn't have need of spoil because she's frugal, because you know, you can make more money or you can spend less. Those are two ways to have what you need, okay? And a lot of wives are like, make more money, make more money, you know, go to work, make more money, but then it's like, dude, I'm already making enough money, you need to slow down on the spending, okay? This is the eternal struggle of marriage. But the thing about that is that, you know, my wife is not out blowing money, you know, she's frugal and looking for the deals and making things from scratch, et cetera, but let's say she were. Let's say my wife was just spending more money than I make, then what would I have to do? I would have to take control of the finances. I would have to take the credit cards away from her and cut them up and throw them in the trash. Am I right? Or do you think I should just let her keep spending? Spending us into bankruptcy, spending us into the poorhouse, should I just let that go? Well, you know, happy wife, happy life, you know, just let her buy all that stuff off of QVC and the home shopping and just let her go crazy. Here you go, honey, I just raised the credit card limit, go crazy. No, obviously, as husbands, we need to rule our home. And there might be a time where you'd have to put your foot down and say, hey, you're spending too much money, so I'm putting you on a budget. Now look, if your wife's not spending too much money, you can give her more freedom and say, hey, here's the paycheck, just do it, do what you need to do, do what you want to do. As long as I, you know, go to work and make the money and food's on my table and we have our needs and the kids' needs are met, hey, you handle the money. But you know what? A wife who's overspending needs to be reined in. There's going to be some rough conversations tonight after church and somehow some people are having a big fight tonight when they get home. Glad I could be a part of it. But basically, you know, a wife that's out of control spending needs to be reined in so that you don't destroy your life and destroy your finances and that could ultimately destroy your marriage too. You know, it's kind of hard to have a good marriage when there's no money and you can't pay your bills. That creates a lot of stress in marriage, okay. So you know, as a husband, you've got to rein that in if you need to. And there might come a time where you say, okay, honey, I'm putting you on a budget and you have to follow this strict budget, whereas hopefully she's just being so frugal that you don't really need to put her on a budget and you can trust her to make those decisions on her own. But here's the thing, if people don't make wise decisions on their own, then they need a supervisor, don't they? Hopefully as adults, we can actually parent ourselves and take care of ourselves and be responsible for ourselves. But if someone acts irresponsibly, then sometimes they have to be reined in and restrained and put in check so that they don't destroy the whole household's financial situation. Does everybody understand? So a dispensation, a stewardship implies trust, okay, and you could lose the stewardship or lose the dispensation if you're not a good steward of it, okay. And so what God has done is he has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. He has entrusted us with the Gospel. He has entrusted us with the responsibility of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ. And so he wants us to be a good steward of that, meaning that we don't squander it, we don't hide it under a bushel, we don't go bury it in the backyard, but that rather we get it out there doing its work. We get the Word of God out there, we get the preaching out there. You know, as a pastor of a church, I have to be a good steward of the resources of the church. So, you know, people put money in the offering plate and they're giving to the church, right? And they want that money to go toward the Lord's work. They want the dollars that they throw in the plate. I don't know about you, but this is how I felt when I was a layman throwing dollars in the plate. I wanted to feel like the dollars that I was thrown into the plate were eventually going to kind of get translated into people getting saved and the Word of God going forth in some way, shape or form. Maybe not directly, but indirectly, because obviously the money that I put in the plate, I knew that it paid the salaries of the staff. It paid for the building. It paid for materials and supplies and gas in the tank. It paid for the Bibles and the literature and the CDs or whatever. It paid for all those things that ultimately led to evangelism and the work of God going forward. I mean, think about, you know, what we just did in San Diego. Obviously, the church expended some money on that because we provided some meals and we provided some lodging for some people and we had staff involved and just, you know, obviously there are just costs that go into that sort of thing, right? But what better way to spend our money than on some kind of a soul winning event or a missions trip or something like that, you know, because that's really a pretty direct translation of money into souls being saved, you know, and we want to make sure that we're not just wasting money on stupid things as a church, right? We want to make sure that the money that we're spending is actually going toward something useful, something that's helping us achieve our mission as a church, not just wasteful spending. Like the government does all this wasteful spending, right? Where they just build all these bridges to nowhere and they spend a bunch of money on staff that doesn't do anything and they buy a $15,000 toilet seat and a $20,000 hammer. You know, God wants us to be a good steward of our resources. So as a pastor, I want to be a good steward of the manpower of the church. You know, if God has entrusted me with a flock here of a few hundred people, you know, I don't want to take 300 people and babysit them and we're not getting anything done. No, you know, I want to take the manpower that God's given me and help train that manpower, organize that manpower, get that manpower out doing something for God every week and every day and the money that comes into the plate, translate that money into the work of the Lord, into things that actually help us achieve our mission as a church. So that's me being a good steward. Wives need to be a good steward. Why? Because a dispensation has been committed unto them. A dispensation has been committed unto our church. A dispensation is committed unto my wife, your wife. Okay, so this thing of dispensation, it doesn't have to be hard to understand. They're making it hard to understand by turning it into some weird doctrine about, you know, the dispensation of X, Y, and Z for Israel versus the church versus the tribulation versus the millennium. Let's take back this word dispensation and actually teach it for what it actually means. Okay? It's, it's a stewardship that has been entrusted unto us. It's been, it was entrusted unto the Apostle Paul. We've been revealed, or I should say the mysteries of Christ have been revealed unto us. The Gospel has been given unto us. The grace of God has been given unto us. And it's our job to take what we've been given and use it wisely. Just like when my wife gets a paycheck, she's going to turn around and use it. Not just bury it and save it all and just, you know, it's like, where's the food, honey? Why is the fridge empty? Why is there no dinner? Why do children have no clothing? Why do they have no shoes? Why are they, why are the bills unpaid? Meanwhile she just has some giant savings account. Well I got 20 grand in savings. Yeah, but you haven't paid the power bill in two months. Yeah, but look at all the saving I'm doing. Look, I didn't give you that money to save it. She's like, well yeah, I'm saving up for the next big vacation. Hey, I didn't give you that money to save, I gave you that money to spend on the things that we need. God is giving us a dispensation of the grace of God. Not so that we can just sit on our blessed assurance and just revel in our own grace. Oh man, it's so great being saved. Oh man, I understand all the mysteries. So cool to just understand everything and I'm saying, no, no, it's to turn around and do something with that dispensation that's been given unto us. So once you understand what dispensation actually means, this becomes a powerful truth. And then these verses make sense of, you know, hey, a dispensation of the Gospel has been committed unto me. Woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel. Hey, woe is unto you if you don't give the Gospel. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ. Why? Because in the fullness of times, there's a dispensation going on. There's a dispensation that was committed to Paul and it's been committed to the people of God in general to evangelize the Gentiles. That's the job. In the fullness of time, which is where we live, it's the job to evangelize the Gentiles. That dispensation has been committed unto us in this period. And then you get to the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given to me, to you word, you have all three parties there, from God to me so I can dispense to you, that ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Right? A dispensation is committed to me of the mystery, not so I can understand the mystery, but so that I can make you understand the mystery. That's what he said in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 4. And then lastly, Colossians 1 25, Whereof I made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery. So I need to fulfill the word of God, I need to fulfill the mystery. What is the mystery? That the Gentiles would be brought into the fold and would be one body with saved Israel. That's what it said in Ephesians 3. That's the mystery. That God would make the Gentiles fellow heirs and of the same body, partakers of the same benefit. So I've been committed this dispensation, Paul's saying, in Colossians 1 so that I can fulfill the word of God. And specifically, what part of the word of God am I going to fulfill? I'm going to fulfill the mystery, which is bringing Gentiles into the fold. So how did Paul do that? Well, you know what he did? He got in a boat and he went to some distant place and brought a bunch of Gentiles into the fold. Isn't that what he did? That's him fulfilling the word of God. Why? Because a dispensation was committed unto him and he had that responsibility to fulfill God's word. Well, guess what? So do I. So do you. Don't we have a dispensation that's given unto us? Don't we have a word of God to fulfill? Hey, we have been committed the ministry of reconciliation. It is our job also to evangelize the Gentiles, not just Paul. It's our job, too. And so just as you want your wife to be a good steward of the dispensation given unto her, we want to be good stewards of the dispensation that the Lord has given to us. He paid for everything. He hands over the riches of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and he says, okay, here you go. Spend this. And so we need to spend it. And the way that we spend it is by preaching the Gospel and taking what God has given to us and letting it flow through us just like the money I give to my wife flows through her. I give her the money and it flows to the bills, it flows to the groceries, it flows to the children, it flows to her sowing house. No, I'm just kidding. It flows to where it needs to flow. And we, as Christians, we have a dispensation, too, okay? That's the only dispensation I care about. And so the title of the sermon is The Dispensation of the Grace of God. Now somebody online is going to see that title and be like, ooh, a dispensational sermon, yes. And they're going to listen to it and be like, oh, I'm so disappointed because Pastor Anderson is rebuking me for believing in this stupid doctrine that I believe in. But really, when we look at the title of the sermon, Dispensation of the Grace of God, what should we be thinking? What does that mean to us? See, to them, to the Ruckmanites, they're going to look at that dispensation of the grace of God and they're going to be like, oh, that's the dispensation that we're living in right now. This little brief period of time when people are saved by grace through faith. In reality, what we should think, or there's that little period of time when he actually gives a rip about us, the Gentiles, because usually he's just falling all over the Jews. But no, actually, what we think when we see that title of the sermon, The Dispensation of the Grace of God, is we think about the fact that we've been given the grace of God and it's our job to preach that grace of God to a lost and dying world. That's the dispensation. God has been entrusted to us so that we can use it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and I know this was a complicated subject tonight, Lord, but I pray that you would give everyone tonight an understanding heart, Lord. I pray that everything I preached would sink in and that everyone would be able to apply this concept to their Bible reading and to their life, and Lord, I pray that you would just help us all to be good stewards of that dispensation that you've given us. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, let's take our song books, please, and go to hymn number 402. Hymn number 402, our best, hymn number 402, begins, Hear ye the Master's call, give me thy best, hymn number 402. Sing it on this first verse together, hymn number 402. Hear ye the Master's call, give me thy best, for being great or small, that is bestest. Do then the best you can, not for reward, not for the praise of men, but for the Lord. Everyone, for Jesus will be blessed, but he acts from everyone his best. Our talents may be few, these may be small, but unto him we'll do our best our own. Weigh not for men to love, heed not their sighs. Winning the smile of God, brings its delight. Aiming the good and true, there goes our class. All that we make or do, be it the best. Everyone, for Jesus will be blessed, but he acts from everyone his best. Our talents may be few, these may be small, but unto him we'll do our best our own. Amen.