Category: Paul’s apostleship

The Serpent’s Subtilty #1

Sunday, September 14, 2014

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

The Serpent is “subtil,” so the saint must be sagacious!

Satan, commonly called “the Devil” or “that old serpent” (Revelation 12:9), is one of the most misunderstood individuals in Scripture. The average church member is completely oblivious to exactly what he wants accomplished and how he operates to achieve it.

We should know our enemy, beloved—after all, he aspires to defeat us!! Just as a soldier does not haphazardly enter the battlefield, but first is briefed about his mission and the activity of the opposition, so we must study our Bibles to see how Satan wages war with us Christians (his overall goal is to thwart God’s plans). In today’s Scripture, Paul clearly explained that if we could understand the method Satan used to deceive Eve in the Garden of Eden, then we could comprehend how he will trick us.

Let us read verses 1 and 2 with today’s Scripture: “[1] Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. [2] For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. [3] But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

As God’s spokesman to us Gentiles (Romans 11:13), Paul had a righteous jealousy. He did not want doctrinal error to spiritually defile us as illicit sexual activity would physically spoil a virgin. We Christians are joined to Jesus Christ; we are His Body forever, so we have no business dabbling in (false) religion. Six times JEHOVAH told Israel that He was a “jealous God,” so they were not to participate in heathen religion (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 5:9; Deuteronomy 6:15; Joshua 24:19). If we are to withstand Satan’s war against us, we too must learn to identify and avoid “doctrines of devils….”

If Just One

Saturday, August 30, 2014

“…[B]rethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:” (2 Thessalonians 3:1 KJV).

God’s Word will have “free course”…even to be glorified in “just” one!

I was thrilled when a dear brother once contacted me asking how he should start his ministry. God’s Word had so filled his heart that he was almost bursting, so driven to tell someone—anyone—about the message of God’s grace to us in Christ. He expressed, “If [I] could assist even ONE person….”

It greatly delights a pastor, a Bible teacher, or a soul winner, to hear when even one person is saved unto eternal life or saved unto sound Bible doctrine, spiritual fruit of their ministry, who then reach others. Yet, Christians often give up in witnessing because “no one” wants to listen to God’s Word. (Actually, there is always at least one person somewhere who wants to hear God’s truth. Diligently seek him or her!). Beloved, we are not here to save anyone or to force any saved people to mature spiritually. They have free will, as do we. What we are here to do is reach out to them in love, meekness, and patience—share the Gospel of God’s Grace with lost people and dispensational Bible study with Christians. If you reach just one person, rejoice in Christ. Just imagine if every Christian reached “just one!”

An amazing thought is, the Lord Jesus Christ’s heavenly ministry—His ministry through the Apostle Paul—has lasted almost 2,000 years now. Just imagine, by God saving that one man, the resulting ministry brought the Gospel of Grace to billions of people, and millions upon millions were saved! Right up to our present day, the same Lord Jesus Christ is willing to use us to continue what He started nearly 20 centuries ago. If we each only reach just one, and the Lord continues to tarry, extending our dispensation long after we have passed on, the manifold testimonies of those our converts generations future, will be ours in which to rejoice when we meet all those precious souls in heaven!

And, yes, as you might have guessed, it all starts with “just” one! 🙂

Riches and the Ages to Come #2

Saturday, August 9, 2014

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5 KJV).

If Israel’s believing remnant is to endure the seven-year Tribulation’s economic depression, she must remember that faithful JEHOVAH is with her, and that He will bless her in due time.

Had God not interrupted Israel’s prophetic program by saving Saul of Tarsus and commissioning him as the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 9 (and starting our program, the Dispensation of Grace), Israel’s seven-year Tribulation would have begun in late Acts chapter 7 (the Holy Ghost speaking through the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:16-21 [cf. Joel 2:28-32] taught the seven-year Tribulation would follow the day of Pentecost of Acts chapter 2).

From Acts chapter 9 onward to the end of Acts, we read about God’s transition from Israel’s prophetic program to our mystery program. The books that come after Acts—Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon—focus on our program. The book of Hebrews, which comes after Philemon, is the transitional book from our program back to Israel’s prophetic program. Hebrews through Revelation focus on the resumption and conclusion of Israel’s program (Hebrews was written sometime during Acts in the event that Israel’s program would not be delayed 2,000 years like it has been up until now). Thus, the books of Hebrews through Revelation are an advancement of the kingdom doctrine first taught to Israel in the Four Gospels and early Acts (note John 14:26 and John 16:12,13).

Observe Hebrews 2:3-5: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord [Matthew through John], and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost [early Acts], according to his own will? For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.”

Today’s Scripture is God’s Word to Israel regarding “the world to come…,” the recommencement of her program after our program concludes….

Planting and Watering in God’s Garden

Thursday, July 24, 2014

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6 KJV).

God is growing the plants; we are here to simply plant and water them!

The other day I talked with a Christian brother in the ministry who expressed his desire to see an immediate conversion in the life of one particular lost person steeped in a cult. He wanted to see that person saved the very next day!

Let us read today’s Scripture within its context: “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building” (verses 6-9).

The Apostle Paul first visited Corinth in Acts chapter 18; here, some pagans had heard Paul preach the Gospel of God’s Grace, and they trusted Jesus Christ unto justification and eternal life. In late Acts chapter 18 and early chapter 19, Apollos, a new Christian and Bible teacher, came to Corinth and taught these newly-saved Corinthians. In today’s Scripture, Paul refers to these events. He had “planted” (soul salvation unto eternal life, God giving the believing sinner, Christ’s life) and Apollos had “watered” (soul salvation unto sound doctrine, the saint allowing Christ’s life to manifest in his or her own life). Whether it was passing from death to life, or learning about the life we have in Christ, it was ultimately God Almighty’s task to generate the results—it is NOT our responsibility to force people to be saved or spiritually mature.

Many people never trust Jesus Christ; many Christians never study their Bibles and mature spiritually. Yet, it takes some people many years before they trust Jesus Christ; it takes some Christians many years before they study the Bible for themselves. Beloved, people prayed for us without ever seeing results in their lifetime. Let us not be so self-willed as to think that God must satisfy us by rushing His work in people to whom we minister. 🙂

When the Church Confers

Friday, July 18, 2014

“…[G]ive attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13).

Having attended a grace Bible conference via the internet these last six days, I devote today’s devotional to reflecting upon it.

Anytime we meet with like-minded believers in Jesus Christ, it should be the most enjoyable experience this side of heaven. Moreover, when two-dozen Holy-Spirit-filled, knowledgeable yet humble, preachers of God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ, teach from the King James Bible rightly divided, the lost will hear the Gospel of Grace many times over, and the saints will be greatly edified many times over.

The conference was a very refreshing time for people who were confused about soul salvation unto justification and eternal life, and an equally encouraging time for Christians who needed either establishment or stabilization in sound Bible doctrine. No one went home without hearing the Gospel of God’s Grace (Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins), no one went home without hearing about proper Bible study (Paul’s apostleship to us), and no one went home without having heard about the infallibility and reliability of the King James Bible. What they do with that information is their decision, not ours.

In accordance with today’s Scripture, attendance was indeed given to reading, exhortation, and doctrine. Attendance to “study[ing]… rightly dividing the word of truth” was certainly given (2 Timothy 2:15); attendance to believing those verses, however, that is the hearer’s prerogative. Those who did trust the Gospel presented, they passed from death to life; those who believed the sound Bible doctrine presented, they were liberated from denominational yokes and prisons, and Bible perversions. Yea, some heard more sound Bible doctrine in six days, than they heard in all their lives in “church!”

Such a conference of sound Bible doctrine redounds to the Lord Jesus Christ’s glory alone, it resounds throughout the heavenly places, and it abounds in the hearts of us who believe. O, the manifold grace of God to all mankind! O, the manifold grace of God that enables us in Christ to tell all of lost mankind about that manifold grace of God to them! 🙂

NOTE: I highly recommend the 2014 Grace School of the Bible Summer Family Bible Conference to you. You may access its archived videos and MP3’s here.

At Calvary #3

Thursday, June 19, 2014

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them” (Acts 16:25 KJV).

The third verse of William R. Newell’s classic 1895 hymn “At Calvary” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing
Of Calvary.”

In 2 Timothy 1:11,12, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Some 35 years earlier, Paul had entrusted his very soul to Jesus Christ. The Apostle, in prison awaiting execution, knew that, no matter what happened to his physical body, his soul was secure in Christ. Never would his Saviour disappoint him.

Once, when we were “children of pride,” Satan was our king (Job 41:34). Now, we recognize Jesus Christ as King in our lives. Paul’s doxology, 1 Timothy 1:17, reminds us: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Verse 16 says we praise Jesus Christ because of His “mercy and longsuffering” that caused Him to save us).

In Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas, having just been beaten and whipped for preaching the Gospel of Grace, sat in a Philippian jail with their feet chained. Despite all their troubles, they sang praises to the Lord Jesus Christ—and the prisoners heard them (today’s Scripture)! Evidently, now, they were singing about the Gospel of Grace, for the Philippian jailor later asked them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). Their timeless reply was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (verse 31).

We have relied on Jesus Christ for our soul salvation. Hence, our delighted souls cannot help but remember that our eternal life began at Calvary’s cruel cross where the Son of God died. What a song we can sing, even in the midst of heartache! 🙂

A Prophet in the Wilderness #5

Friday, June 13, 2014

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1,2 KJV).

Why is John the Baptist “preaching in the wilderness?”

John the Baptist’s message to Israel was simple, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (today’s Scripture). Israel was to “repent”—change her mind about JEHOVAH, to remember God’s covenant with her, to acknowledge her failure to keep that covenant, to quit thinking like the Gentiles and to stop serving Satan and his evil world system. Israel’s confession of sins in the following verses was to acknowledge her breaking the Old Covenant, Law (see Leviticus 26:40-46). John’s water baptism was the means whereby Israel was cleansed of her idolatry, equipping her to become JEHOVAH’S kingdom of priests (Ezekiel 36:25; cf. Exodus 19:5,6).

Israel’s conversion was urgent: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand [near]” (today’s Scripture). In the near future, Jesus Christ would be baptized of John, thus manifesting Himself as Israel’s Messiah-King (John 1:31). Israel’s long-promised kingdom (foretold through the Old Testament prophets) was soon to be established.

Most of Israel’s priests were entangled in spiritual error, so John’s ministry was out in the wilderness, far from the Temple, far-removed from Satan’s religious system. This arrangement ensured John’s converts would be pure, untainted by the evil world system that had deceived Israel previously. God’s people would hear God the Father’s message about His coming Son and Israel’s Messiah, Jesus, from John the Baptist (see John 1:6-34)—it was a message unadulterated by Israel’s satanically-inspired priesthood.

The lesson we can take from this is simple: the same pagan religious system that gripped Israel still pervades Christendom, so we do not appeal to clergymen, denominational teaching-bodies, preachers, catechisms, creeds, seminarians, bulls, et cetera. We should go to the Apostle Paul (Romans through Philemon) to learn what God has to say to us Gentiles, just as the nation Israel was to go to John the Baptist to learn what God had to say to them. Thus, we will be a pure agency for the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 11:1-33).

Iniquity Not Yet Full #8

Monday, May 19, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

It was truly God’s wisdom and grace to take the Devil’s primary human vessel, Saul of Tarsus, and transform him into the Lord Jesus Christ’s chief human instrument. Never in human history had the Creator God of heaven and earth done something so unexpected, drastic, and amazing. He had paused Israel’s program (and delayed His wrath) indefinitely, when nothing but wrath should have instantly fallen on Christ-rejecting mankind! Rather than coming back in wrath, the Lord Jesus Christ returned in Acts chapter 9—in grace, mercy, and peace, to Saul. Rather than whisking off Saul into everlasting hellfire, the Lord Jesus Christ began and revealed a new program, the Dispensation of Grace, and saved him! The man who had imprisoned and killed more Messianic Jews than anyone else at the time, became God’s apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 9:15,16; Romans 11:11).

Saul, now the Apostle Paul, began preaching Jesus Christ as fervently as when he hated and blasphemed Him. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ personally commissioned Paul to preach to all people, every lost Jew and Gentile, “the Gospel of the Grace of God” (Acts 20:24), the very grace of God that saved his wretched soul when he was an undeserving sinner (1 Timothy 1:13-16)! Paul’s Gospel, the good news Jesus Christ revealed exclusively to him on the road to Damascus (Romans 3:9–5:20; Romans 11:11,12; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Galatians 1:11-20; Ephesians 3:1-11; et al.), communicated that God’s grace was being offered to the entire world apart from Israel and her program. Everything that God could do for every lost and dying sinner—forgiveness of sins, justification, new life, deliverance from Satan, a home in heaven, et cetera—was all being offered to the world through Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Timothy 2:3-7; Titus 1:1-3; et al.).

For 2,000 years, God has offered to all people His grace through Calvary’s finished crosswork. While often scorned and rejected, His continued longsuffering keeps His wrath in abeyance….

Iniquity Not Yet Full #7

Sunday, May 18, 2014

“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16 KJV).

Today’s Scripture expressly declares why the God of the Bible “takes His time” when dealing with sinful mankind.

Israel’s religious leaders abuse God’s prophet Stephen, biting him and throwing him out of Jerusalem. Finally, the mob throws stones at him until he dies. With God’s wrath on mankind literally moments away, the greatest dispensational change to ever “grace” God’s dealings with man, occurs.

Saul of Tarsus—leader of Israel’s opposition to Christ and His little flock, holder of the clothes of Stephen’s murderers in Acts chapter 7—personally met the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 9. As Saul was traveling to Damascus to persecute more Messianic Jews, the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Saul from heaven. There, Saul experienced God’s love, mercy, and grace; he trusted Jesus Christ alone as his personal Saviour, and became the first member of the Church the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ commissioned him as the Apostle Paul; thereafter, Paul had another extreme ministry—Jesus Christ crucified for our sins, buried, and resurrected (Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Years later, Paul wrote of himself: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief [first]. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Timothy 1:13-16).

In order to have mercy on Israel, God had to suspend her prophetic program. To save Saul of Tarsus, God had to begin a new dispensation, a new set of instructions to mankind, a new program, one He had in mind from before creation but had kept secret—the mystery program, or “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1-11). God delayed His wrath again….

Heart Service #11

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to being delivered from and guarded against today’s apostate Christendom.

Christendom’s greatest blunder has been to willfully disregard Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, and prefer other Bible books and/or extra-Biblical church tradition. Beloved, once we abandon Paul’s epistles, we have nothing but the Bible’s legalistic (Law-keeping) passages—almsgiving, food restrictions, water baptism, fasting, tithing, prosperity prayer promises, confession of sins, Sabbath-day and feast-day observances, et cetera—the very practices and ceremonies Christendom loves. No wonder Christendom avoids Paul—the doctrine God revealed through him does not profit their denominations (yea, that doctrine would literally bankrupt their systems instead)!

In the books of Romans through Philemon, Paul, “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13), tells us what the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ has to say to us on this side of Calvary’s cross (not in the Old Testament); in this, the Dispensation of Grace (not the Dispensation of Law); as members of this, the Church the Body of Christ (not the nation Israel); in this, the mystery program (not the prophetic program); and in this, God’s heavenly plan (not His earthly plan). Dispensational Bible study—“rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15)—allows us to recognize the passages that describe how the Christian life operates today.

Just as we trusted Paul’s Gospel—Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the fully-satisfying payment for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)—to be saved from everlasting hellfire, so we trust in it to be saved from daily sins. When Jesus Christ resurrected, He was raised to give us new life, eternal life (Romans 6:1-23, the context of today’s Scripture), life “filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:11). We are righteous before God in Christ; by Jesus Christ’s resurrection life, God will produce fruit in our lives to reflect that identity. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the Person who (literally!) “brings to life” the life of Jesus Christ in our lives….