Why the Blessing of Abraham Now Comes to Gentiles Directly

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. We want everyone to understand that all the past programs, now that covers a long time. You have to realize that it was 1990, the fall or December of 1990 that we had our first program. And so everything since 1991 through has been taking us from Genesis through the Old Testament, through the Gospels and Acts and Romans and Corinthians, and now we're of course in Galatians. But they're all available either on video or audio, or the printed page, Jerry Poole has just been transcribing them. And I read the other day, Jerry, about the technology now that on a computer they can just do it technologically, and Jerry would be out of a job, that would be awful. But anyway, we've appreciated so much what everybody has contributed to getting the Word out by tape and by printed page and by television. We can't do it alone. And again, we just always like to show our humble thankfulness for what everyone has done. Ok, we're a Bible study and everybody complains that it goes too fast, so we better buy up the time. Galatians chapter 3, and let's just read verse 13 because we're going to pick up at verse 14. And for you on television, I've had so many requests to put the chapter and verse that I'm starting at on the board, so that's what we've tried to do today. I don't know whether I'll be able to remember it from one month to the next, but we'll try to do that and see if it will help you a little bit to pick up at least where we're beginning. So Galatians chapter 3, and we're going to read verse 13 and then pick up in verse 14. Galatians 3. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Now then, moving on to verse 14. Galatians 3. All of that was accomplished, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Now I'm always teaching that this book is progressive revelation. In other words, God doesn't always reveal everything exactly from the front. He's going to keep adding revelation to revelation. Now look at that verse again, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Now in your mind's eye, through whom was the blessing originally supposed to come? Isaiah chapter 42, verse 1. Isaiah 42, verse 1. Isaiah 42, verse 1. He shall bring forth judgment, or rule, or government to the Gentiles. So who are we talking about? Well the Messiah, the Christ. Now let's follow this up throughout Isaiah, and turn a minute to chapter 49, verse 6. Isaiah 49, verse 6. Isaiah 49, verse 6. It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. 6. I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles. Now who is He talking to? Israel, the nation. That you shall be a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth. 7. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee. So here we have Israel again, as having been raised up by God to be a light to the Gentiles. Now let's go all the way over to chapter 59, still in Isaiah, and now let's drop into verse 20. Isaiah 59, and the Redeemer is capitalized. So who is it talking about? It's the Messiah, the Christ. Isaiah 59, and the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord, as for me, this is my covenant with them. Now who are the them? Who are the them? Israel, the Jews. This is my covenant with them, the nation of Israel, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth that I seed, or the mouth that I seed seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. Now that is in reality the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31. But as yet, it hasn't been kicked in. It still isn't apropos, but it's in Israel's future. Now look at chapter 60, verse 1. Isaiah 60, verse 1. For thy light is come, who is he talking to? Israel, who is the light? Their Messiah, the Christ. The glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, behold the darkness shall cover the earth, that is spiritual darkness, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, Israel, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, Israel, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Now let's go on to Zechariah. There are so many more in between here, but nevertheless we'll skip as much as we dare, and come all the way up to Zechariah, the next to the last book in your Old Testament. Just ahead of Malachi, Zechariah chapter 8, verse 20. Now we've covered all these verses way back when we were studying the Abrahamic Covenant, but like I was sharing with someone at break time, sometimes I apologize for my repetition, and then of course people say, No, you just keep on repeating, because that's the only way I learn. Then I happened to be reading a big thick book of theology by a British theologian of about the 1700's or 1800's, and I wondered how could a man put together a book, a big one, fine print, and that thick? Well as I was reading through it, I saw how he could do it. What was it? Repetitions. Over and over and over. I'd read a chapter here, and go down the line 3 or 4 chapters, and there it was, same thing all over again. So no wonder they can make a big book. Well I'm going to do the same thing, I'm just going to keep repeating and repeating and repeating. Zechariah chapter 8, verse 20. And yet I would dare bet the ranch that there are a lot of people out there listening to this program that never saw these verses before, and look what it says. Now in light of everything we've come through, that the Messiah would be the light of Israel, and Israel in turn would be the light to the Gentiles, thus saith the Lord of hosts, it shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities, and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another city, and they'll say, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, to seek the Lord of hosts, in other words they're going to be hungry for a knowledge of the Lord, and then they'll say to their neighbor, I'll go also. Now verse 22. Zechariah chapter 8, verse 21, "...yea, many people, and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts," not in New York, not in London, but where? Jerusalem. "...and they will come to Jerusalem to pray before the Lord." Now, to show the connection of the nation of Israel in all this, look at verse 23. Ephesians 2a "...Thus saith the LORD of hosts, In those days when Israel would be the vehicle, in those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations..." Now what does that mean? Anybody and everybody but Israel. "...and they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, and they shall say, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." Am I getting through? How was God going to reach the Gentiles? Through Israel. Through Israel. But what did Israel do with that? They rejected it, and they said, thanks but no thanks. We'll not have that man to rule over us. Crucify Him! Now then, turn with me to Romans chapter 11. I'm giving you time because that's what the audience constantly writes for. Give us time to find the verses. You go too fast. Romans 11. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? In other words, is Israel completely out of God's program? No way! But, now read on. Romans 11. Now stop and think a minute as you read. When did Israel experience this kind of a fall? When they crucified their Messiah, and rejected His offer of the King and the Kingdom. That's when they fell. So through their fall, through their rejecting the Old Testament covenant promises, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Come back with me to Galatians chapter 3. Now here's where I want you to learn how to study. Not just read, but study. How many times have I said over the last several years, as you read, every time you come to a thought in a sentence, stop and ask yourself a question. Now what is this talking about? What is He driving at? Now here's a good example. Galatians chapter 3, verse 14, "...that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through the nation of Israel." Don't say that! Oh what has happened? Israel fell out of the picture when she fell. When she rejected the Messiah, she also rejected that glorious opportunity of being a Kingdom of Priests to the Gentile world. Do you remember Exodus chapter 19? As they were gathered around Sinai, what did God tell them? That if they would be obedient, I will make of you a Kingdom of Priests. Now you remember that, and I make a big deal of it. That every Jew could have been a go between between the Gentile world, and their God. What a prospect! But they blew it, they dropped the ball, but it didn't stop God thank goodness, because now Paul can write that the Gentiles have received the blessing of Abraham, not through Israel, but how? Directly through the Lord Jesus Christ, immediately. And we don't have to wait for Israel to get her act together. We don't have to wait for a Jew to come to our particular community and give us the knowledge of their God. Oh God has done something totally, totally different. And that is, He went straight to the pagan world with the message of salvation without Israel as a go between. Now a verse comes to mind. Turn ahead a little bit to Ephesians. Ephesians 1. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, and remember Paul is writing to Gentiles, in whom we as Gentiles now have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Now then, according to the eternal purpose of God, and I think it's again in chapter 3, and that even makes it more emphatic. Ephesians chapter 3, and now drop down again to verse 11. Ephesians 3. Was God caught off base when Israel crucified the Messiah? No, it was all in the eternal purposes. Now flip over to II Timothy chapter 1, and oh I hope you see it. Remember I'm always using that verse back in Acts chapter 2, that according to the predetermining counsel of God, all these things had happened. Now look, II Timothy chapter 1. I guess I have to drop down to verse 8, because verse 9 is the verse I want, but it's a semi colon, so we've got to pick up verse 8. II Timothy 1. Be not thou ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God. Semi colon, that's why I had to read it. Now look at verse 9. II Timothy 1. Who, God, hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, and so not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us, not through the nation of Israel, but in Christ Jesus, from before the foundations of the world, before the world began. Oh that's His eternal purpose. Yes, He made a valid offer. In fact I was explaining this to someone, maybe on our Bible study cruise, how God made a valid offer to the nation of Israel. He wasn't playing games with them, those were valid offers that He made to the nation. They could have gone into the promised land, the milk and honey at Kadesh Barnea, couldn't they? God told them, go in and take the land, I'll drive the Canaanites out with hornets, and it's all laying there ready, it's in production, all you have to do is take it over. I'll drive them out slow so that the weeds won't take over before you get there. Israel didn't do it, but was it a valid offer? Absolutely, they could have, but what did God know? That they wouldn't. So the whole divine purpose of the 40 year wilderness was all in the divine plan, but it wasn't that God didn't give them a valid offer. And that's what I use as my argument. That yes, when Christ came and presented Himself as the King of Israel, it was a valid offer. He came to His own, for what purpose? To be their Redeemer and King. But as a valid offer, they rejected it. And now then what did it do? It fulfilled the eternal purposes, and that was salvation to the whole human race without Israel, without the Law, without the Temple, without proselyting. It was salvation by faith, and faith alone. It's glorious, and it's something I think we should get a little more excited about. Now I'm sort of in the middle. I don't go along with this wild emotionalism, but boy I don't go along with this staid religionism either. My if anybody has a reason to be happy and joyful, I think it's the believer. But on the other hand we have to do that which is in order. Now back to Galatians chapter 3, and verse 14 again. I don't know, are we going to have time to go down beyond it? I doubt it. Now remember Christ became the curse, hung on a stake as it were, like Deuteronomy's wayward rebel son. All of that, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, not through the salvation of Israel, but through Jesus Christ. For what purpose? That we as Gentiles might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, and so now all of the purposes of God are coming to fruition in this glorious Age of Grace. And not only do we not have to keep the Law, but as a result of our salvation experience, God gives us something 10 ,000 times better than the Ten Commandments, and what is it? It's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit becomes our guideline, not the Ten Commandments. So when I say we're not under the Law, that doesn't mean you chuck the fact that it's wrong to kill, and steal, and commit adultery, no no. Because the Holy Spirit is going to show us that, and that's the whole difference. In fact come back with me again to Romans chapter 7, and all this says it so beautifully. I think Now we as Grace Age believers are delivered from the Law. Isn't it funny that people can't see that? It's so simple, and a sixth grader can read that. Now we are delivered from the Law, that being dead spiritually wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of Spirit. Now what's the newness of Spirit? It's the Holy Spirit. Now in this Age of Grace, God moves in and He saves us by faith plus nothing. We are separated from the Law, but we're not set loose on a sea of license and permissiveness. What do we have in place of the Law? The Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit guides and directs us. Now I'm not putting any credence on these people that say, well Jesus Christ appeared to me and told me to go murder somebody. No, that's not what we're talking about. Remember the Holy Spirit never, never ever instructs someone to do something that is contrary to the Law. In other words the Holy Spirit will never tell someone to go commit adultery. The Holy Spirit will never tell someone to go and steal. The Holy Spirit will never tell someone to covet. So this becomes our Law, if you want to call it that, but it's not Law, it's the Spirit. So reading on in Romans chapter 6, that being dead in the Law, that we should serve in newness of the Spirit, and that we should not serve in the oldness of the letter. Well what does that mean? The Law. We're no longer under the Law, we're under Grace, and the Holy Spirit takes the place of the Law. Galatians chapter 3 verse 14. 14. Oh that the blessings of Abraham, and oh listen, has there ever been a man more blessed than Abraham? I doubt it, unless it be the Apostle Paul, but you see the Apostle Paul didn't get through as easy as Abraham did. Paul suffered as we were traveling that Mediterranean Sea last week. Oh all we could think of. Here we were on a big ship, and poor Paul was bouncing around on a little boat that wasn't much bigger than a cork. And yet he did it all for the sake of the Gospel, to get it out to the ends of the Roman Empire. And oh listen, what a lesson. And then when you see all of the immoral remains of that Roman Empire, and to think that that man was in the midst of it constantly, and yet never letting it turn his mind aside, he just preached the Gospel. Oh it was quite a revelation. Now back to verse 14. 14. Oh that the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, not through Israel, but through the finished work of the cross through Jesus Christ, that we as Gentiles now might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, how? Through faith, without any works of the law. That's a gift of God that's all part and parcel of that whole plan of redemption, that yes we have eternal salvation, but we also have the indwelling Holy Spirit. And that's all there is to it. And that's all there is to it.