Here is a sermon by an Australian pastor named John Alley, a man unknown to me, but this is one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard on dispensationalism. He calls it, “the heresy that caused the cultural defeat of the Western church,” which might seem a grandiose claim, but the more I study dispensationalism, the more I realize what an incredibly destructive heresy it is.
Alley points out that dispensationalists believe that Christ came to earth to be the Jewish Messiah, and only when the Jews rejected him did Jesus come up with the alternate plan to save gentiles through His death on the cross and a church-age dispensation. What an astonishing heresy! Salvation was planned before the creation (Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9); Jesus Christ was the “lamb slain from the foundation of the earth.” (Rev. 13:8) There were no surprises; everything happened just as the Godhead had planned it before creation.
There is not a hint of anti-nomianism in John Alley’s religion. He says that the law is just as important to Christians today as it was in Old Testament times. But today the law is written on our hearts, and the gospel empowers us to keep the law, whereas the stony hearts of the Jews could not keep it. There are not two different dispensations for salvation between the Old and New Testaments. We are not saved by law-keeping today, but then neither were the patriarchs; all are saved by faith, both before and after the cross, but obedience is expected of all, both before and after the cross.
He says that there are ill effects from all doctrinal error, a statement that reminds the Adventist of Ellen White’s statement:
“Error is never harmless. It never sanctifies, but always brings confusion and dissension. It is always dangerous.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 46.
This is sermon well worth listening two once or even twice.