Who Sent Paul to the Gentiles? | thebereancall.org

Who Sent Paul to the Gentiles?

December 15, 2007
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Tom:

This is our “Understanding the Scriptures” segment and we are in the book of Acts, Acts 26 and last week I think I finished up reading verse 23, but lets pull back to 22 Dave, and we’ll go back over that and we can discuss it.Verse 22—Acts:26:22: “Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: 23) That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should shew light unto the people and to the Gentiles.

Dave:

Unto the people meaning the Jews and as well unto the Gentiles and I am glad you went back to verse 22 again, briefly here Tom, because there is some important information here.“Witnessing both to small and great” it says “than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:….”So, we’ve mentioned it before, I have a book on my shelf at home, by a Rabbi, and its called The Myth Maker, and he accuses Paul of making up Christianity.[He says] well Jesus didn’t teach anything like this and so forth, Paul, he originated all these Christian ideas, so in Romans chapter 1, for example—well the verse we just had here—Paul says “I’m not teaching anything that isn’t in the prophets.That’s the foundation of all of this.He writes to the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 2 and [he says] the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.So in Romans chapter 1 (and we have cited this often), but it’s very important and I like to get back to this foundation.Paul says, “I am an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God and how do we know that it is the gospel of God? It says which he promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.When he writes to the Corinthians, he says, “…this is the gospel (I Corinthians 15), “…the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved…how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures…he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures….”So Paul is very carefully—he says it repeatedly, this is not something new that I made up.Christianity wasn’t even invented by Jesus Christ, but he came and it is clear here, he came in fulfillment of the prophets.

Tom:

It makes me think of our ministry, The Berean Call, the Berean, Acts:17:10, 11: It says that these Jews in the synagogue, these were Berean Jews, as in the Greek city, it says they listened to what the apostle Paul had to say, now what might he have been saying?I think he was preaching the gospel.He is teaching them that Jesus is the Messiah.

Dave:

Absolutely, and from their scriptures.

Tom:

From their scriptures, not from the New Testament.

Dave:

It hadn’t been written yet.

Tom:

Exactly.It says they searched the scriptures, the Tanakh, the Law of the Writings, the testimony—that’s what they had and that’s what they checked out what Paul was preaching to them.

Dave:

So Paul says it again “I am speaking none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.This is the fulfillment, that Christ should suffer, that is the Messiah.That was shocking to these people.This is one of the main reasons why the Jews today—well they say they’ve been persecuted by Christians, no, they have been persecuted by Roman Catholics—they slaughtered Jews everywhere they went on their way to the Holy Lands, so called.It was the first Crusade under Pope Urban II and they slaughtered Jews all across Germany and all across Europe on their way and when they got to Jerusalem they chased the Jews into the synagogue and set it ablaze.So those are not Christians.There are a lot of people who call themselves Christians and they are not following the teaching of Jesus Christ and they are not following the Word.So Paul makes it very clear, I am only teaching you—I am basing everything upon what the prophets had to say in the Old Testament.But what does it say?That Christ should suffer?Woo—he’s going to die.Well, Jews—they didn’t believe that.They thought they had proved—the Rabbis thought they had proved that he’s not the Messiah. “Come down from the cross.If you are the Messiah, prove it by coming down.”No, if he came down, he is not the Messiah because he had to be crucified.That was foretold in the Old Testament.Crucifixion foretold 500 years before it had ever been practiced on this earth.So, but that Christ should suffer—wait a minute, that’s why they rejected Him.Well, it’s in the prophets and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead.Wait a minute—How about Lazarus?How about the widow of Nain’s son?No, no, they didn’t rise from the dead, because they died again.He was the first to rise from the dead, never to die again.And we will do that one day as well.If we die—or we’ll be rapture and we won’t die.But if we die, (my parents and so forth,) we’ll be raised, never to die again.But Lazarus who had been dead four days and Jesus called him out of the grave, he died again.Every one of them, but Jesus was the first and so the prophets foretold that, and furthermore, that He should be a light unto the Gentiles.Tom, you know when Peter had to have a sheet let down and he had to have a voice from heaven that said “rise Peter, kill and eat and what I have called clean don’t you call unclean.And they’ve got some fellas knocking at the door down there Peter and they are going ask you to go to the home of a Gentile, a centurion and you go!And you enter in.Now when Peter got back to Jerusalem, wow, the other apostles really went after him.You went into a Gentile house?You can’t do that!And Peter says well let me explain what happened.Let me tell you what happened to these Gentiles.When I preached the Gospel to them they got saved!And they said you mean that the gospel is for the Gentiles too?Well, obviously, Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.If you go back into, well let me just take a very quick look at it—

Tom:

Dave, while you are looking that up, I find it interesting that—and maybe you can comment on this— how is it that Paul—he seemed to be the first one to really get this because it was almost 10 years from the time that Jesus gave the Great Commission until the Jews actually got after it.

Dave:

They were blind.They couldn’t see it.It’s all through the Old Testament.It says—Isaiah:42:1: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.”I mean He’s going to bring salvation actually and you go down to verse 4: “He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: (that is He’s going to reign) and the isles shall wait for his law.”Well, go back to Genesis:10:5, that’s referring to the Gentiles—the Gentiles occupy that.All through the Old Testament—Let me just look at Psalm 22.All through the Old Testament you have this.This is the Psalm that foretells the crucifixion of Christ.And notice what it says verse 27:“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: (Jesus said to go into all the world) and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.”Or if you went to Malachi:1:11—it says that—God is speaking to the Jews and He is saying look I’ve had enough of you, your sacrifices—you bring the lame and the blind, you’ve got a good lamb in the flock and you give me the ones you would reject you know, you’re going to kill them anyway.You bring your sacrifice with a dishonest heart, with a wicked heart—this is hypocrisy and I don’t want anymore of it.But then God says, verse 11: Malachi:1:11: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place (you are going to offer a pure offering unto me—) so we could go all through the Old Testament—you’ve got it everywhere. And Jesus wasn’t saying something new—go into all the world and preach the gospel and Paul got it right, but it took a long time for Peter and the rest of them to understand it.And I don’t think Jews to this day understand it.But let them check it out from their own scriptures!

Program Number: 
5007d

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