Why Does Paul Tell Believers to Follow Him?

Welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a 30-minute walk through the Scriptures, teaching in-depth Bible truths that change people's lives. Now, here's your host, Les Feldick. Okay, good to see everybody in again this afternoon, and for those of you joining us on television, we trust you realize we're just an informal Bible study. I've said from the time we've started that we're not here to twist your arm out of one group or into another one, but our main focus is to just get you so interested in the Word of God that you'll begin to study on your own. And we trust that applies to everyone here in the studio as well, that our number one priority is to get people to start studying the Word. And I think we're succeeding to quite a degree. So many of our letters say basically the same thing, that for the first time in their life they are not only just reading their Bible, but studying it and understanding what they read. So we just trust that you understand this is our sole purpose, and after all, the Word of God is truth, and the Holy Spirit has been given to us that we can discern it. And so this is our prayer, and this is our whole purpose for being here. Again, we always like to remind our audiences that all the past programs are available on video and on the audio cassette tapes as well as the printed page. So if you're interested in any of those things, you can just give us a call or drop us a line, and we'll be back with you. Okay, the purpose of this is Bible study, so we're going to get right back into the book where we left off at the end of our last program, which was in Philippians chapter 3, verse 15 and 16. But now we're going to move on down into verse 17, where Paul makes one of those graphic statements that a lot of people just don't like to swallow. It just rubs them wrong. And here it is, "...brethren, be followers together of me." Now you know what 99 out of so called Christians say? Well I don't follow Paul, I follow Jesus. Well you know my favorite cliche on that is, then what do you do when He comes to the shores of Galilee and He keeps going? Pretty hard to do, isn't it? Because He was God, see? We can't walk in His footsteps. But the apostle Paul is just as human as we are, and we are admonished to follow Him as He follows the resurrected Christ. And of course that's what I'm always emphasizing, that Paul only knows Christ crucified, buried, risen from the dead, ascended back to glory. And it was from that position in glory then, that the Lord reveals all these precious truths to the apostle Paul. And that's what makes His apostleship so unique. This is why He can say by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that now we as grace believers are to be following Him as He follows Christ. Let's just chase a few of them down. This isn't the only one. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4, because again we do this just to show folks that you can just spend a whole evening just chasing down some of these references that tie everything together. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16, and again we get letter after letter that commend us for putting the Scriptures on the television screen. So this is why we appreciate the fact that Iris can find them as quickly as we can, and of course she's always reminding me not to just give her the chapter, she has to have the verse as well. So anyway honey, we're ready for chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians, and verse 16. And again remember every word that Paul writes is inspired by the Holy Spirit. This isn't just his personal ego coming out, but it's the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who says, "...wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of whom?" Me, see, of Paul, because he was the one who was literally now walking in the footsteps of the ascended Lord. Not the earthly Jesus, not the one who we see so much of in the Gospel accounts, but this is the ascended Lord who has now finished the work of the death, burial, and resurrection, which of course becomes our Gospel. All right, the next one I think is in chapter 11, still in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and he says basically the same thing again. And you know, I've always emphasized why does the Scripture repeat? Well, the same way we repeat today, emphasis. If you want somebody to really get something straight, you don't just tell them once, you tell them twice, maybe three times, that this is the way you want it done. All right? The Scripture is the same way. Whenever there's a repetition within a short period of time, it's there for emphasis. All right, now look how beautiful in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, "...be ye followers of me," now here's the whole thing, "...even as I also am the follower of whom? Of Christ." See? So it isn't that we are told to follow just the human steps of Paul, but really as he follows Christ in the realm of the Spirit, so also we do. All right, keep turning to the right and come to Ephesians, Galatians, Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 1. Now those of you who have been with me ever since we started in Romans, remember that we're always pointing out that Paul's earliest letters were pretty much elementary, were the basic fundamentals, but when we started those prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon, we took a jump up and we get into higher ground or deeper water, and we get into the further revelations that Paul experienced and wrote then shortly before he was martyred. So here's one even late in his ministry now, and he's still saying the same things. Ephesians 5, verse 1, "...be ye therefore followers of God as dear children," see? "...and walk in love even as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering for a sweet-smelling savor." And then he delineates all the things that should no longer be a part and parcel of our Christian experience, and so always remember that we follow Him even as He follows Christ. All right, the next one I think I'll take you to is Thessalonians. First Thessalonians, chapter 1, and we can drop in at verse 6, but I'm going to start a little bit earlier than verse 6 in this particular situation. Let's come back to 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 5. 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 5, and remember where all these various congregations are. Thessalonica, you know it's spoken different than when you name it the other way. Thessalonica was up there on the Aegean coast of Greece, just a little way south of Philippi, and of course was one of Paul's earliest congregations on the European continent. And look what he says. Verse 5, "...for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." Now verse 6, since he had established his credibility, his authority as an apostle, Paul says now in verse 6, "...and ye became followers of us, and of the LORD, having received the word in much affliction, and with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that..." And it's the same way for us today. "...so that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia." That's our purpose for being here, is that we are to be an example now as we follow in the footsteps of the apostle who follows the Lord, and all of this of course is to bring honor and glory not to ourselves, but to the Lord who has bought us and paid for us with His shed blood. All right, come back again if you will then to Philippians chapter 3. And so as we follow the apostle Paul, even though he's not popular today, most have christened him just almost like I've said before. They treat him like some kind of an ugly stepchild. Ah, he's there, but they'd rather not. And some have even gone so far as to say that they don't think he should even be in the New Testament. Well, my land, if we didn't have Paul's letters we would have nothing, because here is where all of our basic truths for salvation, for Christian living, and the hope of the church age is all written out in Paul's epistles. And you take that away and we'd have nothing left. All right, so come back with me now if you will then to Philippians chapter 3, reading on in verse 17, that as we follow in the footsteps of the apostle Paul promoting one word, God will bless you. Grace, grace, my land. Last night Iris and I watched television for the first time in ever so long. And on public television they had the Three Irish Tenors. Maybe some of you saw it. And a rather good program, but as soon as they started it Iris said, I'll bet this will get them a standing ovation. And what was it? Amazing grace. And I'll tell you what, when those three men sang it, I did, my goosebumps just jumped. And then when it was finished I told Iris, now I said, isn't it amazing that the world just acclaims that tremendous hymn, Amazing Grace, and yet I wonder how many really understand what it's saying. And it is hard to understand unless you've read the account of the author of Amazing Grace, John Newton. And if you've never read it, you find it. I wish I still had a copy. But anyway, just to summarize it, he had been raised in a Christian home in England and rebelled against it and left home and went to sea as a sailor. But over the years, in spite of his debilitating lifestyle and everything, he became a sea captain of a slave ship. And you know what those slave ships were? They were horrible. They had absolutely no concern for human life. And with it, of course, he was an intense alcoholic and immoral. So anyway, his whole life had just simply hit the skids. And finally, as he was getting old and up in years, he remembered what he had heard at his mother's knee, and he cried out for salvation. And the Lord saved him, miraculously. And shortly after that, he wrote then this tremendous hymn, Amazing Grace. You know, when you analyze the words, he says it all. Once I was lost. See, and that's what most people do not realize, that until we're saved, we're lost. And so John Newton, of course, by virtue of his lifestyle, recognized that he was indeed lost. And now he was found blind, spiritually blind. I suppose he ridiculed his mother's faith when he was young in his blindness, but the day came, probably in answer to that dear woman's prayers, when John Newton became a true believer. But most of all, he comprehended the grace of God. Why should God save a man like John Newton? He didn't deserve it. He deserved nothing but all the grace of God. And every time you hear the hymn, I want you to realize that even though the world may acclaim it and everything, how many of them really understand what John Newton is trying to tell us. But it's all of grace, and that's what the apostle Paul is known for, the apostle of grace. I think I may mention the program once before. I read a book some years ago, and that was the title of the book. It was a biography of the apostle of grace, and I couldn't put it any better. Okay, so coming back to our text now then, in Philippians chapter 3, verse 17 again, Mark them who walk, so as you have us for an example, that we too can be precipitators of people believing by the grace of God that Christ has done everything that needed to be done. And then verse 18, so here's the warning, and we're seeing it all around us today. We know that the first thing that Jesus told the disciples when they asked him, what are the signs of your coming? What's the signs of the end of the age? And the first thing he said was what? Be not deceived. In other words, the warning is the world is going to be deluged with deception, and we're seeing it, all the deception. You know, I always have to remind my Oklahoma classes where I can be, I suppose, a little more intimate in my statements than I can on television. But you always have to realize that even the most, what's the word I'm looking for, even the most bizarre, the most far out false teacher will use so much of the language that we're accustomed to hearing. They'll use much of the same terminology, but they're false from the word go, and I think it all goes back, let's turn back to it a minute, in Galatians chapter 1. Oh, they claim too to be walking in the same path that we're walking. But as Paul delineates it so clearly in Galatians, they're perverting, they're perverting the truth. And you know, a perversion is that which is good, but has had something adulterated. That's the whole idea. And I think that hits the nail on the head with so much of what we're seeing today in the name of Christianity. Galatians chapter 1, starting at verse 6, honey, Galatians 1 verse 6, where Paul writes, I marvel, I'm amazed, that you are so soon removed from Him who called you into the grace of Christ. And where were they slipping to? Another gospel. But then he comes back and verse 7, it's not really another. It's not something totally different, so that you can see, hey, these people are something that is not what I've heard before. No, that's not what they do. They use a portion of the truth, a good portion. They may use 90% of truth, but then what do they do? Verse 7, reading on, it's not another, but there's some that trouble you, and they would what? Pervert. See, to pervert something merely means that you take something which was pure, it was genuine, and you add something to it, and you have a perversion. And you can have it in all aspects of life. You can buy consumer products that may on the outward view seem perfectly legitimate, but it's been perverted with something that cheapens it. And so this was Paul's admonition then, that the true believers there in Galatia were not to be led away with a perverted gospel. Oh, it still had the basics of what he had taught them, but now they had perverted it, in this instance of course, with demanding circumcision and law keeping and so forth, which became then the perversion of those early congregations. But we're seeing the same thing today. They'll use the right language. They'll use so much of what we call the truth, but then they throw in this other stuff, and it becomes nothing more than a perversion. And we're to be aware. See, this is why we have to know what the Word really says, lest we be led astray with perverting. Okay, come back to Philippians then again if you will. Verse 18, I kind of jumped the gun really, because this is where I probably should have used Galatians 1. Philippians 1, verse 18, "...for many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now I tell you even weeping." It was breaking the apostles heart that these kind of things were going out amongst those congregations. Remember where he is. He's in prison. He's not in a position where he can go out and confront these people. He has to do it only by the written Word. And so he says, "...even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." Even though they say much of the same thing that he says. But it's by that perverting his gospel that they have brought that anathema upon themselves, and they have then become the enemies of the cross of Christ. Oh, but they think seemingly, they think they're preaching the gospel. They think that they are getting people on the right track, but the apostle says they're not, and they've caused him to weep, and that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Now look at verse 19. You'd think this would scare some of them. "...whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly." Well now that's a King James term, but whatever. It says what it means, and it means what it says. It's their physical appetite. That's all they're concerned about. And "...whose glory is in their shame." Oh, they may have outward glory, but the real fruit of their work is shameful, because they mind what kind of things? Earthly! That's what it says. And they mind earthly things. Now I have to go into the next verse for a minute, before I pursue that thought. And verse 20, "...for our citizenship is..." Where? "...in heaven." Now remember ever since we first started this whole series, oh too many years ago to want to remember. Way back in Genesis we made the distinction that everything concerning the Jews and Israel was earthly. Everything that was under the Law and the Old Testament prophecies, all of those things were earthly, whereas all of ours are heavenly. Let me show you what I mean. Come back to Genesis. Come back to Genesis. Hope I can find it. Genesis chapter 26, verse 12, 13, and 14. Genesis chapter 26, 12, 13, and 14. Now this isn't the only. This is just an example. We haven't got time to chase down all these verses that show the material wealth of these Old Testament people, especially the patriarchs. Now in chapter 26, we're dealing with Isaac, who had already been given, remember way back in chapter 16 or 17, somewhere back there, that everything Abraham had he gave to his son Isaac. And so now then in chapter 26, Isaac has been a good manager of what he inherited, and he's increased it. And now you'll see in verse 12, "...then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him." Now what kind of blessings are we talking about? Physical, material. See, we're not talking about spiritual here. We're talking about his material blessing. He sowed a crop, and it increased a hundredfold. Verse 13, "...and the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew." That is financially and materially. He grew until he became very great. See God doesn't condemn wealth, and for Israel it was a reward for their faithfulness, because Israel was an earthly people with earthly promises. Material, physical, and this is just an example of it. Now then verse 14, just to make sure that you understand that we're talking about material blessings. Verse 14, "...for he had possession of flocks, and herds, great store of servants, and of course that means everything that went with it." Now if you remember, we're not going to take time to go and look. You remember when Abraham sent the servant up to Syria to get a bride for Isaac, and when the servant first approached the family, what did he make sure that they all saw? Those gold rings, and bracelets, and earrings, which designated the wealth of his master Abraham. See, and then all that wealth was handed on to Isaac, and Isaac promotes it, and so it got to the place that the Philistines, verse 14, of course envied him. That's nothing new is it? People haven't changed even to this day. So anyway, the point we want to make here is that coming back to Philippians then if you will, is that all of the promises of the Old Testament to the nation of Israel were indeed earthly, and they were material. They responded to the commands of God, and God of course in turn responded to their obedience with their material blessings. But for us the believer, that's not the case. Our blessings, all of our rewards are heavenly. Now that doesn't mean that God can't bless us here on this earth, and that God can't bless us with wealth and so forth, but we're not to expect it. Mind some of these preachers have just put it out there that if you do such and such, God is duty bound to make you a millionaire. No He isn't. That's not the gospel of grace. That's not Christianity. Our promises are heavenly, and even though we may go through this life with absolutely nothing of this world's wealth, so what? All the wealth of glory is waiting for us, and one day we're all going to cash in on it. And so always remember that that's why the Apostle Paul will say later in this same book of Philippians, that no matter what his lot in life, he was what? Content. He was content, and even though I'm sure he was wealthy early in his career, he pitched all that as we saw in our last program, and counted it, but trash for the sake of the gospel. Why? Because now the true wealth of the believer is heavenly, and those are heavenly promises. All right, so now verse 19, for these people who are adulterating and perverting the gospel of Christ, they are doing nothing but satisfying their physical appetites, and they mind nothing but what? Earthly things, the material, the physical. See, and let's see, I think I've got time. Turn back with me to the little book of Jude. We'll have to do this quickly, honey. Jude, little book just in front of Revelation, and this is the same kind of people that I think the Apostle Paul had on his mind when he said that caused him to weep, because they were perverting that pure gospel of the grace of God, and they were adding to it things of the flesh and of the material. But look how Jude describes them. Verse 8, only one chapter. So verse 8, "...likewise these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, they despise dominion, speak evil of dignity." Down to verse 10, "...they evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally." See, now the natural man is tied to what? Heaven or earth? Well, the earth. And so it's saying the same thing, that these false teachers are merely concerned with the material. They try to use the verses, I suppose, from the Old Testament to substantiate their thinking, but I've got news for them. We're not living under the Old Testament economy. We're living under grace, and under grace our whole scenario is heavenly. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Through the Bible is a partner-supported ministry. If this program has been a help to your study of the Scriptures and you'd like to see others enjoy the teachings, your support would be greatly appreciated. Write to us at Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552, or call 1-800-369-7856. Remember, all programs are available in printed form, audio cassette, and videotape. Be sure to tune in next time to Through the Bible with Les Feldick.