Now what is the meaning of the word dispensation? Simply a well-defined period of time. Paul speaks of the dispensation of the grace of God. He was referred to a certain period in which God in sovereign grace was seeking to reach the hearts of men. That period of grace, as we will see a little later on, began at Pentecost and will continue until Jesus Christ comes at the rapture. And so a dispensation is a well-defined period of time. In other words, God has distributed His methods in dealing with men over seven dispensations. Now it's nice to see that. In other words, you could use the word ages. Seven ages. We're accustomed to thinking the word ages refers to a time without end. And we speak of the ages of the ages referring to eternity. And yet, in your Bible, a certain period of time is often spoken of as an age. A certain age. For instance, you remember that Christ once in the end of the age, he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now, we know that Christ appeared nineteen hundred years ago and died upon the crop to put away sin. And the Bible says... that he did that at the end of the age. A lot of people would think on the surface that meant at the end of the world. Well, the world hasn't ended yet. That happened nearly two thousand years ago. And yet it says that Christ died at the end of the age. What was he referring to? The end of the age of law. The end of the Jewish age, if you will. And at the end of that period of time, at the end of the age of law, Jesus Christ died upon the cross. So once in the end of the age, the age of law, Jesus Christ died for sin. And so you see the word age can be used as well as the word dispensation. It means a period of time when God begins something new in his dealings with the human race. And that new method, will continue until it has failed or succeeded. And in every case it has failed. So God has commenced another age. Another method. God was sundry times and in diverse manners or many manners, spake in times passed on to the fathers by the prophets. In other words, God tried one thing after another to try and improve man's condition. and to cause men to rise in his morals, in his deportment, in his manner of life, in his attitude toward God. In every case it failed. And God tried age after age, dispensation after dispensation, and every one failed, as we're going to try and point out. You might look upon a dispensation as a time of testing. God is testing man. He submits them to one test. And then he submits them to another test. Then he submits them to another test. And God's dealings in each of those ages is quite different. Now, first of all, we have the age of innocence. Man was created innocent. That's your first age, your first dispensation. When God created Adam and Eve, they came fresh from his hand. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. That dispensation ran from the creation of man, from the very moon, that Adam took his first breath and opened his eyes in God's wonderful creation until the fall. That is the dispensation of innocence. In other words, during that time man was free from guilt. He didn't have any sense of guilt, no more than a little one-year-old baby or a one-day-old baby. Adam was innocent. He didn't have any sense of guilt. He was without sin. He was holy. He was pure. He was upright. He was harmless. That's what innocent means. So Adam and Eve were that. There's one thing they did have. They had a free will. In that way God made man in his own likeness. God has the prerogative to exercise his own will. And he gave that to man. And here he creates man in a state of absolute innocence. He places him in a lovely environment, but he gives him a will. He gives him a will. You know how Adam and Eve used that will. In other words, the length of that... period of innocent is not given us in the Bible. It could have been weeks, it could have been months, it could have been years. From the time that God created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden until the moment when Adam and Eve sinned against God, they listened to the voice of Satan, they partook of the forbidden fruit, and their innocence fled. The age of innocence came to an end, and the age of conscience began. Man awakened to the fact that there was good and evil. Up till that time Adam and Eve didn't know any evil. They weren't even conscious of any evil. But now, says God, they become like one of us to know good and evil. A man possessed a conscience. He knew what was right and he knew what was wrong. And the age of conscience began, where a man's one guide was his conscience. Today you hear, well, let your conscience be your guide. I would say this, only as your conscience is guided by the Bible. Because all we have to do is reflect upon the day, the age, when Adam and Eve were guided by their conscience only. And you know how that age ended in the flood. And it says concerning that generation, that age, that dispensation, that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart, evil continued. Man knew what was good. He didn't have the power to do it. He knew what was evil. He did not possess the power to refrain from doing. He couldn't follow out the proper dictates of his conscience. He was too weak. Too weak. And so you have the age of conscience from the fall until the flood. And that ended, as I've already said, in the judgment of the flood. Now this period of time, as far as we can understand from Bible chronology by usher, was about sixteen hundred and fifty-six years. sixteen hundred and fifty-six years. The age of conscience. Then the awful judgment of the flood came. And I want you to notice that the end of each one of these dispensations, at the end of each one of these ages, these period of time, there was judgment. How did the age of innocence end? Judgment! Expulsion from the God! God judged them. sin and Adam and Eve were driven from the garden. There you have God's judgment. And so the age of innocence ended with judgment, expulsion from the garden and Eve. How did the age of conscience end judgment, the flood in the time of Noah? Now you have the age of human government beginning, because God committed the government of the earth to Noah. He told Noah how to run the earth. And he committed human government into the hands of Noah and his successors. And that period of human government, which ran about four hundred and twenty-seven years, ran until Genesis eleven, where you have the power of Babel. And here you find man trying to run the earth. And instead of carrying out the will of God in scattering abroad and replenishing the earth, he gathers together in the flame of Shinar, and he defies God. God told them a flood was coming, get in the ark. Now, after the flood, they won't believe God. They didn't believe him. When he said a flood would come, and to get in the ark, they wouldn't get in. God says, I'll never send another flood. And he put the rainbow in the sky as a proof of that. But instead of man believing in God, they gathered together in the plain of China and they built the Tower of Babel to reach unto heaven as they thought. They only got so far and God confused them and stopped their progress into the heavens. Let me tell you this. In this exploration of space and all the billions being spent to try and probe into space. They'll only go so far, just as far as God permits them, and then he'll call a halt. Just like the Tower of Babel, God says, thus far shall thou go, and no further, because he ruled out the heavens. But here you have judgment again. God came in, and he confounded their language. He confused them at the Tower of Babel. And so the age of human government, around four hundred and twenty-seven years ended in judgment. What age began then? The age of promise, because when those people scattered, they became idolaters. They began worshiping idols, and during that time Abraham was born. And God called a man, Abraham by name. And you know the story, it begins in Genesis twelve. God made promise to Abraham. Show them the stars. So shall thy seed be. The sands from the sea. And they promised to Abraham not only of a seed, but of a land, the land of Caden. And that's what God wanted that age, that generation, to believe was his promise. If they kept the promises of God, God would bring them into the land. There you have the age of promise. God choosing one man, and through him the promises were passed on. How did that age or dispensation end? Slavery bonded to needless and the judgment of the plague and the death of the firstborn. That age ended in judgment too. And so you have the age of promise lasting about four hundred and thirty years. As your Bible tells you in Galatians, Then what age began, the age of law, the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai that you read about in Exodus chapter nineteen. And here is man. By this time he said, Well, the Lord will tell us what he wants us to do. We'll do it. He failed under innocence. He failed under conscience. He failed under human government. He failed under promise. He said, All right. Let the Lord tell us what he wants. Give us a standard. Give us some kind of law, legislation, some rules to obey. We'll do it. All right, says God, I will. And he gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, and they were written on tables of stone. Now you know about the age of law and how it ended. It ended in the worst sin of all. They crucified the Son of God. The age of law ran from Sinai to Calvary. When they crucified the lawgiver himself, the next length of time was about fifteen hundred and twenty-four years. The age of law. God gave the world the ten commandments, gave them to Israel, but any Gentile who wished approach to God and blessing from God could receive that blessing by adhering to God's instructions to his earthly people, Israel. Today a lot of people still think that they're on the law. There are people right here, no doubt some being told this morning, right here in Albany, that they keep the Ten Commandments, they'll get to heaven. That age ended at the cross. Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to everyone the believer. The age of law ended at the cross. The law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And the end of that dispensation of law was the cross or the curse. For God made it plain that if they didn't keep the law, they would be under the curse of a broken law. And the last word of your Old Testament is curse. The last word in your Old Testament. The earth cursed because they had violated God's law and God's precepts. But that curse fell upon Jesus Christ for all who will believe. Cursed it is he that hangeth upon a tree. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed it is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. And that was nineteen hundred years ago when Jesus Christ became the curse. That's why I quoted that text. Once in the end of the age, that is the Mosaic age, or the age of law, Christ appeared to put away sin for the sacrifice himself. And so you have these different ages or dispensations, these period of time. When God is testing man, he's dealing with man, he's changing his methods. In his approach to man, trying to teach man, they've all failed and they've all ended in judgment. And that age of law ended in the worst judgment of all, up to that time, the judgment of the cross. Well, what age followed that? The age of grace. We're living in the age of grace. It began at Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came down to form the church. This is the church age, the age of grace. What is our message today? Very plain. It's right in this epistle, chapter two, verses eight and nine. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, but any man should boast, but up until Christ came, shall basis of works. That is, blessing from God was on the basis of works. God said, On the law this do, and thou shall live. Under grace he reverses it. He says, though I have given you life, now go and do. And a lot of people are still back under law, thinking if they keep the Ten Commandments, they'll get to heaven and ask them, do you keep them? Well, I try. God didn't say, if you try I'll save you policeman pulls up alongside of you and you've been exceeding the limit about twenty miles and he says don't you know what the law is here speedily well yeah it's thirty miles now but I was trying to keep him you weren't trying very hard If you were exceeding it, twenty miles, broke the law. Trying is not good enough. He gets it fixed. And God didn't say if you try to keep the law, if you do your best, I'll bless you. God says, Cursed is he that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do. Break one commandment and you're under the curse. That's what the Bible says. He that keepeth the whole law yet offendeth in one point, he is guilty of all. And there is man cursed by a broken law. And Jesus Christ came to establish grace and to begin the dispensation or the age of grace. That began nineteen hundred years ago. Under law, works under grace a gift under law man was working to obtain God's favor and that was a failure man working to obtain God's favor but that turned out to be a miserable failure so says God now I'll give you something for nothing you don't have to work on it I'll give you salvation is a free gift it cost me my son and it cost him his life and the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord you don't have to work for it's free and after nineteen hundred years man has departed further and further from god and today he refuses to take the gift refuses to take the gift today people think you've got to be baptized, you've got to join the church, you've got to live a good life, you've got to do this, and you've got to do that, and the other thing to be saved. God said it's a gift. He has reduced salvation to the simplest, a free gift. Now a man wants to go back under the law, an aid to dispensation that ended at the cross. And he won't take salvation free, says that's too simple. I got to do something. Did you notice that text? You may read it yourself in verses eight and nine of chapter two here. By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's not what you are. Not of works. It's not what you do. It's a gift. Jesus paid for it. All you do is receive and thank the given. But remember then, After you're saved, then is when your good works come. We are created in Christ Jesus. The next verse tells you. I think it's verse ten. We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Once you're saved by the grace of God and you receive the gift, then you live to prove the reality of your profession. And if there are any good works, no evidence of the divine nature in you, you might as well put it down. You missed it. You missed it. But if you were really saved, there will be some evidence. For the Bible plainly says in connection with the sowing in Matthew thirteen that the good ground which speaks of those who were really saved brought forth some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred. But you'll notice there were some fruits. Now it's true some Christians bring forth a hundred bull. Some bring forth sixty, but some bring forth thirty. And possibly some even down to ten. But there is going to be some fruit if you're born again. And if there isn't any fruit, there isn't any roots. Found to be fruit if a person is born again. So we're in the age of grace. which has already run nineteen hundred years or better. Did you ever stop to think of this? That adding up these five dispensations without the age of innocence and we have no record after how long that was, you have five thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven years. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says that a thousand years is but a day. God was six days working and he rested the seventh day. Now we're right at the end of the six thousandth year of God's dealings with the human race, his different methods with man. The sixth dispensation breaks. There's to be one more dispensation and the age of that is given us or what that age is given us in Revelation chapter twenty and how long it is. It's the millennial age, the reign of Christ upon this earth, and it's one thousand years. Now we're nearing the end of the six thousand. And you add the millennium on that will give you seven thousand years or seven days. thousand years but one day to God. God worked six days. He rested the seventh day. God's been working with the human race for nearly six thousand years in six different ways. He's going to rest the seventh day, the millennial reign of Christ when Christ raised over the earth. Every attempt that God has made that help man has failed. Now man says we want a perfect administration. We want a perfect government. And they've tried several. Despotism, democracies, republics, totalitarian forms of government, monarchy and so on. God says, well I'll have to show you eventually what a perfect administration is. And my sons will reign for a thousand years and show you What a perfect government is. But I am pointing this out to show you how near we are in. Here you have recorded five thousand nine hundred and thirty seven years, not including the age of innocence, which could have been twenty or thirty years, we don't know, which brings us mighty close to this six thousand year mark. So we haven't much time to lose. You know, this book says, this verse, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, when all these other times and dispensations have come to an end, the millennium is really the dispensation of the fullness of times. God is going to gather together in one all things in Christ. And I love this rendering in the... Amplified New Testament, he puts it this way. God planned for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, things in heaven and in earth. Simply meaning this, that the things man aspired after and desired, and God was anxious to give them, but he failed to get for six thousand years, it's all going to be realized and consummated in Jesus Christ in the millennium. That's the only place you're going to get in the way. That is, you may have salvation now, free, free. You know, if I had a blackboard up here, I would try and show you this. In fact, a white piece of paper would be better, and divide it into seven sections. And each section begins white. like each dispensation for the millennium is going to begin perfect when Christ is going to rid out of his kingdom all things that offend after battle of Armageddon and that will be included in it then as you get toward the end of the first section it darkens till it blacks the end of the age of an Another new beginning, this one says, the age of conscience, it begins clean. It gets shaded as it moves along. It ends black. The age of human government begins white. It ends in black. The age of Thomas begins white. It ends in black. The age of the law begins white. It ends the blackest of all. with the death of God's Son upon the cross, man staining his hands with the blood of God's Son. Yes, the age of grace began white when the gospel went out from all those newborns, so the light of the gospel of God's grace burst upon the human race. How is it ending? Very dark. The dark days upon us, the darkness of the night is just before the dawn. Let me tell you, we'll mention tonight some of the indications of the lateness of the hour and the darkness of the night right now. You know, it's a sad thing when you have to go to a politician. If you get a little light on the subject like this, Listen this, echoes of history. In the decline and fall, and I might say this is by Congressman Noah M. Mason, Republican of Illinois, in the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbons lists the following reasons for that fall. First, the rapid increase of divorce, the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. Second, higher and higher taxes and the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace. Third, the mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal. Fourth, the building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people. Fifth, the decay of religion, faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and becoming impudent to guide the people. Do these five reasons for the fall of Rome tell us anything about our present national situation? That's what a politician is. showing how near we are to the end. In other words, your Bible says concerning the day in which we live, the whole creation groaned and prevailed with pain until now, waiting for the redemption, the adoption, the manifestation of the sons of God. Take our present day in age. Why do such tragic things happen? I read a newspaper, printed a way back in about nineteen five, and my, you only found one little accident on the whole page, one page, and nothing on the rest of the newspaper. Look at it today. The tragic things that happen. Children killing their parents, the brutality to children, by parents, the horrible things that are happening. People say, why do these things happen? My Bible says, and of course they'll blame God, but why does God allow this? Why does God permit that? They try and blame God for all this. God hasn't a thing to do. This is what man has brought upon himself. This world is just like a bus running crazily down the steep mountain it rose, headed for death to destruction. What happened to the driver? They threw him out. That's exactly what this world did with God when they crucified His Son on this poor world is going crazily down to destruction with this human freight. What does the Bible say? When the disciples drew attention to the tears in the field long the week, Christ says an enemy hath done this. And who is that enemy, the devil? The whole creation groaning and prevailing in pain until now. Yes, tragedies on every hand, indescribable tragedies. God's not responsible for it. Satan is running rampant with man's permission and agitation. Man is aggravating the situation. He wants this. And so you see this tragic, bewildered, confused, suffering and droning world. Watch the answer. God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God is the only answer for this present dark hour. If you're a Christian, live for Christ, for you haven't much longer. If you're a sinner, plead with Christ, because the end is near. For instance, I just draw your attention to two things here. Verse seven, the redemption of the soul, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. This is this age of grace, according to the riches of his grace. Redemption through his blood. the forgiveness of sins. Just think of that. You can have redemption this morning. Your soul redeemed. Forgiveness. For all your sins through his precious blood. But then you have redemption of something else down in verse fourteen. Which is the earnest. Now I might read verse thirteen as connection. In whom ye also trusted, you who are saved, after that ye heard the word of truth, and you're hearing the word of truth, you who are not Christians. the gospel of your salvation in which also after that ye believed. Now you heard it and you believed. Then what happened? Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Spirit of God comes in. The moment you receive Jesus Christ, you are born again. Then verse four, he, which is the earnest? What's he talking about? The Spirit of God is the earnest or the foretaste of our inheritance. until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. What's that purchased possession? Not only did He purchase my soul, He purchased my body. He says, you're not your own. You've been bought with a price. Glorify God in your bodies and your spirit which are his. So He redeems my soul that conversion. He'll redeem my body when He comes again. but also he's referring here to the earth the purchased possession he paid the price for this earth and he's going to come get and claim it this earth is his purchased possession and Jesus Christ is going to purge this earth with severe and fearful judgments right ahead of us then he's going to reign here for a thousand years that would be the seventh by dispensation, the millennial reign of Christ, a consonant age of the mall. All things will be in Christ. At the end of that, will that age end quite? No. It will end quite too. For during the millennium, millions will be born, but they won't have anyone to lead them in revolt against Christ, who is reigning on the earth. Satan, it says, is bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. No satanic influence. But at the end of the thousand years, God says, now these people haven't had a chance to choose. I have reigned. Satan's been in the bottomless pit. I wonder if they could be evil enough and wicked enough to be there against me and follow Satan. are let Satan out of shape. And Satan said the Bible is released for a little period and multitudes blocked it. It will be rebellion against Christ and against God. And fire comes down from top of heaven and destroys the city and them. They align themselves with Satan at the end of the millennium. After that the new heavens and the new earth. which is eternal. Seven distances. With the end of the six waiting for the coming of Christ, then the seven. Let me tell you folks who are not Christians, it's about one minute to twelve on Saturday night. And if you're going to be saved, you better, better pray. The end is near. And again I repeat, if you're a Christian, live for Christ, if you're a sinner fleeing. We have the earnest, the forefinger of that inheritance in the spirit dwelling in the hearts, the spirit of God making means to us now that glorious and grand future that awaits the people of God when he will come and hush the size of earth and stop its growing and usher in righteousness that reign from sea to sea and hold the boat, will you trust Christ in this sad and tragic hour of the history of the human race? I trust you will. Do it now. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we commit to thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy word to all our hearts. We thank you for thy word. Thou hast tried, thou hast tested man in every age, and yet failed. O God, thou hast tested some right here. Time after time thou hast tested them, and they have failed thee. Still thou art gracious in offering them salvation. May they not fail thee this morning. May they not refuse thine offer of mercy, but receive Christ and be saved. We ask this in our Lord Jesus' precious name. Amen. Shall we say in closing, two hundred and forty-three, softly and tenderly, Jesus calling, calling for you and for me, see on the portals he's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me.