[0:00] Today's study with a few propositions similar to what we have provided in the past. And these I want you to put, if you will, on the front burner of your mind and log them there so that they will be in place and you will be able to coordinate what will follow from 1 Timothy 1 with these propositions that are laid down.
[0:25] This is really very, very important stuff when it comes to not only understanding the Bible but understanding what we are supposed to do about what we understand in the Bible.
[0:39] So we are proposing the importance of doctrine as that of utmost and first importance and duty that issues forth from the doctrine.
[0:52] If you try to engage in duty without the doctrine or without knowing what the duty is consisting of, you are at sea. You will not be able to connect at all with what you are supposed to be doing.
[1:05] So it begins with our learning what we need to know so that we can do what we are supposed to do because you are not going to be able to do the latter without the former.
[1:16] So we are talking today about Paul the pattern and the origin and uniqueness of Paul's apostleship.
[1:28] We have been emphasizing the abrupt and I believe obvious change that occurs in the body of the New Testament. The change has to do with movement from the preaching of the kingdom message to the origination of the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God.
[1:51] The kingdom message and all that accompanied it was of an intensely Jewish nature and very legally oriented in keeping with the Mosaic law as previously given to Israel.
[2:09] The grace message and all that accompanied it was of an intensely Jew and Gentile collaboration previously unthought of, especially to the Jews.
[2:26] As Moses, the lawgiver, was the chief vehicle of all that concerned Israel as the chosen people of God, so Paul the apostle was the chief vehicle that concerned both Jew and Gentile constituting one body, the new and spiritual body of Christ.
[2:50] This we have explored, at least briefly, in Ephesians chapter 3. Moses, as the lawgiver, dominates the scene that is exclusively Israel, not merely in the Old Testament, but in the beginning portions of the New Testament as well, particularly through the Gospels and the early chapters of the book of Acts.
[3:17] Paul, the grace-giver, Allah, the dispenser or the purveyor of the grace of God, dominates the scene from the time of his conversion in Acts 9 throughout all of his subsequent letters to the several churches from Romans through Titus.
[3:39] And herein lies the problem. His, that is, Paul's, domination of the scene with the glorious message of the grace of God is sadly unrecognized even by most Christians today.
[4:01] Not recognizing the new program that God has begun through Paul, largely as a result of Israel's disobedience, ongoing efforts are made by many to reconcile what Paul says with what Moses says in the Old Testament and what Christ said in the four Gospels.
[4:27] And they are unreconcilable. You cannot make them mesh. They are not supposed to mesh.
[4:40] Therein lies the problem. They are not supposed to mesh. These two programs, the kingdom with Israel and the body truth of Jew and Gentile in one body, simply cannot be reconciled.
[4:58] They are two entirely different orders. They were never intended to be reconciled. They both need to be understood and identified, but you cannot mix them.
[5:12] It's oil and water. And it simply will not work. And if you attempt to do so, you will arrive at the conclusion so many have as, there's contradictions in the Bible.
[5:25] And this is one of the principal reasons that they see them as contradictions. They cannot be reconciled, but they can and must be transitioned one from the other.
[5:39] In the Old Testament, and in the Gospels, the theme is the coming of and the establishment of the kingdom of God come to earth.
[5:50] This Christ emphasized, and this the twelve apostles emphasized. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That was their very message. And it was the message that they were supposed to be proclaiming at that time.
[6:04] In the last half of the book of Acts, and throughout the church age, of which we today are a part, the theme is not the coming of the kingdom of heaven.
[6:17] It is the dispensing of the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, apart from any works of the law.
[6:28] This is a radical departure. This is a moving away from what Moses commanded in the law, because that all belonged to the first covenant, and that has been addressed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
[6:45] Sadly, many Christians today insist on trying to meld or mesh these diverse programs together, resulting only in confusion and frustration.
[7:00] And as the saying goes, I've been there and done that. I have lived through that, trying to make these things fit, and they won't fit.
[7:11] They are not supposed to fit, because they represent two entirely different orders, two different plans and programs of God. And this has nothing to do with the idea of God changing.
[7:27] God is immutable. He does not change. But God's methodology and plan and program changes. The requirements change. And this is in keeping with what is happening in humanity.
[7:43] Best illustration that can be given of that, that is the most obvious, that everyone can identify with, is that God changes his methodology, his requirements, his plans, etc.
[7:53] In that, he no longer requires sacrifice. There was a time when that was very definitely front and center in the economy of Israel.
[8:04] The whole worship program of Israel was built upon and based upon the animal sacrificial system. What happened to that? Nobody.
[8:17] Well, maybe nobody with the exception of some Orthodox Jews, but even they would be an extreme minority among the Jewish people. Nobody sees, well, we're not supposed to be offering animals today.
[8:31] Well, why not? It's in the Bible. Oh, well, yes, but you see, that has changed. That belongs to the Old Testament. And people can see that. They can understand that quite clearly.
[8:43] That's rather obvious. You won't get any arguments out of that. Well, no, we're not supposed to be offering animal sacrifices because that was for then. And today it's different. Right. But you've got to be consistent in the differences that you see.
[8:58] It isn't just the animal sacrifice and that's it. That's not the only thing that's changed. There's a lot that's changed. But if you focus on just that and make that the extent of the change and then try to make the rest of it mesh, all you've done is reduce the confusion by one animal sacrifice.
[9:20] But there is a heap of confusion that remains. Here, in fact, are two email offerings that I received from two different people here at Grace.
[9:34] And these emails indicate their grasp of the issues and their search for a better and clearer understanding.
[9:48] And I can't tell you how much, as a teaching pastor, I appreciated both of these emails because both of them spoke to me loudly and clearly in that they're getting it.
[10:05] They're seeing this. They're seeing the significance. They're asking the right kind of questions. And nothing is, as I said, nothing is more thrilling or rewarding to a teaching pastor than knowing that people in his audience are with him to the extent that they can even come up with these kind of questions.
[10:23] This is the first one. With regard to Sunday's message, and he's talking about Sunday a couple of weeks ago, what is the chronology of Peter visiting Cornelius and Paul's appointment as an apostle to the Gentiles?
[10:40] What was the difference between what Peter said to Cornelius and Paul's message? It is interesting to note that Peter felt a need to water-baptize Cornelius.
[10:53] Didn't Christ tell the original twelve apostles to go out from Jerusalem and preach to the world? When did that happen? And what were they supposed to preach? Why did the original twelve seemingly refuse to obey Christ?
[11:09] Excellent questions. Followed by this. Pastor Marv, I received your treatment of the difficult sayings of Jesus in which you spelled out the important dispensational distinctives in them.
[11:26] A while back, I think you had mentioned that you were going to do a series on the Sermon on the Mount. Was that something you were still working on? Yes, it is. And we'll get there eventually, but it won't be next week.
[11:44] Specifically, Matthew 5, verses 3 to 12, incorporating the Beatitudes the Sunday that I was there. It reminded me of the many sermons I've heard at churches I've visited over the years, as you have pointed out, that preach the words of Jesus because they are the words of Jesus despite his operation under the law.
[12:05] I've been really curious about the approach to taking principles from the Sermon on the Mount that we can apply today, considering that he was operating under a different program.
[12:18] At other times, you have stated that there are principles that apply to all dispensations at all times, while there are others that apply only to certain dispensations, and we have to be mindful of those considerations when reading and studying Scripture.
[12:34] Besides the Beatitudes, Matthew 6, 33 is another sticking point that propagates the tendency to preach the kingdom program.
[12:44] No? Yes, indeed. You're right. Thank you in advance for considering my email. And then it says, Grace and peace, if I may be so bold as to borrow from the Apostle Paul.
[13:00] Okay. Excellent questions. I really do appreciate those, and I mean that sincerely. And yes, we are going to incorporate these concepts in future messages, and I do want to make some very careful distinctions between principles from other portions of the Word of God that you can and should claim as your own that are enduring and endearing, as opposed to certain things that cannot and should not be claimed for this present dispensation.
[13:35] And I have often made the statement that while all the Bible is for us, not all of the Bible is to us. But that does not mean, as some would wrongfully charge those of the grace persuasion, that we believe the only things that are really important are the things that Paul wrote.
[13:57] That is a gross misrepresentation and a distortion of our position, although it is an accusation that is frequently made.
[14:08] Well, that church out there, Grace Bible Church, they believe the only thing that counts is what Paul wrote, and they discount everything else. Well, I guess that's why we spent five years in the Gospel of John and five years in the book of Genesis.
[14:27] All of the Bible is for us, but it is not all to us. And while it is true, there are wonderful, abiding, spiritual principles all throughout the Bible that are timeless.
[14:42] And many of them are from the Psalms, and some are from Isaiah, and so on. But those are to be distinguished from operating standards or operating systems that we are to engage in under the dispensation of the grace of God.
[14:57] And in future sessions, I hope to be able to make that distinction and give you something solid that you can use in identifying those principles for yourself. So, in the next few sessions, we will be cycling back and forth between these respective programs the kingdom message and the grace message.
[15:19] We want you to see their distinctive differences, the importance of the distinction, and the unavoidable confusion that results in trying to mix them.
[15:32] And when you try to mix them, you get an unharmonious hodgepodge of irreconcilable doctrine that does not and will not provide us with the clarity the world needs to hear.
[15:50] This lack of a clear, clarion call of grace to the world contributes to the anemic nature that has for so long characterized the church, which is his body.
[16:06] It is also largely responsible for the diversity and the disunity that has spawned a plethora of denominations and separate religious organizations all claiming to be Christian.
[16:24] And yet, all speaking with different voices and having a different message. Little wonder the world is not impressed. The body of Christ can't even get its act together to present a united front before a lost and needy world.
[16:43] Time is spent squabbling among ourselves over how we are to baptize and how we are to do this and how we are and what's and all the rest of it. It's tragic.
[16:55] So, I want you to go to the passage that Gary read for us earlier, 1 Timothy chapter 1 and let's look at Paul the pattern and this is really, very, very important material.
[17:11] Let's begin with just verse 15 if we may jump in here. Well, let's not. Let's begin with verse 12.
[17:26] Well, verse 11 and this time I really mean it. We're going to quit there. Alright, verse 11. According to, in accordance with, the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
[17:45] Now, right away, a question should surface. Paul says he has been entrusted with this glorious gospel. Well, is he the only one?
[17:58] Of course not. I've been entrusted with it too. And so have you. But here is the question. Who was entrusted with this glorious gospel of the grace of God before Paul?
[18:19] Paul? The answer is no one.
[18:32] No one. I am not saying salvation didn't exist before Paul. I am not saying that there was not gospel truth to be believed and received before Paul.
[18:45] But I am saying, and I absolutely insist on this, that the gospel of the grace of God, justification by faith, on the basis of grace, plus nothing, minus nothing, extended to Jew and Gentile without any consideration of baptism of any kind, without any consideration of law keeping or the Sabbath or anything else, just pure unadulterated grace was commissioned to Paul first.
[19:25] And what did he do with it when he got it? He spread it abroad everywhere so that multitudes of people had the same message and proclaimed the same message. This is a message I'm sure that Apollos preached.
[19:39] It's a message that Timothy preached. It's a message that Barnabas preached. But nobody preached it until it was available to be preached. And God never made it available until he raised up this man, most unlikely candidate of all, called Saul of Tarsus.
[19:57] And he commissioned him with a new message that was utterly different. And when he preached this message, it was so different, it got him in all kinds of trouble.
[20:09] Because it did not hold the party line. It brought down the wrath of his own countrymen upon him. Because they hated this message. And they accused Paul of his teaching against the law of Moses.
[20:24] Moses. And all he was doing was updating the law of Moses with a new truth that was truly good news.
[20:35] Let's read on. According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.
[21:01] And yet, I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.
[21:20] this is this man's personal testimony. He has already told us what he was in the past, a blasphemer, a persecutor, a violent aggressor.
[21:32] And what he is saying is this. Folks, if there was ever an occasion when God really had to tap in to his inexhaustible supply of grace, it was when I came on the scene.
[21:55] I am not suggesting at all that God's grace is limited, or has ever been overtaxed, or he was ever in danger of running out of it. But I am saying, and I think the Apostle Paul would be the first to agree to this, that when God reached down and saved the likes of Saul of Tarsus, he had to dig deep in his bucket of grace to apply to this man.
[22:24] Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And if ever there was a man who from all human standards would be considered beyond the pale of God's grace, such thankfully is not possible.
[22:43] But if it were possible, this would be the number one candidate. Fortunately, the grace of God is in exorbitant, abundant supply.
[22:56] Not even Saul of Tarsus could out-sin the grace of God. And that's what he's saying here. The grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.
[23:15] He's talking about applied to himself. Verse 13, I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly and in unbelief. And then in verse 15, it is a trustworthy statement.
[23:27] You can take this to the bank, folks. Deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
[23:42] It's always a wonderful thing when someone who is proclaiming the gospel puts themselves at the top of the list of people being in need. So many times, Christians proclaim the gospel and they give the good news to someone else, but they make it come across as if the person that they're talking to is especially in need and especially vile and especially undeserving of the grace of God.
[24:09] And people feel kind of beat up on and kind of really put down in a big way. And you know what? They deserve that.
[24:20] Because that's their true state. But, whatever you do, don't give them the impression that the same is not also true of you.
[24:32] Because it is. We are all equally unworthy. And when we communicate the gospel to someone else, we don't want to present them as if they alone are in need of this great grace.
[24:47] You incorporate in that your own personal testimony, how that this is the story of your life. You know exactly what you're talking about because you've been there, you've experienced it.
[24:59] So, paint yourself with the same brush with which you paint them. Because many times it comes across as, I'm the good guy, you're the bad guy, you need what I have so you can be good like me.
[25:11] And that's a terribly, terribly inadequate and unjust way of communicating the gospel. Sometimes inadvertently, that's the way it comes across. So, Paul identifies with those he's trying to reach by saying, I am the foremost of all.
[25:28] And I don't believe that this is some kind of false humility. I am convinced that the apostle really felt that way. And, you know, he had good reason too. When you consider that this was a man who stood there at the stoning of an innocent man who had been set up, framed by local scum from the marketplace, who were dredged up and paid money on the side to stand before a law court and lie about Stephen, the martyr, and say, oh, I heard him, I heard him blaspheme God with his own lips.
[26:13] I was there, I heard him. And another, yeah, I heard him too. And these were men who would do anything for a dollar. And they subored testimony just as they did with Jesus.
[26:26] And Stephen was dragged out by the Sanhedrin outside the city and stone to death. And Saul of Tarsus stood there and said, here, let me hold your coats.
[26:41] And they took off their heavy outer garments so as to not impede the action of their arms throwing the stones. And Paul held the robes of those who rained down the stones upon the body of this innocent man.
[26:56] man. And now he's reliving that. And he is remorseful over his stupidity and his blindness and his ignorance.
[27:10] How could I have not seen it? How could I have been so blind? I can never forgive myself. And the man went on a rampage throughout the whole land imprisoning, dragging people off, hailing them off to the Jewish prison for having embraced Jesus as the Messiah, blaspheming, violating them in every way, shape, and form, taking the life of some, imprisoning others, abusing, brutal, mistreating.
[27:42] And now he's looking back on all of that. You think this man didn't have baggage? He had a lot of baggage. Little wonder that he could look back on himself and say, Christ died for sinners.
[27:54] And you know what? I was number one. I was God's public enemy, number one, and didn't even know it.
[28:06] All the time. I thought I was doing God a service. And I was blind and stupid, ignorant.
[28:19] Think this man didn't have some nightmares about that? came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all. And yet, I want you to look at this verse 16.
[28:32] It's very powerful. And yet, for this reason, what reason? God, for the reason of his background, for the reason of what he was and who he was, for this reason, I found mercy.
[28:59] mercy is the withholding of justice that is due.
[29:11] You don't get what you deserve. That's mercy. In order that in me, as the foremost, what is he saying?
[29:32] He is simply saying this, you know what? God has made an example of me. He is putting me on display as evidence of the ability of his grace to go to the depths of human degradation and be able to save anyone, even me, with my background.
[30:06] God has put me on display. He has made me a trophy of his grace in order that in me, as the foremost, and the word here for foremost, and this is not a very good rendering in the New American Standard, the King James uses the word first, and in me, first.
[30:28] The Greek uses the word protos, P-R-O-T-O-S. Does that ring a bell with you? Protos.
[30:40] Well, it should. It's a word from which the English word prototype comes, and it means a pattern.
[30:51] It means the original one that is made and formed and developed as a pattern, so that multiple copies can be made from it.
[31:05] But you need a pattern. You need a template. You need a first one. You need a prototype from which all the copies can be made.
[31:17] And Paul is saying he's a prototype. Well, is he saying that he is the first person who was ever a recipient of the grace of God, who had a vile background that by human standards was unforgivable?
[31:34] Is that what he said? No, of course not. The Old Testament is replete with people who had an ungodly background and who came to find grace in the eyes of the Lord and came into a personal relationship with the true God of Israel.
[31:52] There are some real scoundrels in the Old Testament. Murderers. David. David was one of them.
[32:05] But what Paul is saying is this, and here's the point of my whole message. This is what is so important. What Paul is saying is, I am the prototype, I am the pattern, I am the original that God saved under this whole new order called the body of Christ in which all who have faith in Christ are members whether they are Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female.
[32:47] I was the first one into that new body. That's what he's saying. Is that so difficult?
[33:03] Is that so obscure? I don't think it's obscure at all. Our problem is we just don't take at face value what the scriptures say. When 99% of the time that's the way they're supposed to be taken.
[33:17] This is not given to be some kind of an enigma, some kind of a riddle. We are to look at this and say, well, he's spiritually speaking. Nonsense.
[33:29] He's just speaking plain language. He's just speaking facts. He's saying, among whom I am foremost of all, first of all, in order that in me as the foremost, the prototype, the first one, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life.
[33:54] And when Paul took this message and began proclaiming it, everyone who received the message that he proclaimed of faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, they were immediately baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and they joined the ranks of Paul, who was already there.
[34:21] If there was anyone besides Paul who was inducted into that body, before Paul, we haven't a clue. It is not revealed. I think it is absolutely striking, and I mentioned this to the men I think on Thursday at our men's class, because we're going through the book of Acts there, how that Saul of Tarsus describes himself in Philippians, I think it's chapter 3, as a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
[34:50] That means my mama was Jewish and my daddy was Jewish. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. However, in addition to being a strict Jew, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel and all the rest, had all the credentials, all the pedigree of being a Jew among the Jews, yet, Saul of Tarsus was a double threat.
[35:19] He had the unique position of being a Roman citizen. You have any idea how few Roman citizens there were in this first century day?
[35:32] I can promise you there weren't very many Jews who were Roman citizens. And the only thing that we can conclude, because Paul says in the book of Acts, that he was freeborn.
[35:44] That means he was born into Roman citizenship, which would have necessitated at least his father being a Roman citizen before him, and then as the offspring of his father, he was automatically a Roman citizen.
[35:59] So he was freeborn. So here was a man with these double credentials of being steeped in the law of Moses, and he was very proficient in it.
[36:10] He was a student of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was the most famous, the most revered, and the most sought-after teacher of Judaism in his day.
[36:22] And every parent, every parent's wish would be that their son could be instructed at the feet of Gamaliel. Wow!
[36:33] Gamaliel was their teacher, and he only accepted a limited number of disciples who were learners of his. It's like Yale and Harvard and Cambridge all rolled into one, and this one man, Gamaliel, you were under the feet of Gamaliel?
[36:47] Wow! Yeah, he was. And in addition to that, he was a Roman citizen. Remember the incident in Acts chapter 16, and we won't take time to go there, but just let me briefly recount it for you.
[37:04] Paul and Silas had been severely beaten and put in the stocks in the inner prison, and they were going to continue to mistreat them, and they were getting ready to lay the lash to Paul's back.
[37:25] This Roman soldier was just about to beat him, and Paul turns to him and nonchalantly says, tell me, is it lawful for you to beat a Roman citizen who is untried and uncondemned?
[37:45] And this guy swallowed hard and said, you're a Roman? citizen? Yes, I'm a Roman.
[37:57] I'm a Roman citizen. And this man stood back and said, well, so am I, but I paid a pretty penny for my Roman citizenship.
[38:12] And Paul said, yeah, well, I was freeborn. And he turned to his superior and said, take heed what you do to this man.
[38:25] He's a Roman citizen. And I said, what? This guy is a Roman citizen? Ooh, ooh, you could be in deep, deep trouble.
[38:38] If you were responsible for beating a Roman citizen who never had his day in court, the punishment for you would be very severe.
[38:48] It was one of the benefits of citizenship. We have some things akin to that here in the United States under our Constitution. There are certain things that the authorities cannot do to you because you are a citizen of the United States.
[39:05] Sometimes we wonder how secure those privileges are, but that's the way the law stands. So here is Paul in this utterly unique position of being steeped in Judaism as a Pharisee.
[39:20] he was an expert in the law. He knew the law of Moses backwards and forwards and upside down. He was thoroughly educated and very proficient in Judaism and everything it required.
[39:34] But he was a man of the world. He was well educated, well traveled, and a Roman citizen. And that opened a lot of doors and a lot of places and a lot of ways.
[39:46] And I think it is just so neat, so neat, that when God wants to raise up an individual and send him, not exclusively to Jews and not exclusively to Gentiles, but he who is a Jew and yet is given the title the apostle to the Gentiles, meshing the two into one body, breaking down the middle wall of partition between them, and making thus one new man, who does he raise up to proclaim a gospel like that to this diverse audience, but a man who was both.
[40:29] That is so beautiful. And I don't know that there were others like that. There may well have been, but this one stands out, and one day the God of heaven looked down upon men and had this thing all planned out in his own mind, but not revealed, how he was going to take Jew and Gentile and put them into one new body and dissolve the difference that separated them, and he says, now who am I going to get to initiate this program and kick this off?
[41:00] And he looked at the least likely candidate in the whole globe, Saul of Tarsus, and he said, I want him.
[41:16] And the rest, as they say, is history. Incredible. Absolutely incredible. Yet, for this reason, I found mercy in order that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life.
[41:47] There are some other renderings of that verse that I'd like to share with you from the 26th translation, New Testament, and each one sheds a little bit different light, just a little different nuance on it.
[42:02] In verse 16, that Jesus Christ might display, one renders it, his unlimited patience, that's the Berkeley translation.
[42:16] Weymouth says, display the fullness of his patience. 20th century New Testament says that he might exhibit his exhaustless patience.
[42:28] Knox gives the extreme example of his patience for a pattern to them. One renders it for an ensample of them.
[42:40] The Amplified says for an example to encourage them. Weymouth renders it me as a striking example for those or as an illustration for those.
[42:56] Montgomery and Moffat renders it that Paul was a typical illustration of it for all. And the New English Bible says, and that I might be typical of all who should believe on him unto eternal life.
[43:16] We are talking about the origination, the institution of a program, of a methodology that heretofore did not exist.
[43:28] This is what Paul was talking about in Ephesians 3, when he said, which in times past was not made known to the sons of men.
[43:41] It wasn't revealed. And the idea that God is going to obliterate the distinction between Jew and Gentile and allow entrance of either simply on the basis of embracing Jesus Christ as their Savior was absolutely unheard of.
[44:00] And when Paul came on the scene and proclaimed it, it was received by many of the Gentiles with great joy and enthusiasm because this was their answer to eternal life.
[44:16] This was their answer to the sin question. But it, for the most part, was not received among the Jews because they viewed that as circumventing the law of Moses.
[44:27] And that's another reason why the circumcision thing became a big issue because if you're going to put your faith in the Jewish Messiah, you've got to come via the root of Moses, you've got to be circumcised, you've got to do this, you've got to do that, Paul says, no, no.
[44:48] No. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And he was the first one to proclaim that. What did Peter proclaim before?
[45:03] Well, we're going to have to look at that. And we will consider that in Acts chapter 2 because many are of the opinion, and I must confess that I was among them, and I preached this myself for years.
[45:16] I can't say that I'm proud of it now, but let me just say I did it ignorantly and in unbelief. That Peter preached the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost.
[45:37] Well, I would encourage you to really read carefully what Peter says on the day of Pentecost because he didn't say that at all.
[45:50] We make him say it, but Peter didn't say that. However, when we come to Acts chapter 10, years later, and the account with Peter going to Cornelius, that's not so clear there, and we will look at that because that too is part of the mix and needs to be brought into play.
[46:17] This is fascinating stuff. And when you understand these distinctions, it just makes these portions of Scripture light up where they're often obscure before.
[46:29] Have you questions or comments? Anyone? Well, thank you for those that were submitted earlier, and if you want to write out one or send me an email, feel free to do so, and I'll do the best I can to work them into the message and to try and provide some satisfactory answers.
[46:52] And we'll just take it from here on a week-by-week basis and see how this thing unfolds. And I think it is just absolutely wonderful the way God has put together this thing called the mystery of Christ and the one-body concept.
[47:10] It's a beautiful thing. Thank you, Father, for this time to share together. Thank you for this remarkable man that you raised up and made remarkable in the person of Paul the Apostle.
[47:26] We acknowledge his being a prototype, a pattern, a blueprint for that which is to follow. how grateful we are that you began the body of Christ with this man and you have added to him millions who have come to believe since that time.
[47:53] And our prayer is that millions more will be added in the same way. We bless you for it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.