What is God's message to us today—keep the commandments or believe the Gospel?
God's message today is to believe the Gospel, not to keep the commandments. The commandment instruction belonged to the Jew under the Law; now, under grace, the message is faith in the Gospel. This is not a contradiction but a change in God's program or modus operandi.
Les explains that the Law was written to the Jew under the Law and was not written to us. When Jesus told the rich young ruler to keep the commandments, that was correct for that program. But Les told the confused caller it is not a contradiction; it is a change of program. We are not under Law but under grace, so Jesus today would not write to us to keep the commandments. Today the message is, you believe the Gospel. This is a change in God's modus operandi. The same grace emphasis continues as Paul writes to the Corinthians, moving from correcting problems to encouraging them and instructing them in Christian grace age giving.