Why Paul's Letters Are the Most Neglected in the Bible

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, once again, we're ready to continue on. We're going to pick right up where we left off in our last program, and that was the last verse of the book of Acts, and so Romans 1-1 naturally follows. So you can be turning here in the studio to Romans chapter 1. Again, we'd just like to invite our television audience to do as we do here. Get your book and a pen and some notes, and follow along with us, compare Scripture with Scripture. And I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I don't expect everyone to agree with me. You don't have to. There may be points of difference that are perfectly legitimate, and I think the Lord recognizes that. But on the other hand, we have to be so careful that we do not treat the Word carelessly. I think all of you who know me personally know that I take this as an awesome responsibility. Whenever we handle the Word of God, it's not something that we can do flippantly. It has to be done with the leading and directing of the Holy Spirit. And I think I can honestly say that my daily prayer is, Lord, keep me from error, because I certainly would never want to mislead anyone. And all I hope to do is just get people to start enjoying their Bible, and it's working. My, we get so many letters to that effect, that even though they've been in church all their life, they are just now really beginning to understand and enjoy their own Bible. And of course, this is what God intended. You know, I've told the classes here in Oklahoma over and over. You know, the Dark Ages were called the Dark Ages, whether historians realize it or not, because the Word of God was locked up in the monasteries. And the common man never had access to it. And of course, that was what the Reformers wanted to completely change. They wanted the Word of God, as one gentleman put it, in the hands of every plow boy in England. This book isn't meant just for the highly educated. It's not just for the intellectual. It's for everyone in every status of society. And this is what I try to do, is bring it to the level of even young children, and yet get deep enough so that people can honestly say, well, my, this is so deep, I've never realized it before. And hopefully, that's what we are also accomplishing. All right, again, we like to always remind the audience that all these are available in videotape, or most of them now in the printed page. So you write or call us, and we'll send you the information. All right, now as an introduction then to Paul's letters. I don't have to repeat, you've heard me say it over and over, I think Paul was the greatest human being that ever lived, other than Christ Himself. I think he probably even overshadows Moses, as great as he was. And as I was preparing my thoughts to introduce the Book of Romans, I couldn't help but think of what Jesus said back in His earthly ministry, and I'm going to have you turn to that. Go back to Matthew chapter 11. And for a long time, this verse was an enigma to me. And then all of a sudden, I realized what Jesus was referring to, and it makes all the sense in the world. Of course, that's true of all the Scriptures. Sometimes we wonder, well, what's it trying to tell us? And then all of a sudden, there it is. You know, I compare Bible study or understanding the Scriptures the way I experience mathematics. I'm not a mathematical genius. When I was in algebra and those advanced courses, I had to work at it. But what I found when I was doing some of these mathematical problems, that it was just like something that I just couldn't break through. It was just like a cement wall. But all of a sudden, all of a sudden, it opened it up. And you couldn't write fast enough. And especially in geometry and trigonometry and something. Once you start those formulas unfolding, one just feeds the other, and you can't write fast enough. But until I got to that place, it was just like a stone wall. Well, now, that's the way so often Scripture can be. We can hit a portion, we think, well, what is this trying to tell me? And I've told people over the years, don't wrestle with it. Just leave it set for the time being, and in time, the Lord will open it up. All right, now here's what happened to this verse. Matthew 11, verse 11. Jesus is speaking, and He says, "...verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." Pretty strong statement, isn't it? It's from the Lord Himself. "...notwithstanding..." In other words, now don't stop there. "...notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he, or greater than John." Now, who could that be? Who could be the least in the kingdom? All right, Scripture. 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. And as I said in the last program, remember that every word that this man writes is Holy Spirit inspired. There is not a single word, not even a simple article written from the pen of Paul or any of the other Biblical writers that are not exactly as God wanted it. Now when men have gone through this, and using numerics as they call it, putting a value on every letter as the Hebrew language did, and as the Greek language did, they can prove numerically that these main themes of Scripture all fit exactly, numerically. You take out one word and it falls apart. And so always remember that every word that this Apostle writes is Holy Spirit dictated or inspired. I shouldn't use the word dictated, but inspired. He moved, He wrote as the Spirit moved. All right, 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. He has just made mention of the fact that Christ had been raised from the dead. This is the Great Resurrection chapter, remember? And that He was seen, in verse 6, of 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present time, that is when He's writing. After that He was seen of James, and then of all the Apostles. That, of course, was before His ascension. Verse 8, "...last of all He was seen of me also, as one born out of the due time." Now I even have to stop there for a minute, because it will be quite a while before we get to Corinthians. What did Paul mean when he said, I am like one who was born out of the due time? Well, he was speaking of himself spiritually as a mother-to-be who has lost her baby. It was a preemie, or an aborted one. It was a miscarriage. And that's what Paul is referring to himself as, that he had come on the scene before the due time for the nation of Israel as a whole. So he was that sampling, that the nation of Israel will one day be suddenly converted as he was on the road to Damascus. But he was amiss. He was an abortion. He had come before the due time. You got the picture? I'm seeing heads nodding, and that always tickles me. So this is what he means when he says, I am as one who was born before the due time. Because the nation of Israel is still going to experience what Paul experienced, but he's the sampling that came these 1900 and some years ahead of it. Alright, that isn't what I intended to tell you. Verse 9 is where I wanted you to see. Now remember what Jesus said, Notwithstanding, he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven shall be greater than John. Alright, now look what the Scripture says. For I, Paul says, am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called apostle, because I persecuted the church or the assembly of God. That is those Jewish believers back there in Acts early chapters. Alright, another verse. Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. And come all the way down to verse 8. Ephesians chapter 3. And again, the apostle is making reference to himself. Unto me. Ephesians 3, verse 8. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints. You getting it? Who do you think Jesus had in mind when he said, Notwithstanding, the least in the kingdom of heaven shall be greater than John. This man right here. According to Holy Spirit inspiration, twice he's called the least in the kingdom of heaven. And so, as one writer that I read years ago put it. He said, I am sure. I'm paraphrasing what he said. He said, I am sure that when the church is finally caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and you know the first event in heaven will be the marriage of Christ and his bride, the church. This gentleman said, I am sure that the apostle Paul will introduce the bride to the groom. Now isn't that something? And I tend to agree. And so as we study the writings of Paul, which are the most neglected in Scripture today. And I give that as the reason for the demise of the power of the church. The reason our churches are weak. The reason they may be filled with members, but are spiritually, as Revelation puts it, they are destitute. They say, look at us, we're rich. Look at our huge sanctuary. Look at our plant, as they like to call it. Look at our gymnasium, our tennis courts. We're rich. Just exactly what Jesus said they would say. In Revelation 3, the Laodicean, and that's where we are. But Jesus said, you're poor, you're miserable, you're wretched, and you're blind. And you know why they are? Because they're neglecting this apostle. How many times my class people have said, all we hear from our pulpit is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Now it's Scripture, I know it is. But yet you see, they are not in the portion of Scripture that the church needs today. They're neglecting the very basis of our faith. And then they wonder why everything is falling apart spiritually. Oh, not materially, but spiritually. So you start here in chapter 1, verse 1. This least of the apostles, according to his own description, now back in Romans, has to always defend his apostleship. And no wonder. Because after all, he had been steeped in Judaism. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees of the tribe of Benjamin. I think he was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was a Jew's Jew. And yet he's the very one that God saw fit to save out of Judaism, commissioned him now to be the apostle of the Gentiles. That's Romans 11, verse 13, where he says just as plain as day, for I am the apostle of the Gentiles. And again, very few people see that verse. But it's Scripture. It's what God has said. That this man is the apostle of the Gentiles. Now, granted, even Paul said that there would be other apostles that would follow him. And I'm sure he considered Barnabas as one. I'm sure he considered Silas as one. And I'm sure some of the other men that followed right up in that period of time between Paul and the end of that first century were reckoned as apostles. But so far as the writing of this Book is concerned, there's only one apostle of the Gentiles. And that's Paul. His letters and his letters alone are written to the Church. And any good commentary will point that out. That this man always addresses the believer of grace by faith alone. And so here again he begins this tremendous epistle written to Gentiles at the very center of the Roman Empire. And he starts out by saying, Paul, a servant... Now the word servant in the Greek is a lot stronger than our word servant. What was it really? It was a bond slave. See? And so in so many words he's saying, Paul, a bond slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God. Now I'm going to be making mention of all these things that point up the differences between Paul's epistles and much of the rest of Scripture. Because as I've pointed out over and over, you want to remember that everything from Genesis 12 all the way on up until Paul's epistles were directed primarily, if not exclusively, to the Jew. And especially as he was under the law. But see, this man now was commissioned right away at his conversion at Damascus when God told Ananias, I'm going to send this man far hence to what people? The Gentile. And then of course He took him out in the desert, gave him His revelations, which as we saw in our last program, Paul refers to then in Galatians chapter 1, how that by revelation, God made known unto this man all these things that are now going to come from His pen that you won't find anywhere else in this whole Bible. Paul's pen also says that all Scripture is inspired of God. All of it, from cover to cover. Not just his, all of it. And it's all profitable. It's all good for every one of us as well as for anyone else who has lived before us or after us. And so Paul never lifts himself up as the only one that we're to pay any attention to, but yet he brings out so many doctrines that you won't find anywhere else in Scripture. That it behooves us to spend the best part of our time then in Paul's epistles. And from that, funnel back and forth throughout all the rest of the Scriptures. I just had a thought and it left me. But anyway, go back with me if you will a moment to Galatians chapter 1 again. I'm not intending to make our study of Paul's letters anything near a commentary. Although without mulling this over the last couple of days, we've now been on the air from Genesis up to this point in time for almost four and a half years. I think I could very easy spend five years on just Paul's epistles. It wouldn't be any trouble at all. Because there is so much in this little section of our New Testament that is so intrinsic to our daily needs, our salvation need. Everything is in this little section of our mind. And most people... We've been teaching Romans in one of my other classes. And I think we're all agreed that for the most part, the average churchgoer never gets the slightest notion of much of what Paul is trying to teach. And of course, all Paul knows is the work of the cross. How that Christ died for our sin. He shed His blood. He was buried. He rose from the dead. That's the core of everything that he's going to write about. All right, Galatians. You're there and I'm not. Galatians, chapter 1 again. Where again in verse 1, he's as usual defending his apostleship. Paul, an apostle, see? Not of men, neither by man. No man, no group of men commissioned this apostle. But by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead. Now do you see how Paul is constantly bringing in the fact that Christ died and rose from the dead? Verse 4, "...who gave Himself for our sins, that He, Christ, might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." And then verse 6, I marvel, now you want to remember the problem with the Galatian believers was, they were being pressured to go back under the law. Legalism. Do this and do that. Keep this and keep that. And so Paul has to hurriedly write this little epistle to refrain them and to wake them up. Listen, you're not under law. You're under grace. And so he says, "...I am amazed, I marvel, that you are so soon removed from Him who called you into the grace." See? The grace of Christ into another gospel, something else. Which, he says, is not another. "...but there be some that trouble you, and would..." What's the word? "...pervert." See, Christianity for the last number of years, I'm going to go all the way back to the turn of the century when higher criticism started in Europe. Since the turn of the century, Christianity now is being bombarded with perversions. Now don't think of perversion as something way down in the gutter. Perversion is anything that has twisted the truth far enough that it's off-center and that it's going to mislead people. That's a perversion. And so Paul, even here, is recognizing that the Galatian churches are being perverted. Someone is coming in and telling them that they have to also keep the Mosaic Law. And it was a perversion. Then verse 8, "...but he says, as though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed." Now listen, that is powerful language. I shudder, and I say this kindly, I shudder to think of the end of someone who takes this gospel and perverts it. I won't dare say on television what I normally tell my classes, but listen, if I were behind the sacred desk, and if I had any inkling that I was misleading those several hundred or seven thousand people, I know I couldn't sleep at night, because it is an awesome responsibility when you take the very eternal destiny of people and frivolously lead them astray. I'm going to give you an illustration then, no one can put names on it because the parties are no longer around and don't even know where they've gone. One time a dear brother said, you know, he said, on Wednesday night our pastor teaches and preaches almost identical the way you do. He said, can't see that much difference. So he said, one time I asked him, why don't you preach like this on Sunday morning? And he said, I don't dare. You know, I can't get that out of my craw. I could never, ever stand in front of people and give them a bunch of warm soup and just give them something that's going to tickle their ears because I'm afraid of the consequences. Because that's what people are doing. They're afraid to give the people the truth. They're afraid they're going to lose that big giver. They're afraid they're going to have some people get a little bit disgruntled with him. And listen, Paul says he wasn't afraid of anybody. He didn't care what anybody thought of him. Oh, he loved everybody. He loved his Jews. He loved the Romans. But he wasn't going to back down from preaching and declaring his gospel because he knew the consequences. All right, now read on. Verse 9, as we said before, so say I now again that if any... Now the word man is italicized, so it's not in the original. It's been added by the translators. So he says, if any preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, that is from him, let him be accursed. Hey, now that's strong language. Then verse 10, do I persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? If I yet please men, then I'd not be a bond slave of Christ. Because see, when you preach or teach the Word of God, you're not going to make everybody your best buddy. It's just not going to happen. And for that very reason, you see, Paul went through all of the trials and tribulations that he lists later on in his letters. Imprisoned, beaten, starved, shipwrecked, all for the sake of the gospel and not only the effects of men, but the satanic powers. And don't think for a minute it isn't real. And for every one of us, you know, as we stand for the Word of God, we're going to feel these opposing forces. But we don't do it to please men. We do it to please God. All right, now then, moving on quickly. Verses that we've referred to in our last program. The gospel which is preached to me, verse 11, was not after man, for I neither received it from man, nor taught it, but by the revelation, or the unveiling, from the, had to be, the Ascended Lord. See, that's where Christ has been now. And so when He has these revelations, it's from the Lord who is now in heaven, and He's revealing these truths to this man that He might pass them on, especially to the Gentile. All right, verse 15. When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace. See that? Oh, the grace of God, which is past our understanding. It was past Paul's understanding. Why should He, as He called Himself, the least of all, be made the greatest? Well, Paul will be the first to tell us the grace of God. The grace of God, see that? All right, verse 16. To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, or the Gentiles. Immediately I conferred, not with flesh and blood, neither when I went up to Jerusalem, to them who were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia. Now we've covered that several weeks ago. But you see what Paul is emphasizing? The natural, the normal, human thing to have done, after having that tremendous experience on the road to Damascus, was to scoot right back down to Jerusalem, look up Peter and the 11, and say, Now look, fellas, fill me in. You were with the Lord for three years. You knew Him from start to finish. Tell me everything. Because I'm supposed to take this out to the Gentile. But he makes a point of it. He didn't. Why not? Well, as I've said before, and I'll say it again, because you see, God wanted to distance Paul from the 12. He could have nothing to do with them, in this new economy of grace, because they were steeped in Judaism and the Law. In fact, someone said, Well, if you feel that Paul was three years out in the Arabian desert, and I do, why so long? Well, you know, it took a year and a half in prison in Caesarea, I think, to put together all the doctrines that come out from the prison epistle. But I told my class the other night, and rather lightly, it probably took the Lord two and a half years to get Judaism out of His system. Now, that takes some doing. You know, I've even had people that have come into my class and said, Boy, I had to get rid of all that other stuff that I'd been hearing since I was little. And we do. We have to start with a fresh slate. And that's what Paul had to do. He had to put all that background in Judaism and legalism. He had to set that all aside so that he could be totally the preacher of God's grace. And remember, grace is unmerited favor. 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.