Rightly Dividing, Pt. 18: Our Authority, The Apostle Paul Pt. 2

[0:00] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. Before we get back into our study on the Apostle Paul, I want to read you just a little excerpt!

[0:16] from a book that my wife got, and she read it and enjoyed it, and she passed it on to me. And I, it took me a little more, a little longer to read it, but it's about a man who was a minister and a preacher, and preached in revival meetings all around the country.

[0:37] And he married a girl that was an organ player at a church that he was preaching at, and he ended up traveling a little bit more and then settling down in North Carolina to pastor a church. And in this church, I won't give you all the details in case you want to read the book, but in this church was a man that was, you just call him a devil.

[0:55] And he was resisting the preacher and stirring up trouble, and it was going beyond any measure that you'd even believe could be done, attacking the preacher's home and his family.

[1:09] And don't get any ideas, but I'm just, this is what happened. And so this story goes on to tell about this girl, this daughter and son of this family, this preacher and his wife, and how they, in the end, they were trying to forgive some people who had done some horrible, horrible things to their family.

[1:28] And in the end, she lost her mother, she lost her father. And the children, her brother ended up on the Dr. Phil show to tell their story, to be reunited with someone who gets out of prison, who was guilty in the whole conflict.

[1:40] And the ending of this book, she tries to, the author, this girl that endured all of this, she tries to give some, kind of bring it around to a spiritual note to the reader to discuss forgiveness and how important it is, and discuss what Jesus Christ did.

[1:58] And so it really comes out in a good manner. But I've taught, I mentioned a few things, something in specific here in our study a few times. And I said, preachers, take Matthew chapter 6 and tell you that if you don't forgive others, then God won't forgive your sins.

[2:14] And I showed you that, and I said, preachers say this all the time, and maybe you don't believe me. Or maybe you think that's just me up here talking and trying to find some substance to put out on a Sunday morning. But here at the end of this book, just read this this week, she's talking about forgiveness and how necessary it is.

[2:30] And she said, I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I do know this, if I allow myself to go down the pathway of rage and retaliation, several things will happen. None of them are good.

[2:41] And here are my top four. Number one, my sins will not be forgiven by God if I refuse to forgive those who have sinned against me. Where did she get that idea?

[2:53] Where did she get that idea that that's what's going to happen if I don't forgive the people that have wronged me and taken my mother away from me at a young age and destroyed my father and his ministry, and I was an orphan.

[3:06] And if I don't forgive these violent, violent people in my life, God won't forgive me of my sins? Now, where does that leave you? I want to ask you that. Where does that leave you?

[3:16] Because people put this out all the time because it's in the Word of God, right? It's in Matthew chapter 6 specifically. And so authors, preachers take that and put it out there because it's in the Bible.

[3:29] And they put it on you or they put it on their congregants. But what they never do is give you the solution except to say that, well, you have to forgive. You have to forgive. They put the burden on you. Here's my question, though.

[3:42] What happens if you die in that state of unforgiveness? You go face God to be judged for your sins? That's something that's a bridge they never cross.

[3:55] They just put it on you in this world and say, you need to forgive, you need to forgive. Because Matthew chapter 6, here's something else she states. She says, the message in Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant found in Matthew 18.

[4:08] Read it sometime. As you do, don't overlook the powerful warning at the end. She quotes from a different version saying, that's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.

[4:20] And that is, he'll deliver you to the tormentors is what it is in your King James Bible. And then she quotes Matthew chapter 6 saying that Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.

[4:33] But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. There's not much wriggle room in that verse, is there? He doesn't qualify it based upon the sin. There's no loopholes. So what happens if you die in that state, having not forgiven your brother or your father or your mother or somebody who wronged you?

[4:51] They don't answer that question. And so what's the problem? What I'm teaching is they've got to rightly divide the word of truth. You have to know who that passage is for and where it applies and where it contradicts.

[5:04] And it doesn't mean you have to memorize the whole Bible, but you better study these things out if you're going to subject yourself to them. Okay, so let's get back to where we were last week. I started a study on the Apostle Paul.

[5:17] And I wanted to, this is so important, I believe this is just as crucial as any other element of the study we've done, whether it has to do with reconciling certain passages or understanding the timeline and the events on the timeline that are dividing events, whether it has to do with understanding where the kingdom was being offered to the Jews and why it was to Jews only and all the parameters.

[5:40] This thing about understanding who the Apostle Paul is is just as important, absolutely just as important as any of that and maybe even more so because he is our authority for this age, for the church, for the body of Christ.

[5:53] He's the man that God picked and gave him certain revelation that he did not give to the other apostles prior to him. He gave the Apostle Paul revelation and truth that Jesus Christ himself did not teach and preach when he was on the earth.

[6:09] So, last week, here's, I'll review quickly with you. We went, it's a six-point outline and the first part was his upbringing. What we saw in his youth was that he was from Tarsus, but he was sent to Jerusalem to be trained underneath a man named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, a man that was held in reputation among all the Jews, he sat in the council with the Pharisees and when he spoke up, they shut up and they listened to his advice and his counsel.

[6:37] He was a very powerful and wise man. Saul was being groomed underneath that man and trained. Saul said that I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee.

[6:48] So, he grew up in a strict home. His father was a devout man. I know we look at them as just being full of arrogancy and pride and thinking they're above all.

[6:59] I know how we look at the Pharisees, but you can't take away their commitment to the Word of God and their commitment to what they believed and even what they kind of superstitiously came to teach us the Word of God.

[7:11] They still lived that life. Very, very, very, not devoted. What's the word I want? Disciplined, I guess.

[7:23] They were the cream of the crop when it came to that. And that was his father and that's what he was brought up to be. And he even calls that lifestyle the most straightest sect of our religion.

[7:35] I lived a Pharisee. So, that was his upbringing, being taught there in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel. So, now we looked at his actions as he became a young man and grew.

[7:46] He was given some responsibility. When they stoned Stephen, he consented unto his death. He gave the consent. Yep, he's guilty of blasphemy. You may stone him with stones.

[7:58] And I've got the ear of the high priest. I can go to him anytime I want to. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go to him pretty soon and get some letters so that I can get permission to go as far as Damascus to find these Christians, these believers in Jesus, and bring them back to Jerusalem.

[8:14] And I'm going to persecute them. And I'm going to compel them to blaspheme, no doubt, with some torture and some form of torments. When they were brought and tried at trials, he was giving his voice against them so that they could be put to death.

[8:28] So, Saul, what do you got to do Tuesday? Oh, I've got court. What do you mean you've got court? Oh, there's a bunch of Christians I found, and I'm going to take them in. I'm going to make sure that we don't ever have to deal with them again. What do you mean you never have to deal with them again?

[8:39] You're going to have them put to death? Absolutely I'm going to have them put to death. Why wouldn't I have them put to death? They're defected from the law. They're guilty. They're blasphemers. They're traitors.

[8:50] They're heretics. And if somebody thinks that you should have compassion, Saul would say, that's not what the Word of God says. He was full of zeal toward that law of Moses, and he made sure that his job was to exterminate all the believers in Jesus Christ.

[9:06] He said that he thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus Christ, even saying that he was exceedingly mad. Like he was full of rage and zeal, and he went off to persecute the church as he did.

[9:21] So then we read in Acts chapter 9 his conversion, where he's Saul of Tarsus. He has an interaction with the Lord Jesus Christ.

[9:31] A little bit later in chapter 9, the man Ananias, God said, go to him. And he said, are you serious right now, God? I don't want to go near that man.

[9:42] I've heard by many things that he's done to the believers. And he knew who he was. He came all the way up here to persecute. And God said, no, you go to him and do what I did.

[9:53] When Ananias met him, he said, brother Saul. And so there's a conversion in chapter 9. And then we read in chapter 26 of Acts, where Paul gives his firsthand account of these days and his commission and how he obeyed the voice.

[10:08] Then we studied briefly his office. Am I missing a thing? No. So we studied briefly his office. We looked at this office that Paul was given as the apostle to the Gentiles.

[10:22] And what I was showing you was, in my opinion, it's very strong. People call him the 13th apostle. But I don't like that. He's not 13 out of 13. He's one of one. And there's 12 apostles over here that were commissioned to the Jews, to the circumcision.

[10:36] But the apostle Paul was given a completely different office. And he's the apostle to the Gentiles. And the added term apostle, you know, carries some weight. It's something to do with a gift and calling, an office of God, mentioned in Ephesians chapter 4.

[10:51] And there were signs of an apostle associated with that office as well. Paul magnified his office. In Galatians 1, we saw he has all authority to do that.

[11:02] He was not elected by men. He was not promoted to this position. This was something God did. And that's where we're going to pick it up today. Would you find 1 Timothy chapter number 2?

[11:14] Because I want to look now at his ordination. The ordination of this man. It was not by committee. It was not by Peter, James, and John.

[11:26] None of those men who seemed to be somewhat or pillars in the church at Jerusalem, held in reputation of the Jews. They had nothing to do with it.

[11:38] And so let's look at his ordination. As we build this, the stance and the position and the doctrine is going to grow stronger and stronger that we better give heed to what this man teaches and says.

[11:51] So, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse number 7. If I back up for context sake, I'll start in verse 3.

[12:04] This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.

[12:20] Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ. I lie not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity, which means truth and honesty.

[12:35] I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles. This is his ordination. He was ordained by God himself to this role and to this office of apostle to the Gentiles.

[12:50] It was not a board. It was not a group of men. It was not even his choice. This was God's doing. I'll show you that as well. Look at Acts chapter 9, back with where he was converted.

[13:02] So Paul was ordained by God. And I'm going to give you three verses here, three different words. They all kind of say the same thing.

[13:14] Backing up this statement of his ordination or his calling and his placement into this position. Acts chapter 9.

[13:27] This is when Ananias was kicking back in verse 13 against the Lord's directions to him. Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem.

[13:44] And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. Here's God's reply. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way. Like, do what I told you to do. For he is a chosen vessel unto me.

[13:59] So the apostle Paul was chosen by God. You remember Jesus Christ going and finding Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom? Do you remember him finding the others washing their nets and mending their nets and things?

[14:13] He called them. He chose them. Have not I chosen you twelve, he said, and yet one of you is a devil? And so those men were chosen. And that's the same truth of the apostle Paul.

[14:24] God says, he is a chosen vessel unto me. So it's stronger. This is God choosing him. God ordaining him and placing him into this.

[14:35] One more verse is in, I should have had you back there. Timothy. 2 Timothy this time. Chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy 1 and verse number 11.

[15:02] And here he says, Whereunto I am appointed. By whom? By the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer. I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.

[15:16] The last time we read where he said he was ordained, he says, I speak the truth in Christ. I lie not. I'm telling you the truth, gentlemen. I am appointed by God to this position. So this is his ordination.

[15:29] If we ignore this, if we ignore his position and his office, and we just kind of put him on the level playing field of the other authors of the scripture, then what are we going to do when what he says differs from them?

[15:43] What are we going to do when his teachings don't line up with what Jesus taught his people? Or with what Moses taught? Or with even some things that James might say down the road?

[15:54] How are we going to decide who we follow? If we're going to obey God, which is I guess what your heart would want to do, is obey the word of God and obey him, then you're going to have to learn who to follow and obey which one has the authority over you.

[16:13] And it comes clear in this study that it's the apostle Paul that God has given authority and assigned to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Now briefly I want to look at his ministry.

[16:24] And then I'll look at probably some more of this in detail down the road. But let's just kind of look at it, just a snapshot and glimpse of what it is he does here. Look at Romans chapter 15.

[16:36] There's some things that he did that others did not. Other apostles did not. There's particular calling and duties placed on his shoulders by God that it was not the same for the others.

[16:54] And the ministry of the other men faded away as the Jews rejected their preaching and teaching. But the ministry of this man carried on, as I've said already, even to Silmar, California.

[17:06] Romans chapter 15. And look at verse number 16. I'll back up one verse. 15. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you, and some sword is putting you in mine because of the grace that is given to me of God that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

[17:37] So in all of this, it's a work of God. It is absolutely God's hand moving and working on the earth with men. It's the Holy Ghost that is doing the sanctifying.

[17:52] But it's the Apostle Paul, the chosen vessel, to minister this sanctifying gospel to the Gentiles. It doesn't say it was James.

[18:05] It doesn't say it was Thaddeus. It doesn't even say it was Jesus while he walked upon the earth. It was the Apostle Paul that was called and commissioned to minister to the Gentiles the gospel of the grace of God.

[18:19] Speaking of the gospel, look at 1 Corinthians. Wait, stay here in Romans. Go back to chapter 1. And then we'll go to 1 Corinthians 9.

[18:31] Romans chapter 1. This was his calling to minister the gospel of God. Romans chapter 1.

[18:43] Find verse 14 and 15. These are the words. Nobody else talks like this right here. Watch what he says. I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.

[19:01] So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

[19:18] Why is he debtor to all of these? The Greeks, the barbarians, the wise, the unwise. Why? What is that weight upon him? Well, it's his commission.

[19:30] It's his call. If he refuses to go and to preach to them that are at Rome also and to the other cities, the uttermost part of the earth, he's refusing the call of God.

[19:43] Look at 1 Corinthians 9 now. He has a weight upon him, a calling to preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

[20:09] Start in verse 15. He says, I've used none of these things, that is his power to live of the gospel, but to receive their gifts and means.

[20:23] He says, I've used none of these things, neither have I written these things, that it should be done unto me. For it were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void.

[20:34] For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.

[20:46] You see this burden that he carried, it wasn't just like a hardship, but rather it was a calling. Remember, this man is full of zeal. Remember, he's the guy that says to the chief priest, let me go get him.

[20:59] I'll go get him. I'll live on the road. I don't have any trouble with that. He just had energy. He had that, he can't sit still mentality, that this guy had it. God gifted him with that personality, and that drive, and now it just needed to be steered, towards something that was going to glorify God.

[21:16] Instead of persecuting the church, now he carries this weight of, I have to get him. I have to win him. I have to preach to him. I'm a debtor to do this. Necessity is laid upon me.

[21:29] And this is how he lived his life, to go and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is his ministry. Look at now, one more element of his ministry, 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

[21:41] And this again, it's just a snapshot of it. We can look into some of this in more detail later, but for now, just here's one more thing that he carried with him daily. 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

[21:52] This is the famous passage that describes all the perils that he has undergone as he continues and continues to minister and to go and to go and to go.

[22:06] And you remember this stuff about being beaten with rods, being in shipwreck, and perils of the heathen in the city and the wilderness. Verse 27, he says, And weariness and painfulness and watchings often and hunger and thirst and fastings often and cold and nakedness.

[22:22] Now here he goes in verse 28. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

[22:35] This is something that he also carried with him. It came upon him daily. Every day, his care and his concern, he's like a father over his children all over the place where he has ministered and preached the gospel and a work began and he challenged them, ordain elders in these places and get it established and get things decent and in order.

[23:00] And when I come, I don't want to have to set things in order when I come, but I will if I have to. And what was on his heart was to get back to these churches and to travel and to get on a boat and to go and to escape the trouble, but to get to them and to minister to them and they ministered to him just the same.

[23:17] And you can imagine when he showed up in town, it must have been exciting for the church to see him come back. And I can't, I've heard some describe his physical demeanor, that he was in bad health and bad shape and perhaps he in fact was, but there is no question that the word that he spoke was with such power, with such clarity and authority that it just, they probably could have, they did, they sat for hours to hear and to listen to him.

[23:44] And this is something that was on his heart, was to get to them, to care for them. Do you remember this very church at Corinth, his first epistle to them, 1 Corinthians, the whole thing is just a rebuke of one thing, major thing after another, beginning with their envying and divisions and strifes among themselves.

[24:07] He says, are you not carnal? You're following them, you're claiming, I follow Cephas and I Apollos and he's like, you guys are all carnal. And he divided, through that chapter he even dealt with a certain sin that was in there, a very gross sin that they were allowing or a sinner that they were allowing to be in their midst.

[24:25] He said, you need to deal with that. By the end of it he's dealing with their, with the spiritual gifts that were in the church and describing to them that you guys are so far out of order.

[24:37] God is not the author of confusion, but you just, everybody has a word, everybody has a prophecy or something to say and you're bearing with all this foolishness. And so, what is that?

[24:48] That's his care overseeing the disorganization and the ungodliness within the local church. And so then he writes the letter to them to try to clean it up, to cause them to repent.

[25:00] And it worked. And he talks about that in the second epistle. And that was, he wrote to the churches of Galatia and he had to deal with doctrinal issues with the circumcision that were confusing them and causing them to feel like they have to receive eternal life by faith but then keep it with the works of the law.

[25:18] And he had to write to them a thesis, a treaty to say, no, that's not the way it is. Somebody's bewitching you. You're falling from grace. You need to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust.

[25:31] And this is his heart. He's burdened about all of them. And this was a calling of God. His ministry was not just to preach the gospel to the lost but then to care for the churches and to deliver to them the truth of God, the word of God.

[25:50] And thank God he did because we'd be lost without it and so confused. Now, Paul laid the foundation according to 1 Corinthians 3.

[26:00] Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. He called himself a master builder. And he said, I laid the foundation. That gospel for the church is the foundation.

[26:10] Without the gospel of Jesus Christ there is no church. There's no believers. There's just a bunch of men, societies, organizations, do-gooders. There's no church though. No living, breathing entity that has eternal life.

[26:26] So Paul laid that foundation and then he commissions the church and he says, follow me. As I follow Christ, you follow me. And he delivers particulars, doctrines, truths about their salvation, about their forgiveness for one thing.

[26:43] He delivers them truths about the Holy Ghost and his ministry within them and to them and through them. He delivers them truths how they have access to God through the Spirit of God and by Jesus Christ.

[26:55] And this is stuff that others didn't talk about and never will. But the Apostle Paul had that. If we started to say, you know, Peter's the first pope and we're going to follow his line of succession and we're going to just, we're going to believe all that those men say.

[27:14] Do you know where we'd be today? Do you know what this church would look like today? Do you know what I'd be wearing today? A robe? Maybe a crown? With a miter?

[27:25] Or maybe not. Maybe there'd be some altar boys over here. Maybe we'd have some wine and take a few shots. And maybe I'd have you come forward and I'd put a wafer in your mouth and tell you that you're receiving the Lord Jesus Christ because that's what they've taught down through the ages, that that's how you receive Jesus is through your mouth.

[27:44] That's where we'd be if we started following some other supposed line. But the Apostle Paul is our authority. And we can't ignore this calling and we can't ignore or downplay its significance for us, the church.

[28:01] And as I said a hundred times already, he's the one that teaches us to rightly divide the word of truth. Now, what does he then bring to the table? I already said he brings the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[28:15] That's not the only revelation that he brings to the table. But there's some more things and we'll study them maybe, Lord willing, next week. It's so, I can't overstate this, it's so important that we understand that what the Apostle Paul teaches in his epistles to born-again believers, to the church, that it's the message from God to us.

[28:38] That God gave his message to his people through Moses. And then later, God gave a message through John the Baptist or through Jesus Christ to his people in a moment about a topic.

[28:51] But then he shifted and called a new man and sent him over this way with a new message, with new revelation. And this is so, you've got to get this. I think you are and I trust you are.

[29:02] But Paul's teachings differ from some of the other men's teachings. Therefore, what do we do? Well, we make a division.

[29:13] And we say, we divide Paul's doctrine from certain teachings, not from all the other writers, but from certain teachings of the other writers. And somebody says, so then do you just ignore the rest?

[29:24] I say, no, I don't ignore anything. I study the whole book from cover to cover, but I rightly divide everything. I don't ignore anything, I rightly divide everything so that it all comes out clear and no contradictions and no problems and I know where I stand and whom I follow.

[29:43] Now let's learn something quickly here. Look back at Luke chapter 18. This is going to provide some light as to why we are not placing Peter, James, and John on the same level as the Apostle Paul in our doctrine.

[30:10] Luke chapter 18. And know first of all that the gospel that Paul preached of the death, burial, and resurrection, that it was for our sins that were justified by the work of Christ, that gospel was hidden from the other apostles of the Lord.

[30:31] Luke chapter 18, verse 31 through 34. Then he took unto them the twelve and said unto them, Behold, we go to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished.

[30:45] What's that? The word of God that they had in their prophets, that they believed. It's going to be fulfilled, he said. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles.

[30:58] That's in there. And shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spit it on. That's in the prophets. And they shall scourge him and put him to death. Where is that? In the prophets?

[31:08] And the third day he shall rise again. These men are not quite sure what he's talking about now because verse 34 says they understood none of these things. And this saying was hid from them.

[31:20] Neither knew they the things which were spoken, yet it was in their prophets. It was in the words that they have been taught and trained and read, and yet they did not understand them, even when Jesus revealed it to their face.

[31:35] So one thing I can deduce from that is that not Peter, not James, not John, not any one of those men were believing that Jesus Christ was going to die as a sacrifice for their sins.

[31:50] And that he was going to rise again for their justification. Do you know why I know that? Because they didn't understand it even when he spoke it to their face. There's more.

[32:01] Look at Mark chapter 8. Back to the left a little bit. Mark chapter 8. In verse 31, here he is again saying the same line to these men.

[32:31] And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.

[32:45] Well, there it is. So they must have been believing in this, right? Well, how does Peter respond to that? Verse 32, And he spake that saying openly and Peter took him and began to rebuke him.

[32:58] You know what Peter said in Matthew? This shall not be unto thee. So if you think Peter's believing that Jesus is going to die for his sins, you got another thing coming.

[33:11] Peter said to the Lord, you're not going to die. They are not going to beat you and mock you. That is not going to happen on my watch. So he was not exercising faith in this gospel message that we preach and believe today.

[33:27] Look at one more reference. Luke chapter 24. Luke 24. This is the day after he was crucified three days, three nights.

[33:41] He's raised again. He's not in the tomb. This is wonderful news. They say the greatest news that's ever been spread came out of a graveyard.

[33:54] And Peter's one of the first people to hear such great news. How did he respond? Well, the ladies came and told them, verse 10, that it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them which told these things unto the apostles that he's not there.

[34:13] Verse 6 says, he's not here but is risen. They learned this. They told the apostles and their words and their words seemed to them as idle tales and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, ran to the sepulcher, stooping down, and beheld the linen clothes, laid by themselves and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

[34:34] What is going on? Do you think he's believing in this? His faith is in this event for his sins and his soul? Not even close. Peter was believing that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, that would come and deliver Israel, that he was the king of the Jews.

[34:56] He was not looking at him as some sacrificial lamb to pay for his sins and iniquities against God. He wasn't believing in his heart that he was wounded for our iniquities or our transgressions and wound.

[35:08] He wasn't thinking of any of that stuff. He didn't understand it. Even in his own face, he's wondering in himself, what in the world? I thought he was going to be the one to deliver Israel.

[35:22] And then they killed him. And now he's not in a tomb. What is taking on? He just can't make sense of any of this. So moving forward into the book of Acts, we see the revelation.

[35:36] We see how things begin to change and transfer and light begins to come in. In Acts chapter 10, Peter gets a vision about, in a long story short, he gets the vision that is teaching him that God has sanctified or cleansed the Gentiles and they too can be saved as the Jews.

[36:00] He's already been preaching this risen Savior early in the book of Acts after meeting him and getting things squared away. But he doesn't understand that it can be to the Gentiles too until Acts chapter 10.

[36:12] He gets that vision. And then in Acts chapter 11, he explains this change to the Jews and he goes to them and says, look, this is what happened to me. I was there.

[36:23] I had this vision. It happened three times. These three men came. I went to them and preached to them. Like I, a Jew, went into a Gentile's house. That's forbidden. I did that.

[36:33] And the Holy Ghost, like he explains it to them saying, this is real. This is happening. By Acts chapter 15, both Peter and Paul are both persuading the Jews that God is opening salvation up to the Gentiles and they shall be saved even as we.

[36:54] By the end of the book of Acts, God's finished dealing with the Jews. Temporarily speaking, he's finished dealing with them, with the gospel, with nationally trying to restore them.

[37:05] That's put on the table and set aside for now. And the gospel today, it's largely going to the Gentiles. And according to Galatians chapter 2, that ministry is committed to Paul.

[37:20] When we understand all of these things, I know there are little snapshots throughout, but it's all one big picture to show that God's hand is on that man, that he is operating independent of what Jesus Christ and his disciples had operated and preached and taught.

[37:37] It's independent. It's new revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ, a gospel that he now fully understands and preaches and delivers. It took the others some steps to transfer over into understanding this.

[37:51] But the apostle Paul goes on to the Gentiles. And so the ministry of the gospel was given to Paul. And we'll look just briefly at that next week.

[38:03] And then there's something else that was given to Paul that was not revealed to anybody else. And that is the body of Christ, the church. He's the one that teaches us about the church.

[38:14] People get all twisted because they say, well, Jesus said the church. He said, I'll build my church. And he said that you can, you go with two witnesses or bring it before the church. And they take those little references and superimpose that upon what the apostle Paul taught and delivered to them.

[38:29] That's not even the case. Just because it's the same word doesn't mean it's the same thing. Just because the word gospel shows up in your Bible doesn't mean it's the same thing. That should be pretty obvious by now.

[38:40] So we need to understand this man. We need to understand his calling, his position, his authority, and his ministry. And I'm taking you, I took you from the very beginning of what we could cover through scripture to show you what he was being brought up in, the change that was made, and now where he's going with that.

[38:59] And so we'll pick it up next time to finish, probably finish this off about these things God has gifted to him, revealed to him, and how we take them and hold those things fast and believe them.

[39:13] And where other authors intersect that teaching with some other teaching, then we say, hold up, that's not according to the Apostle Paul, so that teaching must find its place somewhere else or to someone else.

[39:26] That's what rightly dividing is. So, all right, we'll be done with that today and we'll continue next week, where will. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.