Why Was the Body of Christ a Secret for Centuries?

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, once again, good to have everybody back, and I guess this is our fourth one this afternoon, and then we can be heading out for home. We always like to let our television audience know anyway that we tape four programs in succession, and if you're ever headed toward Tulsa on a first Wednesday of the month, you give us a call, and we'd love to have you be a part of our taping sessions for these four programs. We are just an informal Bible study. We are in temporary studio quarters, and we all miss our tables and chairs, and we hope that someday in the coming months they'll have our new studio ready, and we'll be back behind the tables as we were in months gone by. So if you wonder what happened, the station here in Tulsa sold their old facility and bought a new one that just didn't have as big a studio as they used to have. But someday, hopefully by fall, we'll be in their new facility, and it'll be a little more commodious, and we'll be able to have more folk come in. So if you're ever headed through Tulsa, you feel free. We'd love to have you join us for these tapings. All the past programs of course are available on video, audio as well as the printed page, and so if you're ever interested in any of that, you just give us a call, and we'll get the information to you. I've been reminded over and over that I do not let people know often enough that we do have to have the help of our viewing audience to pay our TV bills, and rest assured, and I can say this again, my little bookkeeper came in just the other day, and she might even put it in the newsletter, I'm not sure, that 100 % of all of our undesignated offering went to buy television. So if you send us $10, $10 goes to buy TV time. All our other expenses then we put together by what little profit we make on our tapes and books and so forth. So always rest assured that if you send our ministry whatever, none of it's going to go in my pocket. It will go to buy television time, and we're trying to get on more and more stations to reach more people, because I always have to look at it this way. If in the areas where we've already been a few years and we've had such a response, then I have to feel that there are those same kind of people in other areas who need this kind of an approach to get them interested in the Word of God. We just wish it wouldn't get any bigger. I mean it's at the place where we can still open every letter, still read every letter, and we can handle it all right there at home, and take the phone calls. So for that part we just assume it not get one bit bigger, because we're about at the full mark. But if the Lord sees fit to branch out, well then that's what we have to do. Okay, back to Ephesians chapter 3, and we're going to jump in at verse 6. Ephesians 3 verse 6, and all of these things we've just looked at in those first three or four verses. Ephesians 3 verse 8, Ephesians 3 verse 9, It is a totaal unknown. Isaiah didn't write about it, Zechariah didn't write about it, Jesus didn't talk about it, Peter didn't talk about it- because it was something that was totally kept secret in the mind of God, that there would be a period of time where God would go to the pagan, gentile world without Israel. Now all the verses we looked at that referred to the gentiles getting the light, it was through the nation of Israel. They would be the vehicle, but when Israel rejected the Messiah, and refused to accept Him for what He said He was, even after Peter and the eleven preached their hearts out in those early chapters of Acts, for the most part what is the nation of Israel doing with it? They�re shunning it aside, and I always use Acts chapter 7 as the crescendo of that rejection. We�ll not have that man Jesus of Nazareth to rule over us, and so they stoned Stephen. Well then after the stoning of Stephen the first thing we�re introduced to is Saul of Tarsus, who God says He�s going to send to the Gentile world. So all of this Paul keeps repeating, that none of this was known before because it was supposed to go through Israel. Now of course we don�t want to take anything away from the Jewish people, because they have given us this book. Every word in this book was written by a Jew, and they were still the vehicle that God used for that purpose, but when it came to this Gospel of Grace going to the Gentile world, they were left out. And so this one little Jew almost single handedly in the early going turned the Roman Empire inside out. The more you think about it, the more you have to be amazed at the tenacity of this little Jew. I think he was short in stature, but he was long on energy and toughness, and as I said in the closing remarks in our last half hour, in spite of all the suffering, all the beatings and the whippings, and the shipwrecks, and all the other taunts and torments that were thrown at him, he never slowed down. He never slowed down, he just continued to preach the Gospel of Grace to the Gentile world. Now in this verse we come to a word again that is strictly Pauline, and I�ve begged my listeners over the years, whether it�s in my small home classes, or whether it�s on television or whatever, if you can ever find an Old Testament prophet referring to the Gentile body of Christ, you let me know where you found it. If you can find a place where Jesus in His earthly ministry ever referred to the body of Christ, you want to show it to me. If you can ever find Peter in the early chapters of Acts referring to this body of Christ, show it to me, because I haven�t been able to find it. So Paul is constantly referring to the body of Christ, and consequently it has to be what I call a Pauline phenomenon, and this of course is why I am so adamantly in favor of the pre-tribulation rapture, because the body of Christ will not fit in the tribulation which is Jewish, it would be as out of place as fish out of water, and it would flop even more because we just don�t belong there. So we have to realize that some of these things are confined to what we call the revelation of the mysteries. Now this word body in Acts chapter 6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of God�s promise in Christ. But what makes it all possible? The Gospel, the Gospel of the grace of God, that He�s going to save hell bound sinners if they�ll just simply believe with all their heart that Christ died for them. Now I always have to stop and qualify that I�m not talking about an easy believer, I�m not talking about somebody that says, �Oh yeah, I believe that Jesus died, and I believe that He rose from the dead.� I�m not talking about that, I�m talking about the person who just out of his whole being rests on the fact that Christ died for his sins, and rose from the dead. We believe it, and we�d be willing to be martyred for it, because that�s the very heart and soul of our life, is that Christ died and rose from the dead, and as a result of our believing it then, He has now placed us into the body. Now let�s come back to I Corinthians chapter 12, and again these are all repetitious if you�ve been with me all the way up through for the last several years, because when we taught Corinthians we brought in the verses in Ephesians, and now we�re in Ephesians and we�re going to use the Corinthians. And someday if the Lord tarries and we get into Colossians, we�ll come back and we�ll use Ephesians and Corinthians with Colossians, because this is the way the Scriptures work. I Corinthians 12. Ephesians 12. I Corinthians 12. For as this human body hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are still one body, now there�s the break. So what�s he talking about? This human body with all of its members, our hands, our feet, our legs and our eyes are what makes up our physical body, and yet they all function from something up here in our brain, in our head, the nervous system, our mind, our will, and emotion, and we function everything working together for the purposes of this one body. So also is Christ, or the body of Christ. Now verse 13, For by one Spirit, or the Holy Spirit, we are all, and I always stop and emphasize that word all, because we have so many groups today that maintain unless you have done this, and unless you have done that, then you�re not spiritual, or some even go so far as to say that you�re not even saved. But Paul doesn�t do that. Paul says that every believer, whether he�s a giant in the faith, or whether he�s weak and is still carnal, all have been baptized into one body. I read some time ago that there are 1500 denominations in California alone, and that�s not according to this book. But regardless, if we are a believer of the Gospel, we have been placed into the one body of Christ. Now look how Paul defines it. Now whether we be Jew or Gentile, the Jews aren�t left out of this, not by any means. Whether we be bond or free, now you want to remember slavery or servitude was still part and parcel of the Roman world, and so those were the two completely different classes of people. To be in servitude you had nothing, you had no property, you had no rights. But on the other hand, those that were free, they could have had whatever, but in the Body of Christ there is no distinction. Whether they were wealthy or poor, they were in the Body of Christ. Whether they were Jew or Gentile, when they believed the Gospel they became members of the Body of Christ. What placed them into the Body of Christ? The work of the Holy Spirit. And that�s the only Holy Spirit baptism that you have in Paul�s epistles, is when the Holy Spirit places that believer the moment he�s saved into the Body of Christ. And just like our bodies when they were in our mother�s womb, as they were finally completed and all the functions of the body were now ready, we were delivered. The same thing with the Body of Christ, when the last soul is saved, and the body is complete, the Lord is going to call us out, and I think we�re closer than we like to think. But whatever, I tell people constantly, if you�re getting in a hurry for the Lord to come, you get out and be a soul winner. Go out and talk to people about the glories of salvation, we�re living in a materialistic world to be sure, but the world still knows that they�re hungry for something. You know Sharon came up after I had the circles on the board, and I had shown that it�s the spirit that died, and how it needs to be generated, and I wish they�d have left it up and I�d have used it in the next program, but she came up and said, �This is why people are hungry.� Yeah, it�s a vacuum that has to be filled with the power of God. But the moment we believe them, the Holy Spirit baptizes us, or places us into the Body of Christ regardless of our status in life, and we have all been made to drink or partake of that one spirit. No one has greater access to the Spirit than someone else. Now then verse 14, for the body, whether you�re speaking of the human body or the body of Christ, doesn�t make a bitter difference. The body is not one member but many, and we�re all members of that same Body of Christ. Now just to show you how much emphasis the Apostle Paul puts on this term, I�m going to hit just a few of them, not all of them, but come across at least the page in my Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 26, and again now he�s referring to the human body. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. In other words, you hit your thumb with a hammer, you hurt all over, because it goes to the central nervous system. On the other hand, if a member of our body is having something good, the whole body rejoices. In other words, you have an extra delicious dessert, and you just revel in it all over. So the analogy is the same with the Body of Christ. If a fellow believer is hurting, we all hurt. If a fellow believer is being sumptuously blessed, we can all be blessed with him, and that�s the beauty of it. So now verse 27, why? Because now you as a believer are the Body of Christ, but as individuals we�re members in particular. See that? Let�s go on to another one, back to the book of Ephesians where we were several weeks ago in chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1. Dropping down to Ephesians 1, verses 22 and 23, Ephesians 1, and he hath put all things under his feet, that is the triune God hath put everything under the feet of Christ God the Son, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body. Now I read it that way purposely, because see at the end of verse 22, there�s just a comma, it�s not a period. And he hath given Christ to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body. See what a difference that makes? Ephesians 1, verse 22, And the body is the fulness, or the complement, of him that filleth all in all. Now remember when we were in this several weeks ago, I made the analogy that it�s the same word that is spoken of as Eve was the helpmate or the complement for Adam, which meant that Adam was not complete until he had the wife. Well, Christ is looking at it in the same way. He�s waiting, and waiting, and waiting for his bride, the body of Christ, to finally be consummated with him in glory. And so he is the head over all things to the body, which is his church. Then across the page in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 16, and all of these are just complementing what he says in Ephesians chapter 3, that all of these revelations of the mysteries were to bring about this one body, and that he might reconcile both. Well I guess we should go back up to verse 14. Who are the both? Jew and Gentile. Ephesians 2, verse 14. Ephesians 2, verse 14. Now the Lord hath made both, Jew and Gentile, one, broken down the middle wall, or partition between us, having abolished in his flesh on the cross the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of the two one new man, so making peace. and then verse 16 that he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile under God in one body see not two separate bodies but one body and what made it possible the cross the cross that's why Paul says we preach Christ crucified and it's that death burial and resurrection of Paul's gospel that makes the appearance and the consummation of the body of Christ possible all right now you can come on over to where we just were in chapter 3 but I want to go on for just a moment to chapter 4 I want to hit all these verses that are popping up about the body of Christ so that if you don't remember anything else this afternoon you'll remember that Paul is constantly teaching the body of Christ the body of Christ and nowhere else in Scripture you won't find a reference to the body of Christ in the book of Revelation you don't find the body of Christ in first second and third Peter and or second Peter and first second third John it's not in there you don't find the body of Christ in the four Gospels it's just not in there but Paul's if he Paul's epistles are full of it see all right Ephesians chapter 4 and let's see verse 12 for the perfecting or the maturing of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the what the body of Christ see how it keeps coming up all the time all right now let's go over to Colossians for just a minute go through it Philippians and come over to Colossians Colossians I think the first one is probably in chapter 3 Colossians chapter 2 I'm sorry Colossians chapter 2 dropping down to verse 16 and 17 oh I can't miss 14 I just can't I got to use it every chance I get I love that verse let's look at it again then we'll go down to where we want to be in verse 17 Colossians 2 starting at verse 14 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us it was contrary to us oh stop a minute remember the verses we read in Leviticus 5 I know some of our television audience missed that but if you did out in TV you go read Leviticus 5 the first five six seven verses and you'll remember that if you touch something dead what did Leviticus instruct you had to take a sacrifice to the priest for cleansing hey that was all part of these ordinances that were crucified see that's why we don't have to do something like that today all right reading on so it was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his cross having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it now I think those are the powers and principalities of Satan he was utterly defeated at the cross and at the resurrection too and we never again have to succumb to his power it's broken all right and so he triumphed over them now verse 16 and again because of the work of the cross because of the outpouring of the grace of God let no man therefore judge you in food or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the new moon of Sabbath day see that was all law see that and Paul said don't you let somebody come at you with these things of the law they were crucified with Christ all right verse 17 but they had their place of course they did how as a shadow see and they were a shadow of things to come but the body which is here now is of what it's of Christ I mean it's a real thing oh we can't see it in its whole but we can experience it as we fellowship with like-minded believers okay the body of Christ I thought I had one more but maybe that's it for for now in in Colossians but just be aware that as you read Paul's letters his epistles that this is a Pauline term it's a Pauline doctrine that comes out of the revelation of the mysteries these things that were kept secret until they were revealed to this apostle okay let's go back to chapter 3 verse 7 where that is to be the apostle of the Gentiles where of I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God I remember what I taught earlier this afternoon I guess about in the first half hour how many times up through human history did God have reason enough to just wipe out the human race over and over my I've been reading a book lately a biography of a little girl who came out of the Ukraine during the communist rule of Russia and the torment that people went through first by the communists and then comes the Nazi armies and then taken back to Germany prisoners and working as slave labor and she begins her story when she's just an infant and by the time World War two is at its height she's only like she was born in 36 so by 1940 she was 441 she was 5 and no horrors of all that period of history all because of evil men why didn't God just zap them well is great see even a man like Hitler as evil as wicked as he was did God love him enough to save him sure he did had he been a believer had he had he completely recognized his shortcoming God would have saved him that's beyond our comprehension but he would have but we look at it why didn't he zap them because that's what they deserved all the grace of God see the grace of God that the most ungodly how does Paul put it in Romans that where sin abounded what grace does much more abound see okay so now then verse 7 wherever he said I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto what's the pronoun again me me now he's not writing from an egotistical standpoint he's writing through the power and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God himself and so he is the instrumental effectual working of the power of God not of himself but of God he was just simply the clay he was just simply the instrument that God was using it was God's power that turned the Roman Empire inside out but Paul was the instrument but again I always have to stop and think had Paul not been willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel could God have used him no course not and it's the same way with any one of us God can't use us unless we're willing and are pliable and we'll let him do what needs to be done and then of course the other key word here in verse 7 is the effectual working of God's what power and that power of course was epitomized it was released at the resurrection at his resurrection the power of God became all sufficient to fight all the evils and the power of the satanic forces and death and everything that went with it 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 right to Les Feldick ministries route 1 box 760 Kenta Oklahoma 74552 that's route 1 box 760 Kenta Oklahoma 74552 through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported and your gift is appreciated thank you and be sure to tune in next 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