Truth Time Radio.
Hey, if you're new and you've recently landed here at your home for Mid-Acts Bible Study, welcome!
A big hearty welcome to you.
Our mobile app continues to grow and we owe so much to all the saints out there who are telling others about us.
We can't begin to count how many have told us that they found us through recommendation.
So we're extremely grateful to all of you who've been faithful to the cause of spreading the word with hopes of seeing others come to the saving knowledge of salvation by grace through faith alone.
To understand the dispensational change that occurred there in Acts chapter 9 when the risen Christ saved the Apostle Paul.
How wonderful is that?
How wonderful it is when saints can gather together and celebrate the fellowship of the mystery.
In 1 Timothy 1, Paul said, According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, and I thank Christ our Lord who hath enabled me, for he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
Today we're going to open the perfectly preserved word of God as found here in our King James Bible.
We'll open it up.
Hey, when it comes to the word of God, Satan's biggest nightmare, I mean his biggest fear is for us to decide to get serious about this.
His fear is that we might actually mess around and start understanding what we're reading.
He wants us to stay confused.
His first words, at least his first recorded words were, "Yeah, hath God said?"
You see, his goal was to confuse Eve about her garden diet.
Yeah, hath God said?
Attempting to create doubt, you see.
His top priority is to have us question the word of God, to have us confused about what God said and the consequences.
He doesn't want us to know that the Bible is understandable.
Psalm 119:130, The entrance of thy words giveth light.
It giveth understanding unto the simple.
See that?
The word of God brings light, not darkness.
Understanding, not perplexity, not puzzlement.
It brings confidence, not uncertainty.
And don't miss the next verse here.
Verse 131, the psalmist wrote, I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for thy commandments.
The psalmist David had commandments and so do we.
Ours were penned in the 13 epistles of Romans through Philemon.
And one of those commands is Paul telling us to consider what he said, and the Lord will give us understanding in all things.
That's beautiful.
Now, back to Genesis 3.
And do note that before Satan even spoke his first words, God through Moses introduces him as being a serpent who was more subtle than any beast of the field.
Isn't that something?
The glaring warning here is the word, "subtle."
The first thing God wants us to know, to hone in on, to take notice of, is how subtle Satan is.
The serpent here, maybe with a soft whisper, that we don't know, but we can only imagine that he sort of leaned into Eve and said, Are you sure that's what God said?
See, all he needed was to create a smidgen of doubt in her mind, and he was successful.
Satan wasn't like some of the beasts of the field.
The ones who come in full force with an all-out attack.
No, he was subtle.
Paul says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.
You see, many today are allowing Satan to play them like his favorite instrument.
It's highly important that we study to show ourselves approved.
Why?
Because when we hear something that's not the pure words of God, but rather words that have been altered, even in the slightest, we recognize it.
We need to be like the bank tellers.
They're trained to study and focus on identifying genuine currency rather than trying to memorize what the counterfeit bills look like.
We want to understand the words of God, and if we do, we must first have the words of God.
We can't rightly divide the word of truth if we don't possess it.
That's where the King James Bible comes in.
These are the pure words of God Almighty, and spending time in these
words will equip us to face whatever, to face what Eve wasn't prepared for.
She wasn't ready for her serpent encounter, but we can be.
In 1 John 4:6, we find an outstanding verse.
John says, We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us.
Now, watch this next part.
Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
See that?
There's the spirit of truth, and there is the spirit of error.
And this is true for every dispensation.
You and I can be ready for it.
How?
By studying to show ourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Hebrews 4:12 states that 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 and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So that means what?
That we have nothing to fear.
Nothing to fear if we use the word of God wisely.
Ephesians 6:17, And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Jeremiah 23:29, Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Hey, we possess the very words of God.
Words that are sharper than any two-edged sword.
Words that provide us with a helmet of salvation.
Words that are like fire and like a hammer.
I'd say we're pretty equipped and ready to go.
Having a correct understanding of it is a serious issue.
These words of God that I hold in my hand is what I'm built by.
As a new man in Christ Jesus, God's word is what I'm made of.
My very faith is built by it.
Religion runs on what they call, blind faith, which is nothing more than a superstitious blind leap in the dark.
But that's not faith at all.
Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Yes, I have faith in things not seen, but I have evidence of those things not seen.
And that's not a blind leap in the dark.
Having evidence brings light.
My faith is based on empirical, well-found evidence.
Make no mistake, after thousands of years, some things just haven't changed one iota.
Yeah, hath God said, is still in full effect.
Creating doubt in the minds of humans is still at the top of Satan's to-do list.
Hath God said, Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins?
Yes, he did.
But that was to the, quote-unquote, "Ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem." Acts chapter 2 verse 14.
Hath God said, You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only?
Yes, but that was to the, quote-unquote, "The twelve tribes which are scattered abroad." James 1:1.
Not to you.
We're commanded to rightly divide the word of truth, but to take Israel's instructions upon ourselves is a misdirection of truth.
It's not rightly divided at all.
This is how Satan, who's more subtle than any beast of the field, twists God's word.
Hath God said, if thou will enter into life, keep the commandments? That's what he said, all right.
But that was to the, quote-unquote, "Lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15:24.
See how this works?
God gave us a way to navigate through his holy word so that it'll Psalm 119 verse 30, give us light and understanding, not darkness and confusion.
Religion makes God's word appear to be a deep, dark, mysterious book that no one but the pastor understands.
But the word of God is designed to be understood on a personal, on an individual level.
So it's always been our desire here at TTR to help the listener work smarter, not harder, by comparing Scripture with Scripture and rightly dividing the word of truth.
Compare Scripture with Scripture, not preacher to preacher.
Hath God said, The day of the Lord is a day of judgment, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his adversaries?
You better believe it. Jeremiah 46:10.
But if you'd kept reading, you'd notice that the recipient of this mail is identified.
Jeremiah 46:27, But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity.
That's not to you.
This is Israel's mail, not yours.
To retrieve your mail, go to Paul.
And there he'll tell you about the day of Christ, not the day of the Lord.
These are two separate events.
The day of Christ is a day when we're called up to meet him in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
But see, that's how Satan, who is more subtle than any beast of the field, has perverted God's word.
Yeah, hath God said?
He certainly did.
But when the word of truth is rightly divided, we as Bible believers realize that not everything he said were instructions to us.
We discern from what God is presently doing, from what he was doing in time past.
Let's do an exercise, I like to call compare the verses.
Get Acts 15 and Galatians 5.
Acts 15, Galatians 5.
Here in Acts, look at verse 5.
And let's ask the question, hath God said, There rose up certain of the sect of Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses?
Hath God said that?
He most certainly did.
But he also said, now watch, he also said, quote unquote, "That if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." Galatians 5:2.
So which is it?
How about both?
Both are true.
But not both are true and to you.
That's paramount to your biblical understanding.
Trying to obey both at the same time defies the law of non-contradiction.
Mandatory circumcision was an instruction that began way back there in the book of Genesis.
But Paul has new news, and we're told to stand fast, therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
No bondage to law keeping.
Whether it be circumcision, feast days, new moons, tithing, baptism, you name it, we're not in bondage to it.
We're not in bondage to having to stay home on the Sabbath, or not allowed to work on the Sabbath.
We're not required to put fringes on the corners of our clothing, to remove all the leaven from our home on Passover Eve, to appear in the sanctuary on festival days.
We don't kill false prophets.
We don't stone rebellious teenagers.
Hath God said these things?
Sure did, but he didn't say it to you.
And once you learn to rightly divide the word of truth, you'll stay out of other folks' mailbox.
Hath God said, Thou shalt not wear a garment of wool and linen together?
He sure did. Deuteronomy 22:11.
But you're wearing mixed fabrics right now.
Did he say stone a woman to death for not being a virgin?
Verse 21.
Yes, again.
You and I can plant two different kinds of seeds in the same field, can't we?
We can trim our beards and cut our hair off at the temple.
And if while you're grieving, you choose to tear your clothing, guess what?
You can.
Because we're not under Israel's time-passed law, which pronounced death to those who tore their clothing while they were grieving.
Leviticus 10:6.
All things that were forbidden.
Things forbidden under Israel's law program in time past, but not forbidden for anyone today living in the "but now" dispensation of God's grace.
You see, the word of God can be the most liberating thing you hold in your hand, or the deadliest weapon.
How you use it?
Hey, that's up to you.
The choice is yours.
But Paul tells us that we are Galatians 5:1, we're to stand fast in our liberty.
But if you place yourself under even one, even one of these laws, you're a debtor to the whole law, which makes Christ of none effect unto you because you, my friend, have fallen from grace.
Those who choose to operate under a works-based performance program during this time of grace, you're in full-blown disobedience to the word of God.
How do I know this?
Because I can read.
For you're not under the law, but under grace, Romans 6:14.
Religianity fails to acknowledge the clear distinctions God has placed in his word.
And when they do decide to look into the distinctions, they only cherry-pick a few of their favorites.
That's disingenuous and intellectually dishonest.
Hath God said, Since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he prepared for him that waiteth for him?
Yes, he did.
He most certainly said that.
But now, there's those two words, but now, through Paul and to us, thankfully, we have another, hath God said.
One that's far greater.
Watch this.
1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9.
Watch.
But as it is written, eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Verse 10.
Don't miss it.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit.
See that?
They've been revealed.
We're no longer in the dark as were some in time past.
Oh, what glorious news, right?
Paul is the only apostle in your Bible who claims to have been given the revelation of the mystery.
And God appointed him to be the due time testifier to witness this outstanding news to you and I.
And we have right here, right here, right in front of us, in our possession, the Ephesians 3:8, unsearchable riches.
They're not searchable.
Unsearchable riches of Christ.
Never before revealed until Paul was given the dispensation of grace.
Let me ask you this.
Hath God said, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath, to come?
Sure did.
You'll find it in Matthew chapter 3.
But conversely, Paul says, what wrath?
In our mailbox, we find out that we have no such appointment with God's wrath.
1 Thessalonians 5:9, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
See, in Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist preaching the gospel of the kingdom was warning of the wrath to come.
But in 1 Thessalonians, Paul's preaching the gospel of grace, and he says that we're not appointed to wrath.
Totally opposite from John.
If you're ready to rightly divide the word of truth, some light bulbs are coming on right now as I take you through these comparisons.
Listen, during this current dispensation, even unbelievers are not under God's wrath.
Religianity won't teach this, but I will.
If they were under God's wrath, now let's just use a little common sense.
If they were under God's wrath, they'd be Ananias and Sapphira dead, right now.
There'd be dead bodies everywhere.
If disobedience brought on God's wrath today, we'd all be dead.
Hath God said righteousness comes by law keeping? Deuteronomy 6:25.
Or hath God said that those who go about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God? Romans chapter 10 verse 3.
Both.
He said both.
But one is meant for you, and the other is not.
Hath God said that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem?
Absolutely.
It's in Israel's mailbox.
The address is Luke 24:47.
But when you travel on up the road a bit, you'll find our mail, where we find another, hath God said, that came through Paul.
Through him, he said, Neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus.
Don't miss the glaring obvious here.
The earthly kingdom apostles, their commission is in stark contrast to that of Paul's.
They were commanded to go to Jerusalem first.
No exceptions.
But Paul was commanded not to go there first.
No, he went to Arabia and then Damascus.
That's complete opposite.
Not the same commission.
Hath God said, Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them?
Yep, sure enough did.
He said it, but contrary-wise, our apostle, he was instructed to tell us that God has reconciled the world unto himself and is no longer imputing trespasses to anyone.
What? You mean I don't need to go find a man who's able to remit my sins?
Well, tear down all the confessional booths, right?
If God stopped imputing sins, the obvious question is, what sins can be remitted?
Oh, the liberty of knowing how to rightly divide the word of truth.
In Ephesians chapter 3, the word of God is used to present demonstrable evidence of what we as Mid-Acts Grace believers base our faith in.
When speaking of the mystery the Lord revealed to Paul, Paul said, Whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.
Here, Paul, Paul identifies one of the biggest problems we're faced with today.
Folks don't read.
He said, Whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.
Well, we can't expect the unversed to understand this knowledge when they've never even read it.
And by the way, by the way, concerning the word mystery, some grace circles make the claim that the letters of Paul reveal seven mysteries.
Seven mysteries, they say.
There's no truth in that.
No, that's just something birthed by those who want to come up with something new, a new thing to put out there.
When you run across this bogus seven mystery list, God not imputing sins to the world is not even listed.
Think about that.
One of the most important mysteries of all, yet it didn't even make the cut, didn't even make the list.
I would say unbelievable, but at this point, after dealing with limited forgivers for so long, it's actually expected.
Paul said, Unto me is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes or Inspector Gadget with Penny and her dog Brain to figure this out.
All unsearchable riches Paul penned would be a mystery, would they not? So where do they get the seven?
That's a man-made list.
That's not Bible.
There's more than seven.
Mystery means hidden.
Paul's unsearchable riches were hidden, right?
Hidden until he penned them.
There were more than seven mysteries found in Paul's 13 epistles.
So don't go off as we see so many do, hear something from someone that gives them the goosebumps, then run off parroting what they heard, and next thing you know, you've got another false doctrine, another false teaching to add to those we already have floating around in grace circles.
Instead, go do your homework.
Avoid confusion by doing your own homework, and stop copying off someone else.
Justified freely by his grace.
The world has a hard time with this one.
That's a big problem.
Paul said, To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Someone has to believe that this justified by faith alone stuff we teach, makes God angry, claims that it goes against his truth.
But what goes against his truth is the teaching that you must work for it.
After the Father's Son gave his all, they want you to go around spitting on the cross trying to earn it.
That's the false teaching of those that are ignorant of God's righteousness, and so they're going about to establish their own righteousness.
Why?
Because they've not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Their pride won't let them.
But you and I, hey, we know that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that simply believeth on what Christ accomplished.
There it counts.
He took care of the world's sins.
They buried him, but he rose on the third day to justify all that would put their faith in what he finished.
Outside the 13 epistles of Paul, the general theme is faith plus do. Inside the writings of Paul, the theme is faith plus nothing, because it's done.
Outside Paul's epistles there was a difference.
Such an extreme difference that those Jews would have looked at you
and I and said, ye worship, ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. John 4:22.
But inside Paul's epistles, there is no difference.
That's why he wrote Galatians 3:28, there's neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female.
Why?
We're all one in Christ Jesus.
That's complete contrary to John 4:22.
That's why you must rightly divide the word of truth.
Saying that there's no difference would have been foreign lingo to the apostles in that earthly kingdom.
Foreign language prior to Paul having received the revelation of the
mystery.
Okay, if you haven't already, go download the free mobile app.
Download it and take this 24-hour Mid-Acts grace teaching wherever you go.
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Listen, in this walk of life, you only get two educations.
The one you're given and the one you give yourself.
Grace and peace.
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