Yesterday we began looking at the matter of visions and dreams by laying the foundation for everything. It does not matter what your question is or what you or I believe. The Word of God is the ONLY and FINAL authority. It seems that most “religious” people lack the right understanding on dispensationalism.
Dispensationalism is a big word to speak of how God has dealt with man and the world in different time periods. The Garden of Eden was the first stage of God’s dealings with man. In the Garden of Eden man was created without sin. He did not know what sin was and he had no need to know what sin is. He was designed by God to live for ever free from sin. Man chose to break that relationship and he became a lost sinner. No longer could God deal with man as He did prior to the fall. Now man was driven from the Garden. He now needed to be clothed and he would now find work a difficult and taxing thing. Not only that, but man died spiritually when he chose to sin and he began to die physically at that moment.
In the Old Testament God gave both God-fearing people and pagans visions at times. Ezekiel was given visions by God and Nebuchadnezzar was given dreams by God. Ezekiel, as a God-fearing man had a living relationship with God and thus God could give him the necessary understanding of the visions. Nebuchadnezzar was not a God-fearing man and he needed men like Daniel to help him to understand what He was doing.
Visions were still given in the early stages of the New Testament era. With the completion of the Scriptures there is no longer any need for visions and God is not giving visions to people today.
We gave many verses yesterday that point to the fact that lost people have a completely different view of God than saved people do. Lost people do not believe that God knows everything and that He is “sovereign”. Having made that statement, I need to remind us all that I am not a Calvinist. The word “sovereign” is not a bad word. It is improperly defined by the Calvinist. In human terms a sovereign would be someone like a king. He is the highest human ruler in a nation. He can be overthrown by the army. He can be tried and even executed if he is overthrown.
Al Gore the once famous V.P. who claimed to have invented the internet came out this week stating that anyone who opposes his views should be silenced. That is a picture of a mere mortal assuming a position that no man holds. Our P.M. is in that same league. They will find out one day just how small they really are.
When we talk of God as being sovereign, we speak of absolute authority. No one can overthrow God. No one can interfere with His plan. In the Bible we often find the word LORD. Usually that word is the translation of the Hebrew word “Yahweh” or “Yehovaw”. We tend to spell it Jehovah. It speaks of the fact that God is self-existent and that He does as He will all the time.
When we talk about God we must understand Who we are talking about.
The context of our study of visions and dreams has to do with the claim that Muslims are turning to God because they are being given visions of the Lord Jesus Christ. I personally do not believe that. I am not God and I am not the judge. God is the judge and He has given us His Word. We said yesterday, and many times prior to that, that God’s Word is our only and final authority. It does not matter what experience you or I have. It does not matter what your opinion or my opinion is. What matters is what does God say. If I am a true child of God, I must submit to God’s Word.
In our text we see that the apostle Paul was directed to remind us of the righteousness that is of the law. Those who want to live by law keeping must keep the law perfectly. No one can do that.
In verse 6 Paul wrote of the righteousness that is of faith. Notice the question asked here. True faith does not question whether Jesus Christ came to this earth as a man or whether He rose again from the dead and ascended back up to heaven.
If I am going to live by faith, I do not need a vision of Jesus Christ in order to believe in Him. If we are living by faith, then we do not need to see Jesus Christ with our eyes. We also do not need a vision of what we claim to believe. We do not demand a vision of Jesus in order to believe in Him.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.