Book 21

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 2 * PART 3 * BOOK 21

REDEMPTION AND JUSTIFICATION

ROMANS 3:25-4:8

It’s been a while since we explained who and what we are. We are not associated with any group, though I certainly have my own church background. We’re independent, and not connected to any organization. We’re not underwritten by anyone and totally rely on God’s people to supply the funds. We never try to trumpet one group over another or twist arms. We’re just here to teach The Book. I’m so thrilled that we can get letters from all different backgrounds; that folk are learning. And that’s the only reason I teach. I just want people to study, read their Bible and understand it.

A gentlemen a while back said, “You know Les, for years I would pick up this Bible and try to read it, and I couldn’t understand so I would put it back on the shelf. Then months later I would begin feeling guilty because I wasn’t reading my Bible, and I’d pick it up and read it but still couldn’t get any thing out of it, but since I now understand your line of teaching I can just revel in reading my Bible.” That’s what it’s all about. I know everyone doesn’t agree with our teaching and I don’t expect them to – that’s only human nature, but we trust we can always avoid error, and stay as true to The Word as we possible can. Now let’s get right back where we left off in the last lesson and begin with Romans Chapter 4. Here Paul is going to come back to Abraham. Now Abraham is one of the Old Testament characters that Paul alludes to probably more than anyone else, and in the Book of Galatians he will even say:

Galatians 3:7

“Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.”

That’s thrown a curve at many people. Does that mean when you become a Christian you become a Jew? Heavens no! Gentiles are Gentiles, and our Salvation doesn’t make a Jew out of anyone. But it’s just that Abraham was saved by Faith + Nothing. Abraham didn’t sacrifice, didn’t practice circumcision, nor did he have the Law. Abraham simply did what God told him to do, so he was saved by faith + nothing, and that’s exactly where we are. That’s the connection: Abraham and Christians today entered in by faith and faith alone. So Paul uses Abraham over and over. Back to Rom. 4:

Romans 4:1

“WHAT shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found (as a Jew)?”

What was Abraham by birth? A Syrian. Abraham had two brothers you remember up there in Haran in Syria. But Abraham by virtue of his call and by the Covenant promises, becomes the father of the Hebrew Nation. But his blood didn’t change, he was still genetically a Syrian. So although Scripture considers Abraham the father of the Jewish race, and consequently the first Jew, genetically Isaac would be the first Son of Promise, and then would be what we would call the first real Jew. Abraham came out of Ur of the Chaldees, then came into the Land of Promise after believing God.

Romans 4:2

“For if Abraham were justified (notice Paul is still dealing with this whole business of justification. And Abraham becomes an ideal example of a man who was justified, declared as if he had never sinned, because if Abraham were justified) by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.”

If Abraham were given the ability and freedom to boast or to glory he would have had a lot to brag about. After all Abraham became a great man. He’s known throughout all of history. But he couldn’t boast one word before God. You know I’m always reminded of Job. For a moment let’s go all the way back to that Book, sometimes I think these things just add a little salt and pepper to a lesson. For a moment let’s look at Job Chapter 38. Job, if you remember, was in a dilemma wasn’t he? Here he had been living a righteous life, he was the pillar of his community, and yet all of a sudden God permitted Satan to strike him, and took away everything that he had. Then his three “friends” came alone and told Job all the reasons for his problems. But yet you really don’t get to the crux of Job’s problem until you get to this chapter. And Job did have a problem. We don’t like to admit that, we like to think that Job was perfect. No he wasn’t! Had he been perfect I don’t think all of these things would have befallen him, but God had a tremendous lesson even for Job. And He could have said the same thing about Abraham.

Job 38:1-4

” THEN the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, `Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge (who is God referring to? Job’s friends. He says who are these guys that try to spew out all this stuff without any knowledge)? Gird up now thy loins like a man (what’s God saying? He says don’t be a wimp. Stand up like a man. I’ve got some things I want to ask you Job); for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me (now this is lowering the boom). Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.'”

See what God is doing? He is putting Job in the place of not being able to say a word. Job didn’t know how creation happened. He couldn’t tell God how He did it, but God says, “Tell Me if you know.” What’s implied? Job thought he knew a lot. See that?

Job 38:5,6

“Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof:”

What could Job answer? I don’t know. But up until this time Job thought he was a pretty important person, and he had been. And it was the same way with Abraham. Abraham was a man of stature in his day and time, and yet when he came before God, could he boast? Not a word. He had nothing going for him. All Abraham could do was be a man of faith. Take God at His Word. And that’s the lesson the Scripture is trying to show us. Back to Romans 4.

Romans 4:3

“For what saith the scripture?…” Not what anyone else says. Paul uses this again in the Book of Galatians, and let’s look at it.

Galatians 4:30a

“Nevertheless what saith the scripture?…”

Do you see that? The Scripture is what counts and nothing else. What does the Scripture say? That’s where we have to prepare ourselves when we meet Christ one day. I remember many years ago (I guess the Lord was already preparing me to teach even back then) we had a young couple that started attending our Church, and that was when we were still up in Iowa. They were from two totally opposite denominational backgrounds, and naturally they were having some problems in their home life and spiritual life because of these diverse views. So after attending a few times our pastor asked me one day if I would just go out to their home and teach that couple on a one on one basis. I had never done anything like that before, and I was probably shaking in my boots, but I’ll never forget what a tremendous learning experience that was. Because when we sat down at their kitchen table, and I begin to open the Scriptures as best I could she immediately backed away and said, “Now wait a minute Les, we have always been taught that we don’t go by what any book says, but rather what our Church teaches.”

Now what’s this poor old farmer going to do with something like that? I’d never been confronted with anything like that before. I thought that everybody went by what The Book says. But she was quite adamant, and it took me almost all evening to convince her that whatever Church anyone belongs to was men, those were human beings, but The Bible is The Creator God speaking. So we finally brought her around to where she could see that, and they both came to know The Lord. But even today there are so many that tell you the same thing. “I don’t care what you say, I go by what my Church says.” And that’s fine if their Church lines up with The Book, but if it doesn’t then those people are in trouble. They’re going to be in eternal trouble. Back to Romans Chapter 4.

Romans 4:3a

“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God,…”

There’s a tremendous difference between believing God and believing in God. At first glance the average individual says, “What’s the difference?” It’s just one little preposition. Hey, it’s all the difference in the world; this is the difference between Heaven and hell beloved. For the most part the world believes in God. They believe in God and prayer but know nothing of believing God. When you believe in God you just recognize He’s up there, that He is in control or whatever. But when you believe God then you become a person of“Faith.” Do you see the difference. When you believe God, now you’re taking what He has said and you’re believing it then and that’s faith. For example, He tells us how to be saved here in Paul’s epistles, and when we believe for our Salvation what those Scriptures say then we are saved (Reference: Rom. 1:16. I Cor. 15:1-4, Rom. 10:9-10 & 13). When you simply believe in God you’re just recognizing His presence. Here in verse 3 we see that Abraham didn’t believe in God, but rather he believed God. In other words when God said it Abraham believed it. That’s the beauty of it. He believed God, and as soon as he did:

Romans 4:3

“… and it (it modifies his believing) was counted unto him for righteousness.” Remember Abraham was a pagan, an idolater. Let’s look at it. Come back to the Book of Joshua Chapter 24.

Joshua 24:2

“And Joshua said unto all the people, `Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your father dwelt on the other side of the flood (river) in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they (the whole family) served other gods.'”

They were all idolaters, and you want to remember that was only about 200 years after the Tower of Babel. And there probably wasn’t a single believer in the One true God left. The whole world was steeped in idolatry including Abraham’s family. And that’s why God had to tell Abraham in Genesis Chapter 12 to leave his family, his city, and go to a land that He will show him. He did not want Abraham’s family down in the Promised Land because of their idolatry. So into this idolatrous home, and this idolatrous city of Ur God in His Grace again just about like He did with Saul on his road to Damascus. God in His Grace reaches down to one man Abram.

Genesis 12:1

“NOW the LORD had said unto Abram, `Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred (God wanted the break from idolatry), and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:'”

Now when God said for Abram to do all that, what did Abram do? He did it in response to faith. And now in Romans 4, verse 3 we see God counted him righteous for believing Him. You see Salvation is so confound and so complex yet it’s so simple. It’s simple when we first enter in, even a child can understand it, but you see as we grow in our faith as a believer, we begin to realize how complex it all is. We’ll never plumb the depth of it, it’s impossible. I can’t comprehend that the Creator of the universe permitted those Romans soldiers to nail Him to that wooden Cross and raise it up. I just can’t comprehend that, but He did. I can’t comprehend how the God of creation hung there and suffered and shed His divine Blood to be buried, and raised from the dead just for you and me. And I always try to make this point to believers. “If you would have been the only person on earth Christ would have still gone through the work of the Cross.” That’s what we call a personal Salvation. We have to understand that. Christ didn’t just put the human race under an umbrella, but rather He died for every individual. And that’s why it becomes an individual responsibility to believe the Gospel. After Abraham believed God, then God could look at Abraham and say, “As far as I’m concerned you have never sinned. You’re justified.” What had Abraham done? Nothing! He believed, and as a result of his believing he left town no doubt about it. But it was his believing that put him in a right standing with God.

Romans 4:4

“Now to him that worketh (tries to merit favor with God. Here we’re talking about Salvation, not about Christian experience and works) is the reward (of Salvation) not reckoned of grace, but of debt.”

Who are we going to put into debt if we can do this by works? God! And you’ll never put God in debt because He’s beyond that. But the human race is still trying to put God in debt by saying, “But God, I’ve done all this and that and you owe it to me to let me into Heaven.” No, He doesn’t. He’ll never owe any man anything, not even a righteous man like Abraham. We just have to understand that we’re all sinners by virtue of being born from Adam, and that the only remedy for or sins is The Gospel, that Christ died, was buried, shed His Blood, and rose from the dead for you and I, and when we believe it for our Salvation it’s just like God saw Abraham believe, then God imputes to us His righteousness.

Romans 4:5a

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly..”

That flies in the face of human reasoning, but that’s the only kind of person God can deal with. He’s the one that recognizes that he’s ungodly. I always think of this analogy. Take a swimming pool full of kids on a hot day. They are screaming and having fun, and the lifeguard sits up here seemingly uncaring. But if they’re doing their job they’re not, and out of all that noise going on, what can they hear in an instant? Just a little plea for help. Immediately that life guard is in the water bringing salvation to that drowning kid. I liken that to exactly where God is. He looks at this whole world with all of it’s activity, and turmoil, and commotion, but what’s His ear constantly tuned to? A sinner crying out, “Lord Save Me!” And at that moment He’s there. But God can’t until we cry out for help. Now come back to the lifeguard again. What if one of those kids is just having a ball even though he’s in deep water and he’s in no trouble at all, but the lifeguard comes to take them to the edge of the pool. What would that kid think? “Hey, I don’t need you.” It’s the same way in the spiritual realm. God isn’t going to go in and try to save the person that says, “I have no need.” He’d be totally rejected if He tried. So what does God wait for? That cry for help.

Matthew 9:11,12

“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, `Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?’ But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, `They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.'”

It’s the same way spiritually; when we realize our need and cry from the heart for Salvation, then God is there instantly. And it’s all based on believing it, do you have the kind of faith that “Yes the God of creation took on human flesh, went to the Cross, suffered, died, shed His Blood as full payment for our redemption, and then rose victoriously over sin and death and the old Devil himself, and is now able to impart eternal life.” Verse 5 again:

Romans 4:5

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 2 * PART 2 * BOOK 21

REDEMPTION AND JUSTIFICATION

ROMANS 3:25-4:8

We love to hear from you and it seems like you’re almost right here with us in class as we teach. I’ve always said I’m not a preacher, but rather a teacher, and there’s a big difference. Once in a while I may get close to preaching but I try not to. I want to just teach and keep it on a low level without getting emotional. But we certainly hope and pray the Holy Spirit will continue to open hearts to understand what The Word really says and what it doesn’t say. Now let’s come right back to the Book of Romans and I believe I could very easily spend five years right here in this Book alone. I heard recently that there was a preacher on the east coast who spent 20 years and never preached a Sunday morning sermon out of anything but the Book of Romans. And I say, “Praise the Lord!” because he must have been a good preacher. So we’re going to stay in the Book of Romans and pick right up where we left off and that was at verse 25 of Chapter 3, but first let’s read verse 24 again.

Romans 3:24

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

Now I’m going to reflect back about three or four lessons ago where we went over the two absolutes in Scripture. No one can ever detour them or put a bridge over them, or tunnel under them, but must rather face them head on.

Hebrews 11:6a

“But without faith it is impossible to please him (God):….”

Hebrews 9:22b

“…and without shedding of blood is no remission (of sin),”

All right, I want you to see then that here we are satisfying both of those imperatives. We are dealing with the shed Blood because that was the price of redemption. And all of this is appropriated when we believe. And what is believing? Faith! So both of these are in the next verse. The Christ Jesus in verse 24:

Romans 3:25

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood (not only faith, but faith in His Blood. There you have both attributes in half a verse, there is no way you can escape it. So God has made Christ then a propitiation when we place our faith in His Blood), to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Let’s look at that word “Propitiation.” We looked at it a long time ago when we were in the Book of Exodus. Now turn to I John 2.

I John 2:1

“MY little children (I love that. I call that the term of endearment), these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if (in other words, we will) any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”

Now another thought comes to mind. Why do we scripturally need an advocate with the Father? Turn to the Book of Revelation Chapter 12, and I’ll show you. And we know that from the chronology of the Book of Revelation this great event will take place at the mid-point of the seven years of Tribulation. At the end of the first 3 1/2 years as I have taught for many years, a whole series of events will take place almost simultaneously. One of those events is what we will read about now. Now remember why we have turned to this passage. “Why do we need an advocate?”

Revelations 12:7-10

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon (Satan); and the dragon fought and his angels (in other words Satan and his angels are in a warfare in heaven), And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon (Satan) was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth (take that literally, he has had access to the very throne room of heaven and he will have according to this until the mid-point of the Tribulation, but then for the last time he), and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ (why?): for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

So Satan accuses you and I right there in the presence of God, if I understand Scripture, every time we sin. But what have we got going for us? An advocate. And what’s the other word for an advocate? An attorney. We have a legal mouthpiece is the way the world would put it. Just as soon as Satan points the finger at us and says to God the Father, “Look what that believer just did.” What does Jesus say? “Wait a minute, he’s under the Blood, I’ve purchased him, he’s mine.” Do you see that? All right, now that’s exactly what John is referring to in Chapter 2 verse 1.

I John 2:1b,2

“…we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (that wasn’t what I wanted to teach here, I want the next verse): And he (Jesus Christ the righteous) is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

In Scripture the word `propitiation’ is used only here and in Romans as far as I can tell. And He is the propitiation for our sins. Not for our sin only, but the sins of the whole world. There are those who teach that Christ’s atonement was only for those who become believers, it was a limited atonement. Well, that’s not what my Bible says. My Bible says Christ died and paid the sin debt for every human being. But it doesn’t automatically apply to everyone until they believe. And that’s where we must be careful.

So now what’s propitiation? We’ve got to go back to the Book of Exodus at least in our mind. Imagine a floor plan of the tent in the wilderness that we call the Tabernacle. And remember the tent was divided into two rooms and in the back room, in the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat. Out in the other room was thetable of shewbread, altar of incense and the candlestick. Outside the door was the laver of cleansing, and out farther was the brazen altar and out farther was the outer fence.Then on the Day of Atonement, Aaron the High Priest would have to bring three sacrificial animals. He would kill one, and make his way back to the mercy seat and sprinkle the blood on it for his own sins. And then he would take the blood of the second animal, and sprinkle it for the sins of the Nation of Israel. And then he would go back to the third animal and symbolically lay his hands on the head of that goat and that was called the scapegoat, and then this goat was taken out into the wilderness and set free. If you remember when we studied this back when we were in Exodus, all the materials that made up the Tabernacle, the outer fence of the altar, of the laver of cleansing, of the table of shewbread, the altar of incense, the candlestick, the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat covered with gold, made of wood, everything that was in that Tabernacle was a picture of whom? Of Christ the Lord Jesus.

Now then, this is the way I explain propitiation. Christ was the High Priest, He was the sacrificial Animal. He is the Place of Sacrifice. He’s the Laver of Cleansing. He’s the Table of Shewbread. He’s the Altar of Incense. He’s the Candlestick. He’s the Ark of the Covenant. He’s the Mercy Seat. He is everything that you can possibly think of in that Tabernacle on the Day of Atonement. The very word `propitiation’ indicates not only is He the Sacrifice, but also the Place of applying the Sacrifice. That’s why I like to use this whole system of the Tabernacle as a picture of Christ’s finished work of the Cross. That’s what we talk about when we say the work of the Cross finished it because He was everything that possibly demanded a Holy God of us. And He did it all on our behalf, and when you put it all together then that’s propitiation. What Christ accomplished on the Cross, His shed Blood, with His death, burial, and Resurrection it’s all been done on our behalf. Now back to Romans 3:25, and let’s read that verse once more.

Romans 3:25

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (when we can place our faith in His what? His Blood. We are living in a sophisticated day when people don’t like to talk about sacrificial blood, and we’re just not programmed to that, but nevertheless we cannot ignore the demands of Scripture. That God in His own reasoning and line of thought has demanded shed blood for the remission of sin and we can’t go against that. So now let’s read on) through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness (why do we place faith in His Blood?) for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”

The last part of this verse says to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. Now what’s he talking about? The Old Testament believers. Remember when I taught the difference between hell and the Lake of Fire a long time ago? I pointed out that all through the Old Testament economy even the believers, with the exception of Enoch and Elijah, when they died they didn’t go to heaven, but rather down into paradise. Remember that? They went down into paradise and we get just a little window of information on that in Luke Chapter 16 with the story of Abraham and Lazarus and the rich man in torment. Remember there was a great gulf fixed that they couldn’t cross over to each other. Abraham and Lazarus of course were down in that area called hades, or hell, and that explains the creed where it says that Jesus descended into hell, but He went into the paradise side. And then at His resurrection morning He took paradise up to heaven, and so now Paul tells us:

I1 Corinthians 5:8

“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord:”

But in the Old testament it wasn’t that way. They couldn’t go into Heaven. We know God made two exceptions, but on the whole the believer could not go into Heaven and the question is why? There had been no atoning blood shed. We know the blood of animals and goats couldn’t take away sin, it was a stop gap. I’ve always called it sweeping it under the rug, but once the true atonement had been accomplished there was no reason to send people down into paradise because paradise was taken directly to Heaven. And that is exactly what the Apostle Paul is reminding us. He’s not only talking about the New Testament believer, but he’s also bringing in the Old Testament saints, because their sins were totally atoned for by virtue of the shed Blood of Jesus Christ, and that brings us right up to date doesn’t it. Now verse 26:

Romans 3:2a

“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:…”

Paul is constantly hammering home one way or other that there is nothing that we’ve got going for us. Do you see that? We have nothing good, we have no righteousness, we have nothing to barter, and all we can do is, again like Israel at the Red Sea, to say, “I’m helpless and hopeless.” But, oh, that’s when God steps in.

Romans 3:26b

“… that he (The Lord Jesus) might be just (or fair),…”

I remember sometime ago that someone presented the same question in a book or some material I was reading, and I’ve always had that question in my mind for as long as I can remember, just like everyone else. How will God justify sending someone to the eternal Lake of Fire when so far as we know they have never had an opportunity to hear the Gospel (Ref I Corinthians 15:1-4). The human response is this, “But God, that’s not fair, because they never had a chance.” Whoever presented that question said this, “You know the only way we can answer that dilemma is that God is never unjust, or unfair. So in His own higher way of thinking, God knows how He will take care of it. We can’t comprehend it. But remember that God can never be unfair. He is totally just in all of his dealings.

Romans 3:26b

“…and the justifier of him which (so remember for all this to be consummated, the work of propitiation, the work of His shed Blood, the work of redemption as we saw in the last lesson, He’s going to end up being just and He’s also going to be just in justifying, declaring just as if they had never sinned, any sinner who is a child of Adam, any sinner who just simply) believeth in Jesus.”

Now, of course when Paul talks about believing in Jesus, he’s not talking about The Jesus of the Four Gospels, but rather the Jesus after His Resurrection. The Christ of Resurrection and what He did for you and me. Faith in that finished work of the Cross. All that is required is believing. Is anything left out of that verse? Most of the rank and file in the Christian community think something else should also be included be in this verse. They think believing is not enough. They think you have to do this and that (traditions) to become a member of the Body of Christ, but that’s not what The Book says. All the Bible declares is that these things are imputed to us when we believe (Faith + Nothing). But when we believe, things are going to start happening, we’re going to see some life changes. We’re going to see a whole new personality make-up, and some of the things people say must be done to become a Christian will come naturally as a result then of our faith.

Romans 3:27

“Where is boasting then (wouldn’t Heaven be an awful boring place if everyone had a story to tell of everything they did to get there? It would be awful, and the next chapter starts out that way by explaining that if Abraham had been saved by works he could have boasted)? It is excluded (you can’t argue with that), By what law (what Law says we can’t work for our Salvation? the law) of works? Nay; but by the law of faith.” Isn’t that beautiful, the law of faith without works. I know what the Book of James says; Also remember who the Book of James was written for and to – James 1:1.

James 2:14-17

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled: notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

Paul on the other hand says, “It’s Faith + Nothing!” Until we’re saved, and then what follows? Works, of course. We can never come back to God and say, but I did this or that for my Salvation. We have to totally rest on that which has been done on our behalf. Now verse 28: See how often Paul repeats things? And that’s by Holy Spirit inspiration, and for a reason. We have to constantly repeat some of these things in order for them soak in.

Romans 3:28

“Therefore we conclude (hey, there’s no more room for argument) that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

Isn’t that fantastic? We are justified by faith. You know years and years ago I had a lady in one of my classes who said she was a good artist, and one day she came up with a little painting of an odd looking little character with the most quizzical look on his face. And her caption was, “Faith + Nothing?” Isn’t that perfect? And isn’t that exactly the general rule of people when they hear me teach that it’s faith + nothing, they just quizzically look at me as if to say, “Now wait a minute Les, what are you talking about?” Don’t I have to do this and that? No, not for salvation. It is Faith + Nothing, and I know that it may be hard to swallow. But listen, that’s what The Book teaches. Now verse 29:

Romans 3:29

“Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:” Now that wasn’t the concept back in the Old Testament was it? Oh the Gentiles were in God’s mind, but remember in Ephesians 2 what Paul says?

Ephesians 2:12

“That at that time ye (Gentiles) were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:”

That was the Gentiles lot back there before the Gospel of Grace came on along. But now it’s on a level playing field. The Jew no longer has an advantage over a Gentile nor do we have an advantage over the Jew. Now to finish the chapter.

Romans 3:30,31

“Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision (Jews) by faith, and (justify) uncircumcision (Gentiles) through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

In other words, when I stand here and say that you’re not under Law, but strictly by faith + nothing, does that mean you throw the Law out to the wind? No! When we get to Romans Chapter 13 Paul is going to say just as plain as English can make it. “That when we love our neighbor, as a believer, of course, then we fulfill the Law.” We don’t cast it out. And I’ve always put it this way: can you love someone and break any of those commandments against him? It’s impossible. And so love is the fulfilling of the Law.

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 2 * PART 1 * BOOK 21

REDEMPTION AND JUSTIFICATION

ROMANS 3:25-4:8

Now back to Romans Chapter 3. We have been taking this very slowly because I’m afraid very few people really get a solid understanding of what these chapters are all about. Hopefully we can make it so plain that not one can be left confused. So let’s begin in verse 20 for a little review. And the Apostle Paul writes to the believers who are predominately Gentiles, but remember Jews are also eligible for this salvation, and some Jews are coming to know The Lord. But it’s predominately God dealing with the Gentile. So for the church at Rome as well as believers today Paul writes:

Romans 3:20,21

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now (in other words the Law could not do a thing to bring someone into salvation, but the flip side is we do have something that does, and that is) the righteousness of God without the law is manifested (put into the spotlight), being witnessed by the law and the prophets;”

Here I always have to stop. I emphasize Paul’s teaching so much and, for us today I think 90% of our study time in The Bible should be in his epistles. But never will I indicate that you forget about the rest of Scripture. The Old Testament is just as well fitted as the New Testament, and it all dovetails together, and I hope that is what I have been bringing out as we have been studying Through The Bible in the past five years. Remember the Old Testament was under predominately the economy of Law, to the Nation of Israel who were under the Law with all their Temple worship, their priesthood, and their sacrifices. But now that God has turned to the Gentiles, then naturally that economy had to slip off the scene as we saw in the Book of Acts, and we have something totally different. This may disturb a few people, but all I ask is don’t take my word for it, search the Scriptures. Do you find the same kind of language that Paul uses back in the Four Gospels? I’ll tell you before you look that you won’t. You won’t find it in the Old Testament because this is part of that “revelation” that Paul is constantly talking about. The mysteries, the secrets that had been held in the mind of God until He revealed them to this Apostle to the Gentiles. And what we have to hone in on is this new revelation.

I’ve used this illustration many times, and I’ll repeat it again. Say you had a will prepared ten years ago, and put it in a strong box for safe keeping. But a month ago you drew up a new will, and put it in the same strong box, and tomorrow you die. When your will is probated which one will they declare valid? The latest one. And it’s the same way with Scripture, we have to understand that Paul has now come with new revelations that have never been revealed before, and this is what we will be held accountable for. You know denominations are so stringent and they only want their people to get what they teach, and that’s okay if they’re lined up with The Book, but you see what I’ve tried to tell people all these years is this. When you stand before The Lord one day He’s not going to say you were certainly loyal and obedient to your denomination, but rather we are going to be judged according to The Book, and not according to what Les or anyone else says, and that’s all I try to get people to see. What does this Book say? Look at verse 21 again:

Romans 3:21

“Even the righteousness of God (what does that really mean? God can never do anything amiss, otherwise He couldn’t be God. So whatever God does is going to be absolutely fair, just, and right) without the law is manifested (is laid out in the open), being witnessed by the law and the prophets;”

It was still based on all the Old Testament writings. You don’t throw the Old Testament away. I’ve had many people tell me that they never look at the Old Testament because that’s all outdated. No it isn’t. The Old Testament is still applicable. In fact, let me show you a verse right here in Romans to back that up. This verse says it all.

Romans 15:4

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime (Old Testament) were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

Not doctrine but rather our learning. See the difference? Doctrine is what we had better have straight in what we believe, so far as our eternal destiny is concern. Doctrine is what we need for living the Christian life today. But for our learning, that is to understand why we have this doctrine. So the Old Testament is still applicable for our learning, to give us the background of how all this fell in place, and that now God can turn to the whole human race with His tremendous plan of salvation. Look at verse 4 again. We have to use the whole Book. Now back to Romans 3.

Romans 3:22

“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference:”

Between Jew and Gentile. Everybody is now on the same level. The Jew used to be in a place of pre-eminence, they had the law, the priesthood and Temple, but no more. There is now no distinction between Jew and Gentile. Now verse 23, and this is the capstone of everything that God laid out in chapters 1 and 2. The immoral man, the moral man, the religious man; it didn’t make any difference. Every child of Adam is now under this decree.

Romans 3:23

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

No person that has ever lived can merit favor with God on his own. It’s impossible, for The Book says “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” We’re all condemned, and I pointed out in our last series of lessons “We are not sinners because we break the law, but rather we break the law because we are sinners.” People have a hard time understanding that. We are born sinners. But let’s look at the flip side in verse 24. Because of all that God has done it is not a hopeless situation, because here is the promise.

Romans 3:24a

“Being justified…”

I like to define words. To justify someone is to declare them just as if nothing had ever happened. That’s justification. To bring it into the scriptural realm, justification is that judicial act of God whereby He declares the sinner who believes, “Just as if he had never sinned.” That’s hard for us to swallow, that once God justifies us, He sees us just like He saw Adam before he fell? Yes, and that’s hard to comprehend. But it’s a Biblical truth. We are justified without a cause. In other words God didn’t finally get back in a corner and say, “Okay, I’ll justify you, and declare you just as if you have never sinned because you deserve it.” No. God justifies us freely.

Romans 3:24

“Being justified freely by his grace (without a cause even though we don’t deserve it, when we believe) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Many people teach that everybody is going to end up in Heaven, and a lot of folk right here in this area think, “I’ll make it somehow or other.” but that’s not according to The Book. It still boils down to to that personal decision to recognize themselves as a sinner and that they believe What Christ has done on their behalf is all that God demands. We’re justified freely by His grace. Very few church people understand this word `Grace.’ Grace is that attribute of God whereby He, in His love and mercy, pours out on Sons of Adam the opportunity for eternal life if they will just believe the Gospel. (Ref. I Cor. 15:1-4) Now that’s Grace. I always like to use the Apostle Paul as an example when he was on the road to Damascus as probably the most perfect picture of the Grace of God in all of Scripture.

What kind of man was Saul of Tarsus? He was a religious zealot but he was contrary to God. He literally hated the name Jesus of Nazareth because he thought it was in opposition to his religion, so he persecuted those who had put their faith in Jesus. He literally committed many of them to prison, and even voted to have some put to death, he was what I’ve often said was the first man I would have zapped off the scene had I been God. And I think most of you would agree. But instead God saved him – not after he had done a lot of begging, and a lot of crusading saying, “I’ve got to straighten up my life so God can do something with me.” No, he was yet breathing slaughter, and threatenings against those believers and God zapped him with eternal life, and confronted him.

Acts 9:4,5

“And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, `Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me?’ And he said, `Who art thou, Lord?’ And the Lord said, `I am Jesus whom thou persecutes:…'”

The man was transformed in a moment. And as we will see in Chapter 7, all of a sudden his religiosity just faded away, the Law came alive, and he realized he was a sinner, and the Grace of God just overwhelmed him. And that is where we all have to come, where we realize that there is nothing we can do. Another example I like to give is the children of Israel on the shores of the Red Sea. It looked hopeless, the Egyptian army behind them, populated areas to the left and mountains to the right and the Red Sea out in from of them. Completely hopeless. Did God say, “Well hurry up and build bridges?” No! God said almost the ridiculous didn’t He? He said, “Stand Still.” What did that mean? He meant there is nothing Israel can do. They’re locked in, they’re at His mercy. And what did God’s mercy do? Open the Red Sea. Now that’s Salvation Oh it’s so beautiful, if only people can understand that we are in that hopeless situation because we are sons of Adam, we’re sinners.

Romans 3:24

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

Now these are all heavyweight words. First, justification whereby God declares the sinner just as if he had never sinned. On what basis? His Grace, not because we deserve it, but by His loving Grace. But how does he accomplish it through Grace? By redemption, and what’s redemption? Paying a price. I have a little illustration about redemption that goes like this. This young lad was handy making models and so one winter and spring he labored by the hour to make this special little boat so he could take it down to the seashore for their summer vacation. He put a lot of time and effort into that little boat, and when he finished, he had created a beautiful little thing. So the day came when they went to the beach, and he was playing with his boat, and it did everything that he wanted it to do. But after playing with the boat for a while something distracted the little boy, and he left his little boat there on the water’s edge. When he returned for it, the boat he had spent so much time on was gone, and he couldn’t find it anywhere. Finally he gave up trying to find it and the family went home.

That winter he was with his mother shopping when all of a sudden he discovered his boat in a pawn shop window. The little lad was just aghast, and said, “Momma, there’s my boat!”They went in to see what the store owner would say, and they saw a price on it. There was no way the little lad could afford to pay for his boat, and his mom wasn’t going to. So he determined that he’d go home and work and save his money until he had enough to buy his little boat back. Well, finally the day came when he had saved enough money, and he went bounding into the pawn shop and the boat was still there fortunately, and so he paid for it. But this is the point I want to make. As he was carrying that little boat home, he was talking to it. He said, “Little boat you’re twice over mine. I made you and now I’ve bought you back.” Well, you see that’s mankind. God had us in Adam until he fell, and then God lost the human race because of sin, and the only way He could get it back was to in due time pay the price, which He did at Calvary when He went to the Cross. Now that’s redemption. God’s Grace can be appropriated and that is the price that had to be paid for our redemption.

I have another illustration I would like to share with you. The basic Greek word used in redemption is “Exagorazo” – which means to buy out of the market. And naturally we are picturing a slave market in Paul’s day. Slaves would come in maybe from Europe after the Roman legions had brought back the victims of their military episodes, and then these people would end up in the slave market. And you want to remember in those days if they didn’t get bought out of the slave market, then the coliseum was the end for them, as they were fed to the lions. So the only hope they had was to be bought out of the market. The next Greek word used in this analogy is “Lutroo”– which means after they have been bought out of the market they can be set free. That’s exactly where we were. As sons of Adam falling short of the glory of God every human being is in Satan’s slave market whether they know it or not. Unless they are purchased out of Satan’s slave market they’re in pretty much the same situation as going to the coliseum only it’s spiritual, eternal, and death. The only hope is that they are bought out of that slave market. And that’s exactly what the Blood of Christ did, that Blood paid the price of redemption. He paid it in full, and He has not only bought us out of the slave market but He’s also set us free.

Now I’ll use this illustration to make a point. A rich Roman goes down to the slave market and he sees a young teenager that is healthy and strong so he buys him and takes him home. He cleans him up, puts him in nice clothes and gives him light duties to perform for him. Then in short order he tells this slave, “I’ve also paid for your freedom, and if you don’t want to stay here and be my servant then you’re free to go any where in the Roman Empire.” Well in those kind of circumstances what would you and I do? We probably wouldn’t go out into a strange land, but rather tell our master that we will stay right here and be his slave the rest of our lives. We’ve never had it this good before. And that’s the way the believer should respond. Once Christ has paid the price of redemption, and not only bought us out of the slave market of Satan, but He also sets us free. You know I’m always stressing that there is no freedom on this planet like a true believer experiences. That’s when we come into real freedom. I always have to follow that up with, “But that’s not a license.” That doesn’t mean that we can live for the devil and do whatever we please. Now back to the text again.

He tells us in verse 24 we are justified as if we have never sinned because God’s Grace has been poured out on us undeservingly. It’s because His shed Blood has paid the price of our redemption. Let me show you another verse. Go to I Peter Chapter 1. Peter is writing this a long time after his earthly ministry with Christ. Approximately thirty years later, and by now Paul’s revelation has also been made known to Peter. So Peter can write the following:

I Peter 1:18,19

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed (not bought) with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from you vain conversation received by tradition from you fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot;”

Now you can’t make it any plainer. And you see why I maintain that you cannot leave the blood out of the picture? And many of us might not exactly like that, but you can’t bypass the blood of Christ, because we have been redeemed by the blood.

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 1 * PART 4 * BOOK 21

OLD ADAM CRUCIFIED – ROMANS 3:19-22

We pick up where we had finished with Romans 3:22. We found that the only remedy for the old Adam is for God to move in His omnipotent all-powerful omniscient way, and put old Adam to death so that we are rid of him so far as his power and influence is concerned, and get on with life with a new nature – a divine nature. Back in Genesis 1 we used the circles to better define the human make-up, and how it pertains to us today. I would like to go over that again as we have new people who haven’t seen that aspect before. But let’s look first at a couple of Scriptures, the first is Romans 3:23 where this is the crowning conclusion of everything God has said in the first three chapters of Romans.

Romans 3:23

“For all (every one of us – no exceptions. Until God does something we are falling short of the glory of God. We are sinners, or sons of Adam) have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Now for a moment let’s go to I Thessalonians Chapter 5, and let’s begin at verse 23, and remember this is still Paul’s writings.

I Thessalonians 5:23

“And the very God of peace sanctify (or sets you apart) you wholly; (completely) and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved (kept) blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In other words, that part of us that is going on into eternity is not just the soul, and spirit. We are going to go into eternity a complete entity. A body, soul and spirit; that’s what The Book says. Now after seeing that let’s go all the way back to Genesis Chapter 1, and begin with verse 26.

Genesis 1:26,27

“And God said, `Let us (that’s a plurality word, as it should be. Elohim said let us) make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the thing that creepeth upon the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

Now when God created man in His image the first thing that you must understand from Scripture is this. God was not in the form of a man! That is not what it means. It didn’t mean that God was going to make someone that looked like He looked, because what was God? Spirit! The Triune God is still Spirit, and so the Triune God doesn’t say that we are going to make a creature that looks like a spirit looks. So they are talking about something that is spiritual and it’s eternal and is that part of us that is invisible even today. And what am I talking about? The personality.

Okay now I have the circles on the board, and if you remember when we were back in Genesis we used the circles (Reference: Book 1 and 2) and over twenty years of teaching I guess more people have commented that they have had more enlightenment from this teaching than almost anything else I’ve taught.

When God created Adam then, He made him a triune being, he was a three-part being, not a Trinity, but a three-part being as I Thessalonians laid out – body, soul, and spirit. Now the body is just simply the outer tent, the outer covering, and normally I just use the body as the exercise of the five senses, and that’s all it’s really good for. It’s temporary like a tent is temporary. It’s here today and gone tomorrow in the overall picture.

Then inside that temporary tent now we have the things that are eternal, and it’s in this area where we are made in the image of God. Remember God never had a body with the five senses that He could pattern us after. But here He was a personality comprised of mind, will, and emotions. And I’ll be in perfect accord with psychology 101 when I call this the personality, or the true person, that’s in the area of the mind, will, and emotions. Now I know that there are some differences of opinion in here and I don’t mind that, but I’m just looking at the broad picture to give us a real good overview of why God deals with us the way He does and why He calls it the old man, the old sin nature, or the old Adam and why he has to be put to death.

Then the third part of Adam was the spirit part of him and it was in the area of spirit. And it was in this area that Adam fellowshipped with God – he had communion with Him. Now in the area of the mind, will and emotion, and this area of spirit, we find them so closely intertwined that it’s hard to separate them. But the Scripture says they can be separated. For example in the Book of Hebrews Chapter 4 we find:

Hebrews 4:12

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,…”

So according to that verse there is a difference, but like I said it’s pretty hard to define them. I’ll just put it this way to make it easy to understand. I’ll call the soul the mind, will, and emotions, the personality. And the spirit is the core of our very being wherein we as believers have fellowship with God. Now the moment Adam sinned, and showed his disobedience, this personality, this mind, will, and emotion became immediately a sin nature. At the same instance, what happened to this spirit and God relationship? It was broken! And you know why it was broken? What happened to the spirit in Adam? It died. So Adam, after the fall is nothing more and nothing less than the body with it’s five senses, temporary, and it’s going to die. And we know that Adam lived a long time but he died. That old sin nature which made up his personality, had no relationship with God, because it was broken the same as any unbeliever today. That entity of his innermost being is dead, and unfunctional, however I’m not going to call it annihilated like some people do.

Remember way back I used an illustration of a storage battery in a car? I still think it’s a good illustration. That spirit of Adam died like a dead battery. Human elements could come in and try to clean it up and fix it up and veneer it, but it’s still dead, and it’s just like your car battery being dead. We get out to the car and the battery is dead. You won’t go get some soap and water and wash the outside of the battery, but rather what you will do is find some outside source of power to regenerate it. And that’s exactly where Adam is, he is spiritually dead, and it’s going to take an outside power to regenerate him. There again is why good works can’t do this.

Now as I have said so often it’s hard to explain our plan of Salvation from the Old Testament because it’s a whole different economy. So now if you can skip with me mentally at least all the way from Adam up to where we are on the back side of the Cross. Christ has now died, He has now fulfilled all the demands of God on sinful men in the person of Christ on the Cross. The Holy Spirit is just moving up on the population, convicting men by the Law, as we saw in the earlier lessons of Romans, of their need of something because man can’t do it on his own. So along comes the Apostle Paul and he lays it out so plainly, and that’s why we are going to take our time coming through these Books he has authored, Romans and Ephesians especially. So now Paul shows us that our root problem is not what we’re doing, but rather who we are. And who are we? Sons of Adam! And every baby born into the world now is in the same place that Adam was after he fell. They come into the world in that sweet innocent little body with it’s five senses, laying with them is that personality, but it’s a sin-bent personality. Now it can try to clean itself up as we have seen, and have experienced in the past few lessons. But until God moves in and does things which only God can do, it’s all for nothing.

Now the first thing we like to point out is in this area of what I originally called the soul, the personality and the mind, will, and emotions is that all three of these are invisible. But are they real? As you sit out there, are you going to argue that you don’t have a mind? Of course not. Are you going to try and tell me you don’t have a will? Are you going to try and tell me you have no emotions? You mean you’ve never laughed, or been sad, or upset? Sure you have. Why? Because you have a seat of emotions. Can you find it? No! And I don’t care how you look for it, you never will. So if we’re dealing with invisible, then we are dealing with the spirit realm, and not the physical.

Now since this mind, will, and emotions that were created in Adam came straight from the Creator Himself then the question is this, “Is that thing going to last a hundred or two hundred years and disappear?” No. How long? Forever. That soul is going to live somewhere forever because again we’re dealing in the spirit. Now I know the Lake of Fire for those that go there won’t be living, but nevertheless they will be there, and it’s not going to end. Don’t ever buy this stuff that says there is an annihilation, because the Scripture doesn’t say that. Every Scripture verse that I know concerning the wicked and their doom says forever, and forever, and forever for all eternity. And the reason is that it is an eternal, created thing from God.

All right so what’s the dilemma? Everyone of us now as Sons of Adam are born with the body in which is dwelling this personality that’s sin bent, anti-God. You might say, “Well I don’t believe you.” Well let me tell you what the Scripture calls it, other than what we just saw in the Book of Romans Chapter 3. Let’s skip forward to Romans Chapter 8. I know good people would like to say, “Now Les that’s not me, because I’m too good.” That’s not what the Book says. The Book says the following beginning with verse 5, and again this is so deep. You don’t have to go to seminary for four years to understand these three verses. They are as plain as day.

Romans 8:5

“For they that are after the flesh (the word `flesh’ here refers to being controlled by old Adam. It’s just a body of flesh, but they’re under a personality that is sin-bent) do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. So we have two types of people in that verse. Now verse 6:

Romans 8:6

“For to be carnally (or fleshly) minded is death (spiritual death, that’s the end result, and death in that regard is simply separation from God. Not just for this life, but forever); but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Romans 8:7

“Because the carnal mind (this carnal mind that is still in old Adam. Now what’s the next word?) is enmity against God (good people like to say, “That’s not me.” Oh yes it is. I don’t care who it is, that’s what it says. I don’t care how good, God sees their mind as His enemy. Boy, this is hard language isn’t it. This is tough for people to swallow): for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

To think that was us, you and I, before the Lord and Grace saved us. We were enemies of God even though most of us I’ll bet were living pretty good lives. We were good citizens, we were respected in our community. But so far as God was concerned, we were enemies, we’re nothing more than what Romans Chapter 1 showed us. So what are we going to do? We have a dilemma. The Scripture has said since day one that the soul that sinneth shall surely die! Now that’s spiritually – it’s going to end up in the Lake of Fire. But our merciful God gave us a loophole, and it’s not a little one. It’s so big that the whole world could walk through it if they would just believe it. So now what does the Scriptures say? You’re in Romans so come back to Chapter 6.

I’m answering a question that had come up between lessons. But sometimes these are done for a purpose. Sometimes the Holy Spirit directs us in a different direction than what we had planned.

Romans 6:5,6a

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this,…”

Here’s where true biblical believing comes in. How do we know this? Because The Book says so. That’s faith! See? When I can say, “Yes, I believe this! and it’s as plain as day. Well how did it get plain to me? That’s an act of God responding to my faith. I’ll never forget several years ago I had a fellow come into my class. He was a reprobate, and he couldn’t believe all The Bible and our teachings. And I used to say if he ever became a believer he would, and he would look at me and wouldn’t know what to say. But one day he came up to our home and we went into the kitchen, and I was thinking this morning that our kitchen has probably accomplished more than a lot of church studies have. But anyway we were sitting there and we had the privilege of leading that fellow to The Lord through the Romans Road to Salvation. And what a change in this fellow’s life – all of a sudden he could comprehend the Scriptures. He told me just a few weeks ago, “You know when I lay down to go to sleep, I go to sleep reading this Book, because I can’t get enough of it.” And before that he couldn’t get any of it.

Romans 6:6

“Knowing this that our old man (who’s that? Old Adam! The fleshly body here in the circles, and that mind, will, and emotion that is still sin-bent, that’s old Adam.) is crucified (what does crucifixion do? It kills! It puts to death. Okay. What was the first law? The soul that sinneth shall surely die, so how are we going to fulfill it? By identification with His death, and the best way I can put it is this: When you and I can believe that when Christ was hanging there on the Cross, He died your death, and so God saw you and I on the Cross in the Person of Christ. As He laid in the tomb those three days and nights, God saw you and I in that tomb. And when He arose victoriously over sin and death, God saw you and I in resurrected life. Now that’s identification by faith) with him, that the body of sin (old Adam) might be destroyed (knocked out of commission, it’s lost its power. It’s like the breaker on a fuse box, you can shut the power off, but the power is still there, just waiting for someone to flip the power back on), that henceforth we should not serve sin (old Adam).”

Have you got the picture? Because that’s exactly where the unbeliever is. He’s living to satisfy the desires of Old Adam. But the believer now has let God put old Adam to death, by Crucifixion. But God didn’t leave us in the grave, He gave us new life. Let me show you another verse. Let’s go to the gospel of John Chapter 12, and drop down to verse 23.

John 12:23,24

“And Jesus answered and said, `The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified (now remember this was just before the crucifixion). Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.'”

What was he talking about? His death, burial, and Resurrection. Now we identify with that. Now, let me quickly put the circles on the board and see if we can make some sense out of it. Here we have the Cross, and as the Law as we saw in earlier programs, the Law convicts us. We are sinners, we are nothing but law-breakers, because of our condition in Adam, so then the Holy Spirit, oh bless the work of the Holy Spirit! God somehow recharges us right here the moment we believe. He recharges our spirit. He comes in the Person of the Holy Spirit and dwells in us. But old Adam is reckoned right there on the Cross. He’s now satisfied the demand of God that he die because he was a sinner. But immediately, God puts opposite to take over a new nature. And it is a created act of God. It is a divine nature. And then with the regeneration of our spirit, the two working in consort are going to have an influence on the physical body. Now where does that leave us? It leaves us with a royal battle. Because even if God does consider old Adam as crucified, and we know he does, God reckons him as dead. But in experience where is he? I’ve still got mine. But the best way I can reconcile it is that when Christ died and rose from the dead, what did He do so far as Satan is concerned? Defeat him!! But is Satan alive and well? Yes. And so we have to reckon that old Adam is dead, he’s crucified, but he’s still with us.

 

Through the Bible with Les Feldick

LESSON 1 * PART 3 * BOOK 21

OLD ADAM CRUCIFIED – ROMANS 3:19-22

It’s such a joy to be able to teach, and to hear how the Lord is opening hearts, and we ask that you continue to pray for us. Let’s get back into where we left off in our last lesson in Romans Chapter 3, but remember we aren’t going to rush through this Book of Romans. This is one of the basic Books of Scriptures for us today. I don’t know why it’s ignored like it is, except it must be a Satanic conspiracy of some sort because here is where we have to begin to have an understanding of God’s tremendous plan of Salvation. The people of the Old Testament had Salvation, and it’s hard to put your thumb on it, but we know they did. We know that Abraham, David, and Moses and all the rest of them are in glory, but they were under a whole different set of circumstances, spiritual as well as physical than we are. But for us as Gentiles, those of us who have not been steeped in the Mosaic system, then the Apostle Paul is the man we have to listen to. Let me show you a verse in Romans Chapter 11, and this is repeated several times throughout Paul’s writings. Some of these things we read, but yet we don’t read them. We see it, and yet we don’t see it. Here in verse 13 we find a small insufficient verse, but based on what I just said it means everything.

Romans 11:13

“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles,…”

Now I’ve been stressing that for five years now on this program. Remember Peter and the eleven were the Apostles of Israel, and Galatians 2:7-9 makes that so plain. They understood that, and shook hands on that agreement. So here is where you have that divergence now not only of personalities, but of doctrine. And here comes these tremendous Pauline doctrines that have never been revealed before. Let’s also look at the Book of Ephesians in Chapter 3, because I want you to see why I’m saying the things that I’m saying. So many people have been Sunday school teachers for years, yet have never seen these verses in the manner that it was intended. So many people think they read it, they think they know it, but they don’t. Now let’s read this verse carefully.

Ephesians 3:1

“FOR this cause (in other words everything that Paul had been writing in the first two chapters, because of this tremendous Gospel of Grace) I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for(whom?) you Gentiles.” Do you see that? Now that should tell you something. He was commissioned strictly for the needs of the Gentiles. Verse 2:

Ephesians 3:2

“If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:”

So many people read this verse but don’t see what it has to do with them. Everything we have concerning our doctrines today had to come through this apostle. Just look at that verse again. Don’t you see how plain that is? Most people don’t want to see it, they don’t want to give Paul the credit, they want to think that it’s just an extension of what Peter preached. No it isn’t. This is a whole new revelation, and look what Paul says in the next verse.

Ephesians 3:3

“How that by revelation he (the ascended risen Lord) made known unto me (Paul) the mystery (now what does the word revelation mean? An unveiling. Something that has been kept under wrap is suddenly unveiled. And that’s exactly where’s he’s at); as I wrote afore in few words.”

Ephesians 3:4-6

“Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ (now look at verse 5). Which in other ages (or generations) 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 fellowheirs,… Now come down to verse 9, and it can’t be made any plainer. How can people close their eyes to this? But many do. Look what it says.

Ephesians 3:9

“And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery (or secret), which from the beginning of the world (Adam) hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”

Do you see what that’s saying? That tells us there was a time when no one knew these things, they hadn’t been revealed yet, and that is why by inspiration of course, Paul tells us that he received it by revelation. It was now time for it to be revealed, in fact he uses the explanation in the Book of Corinthians “I am like one born before the due time.” What did Paul mean? He was premature. He came too early according to the whole Nation of Israel. Israel is still blind to these great things that Paul experienced (their day is coming), but that’s what he meant when he said, “he was like one born before the due time.” He received all these revelations and the rest of Israel was blinded. But we aren’t blind tonight, or at least we don’t have to be. Now let’s come back to Romans Chapter 3. And so this great Apostle of the Gentiles, as part of his revelations of this doctrine of Grace is telling us that the Law could do nothing but condemn, and point the finger, and say guilty. And then as we saw in the last part of our last lesson in verse 22:

Romans 3:22

“Even the righteousness of God which is (appropriated) by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:”

Well no difference between what and what? Between Jew and Gentiles. You see the Jew has to come on the level playing ground that we do. He can no longer come in on Covenant ground, he can’t come before God today, and say, “Now wait a minute God, I’m a Jew.” But God says, “That’s not the way I see you. I see you as no different than a Gentile.” A white person can’t come to God and say, “Now I’m coming to you as a white person.” Oh no, there is no difference between white and black, yellow and brown, rich and poor. We come in on the same level playing ground, and we are all alike, we are all sons of Adam. And the only way we can appropriate everything that God accomplished on the Cross is by one the two absolutes I gave you in the last lesson.

Hebrews 11:6

“Without faith it is impossible to please him (God),”

We are going back to Genesis and deal with Adam in just a moment, but before we do, let’s look at the other absolute.

Hebrews 9:22b

“…and without the shedding of blood is no remission (of sin).”

Both of these knock out the good works people, they don’t know what faith is. They don’t know what it is to take God at His Word, they say, “I’m doing it own my own. I think I’ll make it.” The other thing that the good works people do is absolutely shun the Blood. People don’t like the blood aspect, but you see that was the whole purpose of the Cross. “He had to shed His Blood.” It had to be a death where that was evident, otherwise you see the Jews could have gone ahead and killed Him their normal way of capital punishment, by stoning Him. But that wouldn’t have fulfilled the shedding of Blood that we have on that Crucifixion. So those are the two imperatives or absolutes, and keep those two in mind as we look at verse 22 once more.

Romans 3:22b

“….by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:”

Let’s see how that applied to Adam in Genesis Chapter 3. One of the best ways to understand certain tenets of Scripture is to go back to where it was first mentioned, and here it is. Here is the first time we have a man who is going to be faced with both of these imperatives. He has to first and foremost know that he approaches God by faith. Secondly there is going to have to be a Blood sacrifice.

Genesis 3:20

“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”

Now remember for the early episodes that took place in the Garden we find Adam alone. Eve was inside of Adam at that time. I know people don’t like that concept, but that’s what the Scriptures teach. Eve was in Adam! And after Adam had named all the animals, he must have been lonely, and God knew he was.

Genesis 2:18

“And the LORD God said, `It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.'” And so He brought Eve out of Adam and presented her to him as the woman. But she was called Eve, she was called woman, in other words “out of man.” Now sometime later we come to the place where Adam calls the woman Eve. And Eve means the “mother of all living.” Now think for a moment, you have to put all of this together, and I know it can get complicated. Back there before they ate of the tree, what did God tell them?

Genesis 2:17

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Well they ate. Now you don’t have offspring from someone that dies. But you see old Adam has still got that bell ringing in his mind. Now God told us that after we ate of the tree we are going to die. So evidently Eve is headed for her death, and Adam didn’t know how soon, but now remember this faith by definition is what? Taking God at His Word! Now here is one of the places I have to suppose. Evidently God had told Adam that in spite of their awful dilemma, he and his wife Eve are going to be the propagators of a whole human race. They are all going to have their beginning in Eve as the mother, and Adam as the father.

Genesis 3:20

“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”

After having the curse explained to him, and how awful the situation is going to get, we find that Adam then calls his wife the mother of all living. Well I thought that Adam thought Eve was going to die. God must have told him that they were going to have children. Now if God told Adam that he was going to have children, and he responds by calling her the mother of all living, then what was that? “Faith.” He took God at His Word. And that was all the faith that Adam needed to fulfill this first command. Now let’s look at this next verse: Remember the second imperative was “without the shedding of blood.” In Genesis 3, and verse 21 what happened? An animal or animals were killed, so what’s implied? Their blood was shed. A blood sacrifice, but just like the sacrifices at the Temple they weren’t just killed or thrown away, but rather those animals were kept for food, and what have you. That was the whole idea of bringing it to the priest, it was their livelihood. So here we have then the faith of Adam when he called his wife’s name Eve, he had fulfilled that requirement of believing God. The second requirement finds God providing the sacrificial animals. And remember it’s God who is providing them. Now let’s look at the text.

Genesis 3:21

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins (what did God do with these coats of skins? Covered their nakedness – their physical needs. Now finish the verse, and the last three words are most important), and clothed them.”

He wasn’t referring to the skins. That was done with the fact that he had made them coats. But the clothing of them is not their physical clothing, but rather their spiritual. Remember in verse 22 of Romans 3 that it was God’s righteousness that was imputed unto everyone that believeth. An imputed righteousness, it was an imputed covering. So because Adam had the ability to believe what God said, the blood has now been shed from the sacrificial animals. He not only covers their physical bodies, but He clothes them with a Spiritual garment that now hid old Adam, and he now has the imputed righteousness of the righteousness of God. Now you get a better picture of that if you go on to the Book of Isaiah Chapter 61: The Scripture says it just beautifully, and they all three mean the same thing. When He clothed Adam, when He clothed Isaiah, and when He clothed the believer in Romans 3, it’s all the same thing. The imputed righteousness of God.

Isaiah 61:10

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God (why is Isaiah filled with joy?); for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,”

You see the whole purpose of God giving us this Book is to bring us to the point of Salvation. Every human being has to reach that point if they’re going to escape God’s wrath. And God is going to do everything that He can to keep every person from falling under that condemnation. And God has done that, and He’s made it so available. You know I’ve had people ask in my classes more than once, “How can God Who is a God of love and mercy possibly consign people someday to that awful Lake of Fire? Listen it will be easy, and I mean that. It’s going to be easy, because He’s done everything that could possibly be done to keep them from it. He’s given us The Word, He’s given us men who are willing to preach and teach it so we can understand that all we have to do is “BELIEVE”! Faith plus nothing! See there is no energy involved in believing, it’s just accepting what God has said. No questions asked, but people don’t want to do that. They simply don’t want to believe what God has said concerning Salvation. Reference Romans 1:16, I Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 10:9-10 and also I Thessalonians 4:14. There are so many more scriptures that Paul uses to show us Salvation. And when we do believe like Isaiah, then immediately because these two imperatives have now been fulfilled, what happens? He has clothed me with the garments of Salvation, and covered me with a robe of righteousness.

Now you see that’s the opposite of what we saw in Romans Chapter 3. Our throats are like open sepulchers, our mouths are full of cursing, our hearts are full of envy and deceit. Those are just the opposite of the righteousness of God. And yet what people try to do is put on their own veneer instead of God’s covering. And for their own veneer they’re going to work for a whole lifetime. I can remember my dear old mom when I was a child would say, “It takes a lifetime to build a reputation, and about 5 minutes to completely destroy it, and isn’t that true? That’s what so many people are trying to do and then all of a sudden their old Adam gets the best of them. You read every day about some successful wealthy business-man finally gets caught in a trap of sin and cheating and ends up in prison with his life destroyed. What’s happened? His old Adam finally got the best of him; he couldn’t control him. But when you’re covered with the righteousness of God those things don’t happen. Not that a believer can’t sin, don’t misunderstand me, because we can. But it’s a different ball game. Isaiah 61:10 again:

Isaiah 61:10

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”

That’s how a believer looks in God’s sight when we let Him cover us, but when we try to veneer ourselves all He sees is that open sepulcher. Now back to Romans Chapter 3. So this great covering of the garments of Salvation is imputed, and that’s the word Paul will use throughout this whole Book of Romans. And that’s a bookkeeping term. It means to put to the account. And so God’s righteousness is imputed to us and is covering us tonight, because we have believed what He has done on our behalf.

A question that often comes up is this, “Les I believe, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. I still have the same old problems, and I’m still defeated.” If that is the case then I think there is something wrong in the believing end of it, because if I understand Scripture correctly when we truly and honestly believe that Christ accomplished everything that needed to be done on my behalf, then He moves right in and gives you and I the power to live that life pleasing in His sight. Oh, occasionally we will fall, we’re going to trip, but God is just like a patient young mother. They never give up, they just pick us up and say you’re forgiven, you’re cleansed, now move on. Now I’m talking about people who are genuinely concerned about dealing with God on His premise. I’m not talking about a flash in the pan, walking down an aisle, joining a church or something like that. For genuine believers to do those things that’s well and good, but to simply do that to fulfill a ritualistic demand; forget it. But for the true believer this Book promises that God moves in and He gives us all the power we need to live and walk pleasing in His sight. People around us will notice that we are different, and all this takes place by the power of God.