Why Christ's Earthly Ministry Was Under the Law Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to see everybody once again, and especially those of you out in television, and we just love your letters, especially when you tell us that you feel like you're sitting here in the studio with us, and we just get phone calls and letters constantly of people who never had an interest in the Scriptures before, and so we do. We just praise the Lord that He's seeing fit to use us to create an interest once again in the study of God's Word. And I said so often, I don't expect everybody to agree with me, but if I can just cause people to start searching the Scriptures, and we don't have to agree on every little detail. There's room for disagreement, but hopefully I try to stay as close to the truth as I possibly can, and as I've said so often, we don't want to just attack other groups. We don't want to ridicule them, and hopefully I can just keep my nose to the grindstone of the Word, and then just let the chips fall where they may. Okay, I guess I better let you know once again that all the past programs are available on video and audio, and they're now in print. Everything from Genesis up through where we are in Galatians, which makes a total now of 33 that are available. And then for the benefit of our Tulsa people and our Oklahoma, in case some of our folks aren't here, our next taping production will be in Channel 47's new facilities, which are out on South Memorial. I've got it on the board, and so that's the purpose of that, that our next taping session will be at 8835 South Memorial, and it's real easy to find, a lot of parking, and you're going to love the facilities. It's really quite sumptuous, and I think the Lisi people got a tremendous deal on it, and we're going to be reaping the benefits of all that, so we just praise the Lord for that opportunity. Okay, now this is a Bible study, as I've said so often, informal. We're not honing to any denominational line. I suppose even some of my own denominational people just sort of put their hair up on end, but I can't help that. I'm not here to satisfy any denominational leaders or so forth. We're going to teach the Word. If they don't like it, that's tough. They'll have to answer the Lord, and I won't. All right, Galatians chapter 4, and we were finishing in verse 4 as we came to the end of our last program, that when the fullness of time was come, in fact, I should have used the word, but when the fullness of time was come, another whole change in operation, and God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, and made under the law, which falls right into what I have stressed over and over, and oh, we heard the results. I guess it's going to come out even for our television audience. We just spent last week in Indiana, and oh my goodness, we just had such a response, and again, this is the one thing that we heard over and over. Never did they realize that Christ's earthly ministry was under the law. Everything He said, everything He instructed was in compliance with the Mosaic system. Not a word of this gospel of grace. It couldn't be, because Christ hadn't died yet, and He couldn't speak of His death, burial, and resurrection, and even though He did, you remember those verses I've used so often. Oh, let's look at it. My goodness, let's look at it. Luke 18, Luke 18, verse 31, because these are verses that I think most people do not really know is in their Bible, and this is why I emphasize that when they continue to preach in the four gospels and totally ignore the Apostle Paul, my goodness, they've got to realize that the death, burial, and resurrection hadn't taken place yet. They couldn't preach our gospel. It had to be completed. And you can't preach something until God reveals it, and He hasn't revealed it. And this is so obvious. Luke 18, verse 31, Christ's earthly ministry, toward the end of it, clear up there at Caesarea Philippi, the headwaters of the Jordan River. We were there just a few weeks ago, and my goodness, they've made that beautiful. They've just made a national park out of it, and we walked all along those streams at the foot of the Mount Hermon, and that was the same area where Jesus said to the Twelve, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. See, it hadn't happened yet, but it will. For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, that is, to Rome, or the Romans, and he shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on. They shall scourge him, and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. And then look at the next verse. And they, the Twelve, understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. They had no idea that he was going to die on that Roman cross. And as I've showed so often in John's Gospel, stop there on your way back to Galatians, John's Gospel chapter 19, John's Gospel 20, I'm sorry, John's Gospel, honey, chapter 20, verse 8, John's Gospel chapter 20, verse 8, I'm skipping a lot of them because I trust you all know the setting. Peter and John have now run after Mary Magdalene has told them that the tomb was empty, and everybody is shocked. They had no idea he was going to rise from the dead, but he told them. But what happened? It was hid from them. God kept it secret, even though He said it out in plain language. And so here we are now in resurrection morning, and Simon, Peter, and John run to that empty sepulcher, beginning then at verse 8, and then went in also that other disciple, which was John, who came first to the sepulcher, he saw and believed. Then the next verse tells it all. For as yet, up until this moment, they, Peter, and John, and Mary, and all the rest of those followers, for as yet they knew not the Scripture that he must rise again from the dead. See how plain all that is? They didn't know. They had no concept of a gospel of grace based on his death, burial, and resurrection. And then that's where we spend all our preaching time. No wonder the church is dying on the vine. No wonder we're going into such an apostasy, because there's no power in this now. This has faded off the scene. His earthly ministry is a part and parcel of the past, just like the Old Testament economy. And now we've got to come into the letters and the writings of this man, this apostle of the Gentiles. And now you can come back to Galatians chapter 4, now going on into verse 5. And so he came, made of the woman, made under the law. But what was the purpose? To redeem, buy back, to pay the price for them that were under the law, that we, the whole world, might receive this positioning as adoption of sons. All right, let's go back to Romans. It's been a long time since we've taught Romans, so I think I can bear repeating it. A lot of times I don't, for sake of our people who have the tapes, and I hate to have them think that they bought a tape, and then sometime later another tape says the same thing. But here in Romans chapter 3, and we'll be coming back here more than once in these next few verses in Galatians, but in Romans chapter 3, let's just drop down to verse 23 for this moment. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everyone, Jew and Gentile, black and white, rich and poor, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now verse 24, being justified freely by His grace, and how could He justify us? Through the redemption, the process of buying us back. Now, of course, the first thing you always have to qualify is, why does the word redemption have to be used? Why did God have to buy something back? Because you don't buy something back unless you've owned it and lost it. Isn't that right? In other words, you take something into the hock shop, it was yours, you hocked it, you took a loan against it, and they took over control. You cannot get back and have control of that, whatever it is, until you pay the price of redemption. So it's the same way in Scripture. The reason God had to pay a price of redemption, first for Israel nationally, and for the whole world in general, was because that which was once God, He lost it. Satan picked it up, and so he's holding it tight until God pays the price of redemption. Now when I say that Israel was lost, that of course goes back to when the brothers sold Joseph into slavery. It was sinful, it was wrong, but when they did that, you see, God lost control of the little nation of Israel, although it was still embryonic, but God lost control. They ended up in Egypt, and for those 215 years while they were under the Egyptian yoke, and now when they finally come out, as it's recorded in the book of Exodus, what do we call Exodus? The book of redemption, because what is God doing? He is paying the price to bring Israel out from under her bondage, out from Egyptian control, back to Himself, where He originally had them. And of course the price of redemption there is more symbolic than actual, because it was the blood of the Lamb, you see, that kept them safe on the night of the Passover, and then it was the power of opening the Red Sea that brought the nation out to God's help, but He redeemed them. He paid the price and He brought them back. Now for the whole world population in general, He paid the price with His own blood. The cross of Calvary is where Christ paid the price of redemption so that the whole human race, which fell under the control of Satan, when Adam sinned, the whole human race, and so He has paid the price of redemption for how many? All, all. You've heard me stress it for the last several months of these programs, that when Christ died, He paid the price for every human being's sin. He has paid the price of redemption for everyone, but of course you can't appropriate it until faith comes into the picture. But all right, back here in Romans chapter 3, so He has justified the believer freely because of that price that He paid to bring them back under the control of Satan. Verse 25, "...whom," speaking of Christ Jesus in verse 24, "...whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood." Why the blood in this verse? Because the blood is what's the price of redemption. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And had not Christ shed His blood, then the redemption price would have never been paid. Satan would still claim us as his own. But it was paid, and it's done. And so then, verse 26, oh, what beautiful language, "...to declare, I say at this time," Paul says, "...His righteousness," God's righteousness, "...that He," God, "...might be just, and at the same time be the justifier of him who," what? "...believeth." See? Not a lot of other things, but to Him that believeth. All right, so now then, come back to Galatians 4 once again. So verse 5, "...He came, made of the woman, for only one purpose." First, of course, I guess I should say this, qualify it. First, to be the King of Israel. But when they rejected that, then His eternal purpose was to go the way of the cross, to shed His blood, to pay the full price of redemption. And it's paid in full. All right? So first He came to redeem them that were under the law, which, of course, was Israel. But it didn't stop with Israel, thank goodness. It spread to the whole human race. And then the last part of the verse emphasizes that we, now Paul, I think, speaks in terminology that includes everybody, Jew and Gentile, because after all, he's writing to Gentiles, that we might receive this adoption of sons, which could never happen without the price of redemption. It had to be one of the first processes in the plan of salvation. Again, come back to Romans chapter 3, and we'll look at a different verse. Romans chapter 3, verse 19, Romans 3, verse 19, Romans 3, verse 19, y'all got it? Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. Now compare that with Eglatians. What did it say? He came to redeem them that were under the law. But the next part of verse in Galatians 4 says that we, the whole general race, might receive this adoption of sons. Now back to Romans 3 again, verse 19, to not only them who are under the law, which would Israel, but that every mouth may be stopped. Now whose mouths are we talking about? The whole human race, not just Israel, the whole human race has to understand now that there is not a word of argument they can offer. You know, it's going to be amazing. We're not going to be there, of course, but I know from Scripture that I can guarantee it that when lost humanity comes up before the great white throne up there in Revelation 20, there's not going to be any argument. There's not going to be room for argument. They're not going to debate the issue. They're not going to be a great big jury trial. But oh, as individually, they're all going to come before that righteous judge, which will be Christ Jesus himself. And even though he did express in his earthly ministry that they'll say, but Lord, didn't we do this? Didn't we cast out demons? And he's going to say, depart from me for I never knew you. But other than that, there's going to be no argument. They're suddenly going to see the record. They're going to see the Lamb's Book of Life and their name isn't in it. And then they're going to see that long list of evil deeds and works that they know they're guilty of. No argument. And he's going to consign them to their eternal doom. All people don't like to hear that. They like to think that they're good enough that they're going to somehow slip in. No, they're not. I'll never forget one old fellow I used to do a lot of business with. And he said, oh, Les, he said, all I hope is that someday I can just sort of shinny under the door. No, it's not going to work that way. And some like to think that maybe they can barter with old Peter at the pearly gate. No, it's not going to work that way. But all those that are lost are suddenly going to be brought to the great white throne with no argument, realizing that they have been guilty of unbelief and rejecting, and they're going to go to their eternal doom. All right, back to Romans 3, 19. So it says to them who are under the law, to Israel, but it goes on now to the whole human race, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become fit for heaven. That's a lot of people think it should say, but that's not what it says. That all the world may become what? Guilty. Guilty. And there's no way of getting into a place of freedom and liberty as long as you're guilty. Not even in the secular world, I hope. But anyway, and all the world may become guilty before God. And then verse 20, you know, oh, I love these two verses to show people that all their law keeping, all their good works, all their legalism will be for nothing because by the deeds of the law, that is trying to live the good life according to the format of the 10 commandments by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Oh, they may be good enough in man's sight, but they'll never cut it when they come under the scrutinizing eyes of the Lord Jesus. And so no flesh justified in his sight. Why? Because by the law is not the knowledge of salvation. It's the knowledge of what? Sin. That's all the law can do is show mankind their sinfulness. Now, isn't it amazing how Satan can totally counterfeit the issue? Now, today, you see, Satan has convinced millions, probably billions, that if they do the best they can, if they keep the law at least as much as is possible, that somehow they'll make it. They've got that idea and it's just stuck in their crawl, and they refuse to see what the book says. The book says they're never going to make it because by the keeping of the law is no flesh justified. But we have to experience that price of redemption, which is, of course, by having our faith placed in that shed blood of Calvary. All right, now then let's move on in the moments we have left to verse 6. Now then, since it's established that the law could not save us, but that the work of the cross has redeemed us, and as soon as we are redeemed, we are placed by the right of adoption into that place of full maturity in the body of Christ. Now, I think I mentioned in our last taping, now there's two concepts in Scripture. Number one is that when we come in as a new believer, how do we begin? Babes in Christ, and we desire the sincere milk of the Word, the simpler thing. But as we grow and as we come through the Christian experience, we finally reach the place where we're ready for the strong meat of the Word. Not just the simple things, but the strong meat. Now, the other concept is that the minute... Now we've got to go to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1, honey, and verse 5. The other concept is that the moment we're saved, the moment we're saved, God puts us right up in that place of full responsibility, like this tutored son, like that little lad who for years was constantly being taught and encouraged and reprimanded by his tutor. But when the day came, he was presented as a full partner with that Father. All right, now remember the two concepts. We come into the body of Christ, yes, babes in Christ, whether we're six or sixty, and we grow in grace and knowledge. But positionally, and that's of course what the great book of Ephesians is all about, is our position in the body of Christ. Ephesians 1, verse 5. Now having predestinated us unto the adoption, see there's that word, which does not mean that you're legally transformed from one family to another. But the word adoption coming out of the Greek and the Roman practice was, like we've just seen, the placing of that son as a full partner and heir with the Father. That's what adoption means. All right, so now God has predestinated us. He has kept that place open for every believer that the moment he's saved, there he is, right where God intended him to be from eternity past. And so that's what the predestination is all about, is the position. The adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the pleasure of His good will. And again, oh listen, I've got to take you back to Acts chapter 2 again. My, we use some of these verses over and over because I think they are so fundamental to understanding everything. So fundamental, and that's why I use them over and over. Acts chapter 2, verse 22 and 23. Twenty-three is the verse, but I always like to use 22 so that you pick up the flow. Peter is preaching on the day of Pentagon, and of course he's preaching to the nation of Israel, still under the law. And look what he says, "'Ye men of Israel, hear these words.'" Now listen, did those Jews know their Old Testament? Of course they did. They were taught in the whole idea of the law and the Old Testament prophets and so forth. Even though they were in rank unbelief, yet they knew these things from the Old Testament. And so he says, "'Ye men of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in your midst, as you yourselves also know.'" Now here it is, verse 23, "'Him, Jesus of Nazareth, being delivered by that determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands are crucified and slain.'" You know what he could have also said? "'And he has reserved you a place, he has adoption waiting for you.'" See? But of course Peter didn't know that, but God did. "'God had the foreknowledge of everything from eternity past up until the time that it is finally consummated and will continue until the end of time. Nothing in all of God's working was unknown to that predeterminate counsel of God back there in eternity past.'" God, the triune God, saw everything, and that's beyond our human comprehension. But He did. He saw it all. He knew back there in eternity past that we would be sitting here in Tulsa, Oklahoma this afternoon. He knew that. And there is nothing beyond His knowledge, and He knows exactly what's ahead of us, even though we don't, but He does. All right, so verse 5 again in this few seconds that are left, "'So He came made of a woman, was born at Bethlehem, went through that earthly ministry, went to the cross.'" Yeah, I'm back in Galatians chapter 4, verse 4 and 5. "'And so He went through that whole finished work of the cross, arose from the dead, appeared to the eleven for forty days, ascended back to glory, and then revealed to this next great man in human history, the apostle Paul or Saul of Tarsus, all of these doctrines of grace. And until Paul comes, they're unknown.'" That's why he refers constantly to the mysteries, the secrets that were kept in the mind of God. Oh, I'm so thrilled that people are seeing this. My, by the hundreds, people are finally understanding that it's only through the revelations given to this apostle that we now understand that eternal purpose of God in the crucifixion and in calling out that body of Gentiles which we call the church, not under the law but under grace. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.