Paul was chosen to be our 1 Timothy 2:6 due time testifier, praise God, to bring us what?
The Acts 20:24 gospel of the grace of God.
And you know what, Faith?
He confirmed that over there in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 8.
He was the last person on earth, Paul was, to see the risen Christ.
You mean it wasn't John?
I was getting ready to say, a lot of people tell us it's John.
I don't know where they get that from.
I'm just getting this from scripture.
They get it from carbon dating.
Historians.
Historians, carbon dating, all this kind of, you know.
Revisionist historians, because I'm going on scripture.
He was the last one.
So anyway.
Yep.
And he was the only apostle chosen for the body of Christ, not 12 tribes.
Yeah.
He was not the 13th apostle.
You hear people say that.
He was the in me first apostle of the body of Christ.
First is not 13.
Paul was the perfect representation if you think about it, he represented both Jew and Gentile.
Yes.
So he's the perfect one for the body of Christ who's made up of what?
Both Jew and Gentile.
He's the perfect candidate to be the apostle of the one new man church, the body of Christ, which is comprised of both Jew and Gentile, because on one hand, he was a Hebrew brought up at the feet of a, I can never say that.
Gamaliel.
Gamaliel.
Oh, I think that's Galileo.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
But I like it.
I'm going to think Gamaliel every time I hear that song.
Gamaliel maybe?
It could be.
Anyway, he was, I know what he was.
He was a Pharisee law doctor.
Yeah.
He sure was.
Paul was also a citizen of Rome.
Yes.
A Gentile city.
So he perfectly exemplified the Jew and the Gentile in one body.
That's so cool that God chose him.
Right.
Well, and he was also the first one to receive that forgiveness at the cross.
It wasn't revealed before him and he blasphemed the Holy Ghost at the stoning of Stephen.
There's no other way he could be saved.
And that's the same people that he went and spoke to.
Now when you see Paul going to an audience that includes Jews, it's always a mixed audience anyways.
And I know he went to the synagogue first as was his custom.
So when you see him going to Jews though, he's not building on another man's foundation, so he's not going over here and speaking to Peter and John's audience and James.
He's not building on another foundation.
He has no reason to go to the kingdom saints.
He's going to those who have either never heard of Christ, or they have rejected Christ.
If Paul didn't have a different message and for this purpose, there would be no Paul.
No need for him.
There's no need for him.
You can just rip out the parentheses.
Right.
And let the book go right on in to the book of Hebrews and let it play right out into
eternity.
That's right.
Acts 9 wouldn't even be in there.
No.
So you have many reasons why there is a Paul.
That's right.
And the reason why there is a Paul for today is so that Gentiles can be saved without having to go through Israel.
Now here's another misconception.
Gentiles have always been able to be saved.
I've heard it preached.
Gentiles can be saved.
Before Paul.
That's wrong.
Yes, they could.
Sloppy Bible study.
Now what had to happen was they had to bless Israel.
Right.
Whenever Peter went to Cornelius, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted in all nations.
So that-
John 4:22, salvation-
Is of the Jews.
Was.
It says is.
Right.
But we're looking at it from here.
This was.
So it's past tense.
We're here in the parenthetical.
Right.
And it was, but it's not now in this but now dispensation of grace.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So Gentiles have always been able to find salvation, but they had to go through Israel.
This was God's point for Israel.
I mean, it was supposed to be through Israel's rise.
And guess what?
In ages to come, Israel is still going to rise.
Yes.
And there are still going to be other nations to come through them to be saved because God doesn't break his promises.
And you're going to need to find a Jew if you're out there and grab onto his skirt.
Right.
Chances are, according to history, you know, most of us are going to see death before we see ourselves being caught up.
You know what?
That doesn't prevent us for hoping that it happens and we never see that death.
That's our blessed hope.
And if you really look at it correctly, we would much rather that catching away take
place before we see death, because the people that are alive and remain that we love today that may not believe this gospel that we're preaching, that's their only hope.
Mm hmm.
And if they get out in a car wreck tomorrow and we haven't moved into the tribulation, they haven't moved into the tribulation to where they can endure to the end to be saved.
They're not going to be able to be saved.
That's right.
So we really hope that's another reason why we hope that our blessed hope takes place
without us tasting death.
Amen.
Like one old preacher used to say, I leave the church building, Trey, and I go outside to the parking lot and I stand up on my tippy toes.
I remember that.
And he says, I go up and down, and up and down.
He said, the folks out there will get to laughing at him.
He said, I'm just ready to go.
I'm ready.
Maybe.
Maybe today will be the day.
Maybe this will be the day.
Yeah.
Oh, we're so thankful.
Thankful that we're in this grace dispensation, that we have a grace apostle.
We have our own specific chosen apostle.
Nobody else can say that.
And it's something that the church continues to fail to see, thinking that everything in the Bible applies to me at all times and all situations.
And that's nonsensical.
It's a nonsensical approach to Bible study.
And those who take this approach, they have a commonality among them.
You'll notice they're never at true peace.
You ever notice that?
Never.
They never really have true joy.
It's a fake put on type of peace and joy.
Why not?
Because their focus is on fleshly activities in the pursuit of their pleasing God.
You can't please God with fleshly activities, but they don't know that.
You just have to ask, how can we, with a straight face, how can anyone say that we belong back there in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?
That makes no sense when I can read.
We were doing it.
We were talking about this just what, earlier or yesterday.
We can read there in Matthew 23, then spake Jesus to the who?
The multitude and his disciples.
What did he say?
Saying, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
Pay attention.
Verse 3, All therefore, whatsoever they, who's the they, the scribes and Pharisees that sit in Moses' seat. Yep. Whatsoever they bid you, what are you to do, Faith?
Observe and do.
Observe and do.
Yes.
Now, how does that make sense for me to say, I'm a Christian, and my doctrine's in the red letters, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Oh, really now?
So just where would you suggest that we go to find that one who sits in Moses' seat?
And what might I ask?
Do you think?
He's going to tell us to do.
This is a seat of law.
Yes, it is.
This is a seat of judgment.
This is a seat that belongs in a synagogue, not a supposed Christian church building.
Right, right.
We did a study on that years ago, remember, about the judgment seat?
Because that is the judgment seat that was given to Israel.
That's right.
Because we talked about the judgment seat of Christ and the different judgments.
You did an excellent study on that and shared it with me.
That was great.
Well.
That is the judgment seat that belongs to Israel.
Because there was a strange dude years ago trying to say that the judgment seat of Christ is only for Israel.
Oh, yeah.
The same guy who says that Paul was preaching to the little flock, and that only the church of God, when it says church of God, that only meant to the little flock.
No.
That's a term that transcends dispensations.
You're going to tell me that the church that Paul wrote to was not of God?
I mean, come on.
No.
That's a...
That's a...
Any church that is after God, that is in Christ, is a church of God.
It's really not that hard.
Rightly dividing is an excellent tool, but as any man knows, and women who fix things, if you don't use that tool properly, it's going to come out bad for you.
Yeah.
You got to use the right tool at the right time for what specifically you're looking
to repair.
And so sometimes we overdo it.
Salvation has always been by grace through faith.
Yes.
You have to obey the faith in order to be saved.
Now that's always been the same.
This is why God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is because there's certain aspects about God that are always the same.
They're unchanging.
Everything that he does and everything he wills and everything he speaks is unchanging.
Nobody can change that.
But, the fact is, is he deals with different people in different ways throughout time.
And it's according to his will.
Yeah.
It's according to the doctrine that he prescribes for them to follow.
It's according to that faith.
That's why it's obedience to the faith throughout every dispensation.
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