Lesson 19 — The Dispensation of Grace

PART III: GOD’S PRESENT DEALINGS WITH MAN

(LESSONS 19–36)

1. 1 THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE

THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE

Matthew 3:1

This dispensation is so called because the grace of God is the predominant characteristic throughout. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” John 1:16, 17. The following study of grace will be helpful to the reader and wall enable him to see that grace has been a part of every age:

1. 1 The Definition of the Word “Grace”

The primary meaning of “grace” in connection with God is free, eternal, and unmerited love and favour of God toward free moral agents who are the product of His own creation, whether human or spirit-beings, and who are capable of God; consciousness and moral responsibility. Grace is the spring, source, and the very fountain-head of all the manifold benefits and blessings of God to all of His creation John 1:14-17John 3:16Romans 3:24Romans 5:17-21Romans 11:5, 62 Corinthians 9:8Ephesians 1:6, 7Ephesians 2:5-8James 4:61 Peter 5:5.

The Greek word charis is found 156 times in the New Testament and is translated “grace” 130 times; “favor” six times; “thank” and “thankworthy” twelve times; “pleasure” two times; and “acceptable,” “benefits,” “gift,” “gracious,” “joy,” and “liberality” each one time. It is not found in Matthew or Mark. It is found in Luke eight times; in John four times; in Acts sixteen times; in the Pauline Epistles 110 times; in James, l and 2 Peter, 1, 2, 3 John, and Jude sixteen times; and in Revelation two times—once at the beginning and once at the end.

Grace is also used to mean the favor and friendship of man with man Genesis 32:5Genesis 33:8-15Genesis 34:11Genesis 39:4Genesis 47:25, 29Ruth 2:10.

Grace cannot be limited in usage to God’s dealings with men in the New Testament or with men only in any one period. Was not God just as gracious and loving to angels and all spirit-beings and to men in the Old Testament times as He is to men in the New Testament times? He could not be otherwise to any of His creations at any time except when they were in rebellion and sin. The very creation and continued existence of such beings is an act of grace. In fact, grace covers even the brute creation and abundantly provides for all living creatures those things which sustain life. Grace is merited no more by the brutes than by free moral agents. It is free for all, and all creatures partake of it in some form whether they realize it or not.

1. 1 The Benefits of Grace

All of God’s great benefits come through His marvelous grace. We deserve nothing but He gives us everything. Grace moves God to act in behalf of and for the best and eternal good of the whole creation. Grace is seen in acts of judgment as well as in acts of mercy. It works for the benefits of the few as well as of the many. All living creatures have an eternal guarantee of God’s benefits and loving providence through grace. We get through grace “every good and perfect gift” and “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” John 3:16Romans 3:24Romans 5:2, 17Romans 6:14Romans 8:322 Corinthians 8:92 Corinthians 9:8Ephesians 1:6-7Ephesians 2:5-8James 1:17James 4:61 Peter 5:52 Peter 1:3-4. Such benefits are received solely by free moral agents upon the principle of humiliation and entire dependence upon God by faith, realizing that the creature is nothing, and the Creator is all and the source of all such blessings are wholly apart from works Romans 3:24-31Romans 4:1-4, 16Romans 5:15-21Romans 6:14, 15Romans 11:6Galatians 2:16Galatians 3:1-12Ephesians 2:7-9.

1. 1 The Grace of God in All Ages

That there was grace manifested by God in all ages cannot be disputed. God has been gracious, loving, and merciful in every age to all men. Every act of mercy from God has come through His grace. Every favor of God to man is through grace. The statement of John, “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” John 1:16-17, could not possibly mean that there was no measure of grace before Jesus came any more than the statement in the same verse, “the law was given by Moses,” means that there was no law of any kind before Moses. There were many laws before Moses. (See Lesson Thirteen.) There was grace before Jesus Christ came to the Earth, but it was the “fullness” of grace that came through Him at His coming John 1:14-17. There have been different graces or favors of God to men at different times. The teaching that grace never brought men spiritual blessings before Christ is based upon unbelief and cherished preconceived ideas which are held solely to fortify certain false doctrines.

Men all through the Old Testament times received the grace and favor of God in many ways, and many lost that favor again and never regained it. Others maintained that favor, more or less throughout their lives. Exodus 33:12-17Exodus 34:9Psalms 84:11Proverbs 3:34Luke 2:40 In Lesson Eighteen, Point IX, we have seen that all Old Testament saints had nearly every blessing that men in this age receive through grace. The only difference in the blessings of the New Covenant and those before and under the Old Covenant is that we can have the fullness of what they had in part. They had the Holy Spirit in a measure; we can have Him in all fullness John 3:34John 7:37-39. They had grace in a measure; we can have it in all fullness through Jesus Christ John 1:17. They had God’s glory in part; we can have it in a greater way 2 Corinthians 3:6-15.

We have seen that each dispensation began in the favor of God and ended in the judgment of God because men lost His favor. Every unsaved soul in all ages is an unanswerable argument proving a Fall from the original grace of God. Millions have never regained this standing in grace again. Grace provided even in Old Testament times the means of reconciliation for all, but all did not accept God’s grace then any more than they do today, as far as spiritual things are concerned. As far as material things are concerned, all men of all ages have accepted of God’s blessings through His grace. All these blessings of life are unmerited favors of God toward man to lead him to repentance Matthew 5:44-48Romans 2:4-6Acts 17:28James 1:17.

People were made partakers of many spiritual blessings, and of the Holy Spirit Himself, by grace through faith in Old Testament times. Many examples are found in Rom. 4:1-25; Gal. 2:15-19; 3:1-18; Heb. 11. These passages prove that people were justified by faith through grace wholly apart from works or law. If not through works, how could they have received except by grace?

That saints in the Old Testament times received the Holy Spirit in their lives by faith through grace is clear from Gen. 41:38; Exod. 28:3; 31:3; 35:31; Num. 11:17-29; 14:24; 24:2; 27:18; Deut. 34:9; Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Sam. 10:6-10; 11:6; 16:13-23; 18:10; 19:20-23; 2 Sam. 23:2; 2 Ki. 2:15; 2 Chron. 15:1; 20:14; 24:20; Ps. 51:10-11; Isa. 11:2; 26:9; 42:1; 61:1-3; 63:10-14; Ezek. 2:2; 3:24; 11:5, 19; 36:27; 37:14; Dan. 4:8-9, 18; 5:11-14; 6:3; Mt. 10:1-21; Lk. 1:15, 41-46, 67, 70; 2:25-35; Acts 1:16; 3:18-21; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Heb. 1:1-2; 2 Pet. 1:20-21.

These were permanent anointings and abidings of the Spirit and not just occasional visits as some teach. John the Baptist was “filled” with the Holy Spirit from birth, and this was before the coming of the Holy Spirit in fullness as on the day of Pentecost. Did all these people receive the Holy Spirit by works? If not, then they received by grace. If by grace then, grace was evident in the Old Testament times. Of course, these people did not receive the baptism in the Spirit that all believers may have since the day of Pentecost Matthew 3:11John 1:31-34John 7:38-39Acts 1:4-5Acts 2:1-21, 33Acts 8:5-25Acts 9:1-7Acts 10:44-48Acts 11:15-16Acts 19:1-7, but they surely had the Spirit in a measure.

That there was and still is a measure of the Spirit that all believers receive is clear from Num. 11:16-17; 2 Ki. 2:9; Lk. 1:17; Jn. 3:34; 1 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 1:22; 3:18; 5:5; Phil. 1:19; 1 Jn. 4:13. These passages speak of the Spirit “by measure” and “without measure,” which is the difference between receiving the Spirit at conversion, as do all believers John 3:3-8Romans 5:1-11Romans 8:1-171 Corinthians 3:16-171 Corinthians 6:11-211 Corinthians 12:3-132 Corinthians 3:18Ephesians 2:18Ephesians 4:41 John 4:13, and the baptism in the Spirit referred to in the Scriptures above, which all believers may receive by asking their Heavenly Father Luke 11:13Luke 24:49Acts 1:8-15Acts 8:1-21.

1. 1 The Fullness of Grace and Power Promised Modern Believers

We have seen above that there are different measures of the Spirit and the power of God which Old Testament saints experienced. Christ was the first to receive the Spirit “without measure” John 3:34. John said, “of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace,” proving that there are measures of grace John 1:16-17.

The Weymouth translation reads, “grace upon grace” and the Moffatt translation “grace after grace” thus plainly showing that all of grace is not necessarily received at once. This is due to the lack of knowledge and faith. According to our knowledge we have faith, and according to our faith we receive grace or God’s favor in every stage of our growth. There is no limitation to the grace of God or what we can receive from God through grace. The benefits of grace do not come to all alike or all at once, as is taught by many modern teachers. If all men received the same fullness of grace alike, then all would have the same benefits from God alike. The fact that some receive more benefits than others proves that they come by faith and according to the faith of each person. Faith governs the benefits of grace and faith in turn is based upon knowledge.

We are promised today “the fullness of God” and the same power to do the same works that Jesus did John 14:12-15John 7:37-39Acts 1:8Ephesians 3:16-20. Since there are varying degrees of power and faith in different believers it proves there are also varying degrees of grace received from God. See Lesson Thirty.

1. 1 False Theories About Grace

We have a school of interpreters who magnify the grace of God above everything else in the program of God. They ignore God’s justice, laws, and all conditions governing the attitude and grace of God in the lives of men. They make null and void literally thousands of Scriptures revealing and regulating God’s dealings with free moral agents. They state some good things about grace, but they go to the utter extreme in trying to make grace the sum total of all there is about God and His plan.

It is true that from God’s standpoint grace cannot be withheld from man because of demerit, it cannot be lessened by demerit, and it cannot be mixed with the law of works, but this does not do away with the fact that there are conditions to meet on the part of man if he wants certain benefits of grace. Not one statement in the whole Bible says that there is an unconditional grace of God to men, or that there is a grace from God which men can get if they live as they please in disregard of the laws and justice of God. When we say that grace is not withheld because of demerit we simply mean that God’s grace will cause Him to forgive all sin when certain conditions are met. When we say that grace is not lessened by demerit we simply mean that sin does not do away with or decrease the grace of God toward a sinner when he meets certain conditions according to the Word of God. When we say it cannot be mixed with the law of works we simply mean that no work of man can merit God’s blessings that come only by faith through grace and by meeting the plain conditions laid down for a sinner to meet in order to get these blessings.

When a person realizes that he is a sinner; that God’s grace is greater than his sins; that he has no merits of his own to earn favor with God; and that if he comes to God meeting the requirements of reconciliation he becomes immediately a recipient of God’s grace. If God withheld His grace from a penitent sinner because one was a sinner then no person could be saved. If sin lessened the grace of God to a penitent sinner then no person could be blessed, for sin would be greater than grace, and sin would not permit grace to be manifest. If blessings were earned by works, then they would not come by grace.

It is also true that God is not under obligation to save sinners because of some human merit, but it is true that God of His own accord and because of grace obligated Himself to pay the debt of sin for man. Since God has accepted of His own free choice the undertaking of paying man’s debt, He is now under obligation to man to give each one the same freedom of choice in accepting the cancellation of the debt. God is under obligation now to save all those that do accept the work of Christ for them. God cannot in any one case refuse to manifest His grace to any sinner that accepts the work of Christ for him. God is not under obligation to bless any one sinner that refuses and rejects the offer of God and the work of Christ on the cross. The choice is now left up to each sinner and not to the further choice of God. God’s choice has already been made, and His work in the paying of man’s debt is finished, and He is obligated to give to all who accept the full benefits for which Christ died.

Naturally men are saved by grace, but not without the free and voluntary choice of acceptance of the work of Christ and proper confession of sins to God and faith in the blood of Christ. All the grace of God in existence could not save one soul if that soul refused the merits of that grace. Thus in the final analysis man governs his personal salvation by his power of free choice. Salvation is naturally the work of God for man, but God cannot save man without his free consent and co-operation with God from the new birth to the grave. So the idea that man’s salvation depends only on the grace of God and on grace alone, and that it is the work of God only and the work of God alone, is false.

If all depended only and alone upon God to save all sinners and they had nothing to do to get saved, then all would be saved alike by God, for the salvation of all men is His desire 1 Timothy 2:42 Peter 3:9. If it were left up to God alone, then He would be under moral obligation to save all regardless of their consent or He would be a respecter of persons and a breaker of His own law James 2:1, 9.

It is true that grace is pure kindness and unmerited favor from God, but since God voluntarily chose to pay man’s debt and save him from Hell on the grounds that man should accept this work for him, God is now fulfilling an obligation to man, which is an obligation of His own free choice, not one that man has merited. In other words, man’s works or human merits did not earn for him the obligation on the part of God to save him. This obligation is a voluntary one on the part of God for helpless man. This is why God’s grace is real, unmerited favor and love toward man.

It is this human element in the working of grace that the above-mentioned school fails to recognize. This school magnifies grace as the only thing that is capable of saving man and contends that man can do nothing to get the benefits of grace. It ignores man’s free moral agency, man’s responsibility in his own damnation should he be lost; and it ignores repentance, confession of sins, prayer, the giving up of sin on the part of man, or anything that God has required of man to be saved. It ignores the human element after one is saved and brushes aside all the conditions of continued salvation plainly laid down in Scripture that man must meet in order to be saved in the end. It lays all blame and responsibility upon God should man fail to do what God requires of him to be eternally saved. It makes God personally accountable for the loss of every soul should anyone be finally lost after he has believed. This school holds to some of the most foolish and unscriptural theories about God, grace, and salvation of any that claims any degree of faith in the gospel of Christ.

When this school argues that grace is pure kindness, not the fulfilling of an obligation; that it is God’s kindness to sinners whether they sin less or more; that it is wholly unrelated to human merit; that it is not the treating of a person as he deserves, nor treating him better than he deserves; that it is treating a person graciously without the slightest reference to his deserts; that it is never decreased or increased from the standpoint of God; and that it offers a standardized, unvarying blessing to all alike; its arguments are partly true, but this one thing has been overlooked by this school, and that is that the manifestation of the grace from God is governed by man’s free moral agency on the part of each individual. That is, God is limited to what He can and will do for any individual by grace by the will, faith, and obedience of each prospective recipient of grace.

To teach that God does not forgive a sinner because He is big-hearted enough to remit the penalty, or that God does not have mercy on a sinner, but that He saves solely because of grace, is to demonstrate ignorance of the gospel and of what grace is. The fact that God has already “taken away” the sin of the world on the cross and that Christ is our substitute and has already borne the righteous judgments of God against sin does not prove that God is unmerciful, or that he is not big-hearted or that grace is something separate and apart from the redemptive work of Christ and God. The truth is that God manifests grace to men who do not merit it and cannot merit it. It is also true that God is love. He is big-hearted. He is merciful and He is kind and compassionate to those who have gone astray from His family.

When men become so technical as to separate grace from the mercy, love, and kindness of God to men, they demonstrate the worst kind of ignorance of truth. Such high-sounding phrases concerning grace that they use to magnify it as separate and distinct from all redemptive processes may sound wonderful to many people who revel in trying to find hidden mysteries in the Word of God, but to simple believers of Scripture such is foolish. Such teachers may get inflation of their spirits beyond measure and feel that they are wonderful in manufacturing technicalities and in trying to magnify grace, but in the light of plain, simple Scriptures and common sense, such theories are foolish and false. Let us take up a brief study of the words “grace,” “kindness,” “love,” and other terms as they are used of God, man, and redemption, and see if such fallacies can be found to be scriptural.

A study of these words proves that “grace” is not used in either Testament as something separate and apart from the big-heartedness, love, compassion, and kindness of one individual to another, whether it be man to man or God to man. It is used repeatedly of the manifestation of the favor of one person to another, and this favor is governed by the disposition, life, service, faith, acquaintance, relationship, and attitude of the recipient of the favor.

Noah found grace in the sight of God because he was righteous, and God favored him because of this Genesis 6:8Genesis 7:1. God had mercy on him and his family. If Noah had not been righteous God would not have had mercy on him. He would have destroyed him and his house with the rest of the ungodly. This cannot be disputed if we believe the record. When Lot found “grace” or “favor” in the sight of God it was because of God’s mercy and because of Abraham, the friend of God Genesis 19:19, 29. When Moses and Israel found grace in the sight of God it was because of God’s mercy and choice Exodus 33:12-17Exodus 34:9. They were His chosen people because of Abraham, who God saw would obey Him and command his children to serve the Lord Genesis 18:17-19Genesis 22:12. Those same people whom God had chosen and who found grace in God’s sight were destroyed because of sin, for grace does not tolerate sin in those who were one time blessed with grace Exodus 32:30-35Numbers 14:22-35. When men in the early Church found grace from God it was because they humbled themselves and accepted of their own choice the salvation of God. When they failed God, they were cursed as were the Israelites and men and angels of past ages Acts 1:25Acts 5:1-101 Timothy 1:19-201 Timothy 5:11-15Hebrews 6:4-9Hebrews 10:26-292 Peter 2:20-22Revelation 2:5.

It is folly to talk about being forgiven of sin or being saved without this salvation being an act of grace and mercy. Everything that God does for one is an act of grace and mercy. The fact that God has already paid the debt for man does not mean that actual forgiveness of sins today is not an immediate act of His grace. No sinner is saved personally until he accepts the work of Christ, and since sinners have to do this in their own lives today, then the grace of God manifests itself today only when one accepts Christ as a personal Saviour. This does not mean that God becomes good enough to excuse sins apart from the work of Christ. It is that God becomes personally gracious to each sinner the moment he accepts the work of Christ for him. The work of Christ was done centuries ago, but it does not benefit the individual until he chooses to accept it. God blesses by His grace the sinner when he surrenders, and this cannot be done in one life until the sinner turns to God and permits the grace of God to be manifest to him. No sinner will ever receive the grace of God until he personally humbles himself and calls upon God for mercy. God is free to forgive at the moment one confesses because Christ has already paid the debt for him. It is only when man knows the truth and accepts it that he is set free Job 33:23-24John 8:31-32.

The gospel of redemption is called “the word of his grace” Acts 14:3Acts 20:24, 32. Men are justified by grace Romans 3:24. All blessings come by grace John 1:16Ephesians 1:7Ephesians 2:7. It brings salvation (Titus 2:11-13). It is the source of answered prayer Hebrews 4:16. It can transform our lives 1 Corinthians 15:10. It enables men to make great sacrifices 2 Corinthians 9:8. It comes through faith Ephesians 2:8-9, the Holy Spirit Zechariah 12:10Hebrews 10:29, God’s choice Romans 11:5-6Galatians 1:15Exodus 33:19, Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians 1:4, and humility and choice on the part of man Proverbs 3:34James 4:6. It comes in various measures Ephesians 4:7Romans 12:3-6Romans 15:15; and is governed by the individual faith Romans 4:16Romans 5:1-2, humility James 4:6, and the will power and life of the believer Hebrews 12:15, 28Hebrews 13:9James 4:61 Peter 5:5.

Further proof that grace is governed in the individual life by the will power and life of each person is clear from the fact that a person can receive the grace of God in vain 2 Corinthians 6:1. He can frustrate grace in his life Galatians 2:21. He can Fall from it Galatians 5:4 He can cause it to fail in his life Hebrews 12:15. He can turn it into lasciviousness (Jude 4). He can sin in spite of grace Romans 6:1. And he can continue or discontinue in it as he pleases Acts 13:43. Christians can minister grace to others Ephesians 4:29Philippians 1:71 Peter 4:10 and grow in it 2 Peter 3:18. Grace is an attribute of God that is used along with the words “mercy” and “compassion” in connection with sinners Exodus 34:6Nehemiah 9:17, 31Psalms 86:15Psalms 103:8Psalms 111:4Psalms 112:4.

It might seem like blasphemy to some to believe and teach the above-stated facts about grace, but facts are facts and when they are stated in plain Scriptures that any man can read for himself, it is foolhardy to reject them. To hold to some theory of man that some church makes the sum total of its religion is not worth the price one has to pay. It would be best to be honest with all the Scriptures on a subject and believe them all instead of twisting a few to mean something they do not say and flatly rejecting what many others say on the same subject.

It may appear to these interpreters that we are making man’s will greater than the grace of God. But we answer that this is true not only of grace but of many other attributes of God that cannot possibly bless rebels when they choose not to accept of these blessings. It is not so much that man’s will is greater than any attribute of God, but that God cannot do, and He has promised not to do certain things for man until man accepts of His grace and freely chooses and submits to the work of God in him. God simply cannot and will not break His own laws and be a despot for any man. He will not force any free moral agent to conform to His will. Therefore, it is up to free moral agents to choose whether they want God’s grace, love, or favor and to what extent. If it were left wholly up to God’s will in the matter, then all free moral agents would conform to His will, and all would be blessed alike, and all would enjoy the grace and favor of God to the full. As it is now, no one can accuse God of not having love for all men if they want to become recipients of that love. The fact that all are not saved and even all the saved do not partake of God’s love to the same extent proves that God’s blessings according to His grace are not wholly dependent upon Him. Neither are they wholly dependent upon the free will of man. It takes both the will of God and the will of man in full co-operation to demonstrate the fullness of God’s love and grace. One cannot work for the good of one master when he is serving the other. Thus God’s grace or love is naturally limited by the free moral agency of man.

To argue that forgiveness is not an act of grace is to contradict the many Scriptures cited above that say we are justified, and we receive salvation by grace. To separate grace and the mercy of God in forgiveness is also unscriptural, for God cannot be gracious to anyone to whom He shows no mercy. Mercy and forgiveness of sins go hand in hand Deuteronomy 5:9-10Nehemiah 9:17Psalms 26:11Luke 18:13-14. Scores of times in Scripture men have asked for mercy when asking forgiveness and blessing Psalms 51:1-13Proverbs 16:6. God is by nature gracious, merciful, loving kind, good, and compassionate Exodus 34:6Nehemiah 9:17Psalms 86:15Psalms 111:4Psalms 145:8. To separate His graciousness from the other characteristics of God and magnify it above His justice and all else about God just for the sake of upholding a church theory concerning grace is more than intelligent people can do.

1. 1 Thirty Things Grace Cannot Do

(1) Grace cannot set aside forever all condemnation for future sins. It can only set aside condemnation as long as a man stays free from sin. The modern fallacy that judicial forgiveness covers ALL sins, past, present, and future; that God does not impute sins of believers to them; and that God never condemns a saved man for any sins committed, but charges them to the Lord Jesus Christ, is one of the most unscriptural and demon-inspired theories in any church. It is argued by those who hold to such a theory that not even earthly courts could punish the same man for his crime two different times, and that since Christ bore the sins of all men, he cannot bear them twice. This argument is all true as far as it goes, but it is only half truth. Christ bore the sins of all, but no one gets saved until he repents and asks for mercy.

It is true that a man cannot be punished for his crime twice, but if the same man goes out and commits the same crime again after being cleared of the first crime, he must be punished again. There is no court that will give any man a blanket pardon to continue to commit the same crimes again and again without punishment every time he sins. The fact that he was pardoned for one crime is no excuse for all future crimes of similar nature. In other words, if a governor pardons a murderer and restores him to full citizenship and freedom, the murderer cannot go out and continue to murder simply because he was pardoned. It would be silly for him to argue that the pardon he received for one murder gives him full freedom to murder all he wants to without being punished for his crimes. No human government could long continue if this was the way it dealt with criminals. No court could justly free a man to go out and commit all the crimes he desired simply on the grounds that he had been punished for one crime or had been pardoned at one time. Is God the only Governor that is so lacking in intelligence that He carries on government by permitting His subjects to be as lawless as they please?

It is just as ridiculous to argue from the same premises about the salvation of sinners. God could not be just to give any man a blank check to commit any sin that he wanted to and be immune from punishment. This would be just like a murderer being given a blank check as part of his pardon to commit all the murders he wanted to. In this case the governor who gave the pardon would be responsible for all the murders that the man would commit. Naturally all the sins of a sinner have been paid for, and Christ has borne all sins in His body on the tree. He will forgive all sins that are confessed to Him, but this does not give the saved man a blank check to continue in sin and live as he pleases without any fear of being held acco untable for his sins after he has one time been saved. Salvation does not include freedom to live in sins of all kinds. It does not guarantee immunity from Hell if one goes back into sins and dies in them.

There is no Scripture in the Bible that teaches that God forgives at one time all past, present, and future sins. There are Scriptures which tell us that all sins committed up to the time of repentance are forgiven and blotted out and therefore at the time of forgiveness there is not one sin that God holds against a man. God promised to keep men free from sin from this point on if men would meet certain conditions. God never did promise anything but this. No man ever received anything but this. God never required of men anything but confession of sins already committed. Only sins that have been committed can be forgiven. This is clear from all Scripture Exodus 32:30-34Leviticus 4:2-35Leviticus 5:1-17Leviticus 6:2-30Numbers 5:1-7Psalms 32:1-5Psalms 38:1-18Psalms 51:1-13Matthew 3:6Matthew 18:21-35Acts 2:38Acts 3:19Acts 5:31Acts 26:182 Peter 1:51 John 1:9Revelation 1:5. It is simply ridiculous to teach that future sins are forgiven before they are committed. The fact that the sins of men since the cross were committed after Christ died or that Christ died for all future sins of future men is no proof that all future sins of a man are forgiven before he commits them. Christ died for all men and if men are all forgiven simply because Christ died for them, and if men do not have to confess their sins in order to be forgiven, then all will be saved and there is no need of anyone ever confessing sins. The sins of the Old Testament saints were not committed after Christ died, and yet Christ atoned for all those sins that were past Romans 3:24-25Hebrews 9:15. They all had to make confession of sins when and after they were committed just as modern men must do, according to the passages cited above. We must conclude that no sin can be forgiven before it is committed. If this be true, then there is no such thing as all future sins being blotted out by one act of faith in Christ, giving men immunity from all punishment for future sins committed.

Statements such as “taketh away the sin of the world” and “take away our sins” simply refer to the fact that Christ bore the sins of all men of all ages, past, present, and future men, but redemption can benefit only those who personally confess their sins and accept the work of Christ on the cross for them. If this be not true and if Christ saves all men simply because He died for all, regardless of their meeting any conditions in their personal lives, then all are saved from sin and will go to Heaven, and there is no need of further preaching the gospel.

The will of God is that after one is forgiven and becomes a new creature in Christ he is supposed to quit the sin business. Jesus told several, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” John 5:14John 8:11. Jesus taught that “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” John 8:34. He further taught that the work of the Holy Spirit throughout this age would be to “reprove the world of sin” John 16:7-11. Paul stated that men should not continue in sin just because God was gracious to keep forgiving sin Romans 6:1; that men “should not henceforth serve sin” after they were born-again Romans 6:1-6; that saved men are “freed from sin” Romans 6:7-23Romans 8:14; that saved men were to walk in Christ as they received Him Colossians 2:6-7; that if they sinned again after they were made free from sin, that they died again and reaped what they sown Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13Galatians 5:19-21Galatians 6:7-8; that if saved men denied God He would deny them 2 Timothy 2:12; that saved men live only if they stand fast in the Lord 1 Thessalonians 3:8Hebrews 3:6, 12Hebrews 4:11Hebrews 6:1-12Hebrews 10:26-39; that God will destroy any man that defiles the body wherein the Spirit of God dwells 1 Corinthians 3:16-171 Corinthians 6:19-20; and that saved men must continue in grace Acts 14:23Galatians 5:4Hebrews 12:14-15; in the faith Colossians 1:23Hebrews 3:6, 12Hebrews 10:26-39; in the Word 1 Timothy 4:11-16John 8:31; in the hope of eternal life Romans 8:24-25Hebrews 11:1; in His goodness Romans 11:20-24, and in meeting the conditions of salvation, as we shall see in Lesson Thirty-five.

(2) Grace cannot excuse and ignore the failure of saved man to meet the many conditions of salvation 1 John 1:7Romans 8:1-13James 5:19-20Galatians 5:19-21.

(3) Grace cannot do away with the free moral agency of saved men and make them eternal slaves against their own will Colossians 1:231 John 1:7Romans 6:16-23.

(4) Grace cannot keep men saved when they are sinning against God Romans 8:1-13James 5:19-20Galatians 5:19-21Galatians 6:7-81 Corinthians 3:16-17.

(5) Grace cannot cancel the death penalty when saved men break the law of God Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13James 5:19-20Hebrews 10:26-29Ezekiel 18:4.

(6) Grace cannot make God a liar and unjust in His dealings with saved men, as would be the case if they could not die again should they sin Romans 8:12-13.

(7) Grace cannot do away with the necessity of confession of sins in the saved 1 John 1:7, 9Revelation 2:5, 16Revelation 3:19.

(8) Grace cannot forgive future sins of the saved that have not yet been committed, for only what is confessed can be forgiven 1 John 1:7Revelation 2:5, 16Revelation 3:19Matthew 6:12-15Luke 13:1-5Mark 1:15Mark 6:12Acts 2:38Acts 3:19.

(9) Grace cannot cancel the responsibility of saved men concerning sin Romans 14:102 Corinthians 5:9-11Revelation 2:5Revelation 3:2Galatians 5:19-211 Corinthians 3:16-171 Corinthians 6:9-20.

(10) Grace cannot be responsible should saved men backslide and be finally lost 1 Timothy 2:42 Peter 3:4Revelation 2:5Revelation 3:2James 5:19-20Galatians 5:16-26.

(11) Grace cannot free saved men of all future condemnation without proper confession and forsaking of sin 1 John 1:7, 9Revelation 2:5, 22Revelation 3:21 Timothy 5:11-15James 5:19-20.

(12) Grace cannot permit God to forgive unconfessed sins 1 John 1:9Revelation 2:5, 222 Corinthians 7:9-102 Timothy 2:25.

(13) Grace cannot permit God to be a respecter of persons in judging the sinner for sins and excusing the saved when they commit the same sins Galatians 6:7-8Romans 8:1-13Ezekiel 18:4, 24Ezekiel 33:12-16Revelation 2:5, 16Revelation 3:3.

(14) Grace cannot free man so that he can never serve sin and the devil again Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-131 John 1:7Hebrews 6:4-9Hebrews 10:26-292 Peter 2:20-21.

(15) Grace cannot guarantee that every saved man is going to be eternally saved James 5:19-201 Corinthians 3:16-171 Corinthians 6:9-201 Corinthians 9:27Ezekiel 33:12-20.

(16) Grace cannot guarantee eternal life to the saved who commit sin and die Ezekiel 18:4Romans 8:12-13James 5:19-20Galatians 5:19-21Galatians 6:7-8.

(17) Grace cannot make any sinner a child of God in the same sense in which Jesus became the Son of God, for He is the only begotten Son John 3:16. Men are merely adopted Romans 8:14-16 and cleansed from sin 1 John 1:7-9.

(18) Grace cannot free the saved from being separated from God when sin is committed Isaiah 59:2Ezekiel 18:4Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:12-13James 5:19-20.

(19) Grace cannot free a saved man from continued faith and holiness Colossians 1:23Colossians 2:6-71 John 1:7Galatians 5:19-26Hebrews 12:14-15Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13.

(20) Grace does not make the sins of the saved any different from the sins of the unsaved—both kinds of sins are real sins, and both classes are real sinners when sin is committed Galatians 5:16-26Galatians 6:7-8Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13.

(21) Grace cannot operate in the life of the free moral agent without his consent John 3:16-18John 7:17John 8:342 Peter 3:91 John 1:7-9Revelation 22:17.

(22) Grace cannot make men servants of God when they serve the devil Matthew 6:24Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-131 Corinthians 3:16-17Galatians 5:19-21Galatians 6:7-81 John 3:8.

(23) Grace cannot keep saved men from moral falls should they willfully go back into sin Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13Hebrews 6:4-8Hebrews 10:26-29Ezekiel 33:12-20James 5:19-20.

(24) Grace cannot free man from all personal responsibility of being lost or saved Mark 16:15-16Romans 1:161 Corinthians 1:18-211 John 1:7Hebrews 3:6, 12Hebrews 7:25Hebrews 10:35-39.

(25) Grace cannot free saved men of all sowing and reaping of sin Galatians 6:7-8Romans 8:1-13Ezekiel 18:4, 24Ezekiel 33:12-16Revelation 2:5-22.

(26) Grace cannot guarantee unconditional eternal security to anyone Hebrews 10:26-29Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13Ezekiel 18:4Ezekiel 33:12-20Galatians 5:16-26.

(27) Grace cannot guarantee unforfeitable life Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13Galatians 5:16-26James 5:19-202 Peter 2:20-21Hebrews 10:26-29.

(28) Grace cannot guarantee perfection and sinlessness to the saved 1 Corinthians 3:16-17Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13Hebrews 10:26-292 Peter 2:20-21.

(29) Grace cannot encourage anarchy in God’s government Genesis 2:17Romans 1:18-32Romans 5:12-21Romans 8:1-13Galatians 5:19-21Galatians 6:7-8James 5:19-20.

(30) Grace cannot cause God to be lenient with rebellion and sin Ezekiel 18:4Romans 6:23Romans 8:12-13Galatians 6:7-8.

The doctrine of grace is one of the simplest ones in Scripture. Grace simply means “unmerited favor” and love of God toward man. If we would understand this fact and apply it to all the works, promises, and dealings of God with man, everything would be very simple to understand. There is nothing God has ever done or ever will do that is not a result of His love and favor. The cross is an act of grace, and to everyone that God blesses in any degree on the basis of the work of the cross, it is a blessing of grace and therefore an act of grace. If God did not favor man with the blessings He gives him, he would never get such benefits. On the other hand, because God favors man and loves him enough to bless him with all that He has promised, everything that He has promised is a promise of grace, and every act He performs for man is an act of grace. Hence to make grace a super-idea beyond human reason and understanding is to cause confusion. Any theory of grace that slanders God and makes one Scripture a lie is bound to be false itself. Any statement about grace must be in perfect harmony with all Scripture, or it is wrong.

If God will not impute sin to those in His favor, then none of us would be sinners and be condemned, for Adam and all the race started out in God’s favor. Adam and his race lost God’s favor, and sin was imputed to them. So it is today. No man can sin and get by with it. Every one who sins incurs the death penalty and must be redeemed and forgiven again to have the penalty cancelled. Satan told Adam that sin would not cause death. God said it would. Adam believed the devil and died, and so it is with anyone today who believes Satan’s lie that death will not result from sin, provided he has ever been in God’s favor or grace. Men die just as Adam did and will continue to do so until sin and death are destroyed. There would be no meaning to the many Scriptures on sin and moral responsibility if one could do as he pleased and still be in God’s favor.

The passages used to teach unconditional favor of God to man can be and must be harmonized with the many hundreds which teach that man can lose God’s favor again through sin. No man can separate another man from the love of God, but sin can. This has been the only thing that ever separated God and man. God Himself said, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” Isaiah 59:2 and this will always be the case. God cannot and will not tolerate sin in anyone. This is why He gave Jesus by grace to save all men from their sins, and those who do not choose the salvation of God will die in their sins regardless of the work of Christ on the cross.

There are many passages which teach that a man can be eternally secure in Christ on condition that he gets saved and stays saved 2 Timothy 1:122 Peter 1:3-9John 15:1-7Hebrews 6:1-9Hebrews 10:26-29. Man will always be a free moral agent regardless of his relationship with God. It is the life of God that is eternal, and the believer has it as long as he remains in Christ. The minute he gets out of Christ he loses that life even though it is eternal. An eternal thing may be lost, and there is all the difference between an eternal thing and the eternal possession of a thing. Thus we see that the grace of God was manifested in all ages, and it will continue forever, for God is eternal. See Lesson Thirty-five.

II. The Length of the Dispensation of Grace

This age is the one in which we now live and dates from the time of Christ to the Millennium. It has already lasted over 1900 years. It will continue until Christ comes back with the saints to set up a literal kingdom on the Earth for the purpose of putting down all rebellion Revelation 19:11-211 Corinthians 15:24-28. On the chart we have allowed 1950 years (?) for the length of this age. This is until 1980 a.d., adding the 30 years of Christ’s life to 1950. This age really began about 30 a.d. “The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it” Matthew 11:11Luke 16:16. This perhaps is plenty allowance of time for this age considering the fast fulfillment of prophecy and the signs of the soon coming of Christ that are now coming to pass. There are numerous reasons why we are near the end of the age, as will be seen in Lesson Forty-four.

The age itself cannot end, however, for at least seven years, for the Antichrist is to be here that long after he is revealed Daniel 9:27. Further, the Roman Empire must be revived and must exist in the form of ten separate kingdoms before Antichrist can possibly be revealed. This is proven by Dan. 7:24, “another shall rise after them” and not before them. (See Chapter Twenty of Revelation Expounded). Judging from the present trend of things, it will not be long before the Revised Roman Empire is a reality; then will come the rise of the Antichrist for seven years before the end of the age.

III. The Favorable Beginning of the Dispensation of Grace

This dispensation had a most favorable beginning. Christ Himself began it when He started His earthly ministry Luke 16:16John 1:17. He, instead of the prophets, became the voice of God to man Hebrews 1:1-3. He came as the Saviour of the world to complete the work of redemption that God gave Him to do John 17:1-5John 19:30. While here He destroyed the works of the devil and manifested His power all over creation, bringing life and liberty through the gospel. He established the Church and endued it with the power of the Holy Spirit to carry on the work He began Matthew 8:1-17Matthew 9:1-38Matthew 16:18Matthew 28:19-20John 14:14John 15:1-6Acts 1:1-8Acts 2:1-41 John 3:1-10. The new Church endued with power was victorious in all lands, and in a few years brought the gospel of the grace of God to most of the then known world.

From this point on, in the unfolding of God’s plan, it was possible for every man to be fully reconciled to God by the death of His Son and to be re-created, made anew, and recognized as a child of God with power over all the powers of the enemy to do the same works that Christ did while on Earth John 3:1-8John 14:12-15Romans 5:1-11Romans 8:1-162 Corinthians 5:17-19. In other words, all men now can receive the superabundance of the same kind of grace and favor that men before received in a measure. After man’s continued failure in all past ages there was a need of grace and restoration, and God met this need in His Son Jesus Christ.

The grace of God was now revealed in “fullness” to man to meet his need for body, soul, and spirit John 1:14-17. Thus the beginning of this dispensation was exceptionally favorable, for every man could approach God in the Holy of Holies and have free access to Him at all times through grace Hebrews 4:16Hebrews 10:19-23. Each man now becomes his own priest and can obtain what every other man can. God’s riches are for all who will avail themselves of their privileges in Christ. What more favorable conditions could be asked?

IV. The Test for Man in This Dispensation

The particular test for man in this dispensation is “the obedience of faith among all nations” through the grace of God and the work of Christ on the cross. This test is plainly stated to be that of faith and obedience to God as the necessary thing to do to please God and to be saved in this age John 3:16Romans 1:5, 16Romans 16:26Mark 16:15-18Hebrews 11:6James 1:5-8.

Although salvation and all the spiritual and physical benefits of grace are free for all, yet they only benefit those who believe, and are received only by those who accept them by faith in Jesus Christ and who live according to the Holy Scriptures. The material benefits of grace are still for the unsaved as well as for the saved, especially those things that sustain life Matthew 5:45Acts 14:17Acts 17:26-31. This fact should never be overlooked, however; if they are for the unsaved, how much more are they for the saved and those who conform wholly to the will of God? They have all the right in the world to get material blessings from God since they are special subjects of providence. No Christian should be satisfied without such blessings. A sinner will continue to receive from God certain benefits that sustain life, and he will continually be a subject of God’s goodness and mercy which are given him to lead him to repentance Romans 2:4, but no sinner can be saved from sin and receive the manifold spiritual and eternal blessings of God without faith and obedience to God according to the gospel.

This much of the gospel must be learned by all men before they can be blessed fully. Paul said, “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe”; and the gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” 1 Corinthians 1:18-21Romans 1:16. John said, “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16-21John 5:241 John 5:1-4. Mark said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned” Mark 16:16.

Faith is not only required of sinners to be saved but it is required of saints to keep saved, as proven by the following passages: “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel . . . As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith” Colossians 1:23Colossians 2:6-7; “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck . . . having damnation because they have cast off their first faith . . . Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life” 1 Timothy 1:19-201 Timothy 5:12-151 Timothy 6:12-21; “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end . . . For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” Hebrews 3:6, 12; “We desire that everyone of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of the hope unto the end. That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” Hebrews 6:11-12; “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised . . . Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward . . . Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” Hebrews 10:19-23, 35, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” Hebrews 11:6James 1:5-8. These and scores of other passages prove that one act of faith is not sufficient as is argued by many of today in certain modern churches. One must make up his mind whether he is going to believe God or man, and woe be unto the person that makes God a liar and makes false doctrines of men the truth! Woe to the man that fails in meeting the test of this age— the obedience to the faith, not only for one moment but for his whole life!

The purpose of God in this age is not the conversion of the whole world (for He knows that all men will not accept of His grace and the benefits of salvation), but the “calling out” of all nations a people for His name. It is God’s will to save all if all would believe 1 Timothy 2:42 Peter 3:9, but all will not believe 1 Corinthians 12:12-31Ephesians 2:14-15Ephesians 4:7-16. Those that do believe are saved and comprise the Church that Christ came to build. Christ said, “upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” Matthew 16:18. The present Church is being “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” Ephesians 2:19-22. For a complete study of the Church we must wait until Lesson Twenty-nine.

The purpose of this age is plainly expressed in Acts 15:13-18 as follows: “God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, after this [after the Church age and after building the Church and translating it to Himself, as in Eph. 5:25-27; 1 Thess. 4:13-17] I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”

This passage says that after building the Church God will build again the nation of Israel. When Israel as a nation rejected Jesus and the message of God it was then predicted that they would be rejected and scattered among all nations until the second advent of Christ and until “the times of the Gentiles” be fulfilled Matthew 21:33-46Matthew 23:37-39Luke 21:20-24Romans 11:25-29. Jesus spoke of Himself going into Heaven to come again after a long time to set up His kingdom over Israel and all nations forever. He illustrated this truth by a certain man who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return Luke 19:11-27. When Christ comes at the end of this age, He will come with an expeditionary force from Heaven to defeat the governments of this world in one day and take over the whole Earth and reign forever Zechariah 14:1-21Revelation 11:15Revelation 19:11-21Revelation 20:1-15Revelation 21:1–22Daniel 2:44-45Daniel 7:13-14, 18Isaiah 63:1-8.

The masses of people will not be saved during this age. The tares and the wheat will continue to grow together until the end of this age, and then the angels shall separate the good from the bad and cast the wicked into eternal Hell Matthew 13:36-43, 47Matthew 24:45-51Matthew 25:31-462 Thessalonians 1:7-102 Thessalonians 2:7-12Revelation 19:11–20. Even during the Tribulation judgments at the end of this age the majority will reject God’s love and grace Revelation 9:20-21Revelation 19:9, 11. Because men will not receive the love of the truth in this age as it draws to a close, God will send them “strong delusion, that they might believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12Matthew 24:15-26Revelation 13:1-18.

VI. The Means of God in Accomplishing His Purpose in This Age

The means of God in accomplishing His purpose in this age, in “calling out” a people for His name and in saving all that believe, is the preaching of the gospel Romans 1:161 Corinthians 1:17-252 Corinthians 4:4. God uses men who are called, anointed, and ordained to preach the gospel to all nations and to head the work of the Church 1 Corinthians 12:1-31Ephesians 4:7-11. He also uses all other believers to witness and live the truth as an actual demonstration of the fruit of the gospel of grace Acts 1:81 Corinthians 3:9-151 Corinthians 12:1-31Romans 12:4-212 Corinthians 3:1-182 Corinthians 6:1-18Ephesians 4:1-16Colossians 3:1-17. These are the visible means, but there is the ministry of the Spirit and angels as the invisible agencies energizing the believer for such work John 14:12-17, 26John 16:7-15Acts 1:8Acts 10:38Hebrews 1:14.

The whole work of God in the redemption of the race in the various phases whether it be the work of man, the work of angels, or the work of God through the Holy Spirit, is all done because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The cross is the only basis of God’s redemptive processes. This we shall study more in detail in Point IX, below.

VII. The Failure of Men in the Dispensation of Grace

The failure of men throughout this age to date is recorded in history as being like the failure of men in all other ages. History records one failure of men after another in every part of this age, not the failure of every man, but that of men in general. There have been men in every age that have been true to God, but there has not been one age yet in which all men proved true to God. The failure of the Church in this age runs parallel to that of the failures of Israel in the last age. Israel failed God, and God took the gospel work from them and gave it to the Gentiles Matthew 21:33-46. The Gentiles are now failing God and will continue to do so until God will have to reject them and turn the gospel work back to the Jews in the next age, the Millennium. Then and not until then will the Earth become full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Isaiah 11:9. Note the failure of the various classes of people in this age:

1. 1 The Failure of Israel

In the beginning of this age Israel was the custodian of the gospel and of the covenants, promises, and calling of God Romans 1:16Romans 3:1-8Romans 9:4-5Matthew 10:5-61 John 1:11. Israel was given her last chance to prove true to God before she was to be rejected and scattered among the nations. In other words, for over 2,000 years Israel had been the ministers of God in the Earth; and when Christ came, they were given their last chance to prove true to God and to evangelize the world. By this time Israel was so full of hatred against God that they rejected the preaching of “John the Baptist” Matthew 3:7Matthew 21:23-27; “Jesus” Matthew 11:11-27Matthew 12:1-50Matthew 23:1-39Luke 4:28-30John 5:16-18; and “the early disciples” Acts 4:1-31Acts 6:8-7Acts 8:1-4Acts 12:1-5Acts 16:19-38Acts 17:1-18Acts 22:1-28. For this rejection of the gospel and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, their Messiah, Israel was rejected by God and destroyed as a nation and scattered among all nations of the world Matthew 24:1-3Luke 21:20-24. God has not dealt with them as a nation since then, until very recent months. Now Israel is being restored as a nation, and God is again dealing with them for the purpose of fulfilling the everlasting covenants made with their fathers. (See Lesson Eighteen for a more detailed study of God’s dealings with Israel.)

1. 1 The Failure of the Early Church

Failure in the early Church is seen in the days of the apostles. Disobedience to the faith is seen as early as Acts 5 and 6, when Christians began lying and having divisions and strife over various questions. The failure continued by the Christians being divided over false teachings (Acts 15). The epistles really give the failures in the various churches. We gather from them the facts that many believers failed God either in their personal conduct or in their doctrines. The false ideas of the Jews in mixing the laws of Moses with the doctrines of grace are seen in nearly every epistle. The epistles were really written to correct false doctrines among Christians and to teach personal holiness in life and conduct. Then too, the false idea of the Jews that they were better than the Gentiles and were the special people of God had to be corrected. Early Christians had to learn that God was no respecter of persons and that in every nation he that worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.

In the epistles we read of divisions, strife, heresies, unclean living, wrong marriage relationships, disorders in the ordinances, and false teachings on meats, drinks, spiritual gifts, the resurrection, and many Christian doctrines. The record shows that the Church started out perfect, powerful, and full of faith and unselfishness; but soon many Christians became careless, indifferent, faithless, and backslidden, until churches were admonished to contend for the faith and life once delivered to the saints (1 Pet. 4; 2 Pet. 2; Jude 3; Eph. 4; Gal. 5; Col. 3; Rev. 2–3).

1. 1 The Failure of the Post-Apostolic Church and to Our Day

History reveals that the apostasy beginning in the apostolic period continued to grow worse until in a few centuries apostolic living and power was almost a thing of the past. Christendom entered the dark ages of spiritual darkness and oppression when popes and bishops ruled through civil governments and murdered millions because they would not conform to the Roman Catholic religion. This sway of the papacy continued until Martin Luther and other reformers started the Protestant movement. Since then God has been bringing men out of spiritual darkness, revealing again the great truths of the Word of God, and giving men again the experiences of the early Church.

All the different phases of salvation such as grace, redemption, propitiation, imputation, forgiveness, sanctification, justification, healing in the atonement, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and many other wonderful truths and experiences are again received by multitudes of people throughout the Earth. The truths of the prophets are again as clear as they ever were. In fact, there is not one truth in Scripture but what is clearly understood by men today, as you are being taught in these lessons.

In spite of all this, men in general today are rejecting these truths and are making the same mistake Israel made at the beginning of this age. This is just another repetition of what has happened in every age. Even multitudes of professing Christians are rejecting some part of the truth of God as plainly revealed in Scripture. It is appalling to see the great falling away from the faith in our churches. Thousands of churches are being closed. Many thousands of people in the churches are denying the inspiration of the Bible, the virgin birth, the necessity of the atonement, and practically every important phase of scriptural teaching that is fundamental to the salvation of man. Even many thousands in the churches that claim to be orthodox and fundamental in their teachings deny some part or other of the Bible, and they deny that the early Church blessings are for us today.

These conditions are what God foretold for He knew that the human heart controlled by demon spirits has been the same in all ages. A great apostasy in the latter days is foretold in Mt. 24:4-26; 25:31-46; Lk. 18:8; 1 Thess. 5:1-4; 2 Thess. 2; 1 Tim. 4; 2 Tim. 3; Jas. 5:1-7; 2 Pet. 3; Rev. 2-3. There is no better outlook for the future. Instead, things will get worse and worse until this age will end in the greatest persecution against God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and true Christians that the world has ever seen, making it necessary for God to bring judgment and put down rebellion on the Earth Jeremiah 30:6-9Daniel 7:20-27Daniel 8:15-25Daniel 9:27Daniel 11:36-45Daniel 12:1-13Matthew 24:15-312 Thessalonians 1:7-102 Thessalonians 2:1-12Revelation 6:1–19.

VIII. The Judgment Upon Man Ending the Dispensation of Grace

The judgment that will come upon man because of his failure to meet the test of this age will consist of the wrath of God being poured out upon Earth, as revealed in the following passages which prove that there is to be a time of trouble and great rebellion against God on the Earth during the very last years of this age, making it necessary for God to bring judgment on man and put down this rebellion, which event will end this age and usher in another—the Millennium Jeremiah 30:6-9Daniel 7:20-27Daniel 8:15-25Daniel 9:27Daniel 11:36-45Daniel 12:1-13Matthew 24:15-312 Thessalonians 1:7-102 Thessalonians 2:1-12Revelation 6:1–19. Because men have not received the love of the truth, but have rather desired sin and have had pleasure in unrighteousness, God will give them over to their own lustful life and permit the devil to have sway over them and bring the destruction that Satan always desired to bring Revelation 12:12. After the devil torments men for the last 3½ years of this age, God will bring “sudden destruction” upon the ungodly. This will be the climax of many judgments from God which have been in evidence during the Seventieth Week of Daniel. (See Lesson Forty.)

IX. God’s Provision of Redemption Ending This Age

1. 1 God’s provision of redemption is always the same. It is unchangeable and eternal. It cannot be improved upon. Many people today are in error in teaching that God must take the Church through the Tribulation at the end of this age in order to get it ready to be presented to God.

Such a belief belittles the blood of Christ and suggests a better redemption than by blood, or at least, something necessary in connection with blood at the end of this age that has not been necessary before. If the blood were not sufficient to make the Church ready to meet God, then He would be unjust and a respecter of persons. For God to be just in such case, it would be necessary to resurrect all who have died from the time of Adam to the future tribulation and give them the same chance to be purified and become ready to meet God that the living would have at that time. If God could save men by means of trouble there would have been no need of the blood of Christ, for tribulation could come without the death of God’s Son.

The fact is that God has always had a clean and righteous people and always will have, regardless of any tribulation. It is the Spirit, the Word, and the blood, not tribulation, that cleanses from all sin Leviticus 17:11John 3:3-5Romans 3:24-25Romans 5:9Romans 8:1-13Ephesians 5:261 Corinthians 6:111 Peter 1:231 John 1:7.

Another gross error is that no redemption is provided for people during the Tribulation. That the Spirit will be here during the Tribulation is proven in Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21; Zech. 12:10; Jn. 14:16; Rev. 7:9-17). Note the Tribulation setting of these passages. Revelation 7:9-17 proves that multitudes will be saved by the blood, and this could not be without the ministry of the Spirit. John 3:3-6John 16:7-11Romans 8:9Ephesians 2:181 Corinthians 6:11Revelation 12:11, 17 How could people be saved during this time if the Spirit were gone? Revelation 13:7-10Revelation 14:13Revelation 17:6Revelation 20:4.

1. 1 Not only will there be redemption by blood, but by power, as in the land of Egypt. God is going to send His Son with all the armies of Heaven to redeem His own people from the bondage of the devil, the Antichrist, and the raging nations gathered against them Matthew 24:29-312 Thessalonians 1:7-102 Thessalonians 2:7-12Revelation 17:14Revelation 19:11-21.

The Philosophy of Redemption

The Bible from Genesis to Revelation teaches a substitutional and vicarious atonement for the sin of man. This is the only sane, logical, and scriptural doctrine of all those that are taught to man to help him in his fallen state. The atonement of Jesus Christ should be understood as both legal and practical. The reason and necessity for the atonement is clear when we understand the love of God, His relationship to the human race, the fall of man, and his need of redemption. The atonement is a necessity in view of these truths. We should understand the atonement as being not only necessary if man is to be restored to original fellowship with the Creator, but that it was not an afterthought on the part of God because man fell. It is the most wonderful pre-planned, necessary, just, authoritative, and legal work of God in all prophecy and history. The entire subject is a judicial one, and all the terms used in Scripture to express it are legalistic, such as an advocate, an intercessor, a mediator, a judge, a judgment, condemnation, pardon, justification, redemption, adoption, intercession, restitution, reconciliation, law, sin, penalty, justice, government, etc.

In the fall of man Satan appears as more than a kidnapper or slave-master holding his slaves for ransom or redemption, but he has assumed a pseudo-sovereignty over man on the principle of the consent of a responsible agent. He governs men only by the consent of man. His government is only by the consent of the governed. This kind of government is the only kind that God Himself recognizes or could reasonably establish with laws of rewards and penalties. This is the only kind that could possibly be carried on with free moral agents. Satan became the usurper of man’s dominion and assumed the position as “the prince of this world” and “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” John 12:312 Corinthians 4:4Ephesians 2:1-3. Fallen men are called spiritual children of the devil John 8:441 John 3:8-10Matthew 13:38. That natural fallen men are bound to sin and Satan by consent of the will is clear from the fact that when men become old enough to be accountable for their personal acts, they can continue in sin or freely choose to renounce sin and Satan and turn to God John 3:16Romans 6:16-232 Corinthians 4:2-6. They are willing subjects of sin and Satan and are free to become subjects of God and dispossess the devil at any time.

If men could once and for all learn that they can of their own consent be made free from sin, sickness, failure, and the works of the devil; that they can by their own consent refuse to be subject to Satan and his government; that they can turn from sin and become righteous through Christ; that they can reject and refuse sickness and be healthy through the atonement; and that they do not have to remain defeated in life in any endeavor, they would reject all demon powers and doctrines; they would accept God and the truth and be made free and kept free by the power of God through faith in Christ.

God planned through the atonement to defeat Satan and cause him to lose control over his usurped dominion. God chose the atonement as the means to enlighten, transform, and deliver man from all of Satan’s power and influence through the gospel. Satan is now perfectly defeated by the atonement, and every man can resist, forced to flee when he is thus resisted and rejected by faith in the blood James 4:7. He still tries to cling to his dominion over men through intimidation and fallacies of various kinds. As long as saints permit him to make them afraid, make them doubt God and keep them in error, he will be more or less successful in holding them in some sort of bondage. To completely dislodge Satan and demons entirely, the whole truth must be known, and firm and vigorous resistance to them must be practiced until they flee.

The Philosophy of Redemption May be Summed up as Follows:

Man was created sinless and perfect and given dominion over all the works of God’s hands. He was supposed to rule for God and to continue in righteousness and true holiness. He was supposed to protect his dominion from outlaws and all intruders who were enemies of God and man. He was fully enlightened as to the will of the Creator. The law as well as the penalty for breaking the law was made clear. Man was trusted to obey God and do His will.

Man sinned and forfeited his right to life and fellowship with God. By his own consent he submitted his dominion to the devil and evil spirit forces who took advantage of man and his morally fallen nature and weakness to resist. The penalty for sin was death. The penalty had to be paid, and God’s moral law and His adherence to moral law had to be upheld. Man could not pay the penalty and still go free, for he had not the power to take his life up again should he die and pay the penalty. If he paid the penalty he must remain forever dead. If man was to become reconciled to the demands of the law. This substitute had to be a man in order to take man’s place. He had to be more than man to be able to rise from the dead after paying the penalty, else he would remain forever dead. He must be someone who would willingly take man’s place, for it would have been unjust of God to force anyone to die against his will. He had to be a sinless person, for if he were a sinner he would have to die for his own sin only. He could not have also died for all other sinners. He also had to be a federal representative of all men like Adam; else he could not have propitiated God for all men.

Fallen man could not have provided such a being. He must come from God. God could not create a being for the express purpose of having Him die for a sinner, else He would have been charged with injustice by all other free moral agents, especially His enemies. If God was to have men on the Earth to carry out His original purpose, He must either let the sinner pay his own penalty and remain forever dead and He must create another man to take the place of the original man, or He must Himself take the place of the original man, so that he could go free. This latter plan was the one God chose, for if He had chosen the first plan, the second man might have sinned as did the first. In that event, God’s plan would have been no further along. Of course, this latter plan was the original plan of God, for He made man on a low plane and placed him on probation and planned that if he fell, a Savior would be provided so that all who would accept His substitutionary work for them could go free.

In this way God would be free from any charge of injustice, and His own Being and form of government would be magnified before all free moral agents in all eternity. In this way man could be retried, tested, and given another probationary chance to prove true so that finally God’s purpose concerning man and the Earth could be realized. Now no free moral agent can accuse God of being a tyrant or unjust to any person, for God did not create an innocent victim to take a sinner’s place, nor demand that somebody else do something He would not do Himself. Neither did He take the rebel’s life nor judge him without giving him a chance to make good and become reconciled if he so desired. God Himself took man’s place and took the full penalty and met the demands of justice, thus demonstrating His love and mercy. By this act of taking the rebel’s place, God silenced forever all mouths in any form of accusation against Him and His dealings with His own creation; and by this act He fully upheld the demands of law and justice and proved that He is merciful and loving to all offenders and would give them another chance to prove themselves worthy of His great love.

For the sake of upholding the law and maintaining His government over all free wills in the universe, God could not have lessened the penalty or have been lenient with sin in any form. Otherwise, there would have been no end to a demand on such leniency by free wills who wished to sin. The law had to be upheld. Yet it certainly was not unjust for God to uphold the law and still have mercy by paying the penalty Himself, thus giving the rebel a chance of permanent reconciliation. Jesus Christ was indeed God manifest in flesh, born of a virgin, taking man’s place so that God could be just in justifying all who will accept this substitutionary work of God for man and desire full redemption from the Fall.

Christ’s virgin birth, deity, and sinlessness were all necessary in order to make Him a perfect substitute for man. He could volunteer to die for any and all men, for He was a free moral agent and capable of meeting the demands of the law so that man could go free. No other man had a life free to give, for all men had forfeited their lives by sin. The Sinless One alone could redeem. God in Christ made Himself human so that man in Christ might become divine. Jesus made Himself like man so that man could make himself like God. He came to Earth that men might go to Heaven. Even now by faith and by accepting Christ as our substitute all that was His becomes ours.

In other words, His sinlessness was necessary for His substitutional and vicarious work. His humanity was necessary for His work of taking man’s place as a man condemned by God for committing sin. His virgin birth was necessary for His work of becoming a man. His deity was necessary for His work of representing God and of living again, that is, so that he could live after the death penalty was paid. It was impossible to hold Him in death since He had power to lay down His life and take it again John 10:17-18Acts 2:24. In this way He could go free from further penalty as well as those for whom He was a substitute. Both could live and serve God eternally. His temptation was necessary to prove His sinlessness. His sinlessness also was necessary to His right of eternal life. His eternal life was necessary to His right to resurrection, ascension, and eternal priesthood for those for whom he became a substitute. He lives now to represent them before God and defeat the false claim of Satan over them in this life Romans 8:34Hebrews 4:14-16Hebrews 6:20Hebrews 7:25Hebrews 9:11-28Hebrews 10:1-25.

When Satan put to death the sinless and uncondemned Christ, he forfeited all his satanic claims, rights, and pseudo-authority over all other men who were sinful and condemned. Through death Christ destroyed the devil and set man free Hebrews 2:14-15. When Satan did this, the Court of Heaven cancelled all the rights and power of Satan over his victims. Now Satan holds only a false authority over his devotees. His chief method now is that of intimidation of his victims; and all who resist him and refuse to be intimidated get immediate victory over him. As representatives of God and officers of God’s law we can now dispossess and cast out devils. Anyone who refuses to do this or who staggers in unbelief is out of the divine will and must suffer what he permits satanic forces to do to him. It is only by full cooperation with God and His truth that demon forces are destroyed and their powers are broken in the lives of believers.

Thus it is clear that God Himself assumed the entire responsibility to provide salvation for man. In the nature of things, however, this salvation had to be conditional, for it could be imparted only to those who repent and accept the substitutionary work of Christ for them and who purpose to rectify their lives; else it would become a premium on wickedness. If God would give salvation unconditionally and to all without their meeting the requirements of repentance, faith, and obedience to the gospel, it would be setting the divine approval upon sin and rebellion. It would encourage lawlessness and freedom of self-gratification contrary to the holiness and nature of God and His law.

By the sacrifice of Christ the penalty for sin was paid, the sentence of the law was upheld, the offender was propitiated, the offended was satisfied, and His honor and Word were justified, the holy demands were met, man and God were reunited, the usurper was destroyed, and the whole creation was delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. This work of God and His only begotten Son was entirely a work of grace—unmerited favor, for the ruined race who possessed no legal standing or merit at all.

Now all sinners can be transformed by faith in the atonement. The incoming divine life with all its affections, dispositions, and ideals gives them victory over and freedom from the old sinful traits that are contrary to the will of God. This is not salvation by self-effort or human works or education. It is a new-born divine life imparted by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and faith in Christ and His atoning work. It is a supernatural life imparted to the inner man by the Spirit. Mere natural cultured virtues are never Christian graces and powers, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit John 3:1-8Romans 8:1-16Galatians 5:16-26. No human development, education, or human effort will ever transform the human life from a life after the flesh to a life after the Spirit. Conversion is never evolution but the making of a new creature by a divine supernatural act 2 Corinthians 5:17. The demands of the law are fully satisfied and humanity is cleared of all its claims through Christ. God is now justified in making new creatures out of sinful men and fully reconciling them to Himself, as they were before the Fall.

The incarnation was necessary for the substitute to become man to take the place of fallen man. He did not deserve death. He gave up His life for sinners. Therefore, His death became vicarious, propitiatory, and substitutional. In life He had set an example of how men should live like God, but an example is not enough to make men like God. An example of health will not heal a sick man, nor will an example of virtue make a sinner into a saint. It takes the death of Christ to do both. It was through His death, not His life, that He saved men from death and eternal Hell.

Satan in Scripture is pictured as “the accuser of our brethren,” accusing them before God day and night Revelation 12:9-10. He is therefore the official slanderer or relentless prosecutor condemning men for the least sins. God the Father is pictured as the Defender and Enforcer of the moral law. Jesus is pictured as the Advocate or Defense Attorney, the Intercessor, the Mediator between God and man, and the Saviour of all men who believe. Men are accused of having sinned against God and as having broken His law; they are the “defendants” in a capital offense charge. Christ could not defend men as innocent because “all have sinned” Romans 3:23; nor could He set aside or combat the righteous decree nor remit the penalty. He could, however, become their substitute, as we have seen above, and He can now free from the penalty all who repent and rectify their lives from that moment on to obey the law. The Supreme Moral Governor and Judge cannot condemn those in Christ as long as they remain in Him, and as long as they obey the moral law. Neither can He keep free from guilt those who go back into sin and break the law. The law must be upheld in every case, and the devil, the Prosecutor, wins the case of every one who chooses to live in sin, regardless of past cases Satan has lost in the Court of Heaven in the same lives when they chose to repent and rectify their lives and keep the holy law.

What a great responsibility this places upon man, to receive gracious pardon and the adoption into the family of God on the grounds of repentance and obedience to the moral law! What a great opportunity man has to stay out of court forever if he will obey the law! No case will be considered against him as long as he does so. But let him commit sin again and he is immediately brought to trial, accused by the devil, tried in the Court of Heaven and sentenced to die. Satan wins the case and the sinner remains cut off from God until confession of sin is made and Christ is accepted as the sin-bearer, the sin is put away, and the death sentence cancelled. One trial and one acquittal in the Court of Heaven does not suffice for all, unless the justified one quits the sin business and never goes back into sin again. If he sins he must incur the same penalty as before. He must be tried for his new crimes; and unless he frankly confesses his sins and gets them under the blood, he must pay the penalty as much as ever before. No human court could forgive and justify any man once and forever and permit him to continue in the same crimes or later go back into those same crimes without going through the same process of a court trial and punishment again. So it is with the Court of Heaven. The Supreme Judge, who is sworn to uphold the demands of the law in every case, cannot condone sin and guilt and excuse one person from the just penalty. If He did so in one case, all free moral agents and the subjects of moral government would lose respect for Him. Such a program would break down all moral restraint and encourage lawlessness on every hand. The Divine Defense Attorney cannot in any one case take the place of the guilty until the sinner has met the conditions of repentance, faith, and consecration to again rectify his life in conformity to the moral law. Christ filed a counter-claim suit against Satan and won the case in the Court of Heaven. Now all one needs to do is to legally and personally reject all the claims of Satan and assert his proper authority over all demons.

If all Christians could come to see this simple and biblical truth, it would solve many problems and answer many questions concerning God’s dealings with the saved and unsaved. It would settle many differences between large bodies of believers—one holding to the truths stated above and the other maintaining that one time justified in the Court of Heaven the saved one can never be brought into judgment concerning any later sin committed. John plainly shows that when a saved man sins he has an Advocate with the Father 1 John 2:1-4. No man is forced to use the services of the heavenly Advocate; and if he does not, he goes back into continued sin and rebellion; and if cut off in this state, will be lost as much as he ever was James 5:19-20Galatians 5:19-211 Corinthians 3:16-171 Corinthians 6:9-11Romans 1:18-32Romans 6:16-23Romans 8:1-13Ezekiel 18:4Hebrews 6:4-6Hebrews 10:26-292 Peter 2:20-22.