Sharing programs on the Truth of the Bible with "RIGHTLY DIVIDING" and encouraging everyone to study the scriptures, the message God gave us to learn who he is and how much he loves us!

Rome Gray

Ephesians 4:4,5 
 
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (I Corinthians 12:13) 
 
 
So there is not much room for all these differences of opinion when we come down to the truth of Scripture. So now let's get right back into our study in II Corinthians and let's begin with verse 8. We finished with verse 7 and the word "Truth" in our last lesson, and how Paul came only in the name of truth which is also the name of Christ. Now you come into verse 8 - he came - 
 
 
II Corinthians 6:8 
 
"By honour and dishonour, (there were those who were constantly besmirching his name) by evil report and good report: as deceivers, (by some) and yet true;" 
 
 
I've discovered that I've missed so much in these Corinthians letters over the years. But as I prepare to teach these letters I've discovered that these little letters are so loaded, especially if you just get into them and dig. Now let's look at verse 8 for a moment. 
 
 
II Corinthians 6:8b 
 
"...as deceivers, and yet true;" 
 
 
Who else came up against this very same attitude of His peers? Well Christ did. Isn't that exactly what the Lord had to put up with? Come back with me to John's Gospel Chapter 7 again. In this chapter the Lord went up against the same thing that the apostle Paul and you and I do yet today. Human nature has not changed one bit. Just because it's 2000 years ago doesn't mean it's changed. 
 
 
John 7:10-12 
 
"But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. 11. Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? 12. And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, `Nay; but he deceiveth the people.'" 
 
 
Now that was what Jesus was being accused of, and here He was as Truth personified and they even accused Him of being deceptive. Come on over to Chapter 8 where we were in our last lesson concerning the word truth in verse 44. But let's go to verse 52.

Ephesians 4:4,5

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (I Corinthians 12:13)


So there is not much room for all these differences of opinion when we come down to the truth of Scripture. So now let's get right back into our study in II Corinthians and let's begin with verse 8. We finished with verse 7 and the word "Truth" in our last lesson, and how Paul came only in the name of truth which is also the name of Christ. Now you come into verse 8 - he came -


II Corinthians 6:8

"By honour and dishonour, (there were those who were constantly besmirching his name) by evil report and good report: as deceivers, (by some) and yet true;"


I've discovered that I've missed so much in these Corinthians letters over the years. But as I prepare to teach these letters I've discovered that these little letters are so loaded, especially if you just get into them and dig. Now let's look at verse 8 for a moment. 




31 2 2 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Truth Personified: 2 Corinthians 6:1 - 8:6

II Corinthians 4:4a 
 
"In whom..." 
 
 
That is, the lost people of the world who are lost, not because of what they've done, but rather because of their unbelief. Now while we were in Minnesota last week several people showed me my little quote in the fly leaf of their Bible, and it kind of tickles me that people take note of these things. But I've had it on the board several times in the past, and the quote goes something like this. "We are not sinners because of sins we commit but rather we sin because we are sinners." Now all that means is that we are born with that old Adamic nature, and that Adamic nature knows only one thing, and that's to rebel against the things laid down by God Himself. So the human's natural tendency is to listen to the old Adam. So, consequently, we become sinners, and it isn't because of what we've done. It's because of what we are. 
 
 
Now the same way here. The people who are lost are not lost because they went out and got drunk one night. They're not lost because they cheated or stole, or committed immorality, but rather they are lost because they are born in sin as children of Adam and they have refused the remedy; which, of course, is faith in the finished work of the Cross. And Paul is constantly throwing out that the Cross has completed everything. We were just talking at break time about how the Devil blinds people and I think that this is just another ploy of the god of this world who transforms himself into an angel of light, because he won't do this clothed in the black robes of magic. But rather the Devil does this clothed in bright lights, as the angel of light, and that is he is keeping the world that has any interest in Scripture in the Four Gospel accounts. 
 
 
I think it is so frightening that people are not getting away from Christ's earthly ministry, and getting into the fact that it was His death, His burial, and the fact that He arose victorious over sin and death, and now we are on this side of the Cross. We are not back there in Christ's earthly ministry, and we're going to see that specifically in the next chapter. So we have to constantly force ourselves almost because the tendency is to just study mostly in Christ's earthly ministry. But what did Jesus say in Matthew 24:14? 
 
 
Matthew 15:24 
 
"But he (Christ) answered and said, `I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'" 
 
 
Romans 15:8 
 
"Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision (Jews only) for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers;" (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.) 
 
 
So remember the Four Gospels were only to Israel and that was under the Law of Moses. Now looking at verse 4 again. 
 
 
II Corinthians 4:4 
 
"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 
 
 
Now there is another point. You have no idea how many people are asking the question, "Well, Who is Christ?" A lot of people are confused. Some have the idea that Christ never really amounted to anything until He was born at Bethlehem. They do not have the understanding that Jesus of Nazareth was the manifestation in the flesh of the Creator God of Genesis 1:1. I show that when we teach the Book of Genesis that Christ, as we know Him in the New Testament, was the Creator of the Old Testament. 
 
 
John 1:1-3 
 
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." 
 
 
John 1:14a 
 
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,..."

II Corinthians 4:4a

"In whom..."


That is, the lost people of the world who are lost, not because of what they've done, but rather because of their unbelief. Now while we were in Minnesota last week several people showed me my little quote in the fly leaf of their Bible, and it kind of tickles me that people take note of these things. But I've had it on the board several times in the past, and the quote goes something like this. "We are not sinners because of sins we commit but rather we sin because we are sinners." Now all that means is that we are born with that old Adamic nature, and that Adamic nature knows only one thing, and that's to rebel against the things laid down by God Himself. So the human's natural tendency is to listen to the old Adam. So, consequently, we become sinners, and it isn't because of what we've done. It's because of what we are. 


Now the same way here. The people who are lost are not lost because they went out and got drunk one night. They're not lost be

30 3 2Through the Bible with Les Feldick, What Happens When We Die: 2 Corinthians 4:1 - 5:9

Remember in our last lesson we were dealing again with the consummation of all things First Christ will be King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and everything is put under His feet. Then we go on into the eternal where everything is consummated in God Himself. Then Paul said in verse 29 "What's the use in all these things if there is no resurrection of the dead." Always remember that there is no other religion on earth nor ever has been, that has a resurrection of the dead in it's so-called theology. None of the mythologies teach resurrection, none of the cults teach it, some have reincarnation, but resurrection is strictly a Biblical concept because not only is it a Christian concept, it was also part of the Old Testament economy. Everything centers on the resurrection of the dead. Otherwise what's the use if that's not true; then you might as well eat, drink and be merry. So looking at verse 31 where Paul says: 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:31 
 
"I protest (or affirm) by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily." 
 
 
In other words, that although this is a carnal congregation. Here this apostle is writing these deep doctrines concerning resurrection, but the people to whom he's writing are carnal believers. And so again he reminds them that he affirms by their rejoicing, even as carnal Christians, that they realize that there was some things to rejoice in, and by that the apostle Paul says, "I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily." Now I think there's a two-fold approach to "I die daily." Number one, remember that Paul teaches so strongly the idea of the old and new nature. One of the questions I've answered in our next newsletter is "Do I believe in two natures for the believers?" Absolutely! We are still with the old nature, that old Adam that just constantly pursues us, and we also have that new nature as a result of our salvation experience, and our union with Christ, and that's only a Pauline doctrine. We are constantly in a warfare, "The old sin nature against the new Divine nature." But what Paul is speaking here in dying daily is that he has to constantly keep old Adam in subjection, he has to put him to death. In fact, let's go back for a moment to the Book of Romans because that's where Paul makes that so plain. All of Paul's writings dovetail together so beautifully. So turn to Chapter 6 and let's begin with verse 13, and throughout this whole 6th Chapter of Romans Paul is dealing with, "reckoning that Old Adam as our mortal enemy, and putting him constantly to death." Now that may sound like double talk, but we have to realize that God in His omniscience, and Sovereignty, the moment we believe for salvation, God reckoned our old Adam as crucified with Christ, he's dead. But in experience he's still with us, and he plagues us, and will until we leave this body of mortality. Here Paul says it so clearly: 
 
 
Romans 6:13a 
 
"Neither yield (or give in) ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin:" 
 
 
Or unto the old Adam. It's up to us as you are given that free will. God is not going to take you by the nape of the neck and say "You will obey Me. You will walk in My ways." God doesn't do that, but rather it's that constant urging by the indwelling Spirit. Also remember that three-letter-word "sin" is the old Adam, the old sin nature. But the flip side is. 
 
 
Romans 6:13b 
 
"...but yield yourselves unto God, (in other words be what God wants us to be.) as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." 
 
 
Now this is exactly what Paul is talking about here in this verse 31 of I Corinthians. Paul says, "I die daily." And as you move into verse 32 I think he is also alluding to the fact that he was under constant physical pressure and suffering. We have no idea how much the Apostle Paul suffered for the sake of the Gospel. Now you want to remember that The Lord promised in Acts Chapter 9 this very thing.

Remember in our last lesson we were dealing again with the consummation of all things First Christ will be King of Kings, and ...

29 3 4 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Resurrected into the Kingdom: 1 Corinthians 15:24-34

II Timothy 2:15 
 
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 
 
 
It doesn't say to just read your Bible, but rather study it, and that of course is what we try to get people to do. Buy a good cross-reference study Bible with some good footnotes. That always helps, and learn how to study. Now I Corinthians Chapter 15, and we've pretty much covered verse 23. Now that the resurrection of the Just has been completed, the Kingdom is now set up, and everything is ready to go for the thousand year rule and reign of Christ. Remember that's going to be on the earth. A lot of people don't have a concept of that, but remember the Kingdom is the Kingdom is the Kingdom, and the reason I say that is because it's the only valid Kingdom in Scripture. Now if it were speaking of some Gentile Kingdom, or the Kingdom of Babylon, then that's something totally different. But when the Bible speaks of the "Kingdom" then it's this final thousand year reign of Christ, this Kingdom on the earth when He will finally, as we're going to see in this lesson, be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that's not the end. Remember that the thousand year reign is just the introduction to the eternal state. All of this comes into focus then, as we look at the Scripture concerning this earthly Kingdom. Now for review let's look at verse 23 again. 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:23 
 
"But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 
 
 
That is all the believers of all the ages from Adam and Eve on up through the end of the Tribulation, which we covered as the resurrection of the Church, the Rapture, the great resurrection day of the major harvest of God's reaping. Then the bringing together of the Old Testament saints, and the Tribulation saints as we saw in our last lesson in Daniel Chapter 12. Now verse 24: 
 
I Corinthians 15:24,25 
 
"Then cometh the end, (time as we know it, human history) when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. (now let's read verse 25, and then we'll come back to verse 24) For he (Christ) must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet."

II Timothy 2:15

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."


It doesn't say to just read your Bible, but rather study it, and that of course is what we try to get people to do. Buy a good cross-reference study Bible with some good footnotes. That always helps, and learn how to study. Now I Corinthians Chapter 15, and we've pretty much covered verse 23. Now that the resurrection of the Just has been completed, the Kingdom is now set up, and everything is ready to go for the thousand year rule and reign of Christ. Remember that's going to be on the earth. A lot of people don't have a concept of that, but remember the Kingdom is the Kingdom is the Kingdom, and the reason I say that is because it's the only valid Kingdom in Scripture. Now if it were speaking of some Gentile Kingdom, or the Kingdom of Babylon, then that's something totally different. But when the Bible speaks of the "Kingdom" then it's this final

29 3 2 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Resurrected into the Kingdom: 1 Corinthians 15:24-34

Now in the last several lessons we have been talking about Christ and the firstfruits, as He was the first to be resurrected, and also those that came out of the graves after His resurrection in Matthew 27. And then we looked quite in-depth at the resurrection of the Body of Christ, the Church Age believers. How they will be separated from the rest of the believers, and we still have one group left that we didn't squeeze into our last four lessons, and that would be the resurrection of the Old Testament believers. The best place to pick that up will be back in the Book of Daniel. Before we go to Daniel let's read again this verse in I Corinthians 15 that we've been using as a jumping off place for the resurrection of the believers of all the ages. 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:23 
 
"But every man (that is every believer) in his own order: (or his own group or company, and here's it's reviewed again) Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 
 
 
Now here again the Scripture does not enumerate right here for us, but instead sends us back to other references to dig out where the various groups of believers come into play when it comes to resurrection. In our last lesson we looked at how Paul lays it out in the latter part of I Corinthians Chapter 15, and then going on into I and II Thessalonians how that the Church Age believers will be caught up to meet The Lord in the air. However, we did not have time to pick up the Old Testament believer, so in this lesson we're going to go all the way back to Daniel Chapter 12. Now in other remarks that I've made concerning the resurrection, the Old Testament certainly alludes to it, and the Old Testament saints certainly were believers in a resurrection, but there's nothing said about it in the Old Testament to build any real knowledge concerning it. Daniel Chapter 12 probably says the most of anything, although we've looked at Job's reference to the resurrection life, and we certainly know that David expected to be resurrected, but Daniel Chapter 12 lays it out as clearly as any place, and we might as well start at verse 1. 
 
 
Daniel 12:1 
 
"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: (the Nation of Israel) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: (that's a reference to the Tribulation) and at that time thy people (the Nation of Israel) shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

Now in the last several lessons we have been talking about Christ and the firstfruits, as He was the first to be resurrected, and also those that came out of the graves after His resurrection in Matthew 27. And then we looked quite in-depth at the resurrection of the Body of Christ, the Church Age believers. How they will be separated from the rest of the believers, and we still have one group left that we didn't squeeze into our last four lessons, and that would be the resurrection of the Old Testament believers. The best place to pick that up will be back in the Book of Daniel. Before we go to Daniel let's read again this verse in I Corinthians 15 that we've been using as a jumping off place for the resurrection of the believers of all the ages. 


I Corinthians 15:23

"But every man (that is every believer) in his own order: (or his own group or company, and here's it's reviewed again) Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."


Now here again the Scri

29 3 1 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Resurrected into the Kingdom: 1 Corinthians 15:24-34

I Corinthians 15:23, and we're using that text as a jumping off place, because we previously asked, "Who are Christ's at His coming that will be resurrected in the largest part of the resurrection harvest?" Remember from the Old Testament economy we had the firstfruits - the sampling - that's Christ and those who came out of the graves after He came out in Matthew Chapter 27. Then we have the main harvest, which is the Church resurrection and includes the Rapture. Then we have the gleanings and the corners, and if we have time we'll go back to Daniel Chapter 12 and we'll see this is the resurrection of the Old Testament saints shortly after the Kingdom here on earth is established. So I teach the resurrection of the Just (the believers of all the ages) will be in three distinct separate stages. 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:23 
 
"But every man in his own order: (Or his own company) Christ the firstfruits; afterward (It's now been almost 2000 years.) they that are Christ's at his coming." 
 
 
That's not a reference to His Second Coming but since Paul is writing about this he's talking about Christ's coming for the Body of Christ, "The Rapture of the Church," two completely different events that are separated by 7 years. Remember, all the Old Testament promises and programs never considered the out-calling of the Church. It was never in there because God had kept it secret. So all the Old Testament prophecies spoke of the coming of Christ to be their King, and they would have to go through the Tribulation and then they could have the King and the Kingdom. You can find that in Psalm Chapter 2, Joel Chapter 2, and Zechariah Chapter 14. They all speak of this kind of a Biblical timeline. However, Israel rejected the King back at the Cross and the Tribulation did not come in, they did not get the Kingdom. So instead, after having crucified their Messiah, and Peter does not succeed in turning Israel into repentance (Acts 2:38). 
 
 
God then brings forth the Apostle Paul and this is what we have been looking at for the past three lessons, and it's the calling out the Body of Christ primarily from the Gentiles. And since it has nothing to do with the Old Testament program or Tribulation, which is also tied to the Old Testament and primarily for the Jew, then we maintain that the Body of Christ is insulated from God's dealings with Israel either before or after the Cross, and so consequently this is why I teach the Rapture. The Body of Christ has to be off the scene before God can pick up dealing with Israel again. Always remember, if we could just take the Church out, which is in parentheses, then we can place the Tribulation back with the Old Testament economy of the Second Coming of the Messiah, the Tribulation, the King, and the Kingdom. However, when Israel rejected it, God went to Paul and the calling out of the Body of Christ, and it has to be raptured and then He will yet bring in the Tribulation to Israel. Now let's go back to Romans again. Turn to Chapter 11 verse 25 (that I always I maintain will be the triggering mechanism for Christ coming for the Church). Now we know there is no time element, we can never say that in five years He's coming. I certainly like to think He is, but we can't say that. We don't know if He's coming in a hundred years, but we do know that He's coming, and we do know that He's coming the moment that the Body of Christ is complete. When the last person is saved, and the Body is complete then Christ will come for the Church.

I Corinthians 15:23, and we're using that text as a jumping off place, because we previously asked, "Who are Christ's at His coming that will be resurrected in the largest part of the resurrection harvest?" Remember from the Old Testament economy we had the firstfruits - the sampling - that's Christ and those who came out of the graves after He came out in Matthew Chapter 27. Then we have the main harvest, which is the Church resurrection and includes the Rapture. Then we have the gleanings and the corners, and if we have time we'll go back to Daniel Chapter 12 and we'll see this is the resurrection of the Old Testament saints shortly after the Kingdom here on earth is established. So I teach the resurrection of the Just (the believers of all the ages) will be in three distinct separate stages. 


I Corinthians 15:23

"But every man in his own order: (Or his own company) Christ the firstfruits; afterward (It's now been almost 2000 years.) they that are Christ's at his coming." 


That'

29 2 4 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, The Main Harvest: 1 Corinthians 15:24-54

We're in I Corinthians Chapter 15, and we've been talking about the doctrine of the resurrection, which is basic to our Christian faith, and at verse 20 we saw Paul sort of shift gears and now he breaks down how the resurrections are going to take place. They are not going to be all at one event, but rather first we had the firstfruits when Christ rose from the dead and those Jewish believers who came out of the graves after He did in Matthew Chapter 27. 
 
 
Matthew 27:52,53a 
 
"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. And came out of the graves after his resurrection,..." Then Paul said in I Corinthians Chapter 15:23: 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:23 
 
"But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; (and) afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 
 
 
Which of course would have to be the believers of the Church Age. That's us believers. So in our last lesson that was the purpose of taking you all the way back to the Book of Acts and bringing us through those early chapters when Peter was still dealing with the Nation of Israel and how then God raised up Saul of Tarsus. He made it plain as day that now this man was going to be sent to the Gentiles. And of course we saw all that in Acts Chapter 9, and we left him as they had lowered him in a basket over the wall because of the threats on his life. Now I want you to turn to Galatians Chapter 1, and in this little chapter Paul again brings us up to date as to what took place after he fled from Damascus. Now remember God is going to use this one man to take the message of salvation primarily to, but not exclusively, the Gentile world, although Jews are certainly going to be available for this same salvation. Let's start with verse 11. 
 
 
Galatians 1:11 
 
"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man." 
 
 
Now you know I'm a stickler for words, and the Holy Spirit never puts in excess words or never cuts it short, but rather He puts in everything that we need. Now look at that verse. If Paul is going to be preaching the same Gospel that Jesus and the Twelve preached then why in the world does He identify that the Gospel he preached as not being after man? Why those extra little words in there? Why didn't he just say, "I certify you, brethren, that when I preach the Gospel?." But he doesn't put it that way. He says rather, "the Gospel which was preached of me." Now that identifies him, and if you'll come across into Chapter 2 he does it even more clearly. Now years later in Chapter 2 when he meets with Peter, James, and John, and the other leaders at the Church there in Jerusalem he's going to have to give an account of what he's been preaching to these Gentiles. Now look at verse 2 of Chapter 2. 
 
 
Galatians 2:2 
 
"And I went up (to Jerusalem) by revelation, and communicated (he made it crystal clear) unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles,..."

We're in I Corinthians Chapter 15, and we've been talking about the doctrine of the resurrection, which is basic to our Christian faith, and at verse 20 we saw Paul sort of shift gears and now he breaks down how the resurrections are going to take place. They are not going to be all at one event, but rather first we had the firstfruits when Christ rose from the dead and those Jewish believers who came out of the graves after He did in Matthew Chapter 27.


Matthew 27:52,53a

"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. And came out of the graves after his resurrection,..." Then Paul said in I Corinthians Chapter 15:23:


I Corinthians 15:23

"But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; (and) afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."


Which of course would have to be the believers of the Church Age. That's us believers. So in our last lesson that was the purpose of taking you all the way back to the Book of Acts and bringing us throu

29 2 2 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, The Main Harvest: 1 Corinthians 15:24-54

Now by the time we get to Christ's earthly ministry and on to the book of Acts, even the Jews had lost sight of all this. And even in Jonah's day, when God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, what did he do? He took a ship and went west! He should have taken a camel and gone east. But he didn't. Well, why not? Those Gentiles had nothing to do with his God. But it was his God Who told him to go. And so he takes a ship west. And you know the story of Jonah. And so finally God had to deal with him and bring him back to shore and send him to Nineveh. Yes, God can save Gentiles when He wants to. But the mind-set of the Jew was that God had no time for those pagan dogs. And even in Christ's earthly ministry, that was implied with the Canaanite woman. 
 
 
Mark 7:27,28 
 
"But Jesus said unto her, `Let the children (Israel, the Jews) first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.' And she answered and said unto him, `Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.'" 
 
 
What was she implying? The Jews were in the place of privilege. They had the Word of God. But couldn't she have a couple of crumbs? Now the Jews took that to the extreme, so that when Paul comes back after his missionary journeys among the Gentiles and he tells them in Acts, the minute he spoke the word Gentile, what happened? A riot! Who would even dare to say such a word? Now, as you see in Isaiah, God's whole intent and purpose was that Israel as a kingdom of priests, would at one time go and evangelize those Gentiles. Now come back in Isaiah to Chapter 2 and you'll see this in a little bit different language, but it's the same thought. Now I think this will make sense. If I'd have read this first you wouldn't have gotten it, but now I think you will. 
 
 
Isaiah 2:1,2 
 
"The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass (it's going to happen) in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house (what is a mountain in Old Testament symbolism? Kingdom! You can just put that word in there and you won't violate the Scripture; that is that royal line coming from David) shall be established in the top of the mountains, (or it's going to be the top Kingdom of the kingdoms) and it shall be exalted above the hills; (smaller kingdoms. And here's the part I wanted you to see. Underline it if you don't mind marking in your Bible) and all nations shall (what?) flow into it." 
 
 
Now isn't that beautiful? Once Israel's Messiah would come and set up His throne, His kingdom, there in the city of Jerusalem, all the nations of the world would just navigate and would be brought just about like a magnet drawing steel, to Jerusalem. Now let me show you another verse. Let's go all the way up to Zechariah, Chapter 8, the next to the last book in the Old Testament. 
 
 
Zechariah 8:20-23 
 
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts; `It shall yet come to pass, (sound familiar? That's exactly the way Isaiah put it) that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, (Jehovah) and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations (plural) shall come to seek the Lord of hosts (where?) in Jerusalem, (where He has set up His throne and His kingdom) and to pray before the Lord.' Thus saith the Lord of hosts; `In those days (when Israel would be evangelizing those pagan Gentiles) that ten men shall take hold out of all the languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.'"

Now by the time we get to Christ's earthly ministry and on to the book of Acts, even the Jews had lost sight of all this. And even in Jonah's day, when God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, what did he do? He took a ship and went west! He should have taken a camel and gone east. But he didn't. Well, why not? Those Gentiles had nothing to do with his God. But it was his God Who told him to go. And so he takes a ship west. And you know the story of Jonah. And so finally God had to deal with him and bring him back to shore and send him to Nineveh. Yes, God can save Gentiles when He wants to. But the mind-set of the Jew was that God had no time for those pagan dogs. And even in Christ's earthly ministry, that was implied with the Canaanite woman.


Mark 7:27,28

"But Jesus said unto her, `Let the children (Israel, the Jews) first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.' And she answered and said unto him, `Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table

29 1 4 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Order of the Resurrections: 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

"But every man in his own order:..." (or company) 
 
 
That means that Christ and the firstfruits were the first little group of resurrected people, and then following is the main harvest, which I feel is the Body of Christ, those who have been saved during this age of Grace. And then after the Tribulation has run its course, and we go into the earthly kingdom for an extra 75 days, then the Old Testament saints which includes Daniel and all the rest, plus the Tribulation saints will be resurrected in their company. But before we go any further let's look at my timeline for few minutes. This timeline has opened a lot of eyes over the years to see how historically God's plan of the ages just keeps unfolding. So to start let's go back to Psalms Chapter 2 for a moment. And this chapter is the outline of the Old Testament prophetic program, and remember all true prophecy is directed only to the Nation of Israel. And usually, maybe not always, that prophecy will be within a time frame. In other words, the first real prophecy given in the Old Testament was when God told Abraham that the children of Israel would end up in a land that wasn't theirs, and they would be in slavery. 
 
 
Genesis 15:13 
 
"And he (God) said unto Abram, `Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;'" God was speaking of Egypt and how afterwards they would come back to the land of Canaan. 
 
 
Genesis 15:16a 
 
"But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again:..." 
 
 
Now that was distinctive prophecy of what would happen years down the road, but He put it in a time frame of 430 years. And then you get to Daniel Chapter 9, and Daniel writes that 490 years are determined upon your people, Israel. 
 
 
Daniel 9:24 
 
"Seventy weeks (490 years) are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." And then you have the prophecy leading up to the crucifixion. 
 
 
Daniel 9:26 
 
"And after three score and two weeks (483 years) shall Messiah be cut off,.." (that was at the Cross) 
 
 
Now we're able to see 7 years are left of that 490 years determined for the Nation of Israel, and that's where we get the idea that there will still be 7 years of Tribulation to fulfill the full 490 years. Now there is nothing in the Old Testament prophecy or otherwise that connects Israel to the Church, which is His Body. There is not a word in the Old Testament of some 1900 + years where God is calling out predominately Gentiles. And if people could get that through their head, they would have the battle half won on understanding the Bible. Now in Psalms Chapter 2 we see a brief outline of this Old Testament prophetic program given to the Jew.

"But every man in his own order:..." (or company) That means that Christ and the firstfruits were the first little group of resurrected ...

29 1 3 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Order of the Resurrections: 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

I Corinthians 15:22 
 
"For as in Adam all die, (We covered that in the last lesson, that when Adam sinned as the Federal head of the human race then every human being that has been born since has that fallen sin nature of Adam.) even so in Christ (remember the Creator of everything) shall (what's the next word?) all be made alive." 
 
 
Now that throws a curve at people if they don't read it carefully. They might say, "Now wait a minute. Are the lost going to be resurrected?" Yes! That's surprises people. Let's go back to John's Gospel. The lost are going to be resurrected. They're not in their eternal state as yet. They're going to have to come out bodily to appear before the Great White Throne of Revelation 20. And then they'll go to their eternal doom bodily, where they'll have a body fit for the Lake of Fire, whereas we will have a body fit for Glory. Now Jesus explains it Himself so clearly in John's Gospel Chapter 5, and drop in at verse 28. 
 
 
John 5:28,29a 
 
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shall come forth;..." 
 
 
Now from that verse alone we have people who teach a general resurrection; everybody all at the same time. The saved and the lost. The saved go to their glory and the lost go to their doom. All that are in the graves are going to hear God's call to come forth. But let's be careful that we don't read just that far and stop. Let's read on. 
 
 
John 5:29b 
 
"...they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (or condemnation)."

I Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, (We covered that in the last lesson, that when Adam sinned as the Federal head of the ...

29 1 2 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Order of the Resurrections: 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

Let's begin where we left off in our last lesson in I Corinthians 15:20-23. In verse 20 Paul has been rehearsing the whole scheme of resurrection in this chapter in the first 18 or 19 verses, that if Christ was not raised from the dead, then we have no hope. Because at the very core, the very crux of our Gospel is the fact that Christ was raised from the dead. He was resurrected. I like to define the term "resurrected" because I think often our ministers use the word "resurrection" totally out of it's true meaning. In other words, anyone who has been raised from the dead miraculously, back in Scripture, such as the widow's son, under Elijah. And then there was Lazarus, who was raised from the dead. These were not resurrected, they were merely brought back to life and then they died again. Resurrection speaks of that which only Christ began, and that is that He arose from the dead into the eternal, never to die again. And so when we speak of resurrection scripturally, don't think of someone who has merely died and has been called back to life, because they're going to die again. But once Christ rose from the dead, never to die again, that was resurrection. When we experience resurrection it's going to be final. We will not again have to die and be brought back to life. So resurrection is something that only began when Christ arose from the dead. He was the first to be resurrected. Just keep that straight in your mind. Just the other day I heard someone speaking of Lazarus being resurrected. No he wasn't! He was brought back to life but he was not resurrected because he died again at some later date. 
 
 
Now, we've been talking about the resurrection from the dead all the way through Chapter 15 on up to verse 19. In verse 20, Paul again, as I've used the expression off and on throughout the book of Corinthians, shifts gears. Now all of a sudden, instead of just talking about the resurrection of Christ at the time of His death, burial and resurrection, goes clear to the end of the age, you might say, and brings up resurrection as a part of the whole picture of God's plan of the Ages. Now again, when we teach the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, that's the way I like to depict it. This is God's plan for the Ages. Now, when I say it's God's plan, I want to take you back to Acts. And let's go to Chapter 2, but keep your hand on I Corinthians 15. When I speak of God's plan for the Ages, what I'm trying to imply is that God, before anything was ever created, the Triune God put everything in motion. He already had it blueprinted. 
 
 
You know one of the most amazing things, and one of the things that we find hard to comprehend is, that God from the beginning, gave men and nations their own free will. And they have been operating under that free will as nations make decisions to invade other nations supposedly under a free will, but yet from the beginning of time until the end of God's plan for the Ages, everything falls in place exactly as God has predetermined it. Isn't that amazing? How He can leave men and nations with a free will, they do pretty much what they want to do, and the end results in bringing everybody and everything to the end of God's purpose. All right, how did it all begin? Well I like to use this verse in Acts Chapter 2, and verse 23 where Peter is preaching here on the day of Pentecost, and he's preaching not to you and I, but rather to the Nation of Israel. Peter is rehearsing the fact that they had crucified their Messiah, but that's not the point so much that I want to get out of this verse, but rather what I just said, and that is that God has had a plan for the Ages from eternity past. 
 
 
Acts 2:23 
 
"Him (speaking of Jesus of Nazareth Whom they had crucified), being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:"

Let's begin where we left off in our last lesson in I Corinthians 15:20-23. In verse 20 Paul has been rehearsing the whole scheme ...

29 1 1 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Order of the Resurrections: 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

We enjoy when people write and say that for the first time in their life they're enjoying and understanding their Bible. We trust in that light the Lord is using us. Now, in I Corinthians 15:10 we start the verse with "But." Paul is going to use the flip side, and we showed you in Ephesians 2:1-3 where he listed all the things that were part of the past of every one of us, and then in verse 4 he begins: "But God" - the flip side. We're no longer what we were, but rather we are what we are, not because we have done so much, but because God has done it all. Now it's the same way here. The Apostle Paul does not claim that he received his apostleship because he was so educated, which of course he had been. He doesn't claim to be the apostle of the Gentiles because of some merit on his part: 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:10a 
 
"But by the grace of God I am what I am:..." 
 
 
I remember the question came up in one our classes, "What's the difference between Grace and mercy?" Well Dr. Bellamy got a computer program with all the Greek, and ramifications of the Hebrew, so I asked him to look up the difference between the two on his program. Then the other night he shared with us, and I haven't gotten it out of my craw ever since. "Grace is that attribute of God, that unmerited favor which makes the pouring out of His mercy possible." Have you got that? If it weren't for the Grace of God, He could have never poured out His mercy on mankind, because we don't deserve it. But since Grace is that unmerited favor, then God was able to pour out His mercy. Now don't you love that? I'm going to be teaching that every chance I get, that it's the Grace of God that makes it possible for Him to show mercy rather than wrath and judgment. So here this persecutor, this raging religious zealot who hated the Name of Jesus with a passion, in verse 10 says: 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:10a 
 
"But by the grace of God I am what I am:..."

We enjoy when people write and say that for the first time in their life they're enjoying and understanding their Bible. We trust in that light the Lord is using us. Now, in I Corinthians 15:10 we start the verse with "But." Paul is going to use the flip side, and we showed you in Ephesians 2:1-3 where he listed all the things that were part of the past of every one of us, and then in verse 4 he begins: "But God" - the flip side. We're no longer what we were, but rather we are what we are, not because we have done so much, but because God has done it all. Now it's the same way here. The Apostle Paul does not claim that he received his apostleship because he was so educated, which of course he had been. He doesn't claim to be the apostle of the Gentiles because of some merit on his part:


I Corinthians 15:10a

"But by the grace of God I am what I am:..."


I remember the question came up in one our classes, "What's the difference between Grace and mercy?" Well Dr. Bellamy got a compute

28 3 4  Resurrection of the Body: 1 Corinthians 14:4 - 15:19

As we come into I Corinthians Chapter 15, Paul sort of shifts gears on us, as he does that every once in a while. He's just come out of the various problems in the local Church and how he had to correct them. But here he shifts gears, and here comes the chapter that is the greatest chapter in all of Scripture dealing with the resurrection. Now we know the Old Testament was very vague, they knew about resurrection, they knew there was a life hereafter. Job spoke of it. 
 
 
Job 19:25,26 
 
"For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:" Yes, Job knew about resurrection, but for the most part you just don't find much about in the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of the resurrection in John Chapter 5, and He said: 
 
 
John 5:28 
 
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.:" 
 
 
Everyone that has ever lived is going to be resurrected, but in all those various portions of Scripture there is not that detailed description of what resurrection is going to entail like Paul describes here in I Corinthians Chapter 15. And so always remember it as the resurrection chapter; this whole chapter deals with this doctrine of resurrection from the dead. Now starting with verse 1: 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:1 
 
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, (And these Corinthians came out of their paganism because of Paul's Gospel.) which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;" Now what was Paul's Gospel? Well in a nutshell we find it in these next 3 verses, and then we're going to go back and look at some of the other ramifications of it. But in these next 3 verses he says: 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:2a 
 
"By which also ye are saved,..." 
 
 
Now I know that a lot of people don't like that word, but nevertheless it's a Scriptural term that refers to that act of God that takes us out of darkness and eternal doom in our future, and instead He covers us with His righteousness. He puts our feet upon the Rock, He gives us the Lamp unto our pathway. He puts our name in the Lamb's Book of Life. He places us in the Body of Christ, and we are constantly now a people with a heavenly citizenship, and we are headed for a glorious eternity. I was sharing with our Tulsa class the other night how few believers, I think, have any concept of the glory that the Body of Christ is going to enjoy in eternity. Now remember, in eternity it's going to be a whole new ball game. I think the whole universe is going to be brought back to it's origin. I think everything, heaven, earth, and everything that has ever been created is going to be brought back to a nothingness and recreated more glorious than ever before. Because everything in the universe has been tainted by the old devil himself, and so God is going to create it all new. 
 
 
Now when we go into that eternal state as members of the Body of Christ (not part of Israel which will enjoy their earthly domain on the new earth), we're a heavenly people. What does that mean? I think we're going to rule and reign in this whole new universe that God is going to bring about. I think we're going to have places of responsibility, and you also want to remember, in that eternal state, there is no time, and distance means nothing. We'll be able to go from one end of the universe to the other in a split second of time, so don't let that bother you. We just can't imagine the glory that is waiting the believer, and the world down here thinks we're a bunch of kooks. They think that we try to shun some of the pleasures of this world for a few years, but they have no concept of the ratio. What is seventy years to unlimited billions of years, well you can't even put it into mathematical ratio. So Paul is speaking of that (the Gospel) which prepares us for that kind of eternity when he says: 
 
 
I Corinthians 15:2 
 
"By which also ye are saved, (but you've got to know what you believe, so the next part of the verse says) if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain."

As we come into I Corinthians Chapter 15, Paul sort of shifts gears on us, as he does that every once in a while. He's just come out of the various problems in the local Church and how he had to correct them. But here he shifts gears, and here comes the chapter that is the greatest chapter in all of Scripture dealing with the resurrection. Now we know the Old Testament was very vague, they knew about resurrection, they knew there was a life hereafter. Job spoke of it.


Job 19:25,26

"For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:" Yes, Job knew about resurrection, but for the most part you just don't find much about in the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of the resurrection in John Chapter 5, and He said:


John 5:28

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.:"


Everyone that has ever lived is goi

28 3 3 Resurrection of the Body: 1 Corinthians 14:4 - 15:19

I Corinthians 14:19,20 
 
"Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice (And that's not a very nice word) be ye children, but in understanding (grow up and) be men." Do you see how plain all of this is? Now verse 21: 
 
 
I Corinthians 14:21 
 
"In the law it is written, `With men of other tongues (Languages) and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.'" 
 
 
Here Paul is quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy, and we're going to go back and look at it in Chapter 28: And naturally this is directed to the Children of Israel. 
 
 
Deuteronomy 28:49 
 
"The LORD shall bring a nation (of foreign people) against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand:" 
 
 
Now here the tongue refers to their language. Whether it was the Babylonians that He was referring to or some other nation, there would come a time in Israel's history that a foreign nation would over-run them, invade them, and the Jews would have to listen to them talking in their language as they were being occupied. Do you see that? Now it wasn't an unknown tongue, but it was a language that the Jews wouldn't be able to understand. It was a warning, "Listen, you're going to have people in your midst that you're not going to like to have around, you're not going to be able to understand what they say, they're going to be foreigners." And so this is exactly what Paul is referring to now in I Corinthians when he says in verse 21 again: 
 
 
I Corinthians 14:21,22 
 
"In the law it is written, `With men of other tongues (or other languages) and other lips will I speak unto this people; (by occupying them) and yet for all that will they not hear me,' saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues (This ability to speak in languages) are for a sign,..." 
 
 
To the Jew, and we find that in I Corinthians Chapter 1, and verse 22, and again, all we're going by is what the Book says. 
 
 
I Corinthians 1:22 
 
"For the Jews require a sign,..." 
 
 
Now stop and think, how long has Israel been demanding signs? Well, it goes all the way back to when Moses was first called out of the desert, and even Moses the Jew did not believe that he was supposed to do what God wanted him to do. And so how did God prove it to him? He said, "Throw your shepherd rod on the ground." And you all know the account, and what happened? It became a serpent. Then the Lord said, "Pick it up," and it became a shepherd's rod again. What was God trying to show Moses? That He is in it. He is going to take him back to Pharaoh. And then Moses said, "Yeah, but when I get to Pharaoh he's not going to believe that I'm supposed to lead the children of Israel out." And what does God tell Moses and Aaron? The same thing: "You throw your rod down and it will become a serpent," and all these signs were not so much for Pharaoh's benefit, but rather for Moses' and Aaron's. To prove to those two men that God was going to do the supernatural. He's going to bring Israel out of Egypt. So all the way up through Israel's history you have the supernatural, and you come into Christ's earthly ministry, and I've taught it and I've taught it until I'm blue in the face. Why did Jesus perform miracle, after miracle? To prove to the Jew that He was Who He said He was. It was signs. And remember when we taught the Book of John there were seven miraculous signs, and every one of them had a whole train-load of truths for the Nation of Israel. They didn't mean that much to the Gentiles, but they meant everything to the Jew. And now Paul comes in even as he writes to a Gentile congregation and says: 
 
 
I Corinthians 1:22,23a 
 
"For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; (Now look at the flip side in verse 23) But we preach Christ crucified,..."

I Corinthians 14:19,20

"Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice (And that's not a very nice word) be ye children, but in understanding (grow up and) be men." Do you see how plain all of this is? Now verse 21:


I Corinthians 14:21

"In the law it is written, `With men of other tongues (Languages) and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.'"


Here Paul is quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy, and we're going to go back and look at it in Chapter 28: And naturally this is directed to the Children of Israel.


Deuteronomy 28:49

"The LORD shall bring a nation (of foreign people) against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand:"


Now here the tongue refers to their la

28 3 2 Resurrection of the Body: 1 Corinthians 14:4 - 15:19

Now let's open our Bibles to I Corinthians Chapter 14. And again, before I start teaching I would like to get into the background, because I'm finding out there are very few people who know the circumstances that surround a particular Book or Letter, so we should always know the circumstances, and that makes all the difference in understanding. Remember that Paul is writing to these weak, carnal, fleshly, believers that have just come out of abject immorality in Corinth. He's writing to correct them because they had so many problems. So the whole theme of I Corinthians is to correct problems, and this whole letter has to be studied in that light. 
 
 
Also remember the reason, I think, the Holy Spirit prompted Paul to write the love chapter, which is Chapter 13, and to sandwich it in between 12 and 14, which are filled with problems. Chapter 13 was to soften his approach in order to prepare the ground. Because Paul realizes, as well as anybody, that the only way that you can bring people around to the truth is in the spirit of love, you don't slap them in the face with anger, or ridicule, and put them down as some kind of dummy, but in the spirit of love bring them around to the truth. So as we pick up our study in Chapter 14 don't lose sight of what he wrote in the love chapter. Remember love is still the greatest of all the things so far as God's dealing with mankind is concerned. Verse 1: 
 
 
I Corinthians 14:1 
 
"Follow after charity, (love) and desire spiritual gifts, (gifts is italicized, and personally I like to use the word `things' instead of gifts) but rather that ye may prophesy." 
 
 
Remember the greatest spiritual thing at this time was to prophesy or to speak forth the Word of God, because at the time that Paul is writing to these early Churches there is still no New Testament written. The Four Gospels haven't been written and won't be written until many years after Paul's letters. His own letters have not gone out as the Word of God as yet. He certainly hasn't written to the Corinthian Church before, so you have to realize that these early primitive, apostolic Churches were experiencing their growth and reaching out into the pagan world without benefit of the written Word. Where would we be today if we didn't have the Book. I mean this is all that we have to go on, but they didn't have that so what did they have to depend on? Gifted men. And they had to be gifted to the point that they they could now teach people the Pauline doctrines, and not that which was still coming out of the Old Testament, or there would have been pandemonium. So Paul realizes through the Holy Spirit that this was the most important thing a local Church could have, and that was men who could proclaim the truth of God's Word without benefit of having it in print. Now does that help? Paul said in Chapter 13 and verse 10 that the time would come when that gift would fade away. And it is no longer a valid gift, because now we have the printed page. Now of course to be a pastor or teacher it's still a gift, and it's delineated as such. But once the printed Scriptures came into being, Paul's letters come into the right format. Then we got the Four Gospels, and Book of Acts, and so forth, and our New Testament is complete, and now there is no need for that kind of gifted men.

Now let's open our Bibles to I Corinthians Chapter 14. And again, before I start teaching I would like to get into the background, because I'm finding out there are very few people who know the circumstances that surround a particular Book or Letter, so we should always know the circumstances, and that makes all the difference in understanding. Remember that Paul is writing to these weak, carnal, fleshly, believers that have just come out of abject immorality in Corinth. He's writing to correct them because they had so many problems. So the whole theme of I Corinthians is to correct problems, and this whole letter has to be studied in that light. 


Also remember the reason, I think, the Holy Spirit prompted Paul to write the love chapter, which is Chapter 13, and to sandwich it in between 12 and 14, which are filled with problems. Chapter 13 was to soften his approach in order to prepare the ground. Because Paul realizes, as well as anybody, that the only way that you can bring people

28 3 1  Resurrection of the Body: 1 Corinthians 14:4 - 15:19

But here Paul has been addressing problems because the Church was still so carnal, they had not grown spiritually. Now it's interesting that of all the things he has dealt with in Corinthians from Chapter 1, where they had divisions of whom they were following, and going to court against each other, and the problem of immorality in the Church, he also had to deal with the tongues phenomenon, which it had also become a problem. He does not address it as some aspect of their spirituality, because it had become a problem. It had upset the function of the local Church, and they were causing disorder, and he has to address it. So all these things had been in answer to questions that they had written to Paul requesting some answers. Tongues were unique in the Corinthian Church, and this is what I can't get over in my own study, as we never see again in any of his other churches tongues even mentioned. We only find tongues at this carnal Church at Corinth, and that should tell us something. 
 
 
But for now let's get back to where we left off, and here Paul is dealing with the Body of Christ which is composed of people who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. Now that Holy Spirit baptism is not an emotional phenomenon, or a physical thing, because you or I never felt a thing, or didn't know anything had happened when the Holy Spirit baptized us into the Body. We know it happened only because the Book says so, and that's the only way we know that we were placed into the Body of Christ, and we have to leave it at that. We don't try to look for some emotional thing or feeling. I've told people so often that word feeling is not used in the Scriptures. We take these things by faith, and not by feeling. Now let's look at verse 23: 
 
 
I Corinthians 12:23 
 
"And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, (remember in the last lesson I used the little toe as an example. It's very seldom seen, and we probably think it's totally useless until you lose it, because if you lose your little toe it inhibits walking, and balance. It may be the place of less honor, but it is still important, so also are the less noticed, and less honored members of the Body of Christ.) upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness." In other words, that's just the way that God works. He takes the foolish things of this world and confounds the wise. He says in another place in I Corinthians that He took the things that are not, to confound the things that are, and it's basically on this same premise. 
 
 
I Corinthians 1:27 
 
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;" Now let's look at verse 24: 
 
 
I Corinthians 12:24 
 
"For our comely parts (the best part of our appearance) have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:" 
 
 
Isn't that amazing? As I was studying this I couldn't help but think of parents who have had a retarded child, maybe even the Down Syndrome child. We've talked to several who have had this kind of child and even though they had several children, the Down Syndrome child was always the most responsive. That was the child that they poured their love to in such a very special way, and every parent that has one will tell you that same thing. They are the most lovable, and the most easy to love of all children. Well I think Paul is saying the same thing here, we take the weakest believer, the one that the world would think, "Well, the Church certainly can't use that person." But that's the very one that God wants us to enhance, and to bring them to the forefront. Now verse 25, all of these things are for one purpose. 
 
 
I Corinthians 12:25,26 
 
"That there should be no schism (or division) in the body; (That is the Body of Christ) but that the members should have the same care one for another." In other words, every believer in God's eyes deserves the same amount of love and compassion as the next one. Verse 26: 
 
"And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it;... 
 
 
And again he's going to use the analogy of the human body and what is it? You hit your thumb with a hammer, and the whole body is shot with pain. It's the same way with the Body of Christ, if a believer is hurt, then the whole Body hurts with it. Now verse 27. 
 
 
I Corinthians 12:27 
 
"Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."

But here Paul has been addressing problems because the Church was still so carnal, they had not grown spiritually. Now it's interesting that of all the things he has dealt with in Corinthians from Chapter 1, where they had divisions of whom they were following, and going to court against each other, and the problem of immorality in the Church, he also had to deal with the tongues phenomenon, which it had also become a problem. He does not address it as some aspect of their spirituality, because it had become a problem. It had upset the function of the local Church, and they were causing disorder, and he has to address it. So all these things had been in answer to questions that they had written to Paul requesting some answers. Tongues were unique in the Corinthian Church, and this is what I can't get over in my own study, as we never see again in any of his other churches tongues even mentioned. We only find tongues at this carnal Church at Corinth, and that should tell us something.



28 2 4 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Eternal Excellence of Love: 1 Corinthians 12:1 - 14:3

I Corinthians 12:11 
 
"But all these (the things that he has listed up there in verses 8, 9 and 10) worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally (differently) as he (the Holy Spirit) will." 
 
 
Do you see that? So it's not for you and me to go and say, "Oh I want this gift, or that gift," No, you just take the gift that God has given you. Now I think the greatest thing we can do is just simply say, "Lord here I am, I'm available, use me." And let Him direct you where He want to use you. I've told people this for years that I don't wait for God to say something out loud, He's never spoken to me out loud, but I'll tell you how He talks to me, and that's with open and closed doors. He gets us just exactly where He want us. If something doesn't fly and the door closes, don't push against it, you just take it that God doesn't want you in that direction. You will find another open door someplace else so just take that one. And then from the Word, His Word can just impress you so much. Another one is by prayer, and that's some of the ways that we can find what God wants. But just to simply go to God and say, "I want the gift of such and such, no I don't think this is what the Bible permits. We are to leave that up to the Holy Spirit. Now I don't want to skip any verses or I'll get a call saying, "Well, you copped out." Now verse 8: 
 
 
I Corinthians 12:8 
 
"For to one (believer in the congregation) is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; (that's a gift to have wisdom) to another the word of knowledge (but it's going to come) by the same Spirit;" See, these were things that the Church needed, and God is providing then with these particular abilities. Now verse 9: 
 
 
I Corinthians 12:9 
 
"To another faith by the same Spirit; (now whether you know it or not, if you're a believer where did you get the wherewithal to believe the Gospel? From the Holy Spirit, because it's a gift, and as we exercise that gift of faith we respond by believing. Also some have greater faith than others and there's nothing wrong with that.) to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;" 
 
 
There's no doubt they exercised this gift in the early Church. We know that even Paul himself exercised this gift in the Book of Acts as he performed miracles. But by the time you get to his later letters there's not a word about these kind of miracles, and he doesn't perform them himself. One of his best friends, and fellow laborers in the work was sick on the island of Miletus, and was nigh on to death, but could Paul heal him? No. So what did he admonish the believers to do? The same as we do today; pray for him. And we know that Timothy evidently had a stomach ailment, and we know Paul didn't heal him, he gave him a remedy for it, but he didn't heal him. And it was the same way with many of his own catastrophes in his life experience. Did he get healed? No. The Lord brought him through them, but no sign of any miraculous healing. In this area of Scripture, remember, that it's only in the letter to this carnal Corinthian Church that he deals with these particular gifts. Now let's finish verse 10: 
 
 
I Corinthians 12:10 
 
"To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; (to determine whether it's true or whether it's false) to another divers kinds of tongues; (languages) to another the interpretation of tongues: (or those languages)"

I Corinthians 12:11 "But all these (the things that he has listed up there in verses 8, 9 and 10) worketh that one and the selfsame ...

28 2 3 Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Eternal Excellence of Love: 1 Corinthians 12:1 - 14:3

25 2 2Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Mysteries Given Paul; - Romans 11:25-34

Mysteries Given Paul; God Has Not Changed His Mind - Romans 11:25-34

Rome Gray Videos