Change in program changed everything

Religious leaders train Believers to make the excuse, “I just can’t handle the ‘ye’ and ‘thee’ stuff in the King James Bible,” but “ye” is simply like Southerners saying “y’all,” and “thee” simply refers to the individual.

“The old English had a way to distinguish between the ‘ye’ that is plural—the group—and the ‘thee’ that is singular,” explains Jordan. “When Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘I say unto thee, ye must be born again,’ He’s saying, ‘Nick, the nation Israel’s got to be born again.’ Now, you never heard a preacher in your life preach that passage right.

“The same is true in Acts 3:19 when Peter says, ‘Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.’ It’s an appeal to the nation. Peter is following the Old Testament order with regard to national salvation and the nation’s receiving of her covenant.

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“Under the Old Testament economy, the nation Israel had a short-account system where the Jewish believer had to bring a sacrifice every time he sinned. There even had to be a sacrifice offered for ignorance and sins of omission.

“He had to make a sacrifice even in cases of sins he committed that he wasn’t aware he committed! He had to constantly bring those sacrifices—day in, day out; every morning, every evening. The man had to constantly do that because he lived under bondage and the fear of death. He was afraid of dying and there being an issue between him and God because he didn’t want to go to hell. The only way he knew to gain forgiveness was to bring that sacrifice.

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“The ‘good news’ today is that through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary, God says, ‘I’ve taken care of it.’

“When you move from the old covenant to the new covenant, you move from a short- account system to an absolute clearing of the issue. What you need to know is God has absolutely, totally, 100 percent forgiven you upfront and forever.

“While the Jews had to offer sacrifices for sin, the issue for them—just as it is with us today—was their faith in Jesus Christ’s shed blood, not in the works they were required to perform.

“It’s Christ righteousness that was imputed to them—just like it is to us—only it wasn’t revealed to them. God knew in time past sin was going to be dealt with on the Cross. The sacrifice of Christ at Calvary doesn’t just do it for us, it does it for all men at every age and it’s ALWAYS been the issue with God.

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“I read a Christian magazine article in the dentist office in which a preacher was quoted warning, ‘Faith in Christ is not enough.’ The man was quoting from James chapter 2, completely ignorant of the fact that that particular book represents pre-Pauline revelation given to the ‘twelve tribes of Israel,’ as it even states in the first sentence of the first chapter! It’s instruction for the Jewish Believer to follow during the tribulation.

“When God Almighty takes His church (the Body of Christ) out of here at the Rapture, He has more people yet in His program and those people over there deserve a part of the Bible that explains to them what God’s program is just like we deserve a part of it that explains what His program is to us.

“Those people over there need a book that will explain to them how the Cross affects their program based upon the advanced revelation given to Paul. That’s what the Book of Hebrews is all about.

“Folks, faith is just believing what God tells you, and if you believe what God tells you, you’re going to do what He tells you, aren’t you?

“Just like our faith is evidenced by our lack of works, Israel’s faith is evidenced by their works. People will tell you, ‘If you trust Christ and don’t produce good works, you’re not saved,’ but the evidence in the life of a Believer today that he’s justified is precisely that he won’t work!

“The greatest issue in the 21^st Century is the greatest issue in every age—it’s the issue of the clarity of the gospel of grace. And when you talk about the clarity, you’re talking about making it clear that the payment for sin is what Jesus Christ did at Calvary and what you do is simply have faith in it—faith alone.

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“Matthew 9:35 says, “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

“Christ's healing campaigns weren't like what you see on TV or at some arena or tent revival. He healed EVERY sickness and EVERY disease. And He didn't make them do this superstition thing where it’s, ‘Well, the healing’s there but you just don't see it yet. Claim your healing and it will eventually come.’ ”

“During Christ’s earthly ministry, He healed people right on the spot—visibly, physically accomplishing the healings in crowd’s midst.

“In Matthew 10, Christ commissions the 12 apostles and sends them out to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, etc.

“So the question for people who don’t rightly divide the Bible is, ‘If Jesus Christ, the apostle to the nation Israel, and His 12 apostles He trained, were all able to heal sick people, why did the Apostle Paul get sick?’

“Everybody else's apostles get well, heal people, raise the dead. . . With Peter, just his shadow accomplishes miracles. By the way, when Paul's in Lystra, he heals a lame man. In Acts 19, just a touch of Paul’s handkerchiefs taken from his body healed people.

“In Acts 20, a man who falls from a third-floor loft and dies is raised from the dead by Paul. In Acts 28, Paul handles a snake that bites him but it doesn't hurt him.

“Paul had the signs of an apostle, but in his personal life—and in the life of his friends— there’s no healing. Paul says in II Timothy, ‘Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.’

“He tells Timothy to ‘take a little wine’ for his oft infirmities. What's going on here? Paul was at Galatia sick and the Galatians were so concerned about him some were willing to have an eye transplant to help him out.

“Was Paul out of the will of God because he was sick? In Exodus 15:26, God says, ‘If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.’

“Paul wasn't out of will of God because he was sick. God had changed the program. Today we're not under that, ‘If you will do my law then I'll bless you’ program. Paul recognized that he, as our apostle in this age of grace, had been made an example of what God now wants us to understand about suffering and sickness.

“Paul writes in II Corinthians 4:17, ‘For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.’

“Because God reminds Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness,’ Paul responds with, ‘Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’ ”