908 - Les Feldick Bible Study - Lesson 2 Part 4 Book 76 - Connecting the Dots of Scripture - Part 32

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 2 * PART 4 * BOOK CONNECTING THE DOTS OF SCRIPTURE – PART 32 Genesis - Revelation (The Mysteries) Okay, now we’re all back for program number four this afternoon. Again, for those of you on television, we want to thank you and praise you for your letters. We couldn’t do it without your financial help and your prayers. Okay, we’d better get right back into the Book where we left off in the last program. We were in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 24. We had to digress and remind people of what Paul was talking about when he spoke of being afflicted for the Body’s sake, which is the Church. Again I’m going to repeat it, repeat it, and repeat it. Only Paul uses the term “The Body of Christ.” You’ll never find it anywhere else in Scripture. And consequently, the Body of Christ is a result of these mysteries that were revealed to this Apostle after the Lord commissioned him on the Damascus Road experience. Always be aware of this when people start arguing about things that are in the four Gospels compared to what Paul says. That only Paul deals with things that pertain to us. Now, I’ll just give you an example. You cannot find anywhere else in Scripture that we’re saved by faith and faith alone in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Only Paul shares that with us! You cannot find it until you get to Paul. And a lot of other things like we’ve just been talking about, how that Christ was the very Creator of everything. Well, you won’t find that anywhere else in Scripture, as we saw here in Colossians in our last program. All right, so let’s come back, if you will, to Paul’s revelation of this mystery concerning the Body of Christ. Verse 24 again: Colossians 1:24-25a “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, (Now remember who he’s talking to. Gentile believers in Western Turkey in the little city of Colossi just to the northeast of Ephesus.) and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh (That’s why we went back to II Corinthians in our last program, to show how he suffered throughout his whole 20-some years of ministry over and over and over.) for his body’s sake, which is the church: 25 Whereof I am made a minister,…” Now again, I like to qualify and define words. What does he mean by a minister? Well, he was the sent one. That’s basically what an apostle meant. He was a divinely sent individual that God was going to use for His own distinct purposes and in this case amongst the Gentiles. Now let me by sake of comparison, Scripture with Scripture, come back with me to Romans chapter 15. We find the same word used in relation with Christ Himself, but a totally different ministry. Romans chapter 15 verse 8—here’s another verse that most of Christendom doesn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole because of what it says. Romans 15:8a “Now I say that Jesus Christ was (past tense) a minister (See, there’s the word, a sent one.) of the circumcision…” Who’s the Circumcision? Israel. So Jesus Christ was a sent one. A minister not for the whole human race, per se; but He came unto His own and His own received Him not. Now Paul is just rehearsing the very same fact that Jesus Christ was a minister of the Circumcision and the Circumcision plus no one else. Romans 15:8b “…Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God,…” It wasn’t something that Paul dreamed up. This is the way God ordained it. That coming out of the Old Testament promises and prophecies concerning Israel, they were to have a Messiah, a Redeemer, a King, and a Kingdom. He was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Now continuing on: Romans 15:8c “…for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:” Well basically, what where those promises? I’ve already mentioned them—a coming Messiah, a Redeemer, a King, and a Kingdom. But Israel rejected it. They crucified Him. And, of course, as Romans 11 teaches so explicitly, through their rejection they brought the plan of salvation to us of the Gentile world. All right, but now come back to Colossians. We see that Paul is a minister of a whole different sort and with different criteria. He is not a minister of Israel. He is a minister of the Gentiles in particular. Of course we’re not going to leave the Jewish people out of this. Now verse 25. Colossians 1:25a “Wherefore I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God (Which in other places is called the Dispensation of Grace, remember, so it’s the same dispensation.) which is given to me for you,…” All right, now I know we just did this a couple of programs back. But keep your hand in Colossians, and turn back to Ephesians 3. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible