Why Paul's Gospel Is Different From Peter's — Acts 9 & Galatians 1

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, ready to go again? And let's just turn right back where we left off in our last lesson, that would be in Acts chapter 9. We talked about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, a religious Jew, a fanatic, a zealot. But we saw the grace of God stop him in his tracks, saved him because he had no merit whatsoever, and that's grace. But, how much does Saul know on the road to Damascus? That Christ died for his sins, and that He had risen? No! You're getting the idea. No, that isn't the basis yet. He has only recognized who Jesus really was. But alright, let's go back where we left off, where God is dealing with Ananias in Acts chapter 9, and there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias? And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. Verse 11, And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth. In other words, he is on communication ground now with the Lord Himself. And he hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. Now let's go over to chapter 22 a minute and see what kind of a man this Ananias really was. Acts chapter 22, and here Paul now writing or speaking in the first person, many years after the Damascus experience, and he is recounting this conversion to the multitude of Jews. He is speaking it in the first person, and now drop down to verse 11, and Paul says, And when I could not see, for the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus, and one Ananias, a devout man according to the Word, was a Jew. So what is Ananias? He is a believing, but law keeping Jew. No one has told Ananias, yet you�re not under the Law, you�re under grace. No one has told these Jewish believers to quit temple worship, to stop legalism. They have maintained their Judaism, but they have also recognized that Jesus was the Christ. See the difference? And in that of course, that�s what we call the Gospel of the Kingdom. That Christ was the King of Israel, and He was ready to give them the Kingdom, but they had to repent, and be water baptized in order to be ready for that Kingdom. And so Ananias is one of these, and of course he�s the one that Saul was coming after, and others like him. Now if you want to turn a few pages further, go to chapter 26, and again Paul is rehearsing in the first person, all of this. And then you come down to verse 9 of Acts 26. I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. See that? I mean he never got over it, he never got over it. But nevertheless, he had to recognize that this was what he had to go through before God could use him. And so he said, I thought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 10. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints, these Jewish believers, many of the saints did I. He takes responsibility for it himself, so he had to be a pretty big size wheel in Judaism to have that kind of authority. Many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, they actually killed those Jewish believers as being heretics, they were off scouring of Judaism, and they put them to death, and Paul takes responsibility for it. Now I pointed out, I think in the Jews maintained this kind of authority that they could keep their temple going. In fact, I was reading a book not just a few weeks ago, where every Jew out in the dispersion would send fairly good size sums of money back to the temple. The Romans never intercepted any of that. The Romans actually guaranteed safe delivery for these offerings of these Jewish people that went back to the temple in Jerusalem. So you see, Rome sort of almost condescended to Judaism, and they even gave them permission to put their own people to death. And that's why Paul could say this, that he put them in prison. He voted to put them to death, but where was Rome? They would never have allowed that to happen to a Gentile. But you see, they put up with Judaism, and I think I explained to the class last night, the best explanation I've ever read on it is that the Romans had a lot of respect for ancient religions, including their own mythologies and so forth, and Judaism was an ancient religion. But you see, when Christianity made its appearance under the Roman Empire, that was not an ancient religion. That was something new, and so they tried every which way to stamp it out. And that's why Christians then came under such massive persecution under Rome, and yet the Jews didn't. But here I want you to see that Paul even recounts in his own experience how he persecuted those Jewish believers, but they were still Jews under the Law. And that's what I want you to see. We get to chapter 10, and I'll show you that Peter is still a law keeper, but that's for another time. Now let's move on to verse 15. So as Ananias is discussing all this with the Lord, that he scared the death of this man, the Lord said, verse 15, "...Go thy way," in other words, don't worry about Ananias, go on and do what I'm telling you to do, "...for he," Saul of Tarsus, "...is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before thee." Now what's the word? Gentiles! We haven't seen that much before, have we? It's been all Jewish. And here is the big turning point in the Book of Acts. I'm going to send Him, God says, to the Gentiles, and of course He's going to go also to kings and the children of Israel. Then verse 16, "...starvation, imprisonment, stoning, wrecked at sea, whatever. And it was all, I think, a flashback on how He Himself had caused so many to suffer. For God says, I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." In other words, in the ministry. And of course, He was finally martyred because of it. All right, now verse 17. Let's continue on. "...And so Ananias went his way, entered into the house," that is the house that was of Judas back in verse 11, "...entered into the house of Judas, putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus," see how He's emphasizing now who He is? "...the Lord even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit." See that hadn't happened yet. Verse 18, "...Immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, he received sight forthwith, he arose, and of course he was baptized." No doubt about it. We're still under that Jewish economy that demanded it. Then verse 19, "...and when he had received food, he was strengthened, and then was Saul's certain days with the disciples," that is these believing Jews at Damascus. Now verse 20, highlight it, underline it, do something so you won't lose it. "...and straightway," in other words from his receiving strength, his sight, his baptism, now he's ready to get after it. And now watch the text again, because I'm going to throw you another curve, "...and straightway he preached Christ in the marketplace." He preached Christ among the Gentiles. No, that's not what it says. Your Bible says the same thing my does, "...and he preached Christ," where? In the synagogue. So who is he preaching to? Jews. He preached Christ to the Jews. What did he preach? That He is the Son of God, who died for Him and rose from the dead? No. Now what am I trying to drive home? Even Saul of Tarsus was saved under the Kingdom Gospel, believing who Jesus was. And who was He? The Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, the Promised One out of the Old Testament as coming to the Jews under the covenant promises. That's all he understood. But see that was enough, because that's as much as God had revealed at this time. But now remember, this man is not going to continue just preaching to the Jews in the synagogue. God's got a path for him out amongst the Gentiles. So what is he going to have to do? He's going to have to get him out of town. He's got to get him someplace where he can enlighten him now as to what he wants. Now I'll read on what happens. Verse 21. And again remember verse 20 was the same confession that Peter spoke, that Martha spoke, and that all the others, the Ethiopian eunuch, they all said the same thing, that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But that's not enough now, so we're going to move him out. Verse 21. So all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this He that destroyed them, who called on this name in Jerusalem? You see what I emphasized back in the early chapters of Acts? What did they place their faith in? His Name. And what did His Name indicate? Who He was. He was the Christ. He was the Son of God. And they came hither for that intent, that He might bring them bound to the chief priests. Verse 22. But Saul increased the Moor in strength, confounding the Jews, who dwelt at Damascus, proving that this Jesus was the very Christ. Now is it coming together? This was the whole purpose of that miraculous three years of earthly ministry, was to prove to the nation of Israel who He was. And to those Jews that could believe that, they had salvation, and they became disciples, they became followers. And so this is as much as even Saul knows at this time, that Jesus was the Christ. But God's got greater things for him to understand, and so He's got to have to pull him out. And how does He do it? Oh, verse 23. I love all this. I mean this is so easy to understand. God has to get him out. Now He could have done it like He moved Philip, I know He could have, but He didn't. He used circumstances. In fact, when people ask me, Well, Les, how can I know the will of God? You know what my first answer is? Circumstances. When God slams a door in your face, what are you supposed to realize? Hey, that's not where He wants me. And every time He closes a door, what does He do? He opens another one. And so you follow your circumstances, as well as, of course, the Scripture and prayer. But God's going to move in circumstance, and that's what He's doing here. Circumstances are going to arise that Saul has to move out. And what is it? After that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took consul to kill him. There's a conspiracy about it. Not amongst the believing Jews, but the Orthodox, the ones who are still back where Saul was before his conversion. Verse 24. But their laying await was known of Saul. Well somebody let the cat out of the bag, and old Saul found out, hey there's a bunch of Jews out to kill you. Now those people were just as normal in those days as we are today. So what does Saul do? Hey, he makes arrangements to get out of Damascus. Verse 24. Their lying await was known of Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. But he takes another way out. And so the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. He didn't have to go through the gate. And so he takes off, and of course God is going to lead him. Now between verse 25 and 26 we've got a gap in here, I call it the three years. And again we have to go back to the book of Galatians to pick it up. There's a three year time gap between verse 25 and verse 26, Galatians. Once again, chapter 1. And when people have doubts or wonder about my approach to the difference between Peter and Paul, I usually just ask them, read Galatians 1 and 2 carefully, slowly, and with an open mind. Don't read a commentary, don't listen to what I say, read Galatians 1 and 2. And if that doesn't open your mind, then I don't see how anything else can. Galatians 1. Let's drop down to verse 16, that's about as far as we got in our last program as we looked at some of these verses, where Paul many years later is writing this little epistle to the Gentiles up in Galatia, and he says to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, the non-Jews, immediately after His conversion up there at Damascus. Now we know there were several days involved, but time wise it was rather short. And so he uses the term, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither when I went up to Jerusalem to them who were apostles before me. You see all that? He didn't go back to Jerusalem and check in with the twelve. He didn't go back and tell Peter, hey, fill me in. You were with the Lord three years. You were with Him forty days after His resurrection. Fill me in so I can go out and preach with some authority. Oh, he makes it so plain. He did not do that. He did not have contact with the twelve or the leadership in Jerusalem. But I went into Arabia, now I've got Arabia on the map down here, or Sinai, and so from Damascus he made his way down to, I'm sure it was Mount Sinai in Arabia. Now the reason I do that is turn over the page or so in Galatians to chapter 4, where of course he is using the allegory of Ishmael and Isaac, and we haven't got time to go into that. But just look at the geography that comes up in verse 25, just plain simple geography. Verse 25, "...for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia." Now if you'll come back then again to chapter 1, knowing that Mount Sinai was the place where God gave the Law to Moses, isn't it appropriate to feel that this is the place in Arabia that God took Saul now to reveal to him the doctrines of grace. Three years in a private seminary, no one but himself and the Lord so far as we know. Now that's a long time, but boy I'll tell you what, he had a lot to soak up. And consequently from this three years of being alone with the Ascended Lord, out of it comes this apostle now prepared to go to the Gentiles, not with Judaism, not with Law, but with Grace. Not with just the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus was the Christ, but with the Gospel of Grace, which is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who died for our sins, shed His blood, was buried, and rose from the dead. See the difference? And that's all Paul can write about, that's all he can talk about. Now keep your hand in Galatians, I've had a letter again the other day that said, Well, didn't Peter ever come to understand Paul's revelations, his uniqueness as an apostle? Yes he did, it took a while, but come back to his little epistle, 2 Peter chapter 3. Now Peter is writing this little epistle just shortly before he's martyred, about 66-67 A .D., or about 30 years after Saul's conversion. Time is rolling by, maybe not as fast as it does today, but time still went by, and so 30 years have been elapsed since Peter and Paul first had their meeting at Jerusalem, until now when Peter writes his epistle. 2 Peter chapter 3, and drop in at verse 15, and look what Peter says, and account, understand that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. Well, that's what this whole book is about, isn't it? Beginning in Genesis, as soon as man fell, what does God begin to put on the human race? A plan of salvation. He's not willing that any should perish, but it hasn't always been the same. Cain and Abel certainly didn't understand crucifixion, but Abel did what God said to do. Moses and the Law didn't understand what we call the Gospel, that Christ died for our sins, but they did what God asked them, or told them to do. Now look at what Peter says, "...the long -suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom acquired." Did Paul go to seminary? No. How did he get it? It was given by revelation, and so the wisdom that was given unto him, he hath written unto you, his epistles. Now the next verse, "...as also in all his epistles." Now what part of your Bible is that? Romans through Hebrews. That's the heart of our New Testament, "...even as in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, salvation, in which are some things hard to be understood." Thirty years afterwards, Peter still is having problems, but he has to agree, Paul is on the right track. Now why was it hard for Peter to understand? He was steeped in Judaism, he was steeped in Legalism, and you know this is what's so hard for people even today, it's like pulling teeth to see someone come out from under Legalism, and step into the glory of God's grace. Oh, they just almost fight it tooth and nail, and Peter was no different. Bless his heart, I'm anxious to see Peter, but Peter still couldn't quite comprehend that God would save those pagan heathens, without at least coming in to embrace the Mosaic system, keeping the Law, circumcision, and all the rest that they demanded of a proselyte. But to save them by grace plus nothing, boy it was hard. So Peter says, "...in these letters of Paul are things hard to be understood, and which they that are unlearned, an unstable twist." Are they doing it? You better believe it. Oh, they're still twisting the Scriptures, as they do also the other Scriptures, and to their own destruction. Now you see what Peter is saying? Peter is saying, look, if you want salvation today, he doesn't say go back to the Gospels, he doesn't say go back to Christ's earthly ministry, he doesn't say go back to Pentecost and my great sermon, he doesn't say go back to what I told Israel, he says, you go to Paul's epistles, and in them you will find salvation. Now let's come back to Galatians chapter 1, verse 17 again. Galatians 1, verse 17 Now this is the only two or three words that throw a curve at me, and I'm not going to ignore them, I'm not going to pull them out, but somehow or other they're there for a reason. But if they were left out it would be so much easier. But it isn't, and he says, and I returned again to Damascus, and then after three years I went up to Jerusalem. Now you see what I'm talking about? If Paul wouldn't have had those three or four words, I returned again to Damascus, then you could follow it that he left Damascus over the wall in a basket, the Lord led him down to Sinai in Arabia, and then from the Sinai experience with all these new revelations, then it would be logical to expect that he stopped at Jerusalem, visited with Peter, went up to Caesarea, probably took a ship up to the river that came down from Cilicia, and back to his home city of Tarsus. And so that's the route now that Paul will be taking as he begins his ministry then to Gentiles up in his home area of Tarsus. Now just one more verse, and then we're going to have to stop. But he says, other the apostles I saw none, except James the Lord's brother. That was it. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.