The Unique Features of the Church Dispensation

Colossians 2:18-19

COL-205

Our subject is "The Mystery of the Church," segment number 20 in Colossians 1:25-29.

The dispensation of the church was a great secret in Old Testament Scriptures, so it was called in the New Testament, "a mystery." The Lord Jesus Christ, upon His rejection by Israel as its Messiah Savior, began to drop hints here and there about the coming special dispensation of the church. The apostles were not capable of grasping this dramatic change. Therefore He did not go into detail with them about the church age. He just gave them a little indication that something dramatic was about to happen, and that things were going to change in a very significant way from what they had been in the past, and that they must be prepared for that. It was the work of God the Holy Spirit, who replaced Christ's presence here on this earth, after the ascension of Lord, that was the source of the full gamut of information concerning the doctrine of the church.

The Church

The spring feasts of Israel's religious calendar have all been fulfilled. These were Passover, which symbolize the death of Christ on the cross as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. Then came firstfruits, a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the first of many more Christians to be raised. Finally, Pentecost, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, came to earth to form the church.

Israel and the Church

So, this evening, I direct your attention once more to the church dispensation, particularly to the beginning of the church age. And again, you must realize now that you are in the minority. Out there in Christendom, they do not believe that the church age had a beginning on the day of Pentecost. They believe that it was Israel that had the beginning, and then God's switched Israel into the church, so that the two are related. Scripture, however, has to be completely twisted, and literal interpretation abandoned, to try to connect the two. They are totally different. The event of uniting Jew and gentile believers into one body, the church, marks the start of the dispensation of the church.

The Jewish entrance into this church body is related to us in Acts 2:1-3, that we read this morning, when they were all baptized by the coming of the Holy Spirit into one body. The arrival of the Holy Spirit to indwell Christians of the church age was marked by a tornado-like rushing winds, and split-flames of fire that appeared on the heads of the believers in that room.

A new dispensation was also marked by something very dramatic, which the Old Testament had predicted. This is rather interesting. Acts 2:4: "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They were also baptized (as we learn later from Acts 11)." And the filling of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are two different things. Your charismatic friends will laugh in your face when you say that, because they have never been able to figure out the distinction: "They were all filled (this is what is stressed here in the book of Acts) with the Spirit, and they begin to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance." This word in the Greek means "known languages."

So, The Jews from the dispersion spoke these real languages which people could understand to celebrate the Pentecost Festival. In Acts 2:6, we read, "And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because they were each one hearing them speak in his own language." Now, if you'll go through the list of languages here, there is something like 19 or 20 distinct languages, from around the Roman Empire, that were being heard that day, spoken by these apostles who only knew Greek; Hebrew; and Aramaic. They did not know these languages from these other territories of the Roman Empire. And yet, people were amazed to hear these Galileans, speaking their language, with good accents. Now, that caught their attention. Something very dramatic had happened on that religious holiday.

What was happening was a prediction of Isaiah, made centuries ago, was being fulfilled in their presence. Isaiah 29:11 is concerning the Jewish people who have turned away from God, and the judgment of God which will be upon them because of their turning to false gods and abandonment of the Word of God, and the truth of Scripture, which they have been given. Isaiah 28:11 says, "Indeed He (God) will speak to this people through stammering lips and a foreign tongue." This is the only verse in the Bible that we have that explains to us the significance of these people being able to speak foreign languages on the day of Pentecost.

The apostle Paul picks up this verse to explain that spiritual phenomenon in 1 Corinthians 14:21. Paul says, "'In the Law, it is written (specifically Isaiah 28:11, which we just read): by men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers, I will speak to this people, and even so, they will not listen to Me,' says the Lord." Isaiah predicted that God was going to do this, and when it happened, Paul points out to the Jews, this should have alerted you to the fact of how far you have drifted away from God (from the truth of the Word of Scripture), and that God is calling you back to himself by insulting you, by delivering His Word to you, not in your language (not in Hebrew), but in all these gentile languages. "Stammering." That's what it meant. It meant that babbling languages and the sounds of gentiles.

So why did we have these people speaking in these languages? As a divine sign. At that point of time, it was necessary to make clear to Israel that what was happening was of God, and that it was in the process of this great changeover from the phase of the dispensation of the Jews under the Mosaic Law to the new dispensation of the Church under Christianity.

It also fulfilled, on the day of Pentecost, the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which formed the church body through union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 1:5: "For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" – ten days, to be exact. Jesus was about to go back to heaven. He said, "Now stand by in Jerusalem, and there will be a new dramatic work of the Holy Spirit, which has never been done in other dispensations. You'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Well, when you're baptized, you're baptized into something, and what they were going to be baptized into was the Spirit of God. They were going to be baptized by the Spirit of God into the body of Christ, the Church.

This is how you get into the Church. Paul points this out in 1 Corinthians 12:13: "For by one Spirit (one Holy Spirit) we were all baptized into one body (the body of Christ, the Church), whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, and we were all made to drink (that is, to be filled of one Spirit)." Now, it was very clear what happened on the day of Pentecost. Jews and Gentiles were suddenly no longer treated as separate racial groups by God. Now they are all under the need of grace salvation, and of union into one special body, something that was going to form a special people for the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 14:20 says, "In that day, you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." This is the union that is created by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You see, you cannot even be a Christian if you have not had the baptism of the Holy Spirit, because to be a Christian means to be in a relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. And here He says, "You in Me, and I and you."

Isn't it odd that the Satan has taken this and distorted it in such an ugly way that the charismatics are forever running around, and inviting people to come forward in the services to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as if some great power structure is going to take place for them.

Acts 11:16, which we pointed out this morning, makes it clear to us, in Peter's experience with the household of Cornelius, that what took place on the day of Pentecost was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Acts 11:16: "And I remember the Word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you should be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'" And his point is that these Gentiles have received the same baptism that we did on the day of Pentecost.

Speaking in Tongues

Now, the gift of being able to speak in languages that one does not know was one of the temporary spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. Of all the gifts that originally existed, nine became permanent gifts. They are the gifts which exist today, and they are the spiritual means for our Christian service. Whatever your spiritual gift is, that is the direction of your specific capacity in Christian service. The tongues were a temporary marker fulfilling the Isaiah prophecy that something dramatic was being brought about. And until the New Testament was completed, God gave information through tongues. That's why, in 1 Corinthians 14:28, it said, "Don't ever let anybody stand up in a service and start speaking in tongues (a foreign language) unless you also have somebody there who's an interpreter who can translate that.

Now, the charismatics are always speaking in tongue, but of course there's no translator for gibberish. Unfortunately, colleges have never, to my knowledge (maybe they do now), have never taught Gibberish 101, so nobody knows how to translate it. I've heard of Dallas Seminary students going into charismatic meetings, standing up and speaking in gibberish tongues, and they know it's gibberish, and somebody on the other side of the auditorium stands up and says, "The Lord God has said praise unto Him," and he speaks in a lot of King James English language, and gives a translation. Other students have gone, and they've spoken a verse in Hebrew. They sounded off. That always sounds good. And somebody else stands up and says, "Here's what the God has said," pretending that they have the ability of translating and interpreting. Then the student says, "No, I quoted in Hebrew such and such scripture, but what it says is this." But does that change charismatics from their madness? Not a moment. You'll believe what you want to believe. The tongues did confirm the new age of the Church, and they did confirm pieces of information that were later recorded in scripture.

However, the time is going to come when God no longer had any use for ability to speak in foreign languages. 1 Corinthians 13:8 points this out, "Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with." The ability to foretell the future was going to come to an end: "If there are tongues they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away." Knowledge was another one of the gifts of God – the gift of knowledge. God would give you special communications. I'm happy to tell you that Pat Robertson still has the gift of knowledge. He is forever, on his program, saying, "The Lord gave me a gift of knowledge," and then he says something. Well, you don't know whether it's a gift of knowledge: whether it is; or, whether it is not. But it certainly is not the gift of supernatural information to God. If he really had the gift of knowledge, he should most certainly record it, because that's Scripture.

Love never fails. Prophecy will come to an end. Tongues will cease. Knowledge will be done away with – direct communication from God. Why? Because the Bible will have been written.

Now drop your eye down to 1 Corinthians 13:10, "But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with." 1 Corinthians 13:9 says, "For we know in part, we prophesy in part." Little bits of information are being given to us through these early spiritual gifts which are no longer enforced.

1 Corinthians 13:10 says, "But when the perfect" – here again, you have to have a little help from the Greek because the gender is important here. The Greek says, "When the perfect teleios (tel'-i-os) thing comes, then the partial meros (mer'-os), will be done away with." Some people try to interpret this as saying, "Well, this is when the Lord Jesus Christ comes at the rapture. Then we'll know everything. No, the partial information that they were talking about was limited understanding that they had of the doctrine of the Church and the New Testament Scriptures, which had not been written. Paul, who had received the details of the doctrine of the Church, had not yet recorded all these epistles which we now have.

The New Testament

So, here, "the perfect thing" that has come is the New Testament canon of scripture. The word "canon" means "standard" – the standard of the Word of God. When the New Testament comes, that's the perfect thing, because this word "perfect" in the Greek means "complete:" "When the completed thing has come," that couldn't apply to Christ, and it couldn't apply to the rapture. "The completed thing has come, the partial (these little bits and pieces of information about the church age that we're getting now through these early gifts, will come to an end.

So today, anybody who pretends that they have the gift of tongues is in the pretense, and is imposing a self-deception. It comes from ignorance of doctrine, and it is very subjective. It's a manipulation of Satan. It is pure gibberish sounds that people just make. And yes, they get out of their gourd – they lose control of themselves, and the vocal chords begin flapping on their own. That does happen. That's what happened in the temples in the early New Testament Church. That's how the priests of the pagans spoke. They spoke this kind of gibberish – uncontrolled language.

So this is so sad to see somebody like Bob Tilton, when he was in his prime, bursting out with those nonsensical gibberish sounds that he would make, and pretend that he was speaking a voice from God. And people were sending their money in by the carloads in order to get some of that blessing upon themselves.

Well, the church began with this dramatic identifying work of God. It began in one spot: Jerusalem. It began with all Jewish believers only. Seven years later, gentile believers at Caesarea were added. We have this recorded in Acts 10:44-48 and Acts 11:5-16, in that very dramatic information that then came to Peter. Then various believers were added from the dispensation of the Jews who were left over in different places over a period of time. And this was a gradual changeover from the original way of the Holy Spirit falling upon people, and baptizing them automatically. In the earlier days, it was by the apostolic hands, but they were in a transitional stage.

The Different Baptisms

For example, Acts 19:1-6: "And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. And he said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' And they said to him, ''No. We have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.'" They didn't know what he was talking about: "And he said, 'Well, into what then were you baptized?' And they said, 'Into John's baptism.'" Aha, this is not Christian baptism. This is not Christ's baptism. Only He could have that baptism, because baptism always means "identification." That's what the word baptism ("baptizó") (bap-tid'-zo) means. To identify. It means to identify with something. Christ was identified with His mission of the cross. John's baptism was the people of Israel identifying themselves with national repentance, to prepare them to receive the Messiah Savior, Who had arrived. And Christian baptism is to identify us with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been buried with Him in death, and we have been raised with Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, all these people knew was John's baptism. They didn't know one of the four dry baptisms, which is the Holy Spirit baptism.

"So Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance." That was one kind of baptism: "Telling the people to believe in Him Who was coming after him (that is, in Jesus)." This was a sign: "Yes, I'll believe in Him:" "And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus;" that is, they now had Christian baptism applied to them.

Act 19:6, "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying;" that is, they now showed the identifying sign that they had been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ.

Well, as the Apostles died off, and moved off the scene, baptism of the Holy Spirit became an automatic action that takes place at the point of salvation.

Now, what is the purpose of the church dispensation? The feast of Pentecost was forming one loaf with the Gentiles at the Pentecost that took place in Caesarea, which was the second loaf of the feast of the Pentecost type. Pentecost had two loaves: one loaf representing Israel; and, the other loaf representing gentiles. Now, these two loaves were brought together. God's new stewards in His world household (the new dispensation) were now to be Christians. And these Christians were made up of Jews and Gentiles.

We have already looked at Ephesians 2:11-18. That passage describes how the middle wall of partition has been removed. God was now going to gather together a new body of people for His name – a totally new species of human beings. He would be the head of this body, and they would be His bride.

In Acts 15:14, this was a Jerusalem council where Simeon Peter is reporting what happened at Caesarea. Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself with taking from among the Gentiles of people for His name. This was taking a special people who were going to be related to Jesus Christ. It was the Lord Jesus Christ's special people. That's who you and I are. No Jew, under the dispensation of Moses, was ever related to God in that way, such that he was God's special person.

This new age of the Church would demonstrate what the grace of God can do for a person apart from human merit, and apart from human justice. Anybody who will accept the salvation of the grace of God is baptized by the Holy Spirit. He's now placed into Christ. He's now indwelt by the Holy Spirit. God the Son comes to live within him for fellowship, and comfort, and guidance. And that believer, who then takes up the lifestyle of the age of grace, feeds upon the doctrines of Scripture; responds with positive volition; and, will have enormous blessings in this life. He can't help it.

Why? Because don't forget that the dispensations are the appeals trial of Satan. God is demonstrating Satan's accusation not to be true: that God is unjust; and, that God was unfair in creating the lake of fire for Satan and his demons to spend eternity in. He didn't give him a chance to make things right again, even though they didn't want to. But God, in this age, with the Christian, of all people, shows that the person who responds to grace is going to be blessed. That's fair.

If you play the game by God's rules, you will be prospered, and you will be blessed. That's fair. And if you don't, as a Christian, that's fair too. You can go along bumbling your life; living your way; excusing yourself; and, being deeply involved up to your eyeballs in the world system, and one morning you're going to wake up dead. Suddenly out of the blue, that's it. And you will have wasted your life. At the other end, you'll realize what could have been. But you'll get to heaven, and you'll be saved. Yes, you'll get in, because salvation is not the issue here. But you'll not enjoy forever the enriched eternity of those who have stored their treasures in heaven. Is that fair? That's fair. And God will show, once more, His justice.

The Rapture

The extent of this dispensation began, as we see in Acts 1:4, on the day of Pentecost. And it will end at what theologically we refer to as the rapture of the Church. This is what is described in I Thessalonians 4:16-17: "For the Lord (Christ Himself) will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord." Now, you cannot play loose with these scriptures. We interpret them literally, and we don't pretend they say something that the words do not say. The words are very explicit.

The Lord Jesus Christ, Who is now seated in heaven, on His Father's throne – not His throne. His throne is on this earth – the kingdom of David that He will reign over in the millennium. He will come, and where will He come when He descends? He will come into the air, not to the earth. This is not the Second Coming of Christ. This is a totally different coming. This is what he was referring to, as I pointed out this morning, in John 14:2-3: "Jesus said to them, 'There are many dwelling places in heaven, and I'm going there to prepare a place for you." He's talking about the new Jerusalem.

In verse 3, He said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you (in the new Jerusalem) I will come again." The apostle Paul is talking about this same event here in 1 Thessalonians 4. It is the coming of the Lord into the air. And then what will He do? "I'll receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." And where is He? He's in heaven. So He's telling us that He will come, and His arrival will be with the voice of the archangel. Will the unbelievers hear it? No. But the Christians will hear this voice – simply an alerting command to come. And they will also hear the trumpet of God. Will the unbelievers hear it? No. Only the believers. The dead believers will be hit with the sound first. As soon as you hear the trumpet, you'll also hear the order to all believers: "Come up hither."

All of us believers hear it – first the dead. They go in line first. Then we who are alive, will follow them, and we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the clouds. It's not earth. It's not the second coming. And we will meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with Him." And that will be the start of our magnificent eternity in the special relationship as the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. It begins on the day of Pentecost. It ends at the rapture.

The Rapture is "Imminent"

That word "rapture" comes from the Latin, and it means "to catch away." This era of the church age began with the sound of rushing wind, and it ends with the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of the archangel calling us. What a magnificent future. And it can happen at any time. That's why we say that the rapture is imminent. Imminent does not mean that it's necessarily close. That's wrong interpretation. It was imminent in the time of the apostles. It was imminent in the time of the apostle Paul. The word "imminent" means it's "next in line." It's the next thing that's coming. In prophetic history, this is the next thing that's going to be fulfilled. Nothing is going to be fulfilled until the rapture takes place. There's not going to be a world government. There's not going to be an antichrist. There's not going to be all of these things that are coming together in the world now. There will not be world socialism, until the rapture is taken place. It is imminent. It is the next thing in line.

Now, the next thing of importance is the enormity of the characteristics of the church age. This information cannot be found in the Old Testament Scriptures. During the apostolic age, the New Testament was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21 says that the writers were carried along by God the Holy Spirit as they wrote.

2 Timothy 6:16 tells us that the information they had was God-breathed into them. They didn't make up the Scripture. God gave them the information, and then the Holy Spirit protected them and superintended them as they wrote, so that there was no error, and there were no mistakes in Scripture. The New Testament is the very mind of God. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, "We Christians have the mind of Christ." How do we have the thinking of Christ? From doctrine.

In 96 A.D., the whole New Testament was completed. And at that point in time, all further direct revelation from God ceased. Mohammad pulled a big con when he declared he was getting revelation from God that he put together in another religious book called the Quran. Joseph Smith of the Mormons was a liar. He also pulled a majestic con on people by writing the Book of Mormon and saying, "It is the third testament of God."

By 96 A.D., the whole canon of Scripture was completed because the book of the Revelation had been written. And all direct Scripture revelation from God was now completed.

What happened then? Well, certain temporary gifts were now phased out. You didn't need prophecy anymore. Remember that prophecy was giving information about the future, but it was also giving doctrinal information. Prophecy has that two sides to it. Then there was the gift of knowledge – information from God about how to conduct things in the church age. That was no longer needed. And certainly the tongues (speaking in foreign languages) – that gift was no longer needed. There was no more communication in that method. So, that ceased.

Now, what is required of us today is that all Christians are required to learn church-age doctrines which are contained in the New Testament Scripture. That is your life. And Satan has done a wonderful job of covering that over. That is your life – the learning of the Word of God. That's why Jesus said, in Matthew 4:4, "Man shall not live my bread alone, but on every Word that proceeded from the mouth of God." That is your life. And if you do not have this; if you never crack that Bible at home during the week; and, if you never sit down and read a little bit to your children, you need to do that.

I get really tired of parents who think that their kids are too immature to engage in the deep things of the Spirit of God. We know in the Berean Christian Academy and in the Berean Youth Clubs, that the kids can, at the youngest age, can engage in the deep things of the Spirit of God. But we have this attitude among us (which is characteristic of churches) that God's sheep are dumb. Therefore, do not try to appeal to them with the deep things of the intellect. Do not try to treat them as if they will think.

Well, the only way you're going to come to the mind of God is through your mind. And your mind has to focus upon doctrines. Learn them; accept them; and, store them, thereby, by cause of your positive volition, so that "gnosis" knowledge information becomes "epignósis" full knowledge.

I see the pitiful condition very often where a child has more "epignósis" (ep-ig'-no-sis) in his human spirit – real positive knowledge that he has accepted than his parents do, who are trying to sell him short. And the reason parents do that is because they themselves are short. It is the duty of every Christian to focus upon the Word of God. This is what we are called to do in life. Before you are called to stand up and be a witness, and before you are called to do anything, you are called to become something; that is, to become a spiritually mature Christian.

So now our daily food is the Word of God. And the Word of God now becomes the source of our spiritual maturity. You become spiritually mature only through the Word of God. And James 4:6 says that the ultimate goal of spiritual maturity is what James calls "super-abounding grace:" "But He gives super grace (greater grace)." Therefore, it says, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives Grace to the humble." Who are the humble people? They're the ones who really amount to something, because they are focused upon the Word of God, and they are functioning on the basis of doctrine. Those are the real beautiful people. Those who are proud are the ninnies of our society and of the human race. And they are zeros. That's why they're so proud of themselves.

However, James says, your goal through scripture is a spiritual maturity, and a happiness beyond your fondest dream at the super-grace level.

Furthermore, we are all born with an enormous deficiency. And that deficiency has to be filled in our lives as quickly as possible once we become Christians. And that is that we don't know anything about God. We learn enough to be saved, but we don't know anything about God: "How then shall I live?" Now there is this deficiency which has to be filled. Colossians 1:9-10 refer to this: "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it (that is, of the love that these Colossians have in the spirit for one another), we have not ceased to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge (not 'gnosis' – not information, but "epignósis" – the full knowledge) that you said 'Amen' to, Lord, because you've been under expository preaching, and you have the details laid before you, and you say, 'I'll accept it' – the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the full knowledge again – the 'epignósis' knowledge of God."

This is what the Christian life is all about: "I'm a dummy. I don't have anything. And as long as I'm willing to be filled with the full knowledge of God, which means that I'm there to be taught, and I'm willing to accept it, and I'm not a sneak, going around, trying to see how I can circumvent what God says is the way we should live and how we should act, the result will be great wisdom; great understanding; and, great personal grasp of divine viewpoint. You will be nobody's fool, including your own. That's what the Christian life in the age of Grace is all about.

Could a Jew do this? Never. No matter how sincere the Jew was, he was always a fool. No matter how he wanted to do right, he was always a loser. The change is so dramatic that I never cease to marvel why anybody wants to go back, and come into the legalistic system of Moses, and bring it into Christianity. It's because they themselves do not understand that our life is doctrine. It is our daily spiritual food (Matthew 4:4). It is the source of our spiritual maturity and happiness – the super-grace life (James 4:6). And it fulfills our natural deficiency of divine viewpoint (Colossians 1:9-10).

The Unique Features of the Church Dispensation

Here are the unique features of the Church dispensation:

1. Positional Truth

   First is positional truth. Every Christian receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation, which unites him permanently to the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13, Romans 6:3, and Romans 8:38-39 tell us that we have a permanent relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ.

   So, Christianity is a relationship to a person (the person of Christ). Christianity is not a religion of rituals. Ephesians 1:5-6 states this in a very lovely way: "He (Christ) predestinated us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself:" "He (God the Father) predestinated us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His Grace, which He (God the Father) freely bestowed on us in the Beloved One." Who is the Beloved One? The Lord Jesus Christ. Where are we tonight? We're in Christ. That's why you will go to heaven. That is because when God looks upon you, he sees you just as perfect as His Son.

   There was never any such relationship in the dispensation of the Jews. The Jews were, as a matter of fact, God's servants, where we Christians are His children. Psalm 34:22 speaks about the Israelites as servants of God. But in Galatians 3:26, we are children of God: "For we are all sons of God, through Faith in Jesus Christ." We are the sons of God and the daughters of God. We are His children. John 1:12 says the same thing.

   So, we first now have positional truth; that we are placed into the body of Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

2. The Indwelling of Christ

   The next thing which is distinctive of the Church age is the universal indwelling of Christ of each believer. The Lord Jesus Christ foretold this about those who trusted in Him. John 14:18 and John 14:20: "Ye and me and I in you." In John 15:5, Jesus says, "I am the Vine; you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him. He bears much fruit, for apart from Me, you can do nothing." All of these verses deal with the fact that Christians are indwelt by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. For what purpose? For personal fellowship with Him – to be able to live with God moment by moment. He is in your body house.

   Now, if you're on good terms with the indwelling Christ, then you've got everything. If you are not walking according to the precepts of His commandments, then you're not on good terms with Him. Then you cannot share the riches of what He is. He is the Heir of God, and everything He has becomes yours now. So, why would you want to live where you are not comfortable in His presence? Why would you want to act according to the world's ways, and be embarrassed in His presence? You should be. Most Christians just don't think about the fact that Christ is in them, the hope of glory. So they act as if He's not around to see.

3. The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

   The next distinctive of the church age is the universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In the past, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon a person for a specific task, like the craftsman who built the temple, and then He would leave them. He would bless a person, and would indwell them for a specific reason. And when the reason was ended, then He would leave. Or, if there was carnality (sin) in the life, then the Holy Spirit would leave.

   Psalm 51 is the tragic expression of King David, one year after the case of an adultery with Bathsheba, when he finally came and confessed to God. It's a very sobering Psalm all the way through. I just direct your attention to Psalm 51:11, where David says, "Do not cast me away from your presence (don't take my salvation away from me), and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me." David says, "Don't take me away from your presence; your blessing, that is. And do not take the Holy Spirit from me"." No Christian could pray that prayer. It is not possible for the Holy Spirit to leave you, As Christ is in you permanently, the Holy Spirit is in you permanently: for power; for your life; and, for Christian service.

   John 14:16" "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever." That helper, after Christ ascended, was God the Holy Spirit.

   1 Corinthians 3:16-17:', "Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are."

   Now, many people of a religious nature treat a cathedral or a church with a certain respect, because it is where they believe God dwells. Well, in the Old Testament that was true. It is not true now. How many Christians do not treat their body with the self-respect that deserves the dwelling place of God? How many Christians either are oblivious to this Scripture, or completely forget it, and completely ignore it, and they treat the temple of God with contempt, and with sin? They corrupt it. And what does God say? I'll destroy it.

   People who have corrupted themselves morally are dying every day of the week. Why are they dying? Because to corrupt the physical body, especially in the case of a Christian, is to corrupt the dwelling place of the Spirit of God.

   1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body." So, the next time you want to break one of the commandments, go to God the Holy Spirit and say, "I know you bought me. I don't belong to myself. I'd like to engage in this sin – the pleasure of this sin. Is it okay?" Moses did that, and he refused the pleasures of the sin of Egypt.

   The Old Testament tabernacle, and later the temple, were things of beauty. They were highly valued as the dwelling place of God. Now, the Holy Spirit creates in the Christian an even greater dwelling of beauty. It is that spiritual maturity structure in the soul, because that reflects the glory of God. There is nothing more glorious in terms of a temple than your body as a believer. Why degrade it?

4. The Universal Priesthood of all Believers

   The next thing that is characteristic of this age is a universal priesthood of all believers. God has made all Christians part of a royal priesthood. We no longer go to God through something like the Mosaic / Aaronic priesthood. 1 Peter 2:5: "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ." You are a holy priesthood.

   1 Peter 2:9: "But you are a chosen race – a royal priesthood". You are a royal priesthood because you're a member of the royal family, and you are a holy priesthood set apart by God to handle your own business between you and God. The Christian represents himself only before God, through the privacy of your priesthood. The Jew could never approach God. He had to go through that specialized Aaronic priesthood. That's the only way he could go to God. But you, as a Christian, can come to the throne of Grace directly and privately, and that's how you should keep your business.

   The Christian's new approach to God can be exercise at any time directly. Hebrews 10:19-22: "Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil that is His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw a near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." How do you have your evil conscience clean? By confessing your sins. How do you have yourself washed with pure water? By the washing of the water of the Word.

   Then please notice Hebrews 4:16: "Let us, therefore, draw near with confidence to the throne of Grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." What a wonderful, wonderful promise of God – that we may come forward on our own with perfect freedom into the presence of the living God.

We come now to three more very important principles that are characteristic of the age of the Church. They will take some time for us to go through, so we will save them for next time. But what a wonderful thing to know that we are secure in a position in Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That was not so in the Old Testament. We know that we are all indwelt by the very Son of God, the second person of the Godhead. That was never true in the Old Testament. We know that we are all indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. That was never true in the Old Testament. We know that we all are priests of God ourselves, and royal priests of a royal family, so that all believers can go directly to God.

Do you see why we say that every Church service is a counseling service? These Christian counselors make a lot of good money, because these Christians who don't know how to live under the age of grace, and how to metabolize doctrine in their souls, and how to use the principles of the Christian life are that because no one has taught them. They do not sit under expository preaching.

Are you willing to give your money to support that kind of an operation that robs people of their right? If not, then we hope that you will be willing to support, by your presence and your money, a church that does that. That gives people a chance to be what they need to be, so that they can really serve God, and have lives that are fruitful and significant to themselves.

Once in a while, I hear a Christian say, "I'm so bored." And I know that here's a person who has never entered into the magnificent life relationship of the grace of God in the church age.

God our Father, we thank you for what You have done for us personally, and for what we are in the Lord Jesus.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

Back to the Colossians index