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So we had started this on Sunday afternoon, this series on strange doctrines. And I want to touch upon a strange doctrine that I've come across many times in my life going to church. And let's start there in Colossians 1 25, it says, Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfil the word of God. In this verse, we have a really interesting word there, the dispensation. Bit of a big word, maybe it seems complicated to you, I'm not sure. The title for the sermon tonight is dispensationalism versus the dispensation of God. Dispensationalism versus the dispensation of God. All right. So it's on this verse that the phrase that's given here is the dispensation of God. So what in the world is that referring to? Well, let's just backtrack a little bit. Let's start there in verse number 23. And actually, before we keep reading, let me give you a bit of introduction to dispensationalism. Now, when we talk about an independent fundamental Baptist Church, the vast majority of IFB churches in Australia, and I'm pretty confident in the United States, are dispensational. You know, they'll say something like, yeah, we're independent, we're fundamental, we're dispensational, we're chicken eating Baptist churches, something like that. And that term dispensational is so ingrained in IFB culture. And, you know, sometimes people that might have asked me like, what makes your church different? Like, why, you know, how is it that you stand out? Why, pastor, are you a reject amongst other preachers and other pastors? It's because I'm not dispensational. Okay, most churches are dispensational. Most IFB churches are dispensational. I am not dispensational whatsoever. Oh, the pastor, it says there in verse number 25, the dispensation of God, the word is there. Yes, the word is there. So let's understand what this word means. But my first introduction of this teaching wasn't a direct introduction. And perhaps you haven't even been directly introduced to the teaching. Maybe it's been just little ideas, little thoughts, little teachings that you've come across and you scratch your head and you're trying to find it in the Bible. And you've wondered, I don't see it in the Bible, but where is it? Right? And usually the answer is, well, it's in dispensational theology. It's where that teaching lies. For example, I remember when I first was introduced to this, I was going to church and I was hearing about the Jews, how the Jews, some teach are still under the old covenants, right? The new covenant is not so much for them. That's just for the Gentiles and God has put them aside on. And eventually when Christ comes back in the millennium, God's going to be dealing with the Jews once again. And so they're God's chosen people. They're a holy people. They're special and God loves them. They're the apple of God's eye. And I heard that taught once and I was just thinking, yeah, but they don't believe on Jesus, though. Like they're not the people of God as far as I know. And when we talk about Jews today, okay, we're talking about Judaism, Jews today, I just could not understand that. And I wanted to understand it. So I went after the service, I went to my pastor and I said, pastor, okay, they're the people of God. I see what you're saying. They've got these promises that God's made them about the kingdom, I guess. But if a Jew dies today without believing on Jesus, do they go to heaven or hell? And this was in my early twenties. I was genuine in my question. I wasn't trying to be rebellious. I was just trying to act like they're God's chosen people. The apple of God's eye. I mean, it just sounds like there's no way that God would send these people to hell, I think, based on how you're describing them to me. But if they don't believe in Jesus, do they go to heaven or hell? You know what his answer was? I haven't figured that out yet. I haven't figured that out yet. And I was thinking, hold on. And look, and this man, I still love this man. So, you know, I learned so many great things under this pastor. I want you to understand, I'm not, you know, I don't look down at people that are dispensational. Generally speaking, it's just corrupted the understanding, the minds of many people. Many people are victims even of this dispensational theology. And remember just driving home, being a bit disappointed by the answer. I haven't figured that out yet. And then the verse just popped into my head. You know, Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, except by me. And I just concluded, well, I know the answer. My pastor, I don't know why my pastor doesn't know. But I know that, you know, if they were to die without Jesus, they would go to hell. You know, and I was satisfied. But at that point, did I know that confusion was a result of dispensationalism? I didn't know. Never heard of the term dispensationalism. Now, in hindsight, I do believe my pastor knew. I do believe that he knew where they would go to hell, okay. But he was more concerned about the can of worms that would open. To say if they die, they go to hell. Well, what are all these promises and the apple of God's eye, God's chosen people. How do you answer that then? And I think he had a hard time, you know, reconciling those thoughts together, which is why he gave me that answer. I haven't figured it out yet. Next time I was introduced to this, I was listening about the end times. And the preacher was, you know, using Matthew 24 about the pre-tribulation rapture. No man knows the day or the hour. And I just looked at that verse. And I said, well, the coming of Christ very clearly in this chapter says immediately after the tribulation. But they're trying to tell me that it's before the tribulation. But they're using a verse just literally versus a few verses after that statement. And they're trying to tell me that it's pre-trib. My conclusion was, I don't know, I must be just stupid. I just don't understand the scriptures. These pastors know one day I'll figure it out. And I'll just rely on the knowledge of these men. I said to myself, I'm stupid. You know, that was my conclusion. I can't figure it out. Again, why do people believe in a pre-tribulation rapture? Is it because the Bible says so? No, because of dispensationalism. Okay, the next time this was introduced, I was studying dispensationalism. I finally got, okay, I'm going to study dispensationalism. And when you start to understand the depth of this theology, the preacher will say to you, you can't understand the Bible till you understand dispensationalism. Okay, so before I can read my Bible, I've got to understand dispensationalism. So how do I learn about dispensationalism? Surely I've got to go to the Bible to learn about it. But I can't go to the Bible until I've learnt it. But I can't learn about it until I open the Bible. But I can't go to the Bible until I learn dispensationalism. And I don't know what to do. Right, it's like what the atheists say, does the chicken or the egg come first? I mean, they don't know. They don't know the answer. The chicken or the egg. I mean, we know the answer from a biblical perspective. Of course, it was the chicken. Nevertheless, that's the idea that they throw it. You know, well, how do I learn it? Well, you got to read this book. Well, can't I just read my Bible? Oh, you've got to listen to this expert, you know, prophecy expert, this dispensationalist. You got to listen to the conference, sermons, and then you can read your Bible and then you'll understand it. It's like, oh, I don't think that's right. Even in my younger mind, you know, it doesn't sound right to me. I've always been told that I can read the Bible, that God's word is true, that I've got to test everything according to the scriptures. But now when it comes to this theology, I can't. I've got to go elsewhere to then corrupt my mind so I can see the scriptures how they see it. But the next one was, I was excited. I wanted to learn, okay, I want to learn it because I want to learn the Bible because I want to be a pastor one day in my early 20s. That's what I was saying to myself. And then my, you know, and I taught on this not long ago. I got told well in dispensationalism, you know, we learn all these great truths, the Kingdom of Heaven. That's not the Kingdom of God. We covered this recently, right? But the Kingdom of Heaven, that's for the Jews and the Kingdom of God, that's for the Gentiles. And I was like, oh, wow, that's exciting. Right? I learned something amazing. I'm going to go now to God's word. I'm going to look up every time it says Kingdom of Heaven. And now I know it's for the Jews. And I'm going to look up every time it says Kingdom of God. Now I know it's for the Gentiles. Only when I went back to God's word. It's not like that at all. There are times that Jesus Christ is calling the Kingdom of God and he's speaking to the Jews. This doesn't work. This doesn't make sense. And at that point I concluded, because I knew at that point, this is dispensationalism. At that point I concluded, well, dispensationalism is just not for me. I don't get it. It confuses me. Doesn't help me. I've been reading my Bible all these years. I never got confused. But trying to understand dispensationalism is confusing me. So I don't need it. You know, I thought, well, maybe if others need it, if it helps them, good for them, but it doesn't help me. So I've never been dispensational. Okay. I've always been non-dispensational, but it's been over recent years that I've become not non-dispensational. I'm now anti-dispensational. Like I'm against dispensationalism. I can't even say, well, maybe it's good for others. It's not good for anybody. Okay. It corrupts the minds and the understanding of the clear word of God. Well, it says dispensation there in Colossians 1 25. Well, let's backtrack a little bit. Let's just understand from this passage what we're talking about. Colossians 1, let's start there in verse number 23. If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. I want you to notice that. Okay. So Paul is writing to the Colossian church about the gospel here, which you have heard and which was preached to every creature, which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. He says, I'm a servant. I'm a minister of the gospel. Okay. And he's preaching it to every creature, which is under heaven. Then he says in verse 24, and 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. So he says it again. I made a minister when I was already minister of the gospel. But now he says, where have I made a minister? Look, it's according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. So it says this dispensation of God has been given to me from God. So I can give it to you so I can give it to others. We know this about talking about the gospel, right? Preaching the gospel to every creature. Then he says in verse 26, even the mystery which have been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this ministry among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So this dispensation of God is also referred to as a mystery here. And the mystery is Christ in you. Okay. So, Hey, we have the righteousness of Christ within us, right? When we believed on Christ, we're not going to, we're not trusting our righteousness to get us to heaven. We're trusting the righteousness of Christ, which has been imputed upon us. We have Christ in us, the hope of our glory, which is obviously what we believed on, who we believed on his death, our resurrection, which is the gospel to be saved. Now, if I can use an illustration, I need some people that aren't afraid of a hand sanitizer. Who's not afraid of some kids who are not afraid. I'll get the twins. Come up here, guys, both of you. Actually, that's all I need. Just two guys. That's enough. I'll get you guys up here. All right. So verse number 25 again, let's just understand what this means. All right. He says, verse 125, whereof I am made of gospel. Come a bit closer, guys. Come a bit closer. All right. So let's say like, like Paul here, I'm a minister of the gospel. I'm preaching the gospel. Okay. Well, I found two unsaved men right here, and they've allowed me to give them the gospel, right? So what am I going to do? I'm going to go through my plan of salvation and what have you. And what Paul describes it is here. I'm being a minister. I'm being used as a servant of God, right? I'm going to take the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you. Okay. So what am I going to do? I'm going to take a dispenser. That's what, that's what it means. Dispensation. This is a, what is a hand sanitizer dispenser. Okay. I'm going to dispense. So can I have your hand please? I'm going to dispense. All right. You can, you can rub it into your hands. Now what they have in their hands is a dispensation. Okay. They have a dispensation of hand sanitizer. Okay. And I was the minister. I served them, didn't I? I say, guys, can I wash your hands, clean your hands? Okay. Or maybe I poisoned them as well. I don't know. So I said, who's brave enough to take on his hand sanitizer? Okay. Well, I mean, the gospel doesn't poison anybody, but you know, that's where illustration is full shot. But anyway, okay. I've dispensed. Okay. I've used a dispenser. They've received a dispensation. Okay. That dispensation is of God and I'm the minister. Okay. So this represents giving someone the gospel. All right. So all of us should basically in our lives, be walking around, ready to be a minister serving for God. Okay. We've got our hand sanitizer, the gospel dispenser is what we should have with us. So anytime we come across somebody, we have the opportunity to give them the gospel. We're ready to dispense and give them a dispensation of God, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hey, you guys can sit down. Okay. So I'm going to leave that up here for now. Just so you guys just remember what a dispensation is. It's what comes out of the dispenser. Okay. And it's been dispensed by the minister, which is me in this scenario. Okay. And, uh, really, I feel like I should just end the sermon now. You guys, you guys know what a dispensation is now, right? Giving somebody the gospel, I'm sure you should be done. Right. Anyway, so if we go to dictionary.com, all right, I went to dictionary.com, just a random online dictionary and I looked up the word dispensation. Let's understand what the definition is. Now I've said it before. If you want to understand a word, an English word, just look for the common dictionary meaning. I'm not necessarily saying the common dictionary meaning of 2023, because we know that our English language is getting corrupt. But I'm trying, don't look for the theological, okay. Definitions, uh, because this is basically just a group of men, religious men that have come together to create their own definition for words. But because they're religious men, now we have a theological definition. Look, God's word is in English. It's not in theological English. It's in common English. Okay. We just need a common dictionary. If you're struggling with a word, just use a common dictionary to understand the meaning. So I've got, um, I found five, the first five definitions in dictionary.com. And the very first meaning is an act or instance of dispensing or distribution. Isn't that what we just did? Meaning number one fits perfectly. The act or instance of dispensing or distribution. Definition number two, something that is distributed, distributed or given out. I mean, that sounds like number one, but that's the second most important definition. The third one is a certain order, system or arrangement, administration or management. Okay. Then we have definition number four, which falls under theology. Okay. So let's understand what the theologians have to say, you know, because obviously I know better than this pastor. Okay. The definitions are the divine ordering of the affairs of the world. And appointments, arrangements or favor as by God. A divinely appointed order or age. I want you to keep that in mind. Age, dispensation, age. That's what the dispensationalists believe. They believe the word dispensation means age. Okay. And it says here, um, the old, so under divinely appointed order or age, the old Mosaic, or Jewish dispensation, the new gospel or Christian dispensation. I don't mind that too much. Cause I do believe there is a clear difference between the old Testament and the new Testament. And I believe that's all it's referring to there. Okay. But that's not really what dispensationalists believe, right? And then the final definition, definition number five is a dispensing with, doing away with, or doing without something, doing without something. A dispensing with, doing away with. I mean, you can, even that illustration that I use, you can kind of understand that. I've given them a dispensation, but I'm doing away with the contents that are within this dispenser. Okay. Or if I'm, I don't know what this is exactly, but let's say a Christian, if you don't, I'll use yours and you can stay there. You know, I've got some rubbish sheep under the pulpit. Christian, can you dispense? Sorry. Can you dispense of that magazine, whatever it is. Okay. What am I doing? Can you dispense to that? What should he walk away thinking? I'm going to put that in the bin. You know, I'm done with it, right? It's a doing away, but that doesn't need it. I'm going to dispense of this in the bin. Okay. So that's definition number five. All right. Now, what does it, I'll still leave this here. I'll leave it there. Okay. So what, but when you go to church and they're trying to teach you dispensationalism. Okay. You need to understand it to understand the Bible. And you know, these teachers will think your pastor here is just a clueless, you know, uneducated man to speak in nonsense because I've not been educated. I've been educated. I know dispensationalism better than most dispensationalists. I'll tell you that. Okay. I've done two courses. I've read several books. I've tried my best to understand it and to believe it. And the more I understood it and the more I tried to understand, like really understand it, the more I rejected it, the more nonsense I saw. Like the deeper you go, just the more nonsensical it becomes. But the definition that dispensationalists would use is that dispensationalism is a theological system that recognizes these ages from that word ages. That's the theological term ordained by God to order the affairs of the world. Each dispensation includes a recognizable pattern of how God works with people living in the dispensation. That pattern is number one, a responsibility. Number two, a failure. Number three, judgment. And number four, grace to move on. All right. Now most dispensationalists believe that there are seven ages. Some say eight or whatever. Some say 10. There are different types. Okay. But most dispensations that I know that I've come across would say there are seven dispensations. Let me explain to you what they are. So I'm a young man going to church, wanting to learn the truth. I'm like, okay, what are the seven dispensations? Okay. And look at the beginning, it sounds good. Like at the beginning, it starts to make sense. But as you go through this process, it starts to make less sense. And it even sounds very blasphemous. Okay. As we keep going. But the first dispensation they'll say is the dispensation of innocence. This is when God created Adam and Eve in the garden. Okay. Leading up to the time when they were kicked out of the garden. All right. So we saw those four things, the responsibility. They'll say, well, Adam and Eve's responsibility was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Okay. Kind of makes sense. There's a failure. The second thing, a failure. Well, they did eat of that tree, right? Okay. Yeah. Okay. And then a judgment. What was their judgment? They were kicked out of the garden. Okay. And then number four, the grace to move on. So God moves on with mankind. You know, that was my original plan, but man has failed now. They've ate of the tree. Now we have to have a new dispensation. Okay. That new dispensation number two is the dispensation of conscience. They say, well, this is where man just acts out of their own conscience. Okay. And the responsibility they'll say was to do good. The failure was they did wickedness and the judgment was the worldwide flood. All right. The worldwide flood with Noah. And then of course, God, um, uh, the grace to move on would be no and his family, essentially, can you see how this kind of like, oh, it kind of makes sense. I get that. I get that man failed and, and there's a judgment and then, uh, God, then, you know, obviously his grace is there for his people. Uh, what have you, I guess I see that. Uh, and then they'll say the third one. So this is after Adam and I mean, Noah and his family get off the arc. They'll say the third dispensationalism or third dispensation, third dispensation. The third age is human governments. Now it got established as human government. I agree with that. You know, God's to put certain laws where if someone were to murder, that would be put to death. So you have these rules that were laid out by God and, uh, the, apparently the responsibility was to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. Um, the failure was they built the tower of Babel. So instead of spreading out across the earth, they'll say they came together, building the tower of Babel, you know, trying to reach the heights of heaven. And the judgment was the confusion of languages. They'll say, now look so far, these three things, I can see it. Like as I read through Genesis, I can see that pattern. Okay. And so, you know, as I'm learning, I'm going, oh, this is interesting. You know, I never really broke it down like this. I kind of see what they're saying. Uh, but then it starts to get really weird. The next one gets really weird. Okay. So next one is the dispensation of promise, dispensation of promise. So this is when God calls, um, Abraham or Abraham. All right. And he, and he gives him the promise, right? The promise of the land and his seed, and he'll be our father of many nations and all those things. Okay. All those blessings, that promise that God has given, um, Abraham to dwell in Canaan. And so the responsibility, apparently this is what they believe. The responsibility that God gave Abraham and his family was to dwell in Canaan. But then what happened? We know that Joseph was sold into slavery, right? He went into Egypt. Then what happens? There's a famine, right? A major seven year famine that, that, you know, where, uh, Joseph, in order to take care of his family, brought them into Egypt to be taken care of. Okay. Now the failure, according to the dispensation of promise is that instead of dwelling in Canaan, which God told him to, they ended up in Egypt. At this point, I'm kind of like, did they fail by going to Egypt? I mean, cause God, you know, God used Joseph in such a great and mighty way and blessed him and through his hands, even blessed the wicked nation of Egypt. In fact, uh, can you come with me to Genesis 50? Come with me to Genesis 50 and verse number 20. Genesis 50 verse 20. And so then they'll say, because they ended up in Egypt, the judgment is the Egyptian bondage, right? That they were there in slavery, the people, the people of, um, the children of Israel were there in bondage. And that was God's judgment upon them for going into Egypt after God told him to go into Canaan. All right. Well, Genesis 50 verse 20. These are the words of Joseph, look at this, but as for you, ye thought evil against me when they sold him to slavery, but God, God meant it unto good to bring it to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. He goes, look, he says, God had the intentions for good for me to come into Egypt. Not only that I would save you in Egypt, but many people will be saved because we got ready for this massive famine to come. At that point, I'm saying, well, hold on. If that was God's plan and now dispensationalism is saying, well, that's the failure. Well then God's plan is the failure. At this point, it starts to break apart for me. At this point, I just, I don't get it. Like I'm thinking of these verses, these great verses that God has given us. Not only that, but again, this is the dispensation of promise. Now, remember the dispensations end with apparently failure, then judgment, then the grace to move on. So a new dispensation, but then I'm reminded of passages like Galatians 3 16. I'll just read to you. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. Yep. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one and to thy seed, which is Christ. So the promise was to Christ, but Jesus did not live in the dispensation of promise. That doesn't make sense. And not only that, then verse number 29 says, and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and as according to the promise. Oh, so I'm in Christ. I'm an heir to the same promise that God made Abraham me, but I don't live in the dispensation of promise. Do you see how it starts to break apart? I mean, it started okay, but now you're calling God's plan a failure and it started to bother me. I've got no problem saying men fail. I fail all the time. I'll admit to you. I fail every day, but to say God fails something, something's wrong. I can't defend my bias that strongly to turn around and say, well, God's failing. Cause that's really where it leads. Well, then I'll say, well, you know, Moses then came along and delivered the children out of Egypt. Now we have the new dispensation. Moses, you know, received the law of God, the old covenant, 10 commandments. They'll say, this is the dispensation of law. Now we're in a new dispensation, dispensation of law. And the responsibility of man was to keep the law. And the failure was they did not keep the law, but ultimately that they crucified Christ. That's the failure that they crucified Christ. And so the judgment is that Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were exiled from the land. And again, that's okay. It sounds all right to some extent, but when I, again, I started to think, hold on. But the, and the way they teach this, that the failure was that they crucified Christ. Again, I was thinking, but hold on. That's why Christ came. I mean, if Christ was not crucified, I'm yet in my sins. Like if that wasn't the plan and that's a failure. Yeah, it was a failure of the Jews to not believe in Christ. And yes, God knew, and he prophesied that this would be the method that he would be rejected and killed. I understand that. But the crucifixion is not really a failure deserving a new dispensation. Is it? Now, if you can just come with me to, come with me to, let's say, first John, please come with me to first John chapter three, first John chapter three, first John chapter three, first John chapter three, verse number 16. First John chapter three, verse number 16. So remember, it's a failure, okay? It's a failure that took place where God then needs to create a new dispensation. And in first John chapter three, verse number 16, it says, hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us. So even though the Jews rejected Christ and crucified him, ultimately Jesus laid down his life for us. Was that a failure? I remember the Roman Catholic pope a few years ago said that the crucifixion of Christ was a failure. I don't know if anyone remembers that. Maybe he's a dispensationalist. I don't know. But I've got a problem with this because this is my salvation. This is my savior, crucified, suffering, taking on my sins, opening the doors of heaven, paying for everything so I could have a free gift of salvation. It's a failure? Again, this is what I'm saying. It starts to become, hold on, is this like blasphemous? I don't like this dispensationalism stuff. I was excited at the beginning. It doesn't gel with my heart. It doesn't gel with my spirit. It doesn't even gel the scriptures. And you know, because they say, well, you know, Jesus Christ came and offered them kingdom. That's why Christ came, they'll say. Christ wanted to establish the kingdom on the earth. You know, to overthrow the Romans and that he would start his millennial reign. And, but because the Jews rejected, I guess the Jews overpowered God or something like that. And then he had to go with plan B and he died for the sins of man instead. Whoops, you know, that wasn't the plan to start with. I'm not exaggerating, like it's funny, but I mean, it's, I guess I'm mocking what they believe, but that's what they believe, some of them. I'm sure you've, if you've done enough research here, you've heard people say, right, that wasn't God's plan and you're, hey, Gentile, you're lucky. You're lucky that the Jews rejected Jesus because you were never part of his plan. You're just plan B. He died for your sins. I'm like, well, he died for the sins of Jews as well. What? And you can see why it starts to bother. I just, hold on, this doesn't make sense. Well, anyway, let's continue on the dispensational teaching. The sixth dispensation they'll say is the age of grace. Have you heard of that? The age of grace. And immediately I'm like, hold on, Noah in the so-called age of human conscience found grace in the eyes of God. Read about it in Genesis six. How can this be the age of grace? God's grace is always, it's, it's by grace that he has saved through faith. So if God's grace was unavailable, does that mean nobody got saved? Cause that's the only way to be saved by God's grace. It's undeserved. They'll also call this age, the age of grace and the church age, the church age and by church age, what they're trying to say, that's the Gentile church. Okay. And so the responsibility of the Gentile church age is that we would be wholly sanctified people. That's the responsibility. The failure is that, well, churches become worldly and apostates. And so, uh, the judgements is that God's going to pour out his wrath. They call the tribulation, you know, in their understanding. Uh, and so we need to be removed before God pours out the wrath, his wrath on this earth. And so essentially the church is removed because the church failed. Okay. Instead of it being holy and righteous people, it became apostate. And again, this really bothered me. So the church failed, but the church is the body of Christ. Come with me to Matthew 16, the body of Christ, the body of Christ failed. Can you see the problems? This is starting to open up for me, like as, as a young man, hey, this doesn't fit me. This doesn't work for me. This doesn't sound good. You know, I mean, I love my pastor. I love my church. I'm not this troublemaker. You know, if you ever want to find out what church is the church is the church is the You know, if you ever want to find out what church is I've attended before we started this church, ask me, I'll give you numbers or I know you're going to get a good testimony, no matter where I've gone. Okay. I know. Okay. I'm not this troublemaker. I'm trying to just be humble to learn, but I'm finding these major issues. Sorry. Matthew 16 verse 18. And I say also unto thee thou, that thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Who built his church? Jesus. So if the church fails, who failed? The builder. Then Jesus failed. Can you see again? Hold on. Remember the whole thing about Egypt, but that was God's plan, but that was failure. Oh, Jesus builds his church. Well, that's failure for us being crucified. Well, that's a failure. They're like, what? This is like the best news for me. This is like wonderful things that I love to rejoice in that God builds his church, that Jesus was crucified for me and for the entire world. And I've been told it's all failure because I've got to make it fit these ages instead of just understanding, Hey, take a dispensation right now of the gospel and clean yourself. No, let's create these ages. And now the teaching sounds very blasphemous. Come with me to another passage, Ephesians chapter three, Ephesians chapter three. Another problem with this church age dispensation is it's just in complete contradiction to Ephesians chapter three, verse 21, Ephesians 3 21. Ephesians 3 21, which reads unto him, be glory in the church by Christ Jesus. Look at this, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Is there a church age or has the church been around in all ages and world without end? Meaning it's never going to end. There's a church of the firstborn in heaven. Listen, when God creates a new heaven and new earth and we have new resurrected bodies and we're there in eternity with God, there's still church. And when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the Bible says that was the church in the wilderness. Church has always been around because church means congregation. It doesn't mean an age period of just Gentiles, you filthy Gentiles that got plan B. Lucky you. At least my wife has like 1% Jew in her DNA result. So she's not filthy, but the rest of you, you filthy Gentiles, you got in. So bow down and worship the Jews, because if not for them, you'd be on your way to hell right now. And then we have the final dispensation. They'll say, well, that's the dispensation of the millennial kingdom. And, uh, again, the responsibility of man, they'll say is to be obedient to Christ. The failure is when Satan is loosed, he's able to gather an innumerable amount of people, quite a large army against, um, God's people, Gog and Magog, the battle of Gog and Magog. And the judgment is God's fire from heaven that destroys those that rebel against Christ. Now again, that's, think about that though. That's a failure of the millennial kingdom. Who's ruling that kingdom? Does Jesus wiping out Satan and his army sound like a failure to you? That's like, that's like the final victory that he has to conclude with. And come with me to, uh, first Corinthians 15, first Corinthians 15, please. First Corinthians 15. So Christ's kingdom is a failure at the end of it. Christ's church is a failure that he built. Christ's crucifixion is a failure. You see, I just, it's like, what in the world? Now, look, they're not going to say it like I say it to you, but you boil it down. That's exactly what they believe. First Corinthians 15, 24, thinking about the kingdom of Jesus Christ says, then come at the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the father. Look at this. When he has, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, well, he must reign till he have put all enemies under his feet. Look, the kingdom of Jesus is a success. It's victory. He defeats all powers and Satan at the end. All right. And then, look, if this kingdom is such a failure, why would he then give it to God the father? No, it's a success. Father, we've taken all authority under me. Now I'm giving you my kingdom and then God creates a new heaven and new earth and that kingdom continues for all eternity. All right. So you can see why there are many problems. I mean, at the end of it, dispensationalism isn't just the failure of man. It becomes the failure of Jesus Christ, which to me is just stupid. Okay. So like I said, I thought dispensation is just not for me. For others it helps them. Now I'm anti-dispensational. That's what makes our church different. That's why people don't like our church. They are brothers in the Lord because we don't toe the line. We don't follow the process. We don't follow the Bible college. We don't go and do the dispensational study before we read God's word. And I just think that's what makes our church different. We don't go and do the dispensational study before we read God's word. And I just hope, and look, I can see that pastors are slowly opening their eyes to the corruption of dispensationalism. Really, I get contacted every now and again, different people that have come to realize this truth. But I just think it's probably going to take at least another generation before dispensationalism is probably on a downward trajectory. Like right now we've got the advantage of internet so you can hear other preachers. You can hear other positions. You know, you can judge what you've heard at church because back in the day, right? If all you heard was what you heard at church, like that was it. What was between the four walls? That's all. That's all new. And if you wanted to hear another opinion, well, there wasn't the internet. You might have to download or pay for a cassette tape or something like that. And that wasn't easy to do. But now information is so readily available. And, you know, I do believe that dispensation is that maybe another generation is going to be destroyed. I do believe that. Okay. But a lot of other false ideas and thoughts come from dispensational theology. It's the foundation to a lot of other falsehoods that you hear in many churches and you conclude must be true because 10 out of 10 pastors said so, but I just can't find it in my Bible. Why is that? Because it's dispensationalism. It's not the Bible. That's why. Now come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. The word dispensation appears four times in the Bible. Okay. The first time we saw that it was the dispensation of God. Now let's read other passages about the word dispensation here. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 16. Now, as we're going through these passages, I want you to think, is this passage like the example of dispensing the gospel to people that need to be saved? Or does it sound like these periods of time where man has failed and God has to then judge them? Well, let's start there in 1 Corinthians 9 16. For though I preach the gospel, gospel, I have nothing to glory of, but necessity is laid upon me, yea woe is unto me, yea woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Okay. So gospel, gospel. But if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, look at this, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. Okay. I'll use that example. Okay. Yeah. This is the dispensation of the gospel. Okay. It's from God. Yeah. It's committed unto me. All right. God's given it to me. It's my responsibility to dispense it out to other people. Is what Paul is saying there. And then he says, verse 18, what is my reward then? Verily that when I preach the gospel, just in case you don't get it. Okay. It's gospel. I make, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge that I've used not my power in the gospel. Oh, this must be the age of innocence. So look, I got to dispense the gospel. Okay. It's been committed unto me and I'm not going to charge you for it. It's free. You know, the gospel salvation is free. I'm not going to charge you for what's been committed unto me. Let's go to another passage. Ephesians three, verse one, Ephesians three, verse one. Ephesians three, verse one, Ephesians 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. Okay. We're saved by the grace of God, aren't we? Which is given me to you word. Once again, it's given to me to you word. Shh, come and get saved. Verse number three, how that by revelation he had made known unto me the mystery as I wrote a four in a few words whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages or ages was not made known unto the sons of man, but it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. What is this mystery? That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise. I thought there was an age of promise. Now we're in the age of the church, aren't we? Anyway, partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. What's he saying? He says, look, I'm going around dispensing the Gentiles and get saved Gentiles. Why? Because you're different from the Jews because the Jews have some other plan. We don't know if they died, if they go to heaven or not. I don't know the answer. No, no. He says that we would be of the same body. Jews and Gentiles in Christ, Jews that are saved. We're the same body. God is not a respecter of persons. See that? I love that. In verse number six, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. I know it says ages. Yeah, time passes, but the dispensation is of the grace of God. That's what it says there, right? Verse number two, the dispensation of the grace of God. Again, for by grace are you saved through faith. Can you see the consistency of the scriptures? I know I'm exaggerating, I'm putting on a bit of show, you know, trying to make it entertaining a little bit, but I hope you can just see the words themselves and just go, you know what, that's what it says. I mean, is this talking about the age of human government maybe? Let's go to another passage. Ephesians chapter one, just two chapters back. Chapter one, verse number nine. Now, this one is a little different, and yet it's related to the same thing. It's different, but it's related, okay? Ephesians chapter one, verse number nine. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he have purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times. Hmm, times, fullness of times. He might gather together in one all things in Christ. Well, we sort of saw that before, Jews and Gentiles. Both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who work of all things, after the counsel of his own will. Look at verse number 12, it's important. That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. Oh, that's been saved. So you can say it's related to salvation once again. It's once again related to the gospel. But what does the dispensation of the fullness of times really mean? Well, remember when I went to dictionary.com, and I got the fifth definition, which is a dispensing with, doing away with, or doing without something. So doing away with or dispensing with. All right, well, let's see, let's come with me to Galatians 4. The fullness, right, the dispensation of the fullness of times. What could that be about? Now, when I've been trying to teach this church, trying to learn the Scriptures, it's good to stick to the book, to the chapter. You know, if you need more information, go to other books that were written by the same man. So we've gone from Ephesians, which is written by Paul. Now we're going to Galatians, again, written by Paul. And he speaks of the same thing here. In Galatians 4, 4, Galatians 4, 4, but when the fullness of the time was come. Okay, so we're talking about the dispensation of the fullness of times. Now it says, but when the fullness of the time was come, that's past tense, right? God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem that, that were under the law, that we might obtain, sorry, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son, into your hearts crying, Abba Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So how do we become a son of God? You believe the gospel, right? But as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, right? John 1 12. So what are we seeing here? And back to verse number four, and when the fullness of the time was come, so something happened, so when that fullness of the time has come, God sent his son, all right? Get forth his son. So what are we talking about? So that the time of the old covenant was over, okay? Then God, because of that, God sent his son to open the doors, yes, to even them that are under the law, verse number five, even the Jews, but his right to the Galatian church, which are Gentiles, get speaking to all of us, that through Christ Jesus, we can cry to God, our Father. He's our Father, we're his son. And how do we enter that? By being saved, by believing the gospel. So the dispensation here is the dispensing of the Old Testament times, so that we would have a clear understanding of the coming of Christ, his purpose, his salvation, all right? And we know that salvation by grace through faith, on the finished work of Jesus Christ. So something was gotten rid of, dispensed of, now we're in the new covenant, okay? The old covenant has been done away with. Again, dispensation, let's believe, well no, God still has that old covenant in play, it's going to happen in the millennial reign of Christ. No, it's been dispensed, it's been thrown into the bin, we don't need it anymore, okay? It was good for the time, but Jesus Christ is much better. The new covenant is much better. It's not based on our obedience, it's based on the obedience of Christ. So, when we look at all these passages on the dispensation, okay? Which of these fulfill, you know, we're talking, the title of the sermon is Dispensationalism versus the Dispensationalism, Dispensation, the Dispensation of God versus Dispensationalism. Which of those, that's it, those are the four references to Dispensationalism. Or dispensation, dispense, I'm getting tongue tied, of dispensations, let me get it right. Okay, all of it had to do with either dispensing the gospel, or doing away dispensing of the former times of the old covenant. Are these about, oh man, look, they've got seven dispensations, but there's only four references. And all of these are given like names, right? The four of them was the dispensation of God, the dispensation of the gospel, the dispensation of the grace of God, the dispensation of the fullness of times. If dispensationalism is true, why don't they use the labels and the names that God gives in the scriptures? You know why they don't. They'll just show the church member, it says dispensation, therefore dispensationalism is true. But they won't give you the labels, the names that God himself gives in his word, because they know what's going to happen. Oh, the dispensation of God, let me look that up. This is not about the age of innocence. This is not about the age of human governments. This is not about the age of human consciousness. This is not about the age of promise. This is not about the age of the law. Every reference is about Christ and the gospel and salvation every single time. Yes, I'm a dispensationalist, I suppose, because my goal is to dispense the gospel to people that are not saved. Okay. And yeah, you know, in that process, we're dispensing of their false beliefs and giving them a dispensation of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. That's all it means. How much time I've got here? Don't want to go too long on a Wednesday night. All right, come with me to Galatians 1, please. Come with me to Galatians 1. Now look, I'm not going to break fellowship with a dispensationalist. I'll tell you now. Okay, many of the good pastors that I sat under, that I learned a lot of good truths were dispensationalists. Okay. And right now they'd be disappointed in me. You know, why don't you believe what we believe, teach what we teach. You know, I mean, that's just, you know, when you stand for the truth, it's always going to be the very few. It's just how it is. Right. And you've got to face the rejection. You've got to, it doesn't matter. You know, my Lord has never left me nor forsaken me. Hey, we do things for Jesus Christ, don't we? It'd be great to get along with different pastors. And I do get along with some dispensational pastors. Okay. I do. But you've got to draw a line at some point. Okay. Like your standard IFB church are dispensationalists, but that's all they believe. They believe it's just different periods of time. God had these, you know, responsibilities to man. They failed and then God had to judge and that's really all they believe. And the main emphasis of believing that is because they want to separate between the Jew and the Gentile. That's their main goal. Yes, the church is God's people, but the unbelieving Christ rejecting Jews, Zionism, all that kind of stuff. That's, you know, and pre-tribulation rapture, you know, that's all. That's the main reason they hold onto dispensationalism because they know these things are not in the scriptures, but they're based on that interpretive theology. Okay. But this can become very dangerous. This idea of dispensationalism can become very dangerous. And look at Galatians 1-8. Galatians 1-8 says, But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. But we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that ye have received, let him be accursed. All right. The problem is, I realized there were problems with dispensationalism. So I said, not for me. I've understood the Bible fine all these years. I don't need dispensationalism. Some others come to the same conclusion as me. I'm talking about mainline Baptists, okay. They'll say, oh, there's problems with dispensationalism. So instead of saying, I've got to get out of dispensationalism, they're like, I don't think I'm deep enough into dispensationalism. We've got to dig in deeper into dispensationalism. Like this mainline soft dispensationalism is not enough to answer the questions. And they'll go deeper. And they become what is referred to as hyper dispensational. They don't call themselves hyper dispensationalists. But dispensationalists, mainline dispensationalism, dispensationalists will look at these people and say, you're a hyper dispensationalist. Like even dispensationalists look at these people and say, you're crazy. You're weird. Okay. And that's the, what's an American preacher? With a chalkboard. Robert Breaker, Gene Kim, but the guy behind it that they all follow, they all listen to. Peter Ruckman. They're all Peter Ruckman Ruckmanites. Okay. Ruckman, okay, is a hyper dispensationalist. And that's why most Baptists are like, yeah, that guy's just insane. Like he believes in all kinds of weird things. He believes birds are like evil spirits or something like this, right? There's just a lot of ridiculous things. And they say, well, it's not divided. You just got to keep going. All right. Your divisions just aren't clear. You need more divisions. You need, you need more hyper dispensationalism, essentially. It just starts, all these crazy doctrines start to stem out of Ruckmanism. And then some people look at Ruckmanism, they say, hold on. There's still problems with that. We've got to dig in deeper. We've got to go even more insane. We've got to like lose our mind. But, but before I go there, the problem with Ruckmanism is they believe in different Gospels for different ages. They'll give lip service that it's by faith alone today. But the only way you understand faith alone is to understand that a man cannot save himself. Righteousness cannot be by the law, but they say, oh, well, the Old Testament saints, they didn't know anything about Jesus. So I guess they were saved by works. And before you know it, they're teaching another Gospel. Works in the Old Testament or works in the tribulation, what do they call the future periods come. All of a sudden they're teaching multiple Gospels for different dispensation. This is known as dispensational salvation. At that point, I will say, I don't want to be that friend. I don't want to be that person's friend. Because the Bible told me they're accursed. Okay, listen, when we got saved, we were taken out of the, the curse was lifted from us. Christ became the curse for us. They're still under the curse, meaning they're not saved. So why should I fellowship with preachers like that? I'm not going to. Even my dispensational buddies can look at that going, that guy's insane. That teaching is crazy. But that's the kind of teaching that is most popular on YouTube. Because they're saying all kinds of crazy things. They're prophesying of Christ's coming. They're looking at the blood moons. You know, talking about UFOs and all kinds of crazy conspiracy. They believe, I'm pretty sure they believe in, you know, lizard men, whatever it is, reptilian creatures, like all kinds of weird nonsense. Okay, so I don't throw every dispensationalist under that bus. I recognize that's weird. Okay. And look, what I'm sharing with you are people that I've met, that I've cared for, that I've thought were friends, that I thought were saved. And, you know, I see this journey. They open, their eyes are open like me. And they're like, there's something wrong with this sensationalism. And I'm like, yeah, buddy, come on, just read the Bible. They're like, no, no, no, there's got to be somebody that's got the answers for Peter Ruckman. And they find the problems with Peter Ruckman. And they're like, it's just not divided enough. We need more division in the scriptures. And they become mid-ax dispensationalists. Have you heard of that? Mid-ax dispensationalists. Like that's even more so. Now they're saying, the things that Jesus taught is not for you, just for the Jews. The book of Revelation, no, not for you. The book of 1 Peter, 2 Peter, not for you. 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, not for you. The only things that are for you, you dirty Gentile, are the writings of Paul the Apostle. I'm of Paul, and I'm of Paulus, and I'm of Cephas. It just gets worse and worse and worse and worse. I've seen that journey. I've seen it many times with different people. I've got a pastor friend that opened their eyes, like he used to on Facebook. Oh, the Jews, God's chosen people. I stand with you, Israel, right? The flag of Israel. And here's my friend. You know, I don't want to say anything to him. You know, who everybody is. And then he opened his eyes, were open. He said, you know what? Probably some spatialism. Like, yeah, yeah. He started to realize. He goes, you know what? Even the end times, I don't think that's clear. Like pretreatment. Yeah, you're getting there. Because it reprobates, you know. Homosexuals, they can't be saved. I'm like, yeah, wow. Like you're getting there. Wow, you know? You know, you're coming along. Like you're getting this thing. But you know what happened? These people are so dependent on a man. They're so dependent on a theology. I need something to interpret the scriptures. I'm too scared to open God's word with my own eyes. Really. I'm talking about a friend. I care for him. And it's like, well, there's got to be a better system. And he's gone toward like Calvinism. Like a soft Calvinism. Because he's just trying to find a system that works. Because you're so used to depending on a system. I'm saying, look, break away from the system. Just open God's word. You've got God's, you've got the Bible. We've got the completed canon of scripture in our language. Perfect translation. And you have the Holy Spirit of God. And anyone that is saved can read the scriptures and understand it. It's true. Why be scared? So dependent on man. I don't know where I was going with that. Can you come with me to Acts chapter 10? Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, verse number 38. If I go a bit over time, brethren, my apologies. Acts chapter 10, verse number 40, verse number... Let's see. Let's read verse number 43. Acts 10, 43. Because they'll say, well, they knew nothing of Jesus. Where in the Old Testament does it say, believe in Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And my response to them is, where in the Old Testament does it say, do the works and thou shalt be saved. They don't have an answer to that. But we have the New Testament, which sheds light on the Old Testament. In Acts 10, 43, it says, to him, speaking of Jesus, to him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. There it is. All the prophets gave witness that if you believed on Jesus, you'll receive remission of sins. That's what the scripture says. Now, do they know the name of Jesus? No. They know exactly how that he would die? No. I mean, there's some inkling, you read the book of Psalms, some understanding of how he would die. Read Isaiah, he's got an idea of how he would die. Okay, but my point is, yes, I concede that they did not know the salvation plan like we know it today, but salvation was still by grace through faith. It's always been and it's never been by works. Come with me to Romans 4. Romans 4, verse number 2, please. Romans 4, verse number 2. Romans 4, verse number 2. What I'm trying to show you guys just is the danger of dispensationalism. When you see the problems with it, it's time to reject it, not time to dig in deeper and think you've not done enough. You're just, it's like digging a hole. How do I get out of this hole? I'll just keep digging a hole. Eventually, no, no, you got to get out of the hole while you can, while you keep digging deep and you're stuck there. Romans chapter 4, verse 2. All right, so Abraham was from the age of our promise. How did Abraham get saved? Verse number 2, if Abraham were justified by works, was he justified by works? No, but if he were, he have whereof to glory, but not before God, for what saved the scripture? Abraham believed God, and he was counted unto him for righteousness. So how was Abraham saved? By believing on God. And that's how he received righteousness. That's in the so-called age of promise. Okay, and well, what about those under the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant? They had to do the temple sacrifices. Don't you get it? They had to keep the laws of God, the 10 commandments, or they would not be saved. Look at verse number 6 says, even as David, King David, when did he live under the Old Covenant? He would have lived under what they call the age of law. Okay, or even as David also described the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputed righteousness without works. Even David knew salvation cannot be by works. It's without works. All right, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord would not impute sin. Even Abraham, even David knew that it's not by works. Abraham knew it's not by works. Salvation has never been by works. So those that preach another gospel or any gospel by works, they are accursed. They're not saved. Come into another passage please. Oh wait, you're in Romans. Come with me to, yeah, come with me to Acts 26. Acts 26, we'll end on this one. Acts 26. Acts 26, 22. Acts 26, 22. I don't know how this, like dispensational salvationists, they're accursed, they're accursed people. I don't know how they read these passages. I mean, I guess they can't read it. They haven't got the Holy Spirit. I mean, there's the answer. Anyway, Acts 26, 22. Acts 26, 22. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue until this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which, look at this. So he's saying, look, I'm not saying anything else which the prophets and Moses did say should come because I'm preaching in the New Testament the same things that Moses preached. I'm preaching the same thing that the prophets of the Old Testament preached. What did he preach? Verse number 23, that Christ should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead. And should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. To the Jews and the Gentiles. Because I'm preaching the same thing. Christ starting on the cross was not some failure. We knew about it. Moses knew about it. The prophets of old knew about it. They knew that God had to redeem us with shed blood and that it would be the blood of God. Again, did they know all the details? Of course not. Okay, but they knew that salvation was by grace. I'm trusting God. He's my savior. I'm trusting his sacrifice. All right, and we've been given the honor. We have it all revealed to us. We know the amazing story of our Lord Jesus Christ. So brethren, you know, as we understand the story of Christ let me ask you, do you want to be a dispensationalist or do you just want to dispense, you know, the grace of God? Just come around dispense God's grace. Preach the gospel. Tell people about Jesus. The same things Moses taught. Same thing the prophets of old taught. Same thing that Paul, yes, Paul, Peter, yes, they all taught that salvation was by the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, brethren, these are strange doctrines that you'll hear in churches. If you didn't know why we're a strange church from the perspective of Baptist churches, it's because we're not a dispensational church. Okay, let's pray.