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There in Colossians chapter 1 verse number 25, Colossians chapter 1 verse 25, it says, Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. So you notice there that Paul is writing here, he's been given the dispensation of God. And so the title for the sermon tonight is Dispensationalism versus the Dispensation of God. Dispensationalism versus the Dispensation of God. Now I don't know if that means a lot to you, but there is this teaching known as dispensationalism, okay, which is found throughout most independent fundamental Baptist churches, most. Okay, not every church is this way, not every pastor is this way. You know, I would basically, I would say there are probably more churches that are dispensational than pastors, that pastor of churches that are dispensational. You know, I'm pretty confident. In fact, I know there are some pastors that struggle with the concept of dispensationalism, but it is their church's official position to state that they are dispensational. And you may not fully understand what that means. Well, I'm hoping that this sermon will clarify that for you. This is part of the strange doctrine series that I've been working through. And so the strange doctrine is dispensationalism. Okay, it's something that I've been hearing, I've heard in most of the churches that I've been part of. But I want to teach you why it's strange, why it's wrong, why it's incorrect, and where this comes from. Like what do they mean by that? And maybe, you know, maybe you're in a dispensational church if you're not part of this church and you don't even realize it. Okay, so let's talk about what this is. Okay, dispensationalism versus the dispensation of God. We saw there in verse number 25 that the Bible definitely does speak about dispensations. There is a dispensation there of God right there. Okay, so let's understand. Let's, you know, like anytime we look at a passage in the Bible, we want to look at the context and understand what this dispensation is. What is the dispensation of God? What is it that has been given to Paul that he is given to believers here in Colossae, you know, it's the church of Colossians here that is receiving this from Paul. So let's backtrack a little bit. Let's go to verse number 23, Colossians chapter 1, verse number 23. It says, Let's stop there for a moment. The hope of the gospel, we know what the gospel is, amen. This church knows it very well. It's a death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you receive that gospel simply by, there it is, continuing the faith, right? It's by faith. It's by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves us. So let's keep going. So a minister is a servant. So Paul says, look, I'm a servant to this gospel. I've not only preached it to the church, but every creature under heaven, Listen, every person has had an opportunity to hear the gospel. That's what the Bible says. You say, what about that person in the middle of Africa? You know, he's in a tribe somewhere. No, he's had the opportunity, okay? Because the Bible tells us that everybody is with that excuse, that we can all look at what God has created and understand that there is a God, there is a creator. It is within the nature of every man to seek this God. And if they truly seek him, they will find him, okay? And if that means God sends a missionary across the world to find that little village, that single person, if that's God's method, then he will do it, okay? But everybody has an opportunity to call on the Lord, to believe on God. The gospel has been given to every creature under heaven, believe it or not. That's what the Bible teaches. Let's keep going, verse number 24. So we know the church is the body of Christ. Verse number 25. So again, he's talking about being a servant. So again, what is he a minister of? Well, here it's saying he's a minister according to the dispensation of God. Before he said he's a minister of the gospel, right? And so what this is teaching us, that God has given Paul the gospel to use that to serve people, right? He's going, he's preaching the gospel, he's adding those people that get saved and baptized into a church, and he's preaching the gospel to every creature under heaven. This is the dispensation of God that's been given to Paul, okay? It's really not that complicated. Let's keep going, verse number 26. What is that mystery? So brethren, how is it that you receive Christ in you? What gives you that hope of glory? What is it? It's believing the gospel. You see, Paul the apostle received the dispensation of God, which he would give to those that would believe the gospel, that would place their faith on the gospel and receive Christ in them, okay? As a new, saved person that believes in Jesus Christ. Someone that is born again has been given the dispensation of God by the minister who gave that person the gospel. So what is dispensation? Well, really, it's not that difficult. It means to dispense, okay? Now, you know, back here I wouldn't have got, do we have, no, we don't have a water, well, you know what, in my workplace, we used to have a water dispenser, okay? When I used to work in an office, so I'd get thirsty, I'd take my cup, I'd walk to the water dispenser, I'd dispense a bit of water, come into my cup, I'd have a dispensation of water there in my cup, and I would drink that water, okay, it's been dispensed, it's been given, it's given from one place to another. Well, God has given Paul the gospel to dispense that to everybody that would hear. Every time we go and preach the gospel, brethren, every time we give someone the gospel, we are dispensing that gospel, okay? We are giving forth that dispensation of God because the gospel ultimately comes from God. That's really what it means. You know what, that should be the end of the sermon. Praise God, let's, you know, let's pray and end the sermon right now. We understand what a dispensation is, okay? But then you've got dispensationalism, and they say, well, actually, this is teaching something else, I'll say. This is teaching a period of time where God is working amongst different people in different ways, and we'll look at that soon. But I wanted to just quickly go and give you the definition of dispensation. So I went to dictionary.com just before this church service today, and I just got the first five definitions of dispensation. So let me read them to you. Number one, it's the act or instance of dispensing, distribution. That sounds like a water dispenser. That sounds like Paul dispensing the gospel, amen, okay? Number two, something that is distributed or given out. I mean, that sounds like number one to me, but anyway, that's definition number two. And then it says, number three, a certain order, system or arrangements, administration or management. Number four, it talks about theology, okay? So number four here, it's the divine ordering of the affairs of the world. This is actually more in line of dispensationalism, okay? An appointment, arrangement or favor as by God. A divinely appointed, pay attention now, a divinely appointed order or age, age, okay? Now that word dispensation and age will be used interchangeably by those that teach dispensationalism. It says the old Mosaic or Jewish dispensation, the new gospel or Christian dispensation. And the fifth one is a dispensing with, doing away with or doing something or doing without something, okay? So you can dispense, you can do away with something. So I've got some notes here, some old sermon notes. Christian, do you mind dispensing these notes in the bin for me? And, you know, please dispense of that, okay? So it's a getting rid of. So this is what dispensation means, okay? These are different definitions that you're gonna find in your dictionary. So we want to look at this, we want to look at what the Bible says and see, hey, what fits within the Bible framework, amen? So let's keep going, okay? Now let's understand what dispensationalism is. What is this theology? What is this teaching? Well, when I was first introduced to dispensationalism, I was told basically that I would not be able to understand the Bible until I understood dispensationalism. That put a lot of questions in my mind. So before I can open my Bible and read it and understand it, I need dispensationalism. I need this theology. I need this interpretive tool to understand my Bible. But then I think, well, where do I get dispensation? I mean, surely dispensationalism, because if you ask them, is that in the Bible? Well, we read one passage there in Colossians 1.25. Yeah, the word dispensation appears four times in your Bible. But is that dispensationalism or is it just a dispensing of something, right? And so it was a little challenging for me. I didn't understand, okay, before I can understand the Bible, I need to understand dispensationalism. How do I understand dispensationalism? Well, read this book. Oh, go to Bible college. Do this course. And then you'll understand the Bible. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Why is it that I need to go to some exterior source to understand what God has given me? But surely, dispensation must be found in the Bible if that's what they want to teach me. Surely it must come from God's word. So surely I can read God's word and learn about dispensationalism. And then, but hold on, but then how can I read it and understand it if I first have understood dispensationalism? And so it creates this sort of chicken and the egg situation. Now I know what came first. Of course, God created the chicken first, but you know what I mean, right? You know, people, evolutionists, right? The atheists say, will the chicken come first or will the egg come first? Will the dispensationalists come first or can we read God's word first? Which one do we go to first, right? We want to start with God's word first, surely, but I can't understand it until I have dispensationalism. But how do I get dispensationalism if I don't get it from the word of God? Okay, where do you start? And so it was very confusing to me, but that's really what I got taught. And most dispensationalists do believe that you cannot understand dispensationalism until you have studied it for yourself. All right, so dispensationalism. Let me give you a definition of what dispensationalism is to those that believe it. They'll say that dispensationalism is a theological system that recognizes these ages, remember ages of dispensationalism can be used interchangeably, ordained by God to order the affairs of the world. Each dispensation includes a recognizable pattern of how God worked with people living in the dispensation. The pattern is, number one, a responsibility, number two, a failure, number three, a judgment, number four, the grace to move on. Now, I'm actually glad you know that because now you can go back to Colossians chapter one, which we already read, now you can really understand what it means. Isn't it that much clearer now? Colossians chapter one verse number 25, because now you understand what dispensationalism is all about. God dealing with people in different ages. What? Okay. Well, anyway, dispensationalism, let's understand a little bit. The teaching that I received is basically there are seven dispensations or seven ages, okay? Now, let me go through them with you. I'll teach you how it got taught to me and you'll start to see that it kind of makes some sense, but then if you go along with me, you realize that this doesn't make a lot of sense at all, okay? So, the first one they say, the first age or the first dispensation is a dispensation of innocence or the age of innocence, okay? And that's basically Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, okay? And basically, you know, as I said, there's a pattern. There's a responsibility, a failure, and a judgment in each dispensation, in each age. They'll say that the responsibility of Adam and Eve was to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, okay? What's the failure? They did eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What is the judgment they will cast out of the garden, okay? So, that ends the first dispensation or first age. The second dispensation is known as the age or dispensation of conscience, okay? So, this was basically God allowing man to do what is right by his own conscience, okay? So, the responsibility was to do good, but the failure was they did great wickedness and the judgment was Noah's flood, basically. The worldwide flood, okay? Noah's flood, God destroying everything because they failed again. So, what you'll notice in each dispensation or in each age, God wants man to do something, they fail and God's got to start again, okay? Now, it kind of makes sense a little bit because if you know your Bibles, you understand this happened and God brought judgments and I could kind of understand the pattern at this point when I was being taught that doctrine. Now, the next one after the flood is the dispensation of human governments and this is basically, you know, when Adam and Eve, sorry, when Noah got off the ark, God told Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, right? To be scattered and fill up the earth, basically. The failure was the tarot of Babel. So, instead of going out and filling out the whole earth, mankind got together, built the tarot of Babel, they're trying to build a tarot all the way to heaven basically and the judgment was the confusion of languages. You know, God confused languages, people were forced to disperse and create their own, you know, families and nations and that's how God caused the earth to be replenished, okay? The next one is the age or dispensation of promise. Now, this comes with Abraham and the responsibility, this is where it started to get all messy with me. Like, so far, I can kind of see what people are trying to say about dispensations, right? And you ask yourself the question, does the Bible speak about the dispensation of innocence? No. Does the Bible speak about the dispensation of human conscience? No, okay? These words are not in your Bible, okay? Dispensationism is a man-made system, okay? It's a man-made interpretive tool created, if you track it all the way back, really to John Nelson Darby, the way we understand dispensationism. It all comes from one man, but I'm not going to get into all that history today, okay? Because that's going to take us down a different path. But the next one was promise, so dealing with Abraham. And the responsibility, apparently, was for Abraham to dwell in the land of Canaan. The failure is that they ended up in Egypt. You may remember the story of the families, how Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt and the whole family because the famine moved into Egypt. Apparently, that was a failure. And this is where it really started to not make any sense to me. And I started to realise this doctrine is at odds with God's word. What is the judgment? Well, the judgment, because they moved from the land of Canaan and went to Egypt, that they were in 400 years in servitude or slavery to the Egyptians, before God caught them out with Moses. Now, that did not, you know, gel with me when I started to hear that. Well, hold on, how can that be a failure? Because if you can turn to Galatians chapter 3, turn to Galatians chapter 3, and I'm going to read to you from Genesis chapter 50 verse 20. So we know it's Joseph that got sold into slavery. He is the one that was first into Egypt. He is the one that encouraged his family to come into Egypt so they can be taken care of, okay? And this is what Joseph says in Genesis 50 verse 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. So just say, look, it was God's doing. God meant good for this, for me to be sold into Egypt so you could come, so I could save you from the famine. You would come to Egypt and be taken care of. Doesn't sound like a failure of a man there. It sounds like that was God's plan. And this is where for me just started to not make any sense. Hold on, this seems, Joseph, don't you understand that this is a failure? Why are you saying that God is the one that meant well for everybody here? You know, according to dispensationalism, this is meant to be a failure, okay? And you can see where now it comes at odds with the Bible. Now you're in Galatians chapter 3, look at verse number 16. So remember this is the dispensation of promise. So God making promises unto Abraham about the land and et cetera, you know, that all families of the earth will be blessed through Abraham. Now we've been looking at this topic because not long ago I preached about the Jews. But Galatians chapter 3 verse number 16, let's remind ourselves about this age so-called or dispensation of promise. It says in Galatians 3, 16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. Yep, you see the promises there. Now let's say the dispensation of promise. Let's say the age of promise. Because here's the thing, these dispensation ages, they've got a starting point and they've got an end. So if this was an age of promise, then if dispensation is correct, then when this age of promise ends, so should the promises. But let's keep going, it says there in Galatians 3, 16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. Now drop down to verse number 29, Galatians 3, 29, And if ye be Christ, so if ye are saved, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. So brethren, Galatians chapter 3 says, I'm an heir, I inherit the promise, and if ye are saved, you inherit the promises that were given to Abraham by God. So was it just an age in the past? Was it a dispensation in the past which has now ended and ended in failure because they stayed in Egypt and they were taken over by the Egyptians and put into slavery? Is that, no, this promise continues. How can we say that was a certain age when I had that promise? I mean, in other words, I'm living in the age of promise then because I've believed on Jesus Christ if that's a true teaching, but this is where it starts to fall apart. Things that they call failure seems to be the plan of God, actually. So anyway, let's keep going with what they say. We've looked at dispensation number four. The fifth dispensation they call is the dispensation of law. So after Egypt, we know the story, Moses led them out of Egypt, the exodus, and God gave Moses and the Israelites the Old Testament. And this is also known as the dispensation, according to them, dispensation of law, or the age of law. Now, the responsibilities. We got the Old Testament in the Bible, the responsibilities, apparently, was for them to keep the law perfectly. And God does ask them to keep all the law. But what was the failure? Well, the failure was they did not keep the law, and ultimately, they ended up rejecting and crucifying Jesus Christ. Now, why don't you think about that for a moment? This is what they call the failure, that they crucified Christ. Instead of receiving him as the king of kings, well, if they just received him as the king, they'll say, you know, then he would not have been crucified and Christ would have started his millennial kingdom right there and then without dying on the cross. Whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute, okay? That, you know, again, when I started to hear this stuff, I'm going, well, this doesn't sound right. This doesn't sound like the Bible that I, or maybe I didn't understand it properly because I didn't understand dispensationalism. Okay, that's what they, they make you feel guilt in that way, that, you know, if you just understood dispensationalism, then you'll understand that Christ being crucified was a failure. I mean, that is honestly what they believe, okay? They believe Christ died. I'm not exaggerating here. They believe it's plan B. Plan A was Christ established a kingdom. They rejected Jesus. He died on the cross. Well, what do we do now? Well, let's do plan B, that Christ being on the cross opens up the gates for the Gentiles to be saved as well, or something along the lines. That's kind of what they teach, okay? There's major problems with that because if you can take your Bibles and turn to 1 John 3, turn to 1 John 3, now, was it a failure for the Jews to reject Christ? Yes, it was a failure of the Jews, okay? The Bible tells us in Acts 2-22, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. So did the Jews kill Jesus? Yes, their wicked hands crucified and slain Jesus Christ, okay, slay Jesus Christ. And so, was there failure in rejecting Christ? They did fail in that regard, okay? But is this a failure of the dispensation requiring God a brand new dispensation? Well, you're in 1 John 3, verse 16. 1 John 3, verse 16. He by perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. So even though the Jews were wicked, okay, for killing Christ, actually, this was God's plan all along, okay? For Christ to lay down, he laid down his own life. He gave himself up, he gave himself to be crucified. How can we say this is a failure when this is the greatest success story ever heard? This is our redemption, this is our salvation, the blood of Christ, our sacrifice, the dispensation of God, salvation, the gospel, forgiveness of sins, a home in heaven, eternity. This is the greatest thing on the earth, brethren. How can we say this is a failure, okay? And you know, there are those that definitely teach Christ being crucified was a failure, you know? I mean, wasn't it the pope? Didn't the pope some years ago say the greatest failure was Christ crucified? Something like, I don't know, maybe it's a cause of dispensation. I don't know, okay? But, you know, I was being taught this stuff and I just, it would not jive. It would not make sense. It did not, you know, come together with the knowledge that I had of reading my Bible, okay? Now, look, all this stuff that I'm teaching you, you can spend literally thousands of dollars and go to a Bible college and learn this stuff. Or you can agree with me, this is nonsense, this is rubbish, okay? This is a strange doctrine and we don't need to be taught this stuff, okay? Yeah, we don't need to be taught this stuff, but you know what? You're going to hear brethren, and yes, there are saved brethren that believe this stuff, and hopefully you can be a help to the brethren to turn them around from, you know, being misled and deceived by these doctrines. Now, the other thing that I want to say here is that this was definitely God's plan all along. Can you please go to John chapter one, go to John chapter one in your Bible, John chapter one, and I'm going to read to you some other passages, okay? So you go to John chapter one, in Genesis 22 verse eight, these are the words of Abraham, who apparently lived in the dispensation of promise, apparently, okay? But this is what he says. He says to Isaac, he says, and Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. God will provide who? Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So did Abraham know that one day God will come and lay down his life and be that ultimate sacrifice, the lamb of God? Abraham knew that. This isn't some failure, mistake. This was God's plan from the very beginning. Even Abraham knew this, and he lived apparently in the wrong dispensation to know this stuff, okay? Then, of course, we have the famous passage in Isaiah. So Isaiah is a prophet that lived in the Old Testament according to the dispensationalism in the age of law, okay? But it tells us here in Isaiah 53 verse five, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Even the prophet Isaiah knew that our healing would be through a man, that his suffering would ultimately give us forgiveness of sins, that our sins are the curse of our sins we placed upon another man, of course, that man being the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is not some secret mistake, failure. Listen, this has been known from the very beginning, okay? Look at John chapter one, verse number 29. These are the words of John the Baptist. He lived apparently, according to this teaching, in the age of law, okay? See the Old Testament times. It says, the next day John seeeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. So what did John the Baptist know? That Christ would be a sacrificial lamb that takes away our sins, okay? This isn't some failure, this was God's purpose from the very beginning. This was Christ's mission from the very beginning. He did not come to be served, he came to be a servant, okay? He did not come, the first coming to be king, he came to be our sacrifice, okay? To offer salvation to everyone who believeth. And so you can see why I would have major problems with this. Revelation 13, it also says, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. From the very beginning of creation, God already planned for the lamb to be slain from the foundation of the world, okay? So it's not some plan B, okay? It's not some mistake that happened, and God had to figure it out afterwards and create a new dispensational age period, okay? Because of failure? No, it's not failure. It's exactly what God planned, the salvation of man through the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So the sixth age that they have, well, after they crucified Christ, we know this began the New Testament. And, Reverend, by the way, the Bible does need to be divided, and the Bible divides it for us, Old Testament, New Testament. That's it, okay? That's it. But anyway, you know, they won't you say, or the seven of them, okay? Well, this is where they kind of get it right. There is now a Christ, right, dying on the cross. We do have a new beginning here, the new covenant. But they call this the dispensation of grace. Now, we sung hymns about grace today, and this is what I wanted to talk to you about, okay? Because they say this is when God showed grace to the world, okay? Because the failure of man by crucifying Christ, God now opened the doors for all men to believe on Christ and be saved, okay? And so this is now God's grace period, apparently. Or it's also known as the church age, the age of the church, the church age, okay? The dispensation of grace, they call this, okay? So what are the responsibilities of man, they say? Well, for believers who have believed on Christ, it is our job to live holy lives, be sanctified people, okay, different from the world, preaching the gospel. The failure, now this is where, again, I couldn't understand. How could the church fail? Now, are the churches that fail? Absolutely. But how can God's people fail, okay? People that have believed on Christ, but anyway, the failure is basically that churches become worldly and apostate churches. They move themselves away from the truth, okay? Say, what is the judgment then on the church? Well, the judgment is that the church will be removed from this world because it's failed in its mission, right? To evangelize the lost, it's failed in its mission to live a holy, blameless life, and it gets raptured. That's what the pre-tribulation rapture that they hold to is for, and the judgment is God pouring out his wrath, you know, what they call the tribulation. They get that mixed up as well, but God pouring out his wrath on this world, God destroying this world, and then, you know, the millennium to come. Now, again, this created a lot of problems for me listening to this and being taught this stuff because I was thinking, how does the church fail exactly? How is it? I mean, Christ died for the church in here. He laid down his life for the church in here, and I was thinking about who built the church. In Matthew 16, can you please actually, you go to Ephesians chapter three. Go to Ephesians chapter three. Go in your Bible to Ephesians chapter three, and I'll read to you from Matthew 16 verse 18. The Bible, these are the words of Jesus Christ. It says, Wow. So it's Jesus' job to build his church. And now you're telling me there's a failure of the church at the end of this age of grace, at the end of this church age period, this dispensation of, well, then who's failed then? If it's Jesus' job to build the church, then you're ultimately saying that Jesus Christ has failed again. I mean, you can see why I would hate and reject dispensationalism, okay? Look, it doesn't help anyone. It honestly, dispensation does not help. It only creates confusion. It only makes it look like Christ dying was some plan B and the church is not going to achieve its goals, okay? Which was built by Jesus. It is built by Jesus, okay? And you're going to turn around and say the church has failed? Well, before we read Ephesians 3, I want to read to you from Colossians 1.18. What is the church? It says, So the church is the body of Christ and who's the head? Jesus Christ himself. So who's the head of the church? Jesus Christ. And you want to tell me that the church fails? Again, you're saying that Christ as the head has failed on his mission to establish the church and for the church to do what it's been commanded to do through Jesus Christ. Now, you're in Ephesians 3. You can see why, again, I would get so angry and it's just nonsense. You know, dispensations basically have to believe that Christ has failed, okay? He's failed in building the church as the head, as the one in charge, as the one who has authority. How can you say he's failed? Okay, it's his job to build the church, all right? Now, I know man fails, but the church will never fail, okay? Here's a wonderful thing. Even when man fails, because we're saved, we're in the righteousness of Christ and when God looks down at us, he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ, amen? Okay, now man will fail, of course, but Christ's church will never fail, okay? In fact, if you look at Ephesians 3, verse number 21, Ephesians 3, verse number 21, it says, Be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, look at this, throughout all ages, all ages, world without end, amen. So the Bible says, okay, guess what? The church is going to be around and has been around all ages. You can't just say, what's the church age? Now we're in the age of the church. The church has always existed. Church means congregation. It's the assembly of God's people. God's people coming together to worship God that's going to continue forever. When we go to heaven, it's the church of the firstborn. World without end, we're going to continue having church all the time. But this is not some church age. The church has always existed. The church in the Old Testament was known as the church in the wilderness and Moses was the pastor of that church, okay? Again, church of the firstborn, we're in heaven, okay? The church overlaps all these ages. There's no such thing as this stupid church age that fails. It needs to be raptured out because it's failed in its mission. Brethren, I'm not exaggerating. That's what they believe, okay? Now they might communicate it in a nicer way, all right? They might sweeten it a little bit, but that's really what they believe, okay? I know, I've been taught this, not just taught this once. I've been taught this multiple times and I've read multiple books. You put it all together, this is what they ultimately believe. Now the seventh church age is the millennial kingdom. So they say, well, God has put judgment upon the earth. We won't talk about that right now, but then Christ is gonna come back and establish his thousand year reign on this earth. This is the final dispensation, the seventh dispensation before eternity. And what is the requirements of man during Christ? Well, we know Christ is gonna rule and reign with a rod of iron. And so the responsibility of man is to be obedient to Christ. Now, what is the failure? Well, we know at the end of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed and he's going to gather wicked people. So the battle of Gog and Magog, people, these armies that turn against Christ and then that's the failure of the millennium. Again, this is a problem. How can the millennium fail? Who's leading that millennium? Whose kingdom is that millennium? It's Christ's kingdom. You can see why these things cause me problems to believe Christ's church fails. His crucifixion was a failure. Now his kingdom's gonna fail. What? What in the world? Okay, but anyway, they say that's a failure, right? There's a rebellion at the end of the thousand years and what is the judgment? The judgment is the fire from heaven destroys the devil and the armies that go against him and then we go into the new heavens and the new earth. No more need for dispensations because man no longer has a sinful nature when God creates a new heaven and a new earth. All right, so why would I have a problem with this passage? So please, sorry, with the dispensation of the millennium that he fails in this regard. Well, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Go to 1 Corinthians 15, please, and verse number 24. Because the end of the thousand years does not sound like a failure to me. Okay, yes, there are some people that rebel. There's always been people that rebel, okay? But 1 Corinthians 15 verse 24 paints it in a very different light, the millennium reign of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15 verse 24, it says, then cometh the end, okay? That's gonna be the end of the millennium. When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God. Doesn't sound like a failure of a kingdom. If Christ's kingdom fails, not like a failure of a kingdom, if Christ is gonna give this kingdom to God, the Father, okay, even the Father, it says there, look at this, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he have put all enemies under his feet. Brethren, if you've got a kingdom and you've got enemies, all right, and there are powers on this earth and you've got a kingdom and you take over all the powers, you defeat all your enemies, all your enemies are subdued under you, does that sound like a failure of a kingdom? And that sounds like a great victorious kingdom, a powerful kingdom, a kingdom that's worthy to be given by Christ unto God the Father. And of course, that kingdom will continue for all eternity when God creates a new heaven and a new earth, okay? We're going to continue ruling with Christ. We're gonna continue being kings and priests for the Lord, okay, for all eternity. And so you can see why I struggle with the dispensationalism, failure of the crucifixion, failure of the church, not doing what, you know, Christ is the head of the church, all right? The church is the body of Christ. Are we saying his body fails? You know, are we saying that his kingdom fails? I mean, this is a nonsense of dispensationalism. So I've gone through some problems. There are many problems. I don't have time to go through them all tonight. But when I first was taught this, first of all, I want to say that I appreciated the church I was in. I appreciated the pastor that taught me these things because he taught me many other things. This wasn't, you know, this wasn't the only thing I learned in that church. I learned a lot of great truths. And, you know, I kind of concluded when I realized this was causing me problems and it just wasn't helping me. I just, this is how I concluded. I wasn't against dispensationalism. At this point in time, I said, look, dispensation does not help me at all. It just confuses me. And God is not the author of confusion, okay? So I'm just going to, dispensation does not help me. It's not for me. But if it helps other people for some reason, like if it helps other people to understand the Bible, great for them, good for them if it helps them, but it doesn't help me, okay? And here's the thing, most churches, if you go to your mainline Baptist church, they are dispensationalists, but you're not going to be hearing a lot of this stuff preached behind the pulpit, okay? You know what, 99, you know, 98, 99% of the preaching you're going to hear behind the pulpit, it's going to be great. It's going to be well received. It's going to help you in life, okay? I know some people would not go to a church because of dispensationalists, okay? That's the wrong approach. If that's the best church you have in your area, please go, if it's a mainline Baptist church, they're not going to beat you over the head with dispensationalists anyway, okay? Most of the teaching is going to be great stuff. It's going to help you in Christian life. It's going to help you understand the history of the Bible and the future events to come and things like that, okay? It'll be a great introduction to that. And then if dispensationalists does get popped up, you can just say, well, I know that's nonsense, okay? And you know, you stay with the Bible. You stay with what dispensations really are about, okay? Now, please go to 1 Corinthians chapter nine. I think you're in 1 Corinthians already. So please go to 1 Corinthians chapter nine. Now, I did mention that the word dispensation pops up four times in the Bible, and we're already seeing the first one in Colossians chapter one, and we saw that it's Paul dispensing the gospel, okay? So let's go to the other passages that refer to the word dispensation. 1 Corinthians chapter nine, please, verse number 16. 1 Corinthians chapter nine, verse number 16. It says for, again, this is the apostle Paul writing to the Corinthian church. For though I preach the gospel, hmm, that sounds familiar. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. So this is definitely about preaching the gospel. Verse number 17. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, look at this, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. So what are you saying? You say, look, I have received a dispensation of the gospel. This is something that God has given me, even if it's against my will, okay? I have it, this is my responsibility. Verse number 18. What is my reward then? Verily that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge that I abuse not my power in the gospel. So now we have dispensation, the word dispensation again here in 1 Corinthians nine. Now I want you to think about this. Is this about some period of time and age, okay? Is this one of the seven dispensations of dispensationalism? Or is this again Paul dispensing the gospel to believers, okay? Whether he does it willingly or it's not, if he doesn't will to do it, hey, it's still being given to him, it's still his responsibility to preach the gospel, amen? That's what it's about. Again, this is truly not difficult, okay? Not difficult. Can you please go to Ephesians chapter three? Go to Ephesians chapter three. Let's look at the third time or third, yeah, a third time that the word dispensation comes up. Ephesians chapter three, verse number one. Ephesians chapter three, verse number one. Ephesians three, verse one reads, For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the, here it is, dispensation of the grace of God. See, it's the dispensation of grace, the church age period. Let's keep going. Wait, wait, let's talk about grace for a minute. For by grace are you saved through faith, okay? What is the grace of God? The grace of God is of course salvation, eternal life by believing on Jesus Christ, okay? If you have no ulterior motive here, if you're just trying to come to God's word and you know, well, grace of God is salvation, praise God. You know what? People got saved in the Old Testament thanks to the grace of God. The grace of God did not begin in a period of age of grace. There's always been the grace of God because if God did not have grace to mankind, then he would have destroyed us long ago. No, God's grace was from the very beginning from the foundation of the earth once again, the land slain. It was always God's plan. It's not some plan B, okay? It's not some alternative plan because plan A didn't work out. It's always been God's plan. God's grace has always been available because that's the only way you can be saved, by the grace of God. Verse number three, how that by revelation he have made known unto me the mystery as I wrote a four in few words, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages, oh, there's the word age, was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed by his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Look at this. What is this mystery? Okay? That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. Now, I haven't got time to go through all of this, but you know dispensationalism? The main reason for it is to create that separate group that God has his special chosen people, the Jews, and God then has his Gentile church, okay, or the Gentile bride, whatever they call it, right? And that's the whole purpose for dispensationalism, to create a division. They'll say, well, the Jews have been given a different dispensation than the Gentiles and God has these groups, right? The unsaved, the saved Gentiles and the Jews who are special God's people. And so they try to separate these two groups, the Jews and the Gentiles. But what is it that, once again, this dispensation, this mystery that has been given to Paul, what is it about, verse number six, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body? It's not a division. We're united. The Jews, the saints, the Israel of old, they have believed on Jesus Christ. They have believed the gospel that are saved or the Gentiles that are saved as well. We're part of the same body. We're all one in Christ Jesus, okay? A stupid teaching of dispensationalism. You know, please get that nonsense out of your head if you believe it. It doesn't help you, okay? It's only going to confuse you. Look at this, the same body, and partake of his promise in Christ by the gospel, okay? Notice that the dispensation and gospel, these things keep coming together, okay? Because the dispensation of the grace of God is distributing the gospel. That is God's grace. Believing the gospel is God's grace, right? It's the free gift of salvation. If you believe it, you too can be saved. All right, now let's go to the fourth mention of the word dispensation. Same book, Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one, verse number nine. Ephesians chapter one, verse number nine. Ephesians chapter one, verse number nine. It says, What times, see? Ages, dispensation of ages. I don't know, I don't know if that's what they believe. Anyway, I'm trying to think like a dispensationalist here, right? He might gather, what is this dispensation? That he might gather together in one, in one, remember, same body, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him. Amen. Those that have gone to be with God in heaven already, the Old Testament saints, believers that have gone before us, they're in heaven, believers on this earth, you know what, we're one, because of Christ, because we're all in Christ. Praise God, this is great, this is wonderful news, amen? Verse number 11, Being predestined according to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, look at verse number 12, that we should be the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ. You know, to believe in Jesus Christ, another way of saying it is to trust in Christ. You've trusted that He's paid your sins, that He's paid your way to heaven, that through His death, bread, and resurrection, He's done everything necessary for you to be saved. Well, if you've believed in Christ, if you've trusted in Christ, brethren, you've been made one, okay? And when did it take place? Let's look at verse number 10 again, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, okay? Now, we did also mention that the word dispense can be to put away, okay? Or, you know, the example that I gave my son, he dispensed my notes, okay? And so, there can come an end as well, a dispensing can be the end of something as well, amen? So, let's understand what this dispensation of the fullness of times is. It's not hard, okay? We don't have to make it up. We don't have to make up dispensational theology here. Can you please turn to Galatians chapter 4? Galatians chapter 4 and verse number 4. Galatians chapter 4 and verse number 4. What is the dispensation of the fullness of times? When was that dispensed of? When did we come to that point where that time was fulfilled, the fullness, right? When did that come? Well, Galatians chapter 4 verse number 4. Galatians chapter 4 verse number 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, well, there it is, okay? Now, what is that fullness of the time? God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. So, the fullness of time is a time where God would send his son, where God was ready to do away with the old covenant, bring his son so he could die the death, plan A, amen? So he could open the doors for all to believe on him, okay? And by the way, even before that, all could believe on him as well. But through the church, through the local church, we're able to get the gospel out throughout this whole world instead of being narrowed down to that one physical nation back in that time, okay? Let's keep going, verse number 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. How do we become a son of God? But as many as received him, to them gave ye power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So what is the fullness of time? What is the dispensing? What is that completion? Okay? It's God sending his son, God being done with the Old Testament times, sending his son so we could be made children of God, we could be made sons of God, heirs of God. Praise God, okay? So this is, again, this is not confusing, all right? Again, this ties in with the work of Christ, the gospel message, okay? Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. So when you look at all those four words, dispensation, are you now left thinking, well, you know, surely one of those was about the dispensation of innocence. Surely one of those was about the dispensation of promise. Surely one of those was about the dispensation of human government, right? Surely that's one of them was about the dispensation of the Millennial Kingdom. Look, dispensationism teaches seven dispensations, okay? How many times does the Bible have the word dispensation? Four times. Four times. How can you take something that is in the Bible four times and apply it in seven different ages, okay? There's a mathematical problem, what's seven? Seven there, four there. There's a mathematical problem there, okay? And that's the first problem. The next problem is that all of these dispensations have to do with Christ coming into this world and the gospel being made available through his sacrifice. So it all points to one place. All those words, all the four dispensations, all point to the work of Christ and salvation being offered to him by his ministers, by his able ministers. You know what, if you're somebody who's able to give some of the gospel, you've been given that responsibility as well, to dispense, okay? You've been given the dispensation of the grace of God to go and preach the gospel to the lost, okay? So brethren, you know what? If we were to remain biblicists, and look, if dispensationalists want to be biblical, then they would have to reject the titles they've given in the dispensational ages. What would they again? Again, we saw in the Bible it's the dispensation of God, the dispensation of the gospel, the dispensation of the grace of God, and the dispensation of the fullness of times. Why don't they use any of these to describe their period of time? They can't because they need seven, and they can't because if you give them the proper titles, according to the Bible, everybody knows it has nothing to do with their age period theology that they hold. So, brethren, as a church, as a pastor, I reject dispensation. I used to not care about it. I was just non-dispensational, but you know what, I'm now anti-dispensational. I hate the doctrine. And this church is going to reject it so long as I'm the pastor of this church. Now, can you please turn to 1 John 2, verse 16? 1 John 2, verse 26. As I said to you, and look, I'm sure someone might be listening to this right now, and they're saying, you know what, Pastor Kevin, he's teaching heresy, he's wrong about this, and he needs to learn dispensationalism, the only way to understand dispensationalism is to learn it. I told you, how do you learn it? They give you a book. They make you take a course outside of the Bible. And here's the thing, I've learned dispensationalism. I've done two courses on dispensationalism, and I've read multiple books. I know it quite well. In fact, I probably know it more than most dispensationalists. Now, 1 John 2, verse number 26. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Brethren, we've all been given the anointing of the Holy Ghost in us. It's his job to teach us God's Word. We don't need to go to some man-made interpretive tool. We don't need some man-made Bible college. Listen, we need the church. We need the pillar and the ground of truth. We need God's Word. We need the Holy Spirit. We need a preacher's field of the Holy Spirit of God that are working through the power of God, and we need to just read the Bible, read the context, and not come with some crazy, strange, weird doctrines and apply it to the Bible. The Bible's not complicated. God is not the author of confusion. God has not failed. Christ's crucifixion was not a failure. The church is not going to fail because Christ is the head of this church. It is his body. He built this church, and Christ's kingdom is not going to fail. All his enemies are going to be subdued under his feet, and that same kingdom is going to continue for all eternity. This sensationalism is nonsense. It's rubbish. It's a strange doctrine. It's a doctrine that I hope other Baptists would start to reject. I thank God that I know a few Baptist pastors who have rejected this teaching. And you know what? When you reject it, if any Baptist pastor is listening right now, you're going to be ridiculed. You're going to be hated. People are going to speak harshly of you. But listen, we ought to be people that build our doctrines from God's Word by the leading of the Holy Ghost. So long as you're close to the Lord, so long as you're being empowered by the Holy Ghost, the Bible's not that complicated. There are passages that are tough, but you don't need to go to Bible college. You don't need some special book so you can finally understand the Bible. That sounds like the interpretation of a man. Remember, the Bible is not of private interpretation. And yes, dispensation is a private interpretation of John, Nelson, Darby, but I haven't got time to go through all that today. All right. Now, I want to move on to something else. And the problem with dispensation is not so much what mainline Baptist churches teach, because as I said, you might go to a good IFB church, and I can recommend other ones in Sydney. I can recommend ones in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane. They believe in dispensationalism. And listen, they're good men of God. They're filled by the Holy Spirit. They're serving the Lord in the capacity that they can. And in a lot of these churches, you're not even going to hear a lot of this stuff. You won't even know. Unless you've been taught about dispensationalism, you won't even pick up that they're teaching dispensation. You won't even know. You'll agree with 99% of what they're teaching, like I said. But there are some people that are hyper-dispensationalism, that take dispensationalism way too far. And the people that teach these things, they're not good men. They're wicked men. They're false prophets. They're devils, okay? Why? Why do I say that? Because they teach that in each dispensation, the seven dispensations, people got saved by different methods. They'll teach that, yes, in this age of grace, we're saved by grace. We're saved by the gospel, Jesus Christ. But in other ages in the past, they were saved by their works. Or in the future dispensations, they're saved by works. And they teach other gospels, other gospels for other people at different times, okay? Now the Bible tells us... Oh, wait, I won't go there just yet. If you can please... Where did I get to turn? Was it Galatians chapter one? Yes, it's down. Oh, can you please go to Galatians chapter one? Sorry if I did not tell you to go there. Go to Galatians chapter one, verse number eight. Galatians chapter one and verse number eight. Because people that teach another gospel, brethren, they're not saved. I don't care how good they look on the outside. I don't care how friendly they are. I don't care how much you respect them in the past. They are devils. They are ministers of Satan, okay? They teach there are other ways of salvation, okay? And again, most mainline IFB churches do not teach this, okay? I'm not saying every dispensationist believes this, but there are those on the fringe, those that are extreme, okay? The devil's ministers that teach false doctrine like this, okay? Damnable heresies, actually, because he will damn you to hell to believe in other gospels. But in Galatians chapter one, verse number eight, it says, Let him be accursed. If someone teaches there's some other gospel, some other way of salvation, let them be accursed. You say, what does it mean to be accursed? Well, go to Galatians chapter three now. Galatians chapter three, verse number 13. Galatians 3, 13. Basically, to be accursed means that they're not saved. They're still under the curse of God. Galatians chapter three, verse number 13 reads, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So you see, if you're saved, Christ became the curse for you. The curse is no longer upon you. Go up to verse number 10, same chapter, Galatians 3, verse 10. It says, Okay, let's stop there for a moment. They teach, these hyper-dispensationalists, they teach that people in the past were saved by their works, by the works of the law. Okay, let's keep going, verse number 10. So if anyone is trying to be saved by works, they're cursed. They cannot be saved by their works. It doesn't matter what dispensation or what age, whatever, this nonsense that they talk about. Remember, church of God is going to be in all ages. Okay, world without end. God's grace has always been available to us, brethren. Okay, so people come in and say, well, no, works can save certain groups of people. Let them be accursed. They're still under the curse of God. They're not saved. Now you might say, well, I know someone that believes that. Are they unsaved? Well, you know, I always differentiate between the deceivers and the deceived, okay. So if you've got a religious leader, you've got someone in authority, you've got a teacher preaching multiple gospels, yeah, they're unsaved devils. But I also understand that these people can deceive the simple. So there are saved people that can believe these things, but they're deceived. They're deceived because of the deceivers. And you know what, we need to open their eyes. We need to lead them in the right ways. And hopefully, hopefully they are saved. But if they go down that path and they start teaching it themselves, and that just guarantees that they were never saved, they do not understand the grace of God. They do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. They do not understand that people cannot be saved by works, okay, which proves that they're not even saved. Can you please go to Acts chapter 10. Go to Acts chapter 10 and verse number 38. Acts chapter 10, verse number 38. So I want to quickly prove to you that people were saved in the same way in the Old Testament, even before the Old Testament. Exactly the same way that we are saved today. Acts chapter 10, verse number 38. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him, God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and the dead. So he says, look, we're witnesses. We've seen the resurrection of Christ and we're the ones that have been commanded to preach to the people the resurrection of Christ. But look at verse number 43. To him give all the prophets witness. He says, we're not the only witnesses of Christ's resurrection. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Brethren, the Old Testament prophets, guess what they preached? Believe on Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. They got saved the same way, by believing on Jesus. Now, they didn't know the name of Christ, granted, but they knew that one day God will send the Lamb of God. As we saw, Abraham, the words of Abraham, the words of Isaiah, and I could go through many others. You can go through the Psalms. Many of the Psalms speak about Christ's crucifixion. Now, you stay in the book of Acts. I'm going to read to you from Romans 4 to... You stay in Acts. Go to Acts 26, actually. Go to Acts 26 and I'm going to turn to Romans chapter 4, verse number 2. It says, for if Abraham... Now, let's think back like a dispensationalist. Abraham was in the age of promise, so before the old covenant, before the age of law. According to dispensationalists, how was Abraham saved? For if Abraham were justified by works, so if he were, but he's not, okay, he have whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saved the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. How was Abraham made righteous before God? He believed God. It was his faith. He was saved in the same way that we are saved. Then it says in verse number 4, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Once again, confirming that it's our faith, salvation by grace through faith, that's how we're made righteous before God. You say, well, that was the age of promise, and Abraham was saved by faith, but when God created the old covenant with Israel, then they had to do the works to be saved. No, because if we keep going, verse number 6, Even as David, even as, in the same way, in the same way as Abraham, even as David. How was David saved? By works? Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works. Guess how David, King David in the Old Testament, in the so-called age of the law, was saved? Without works. Saying, this is what he said, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. So how did David understand salvation from sin? Not of works, in the same way even as he also understood salvation was by believing, was by faith, was by the grace of God. Now you're in Acts 26, look at verse number 22. So brethren, these passages destroy dispensational salvation. Once again, not all dispensationalists believe in dispensational salvation, but those that teach and preach this stuff, that people are saved in different ways, in different periods, they're not saved. Let them be accursed. If you go to a church and your pastor is preaching this stuff, get out of there, your pastor is a wicked false prophet. Now Acts 26, verse number 22. Acts 26, verse number 22. And I could go to so many passages, but this is sufficient. It says, So what are the New Testament apostles saying here? They're preaching the same thing. None other things than those that the prophets and Moses did say should come. What did they say? Verse number 23. That Christ should suffer. So guess what? Moses knew that Christ would suffer. The prophets knew that Christ would suffer. And that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. Yes, the Gentiles as well. The prophets knew this. Moses knew this. King David knew this. Abraham knew this. They all knew this. Isaiah, etc. All the prophets knew that salvation would be through Jesus Christ. And the teaching that we're teaching in the New Testament, in the so-called Age of Grace, is the same. Why? Because God's grace has always been available to all man at all time. Now let's end on one more passage. Please turn to Romans 11, please. Romans 11, verse 6. So the title for the sermon, once again, was Dispensationalism versus the Dispensation of God. God has given us the dispensation of the gospel. It's our job to go and preach that. Not to preach dispensationalism, a false doctrine. We need to get our priorities right here. But Romans 11, verse 6. We've always been saved by grace. And to say, you know, some people say, well, yes, people are saved by grace, but God's grace allowed them to do the works. That's another false teaching. But let's just end on this one. Romans 11, verse 6. And if by grace, then it is no more of works. So if you're going to apply God's grace, it definitely cannot be by works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. If you add works, it's not grace. You can't say people were saved by works in the Old Testament, but that was God's grace. No, then it's not grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. So whatever somebody had to do in order to be saved, believe. If we receive that, and that's how we receive God's grace, then it is not work. Believing is not work. Calling upon the name of the Lord is not work. It is God's grace that allows us to do such things. So, brethren, you cannot mix works with grace. We've been saved by grace. You cannot think your works, your good works are going to get you to heaven. Nonsense. It's rubbish. It's simply by the finished work of Jesus Christ. And throughout all ages, God's church has existed. Throughout all ages, God's people have come together to worship God. Throughout all ages, brethren, salvation has been offered by grace, by believing on the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.