red letters ( Clean and trunciated Complete}

The speaker discusses the importance of understanding the authority of the Apostle Paul's teachings in relation to Jesus' words. They emphasize that Paul's message for the body of Christ is distinct from the law of Moses and highlights the significance of Paul's apostleship, which was personally commissioned by Jesus. The speaker references Paul's encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road as evidence of Paul's divine calling. They urge listeners to consider the entirety of scripture, not just the red letters, to grasp their standing in Christ. Okay, I intended on a different message this morning, because some conversations that I've had with some people lately led me to kind of—not here, but just family and different things that we've talked about—is, when you bring up the Apostle Paul to some people, and I kind of owned this here for a little bit, I know that, and we're going to get to some of the other parts of Scripture and the Old Testament, I have a whole bunch of stuff that I'm passionate about and want to get to, but the thing that I think is important for us to understand, and what I think some people are missing, is that there's been a lot of watering down of who Paul is, and I think a lot of it's politically charged, because if Jesus didn't say it, then it don't really matter. You know, if somebody else says it in the Bible, then was that what Jesus said, or was that what Paul said? That's some of the conversations I've heard, as though somehow Paul's words are not authoritative. And so I wanted to go back and have an answer for that, and it led to this message, because I thought, you know, this would be good, just as if people probably already—most of us here probably already know all this, but just as a refresher. So this is called, The Red Letters Didn't Stop at the Ascension. You know, a lot of times people's Bibles—and this isn't true of all Bibles— but a lot of Bibles show the red letters of Christ's words, even in the ministry that the apostle Paul had for the body of Christ. And so I make those distinctions because it's important to understand our standing and where we stand in Christ, okay? You know, Jesus, He spoke to the nation of Israel, and He gave the law, the commands, and all those things. But then we get over to Paul, and Jesus came to Paul and gave him a message that was for the body of Christ. And a lot of people don't distinct it like that. They say it all runs together as one harmonious thing. But it's not harmonious. There's just too much conflict when you try to mix the law of Moses with grace that we are in today. And that's the point I'm trying to make. So, the red letters, it didn't end when Jesus ascended. So it's something I want us to think about today. And like I've already said, I want to approach it carefully because I understand why people struggle with it. Most of us were taught from an early age to pay special attention to the words of Jesus Christ. And that would be absolutely, that's what we're supposed to do. That's how we honor Christ. And that's what we're in all of this for, is for Christ alone. However, we need to pay attention to how we stand in Christ. And so if we're just looking at what the words are in the red letters, and we're not paying attention to what Paul said, we're not going to know how to stand in Christ. And that's where I think I spent, why I spent a lot of time talking about this, is because I think the church doesn't hear or doesn't understand it enough. And I'm getting this not from my own opinion, not from some off-the-wall thing, but just what scriptures strictly say to us. And I think that if we read it in context, you would have a hard time disagreeing with me on this. But, you know, I leave it up to those, and everybody's at a different place, and I respect that. But we ought to honor what all of scripture says, because the red letters are only part of scripture, and God says that we are to have the whole, that the whole counsel of God is what we need to know. Okay, so that being said, we can unintentionally develop the idea that the words of Jesus spoke during his earthly ministry somehow carry greater authority than what the same Lord, Jesus Christ, revealed after he returned to heaven. So he died. He rose again. And then, in a lot of people's minds, that's the end of it. But let's see what happened. We open Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and we see the red letters. Jesus said it. That settles it. And then we come to Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and the other letters of Paul, and suddenly there can be a hesitation. Well, that's Paul. And that's what I was explaining to you all earlier. That's what I'm talking about. People will say, well, that's Paul, so it has less weight, right? So I wanted to ask this simple question. Who sent Paul? We all know who did. Now, I know you all do, so I'm just going to run this through. Who gave Paul his marching orders? Who told Paul what to preach? Who revealed the message to him? And perhaps most importantly, yeah, I'm in. And most importantly, how can we know Paul was not simply making this claim for himself? I've heard some people sit back and say, oh, well, Paul, he was a false teacher. He's not even supposed to be in the Bible. I mean, I don't know where people get this stuff from. If Paul appointed himself, we have every reason to question him. Absolutely. If Paul invented his apostleship, we ought to reject it imminently. But if the risen Lord Jesus Christ personally appeared to Paul, which he did, personally commissioned Paul, which he did, personally sent Paul, and later revealed truth to Paul, then taking Paul's apostleship seriously is not elevating a man above Christ. It's recognizing the authority that Christ gave to him. And that's all we're trying to do. We're not trying to, we don't want to elevate Paul, because Paul is a sinner just like the rest of us. But he had something that none of the rest of us had. He had a message that he was supposed to relate to the church, the body of Christ. So if we turn, if you have your Bible and you want to follow along, if you want to turn to Acts chapter 9, you can kind of skim through that and see some of that. Saul of Taurus, you know, he's not looking for Jesus. You know, he's angry, and we know his story, right? I mean, he had just got done holding the coats of all those that killed Stephen. They stoned him to death in Acts, right? We see that God was still trying to draw Israel to believe that He was the Messiah that was promised by the forefathers in the Old Testament, that was promised to come as the Messiah to the nation of Israel. And so, even after Christ's death, think about what He said. He says, Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. We all know that famous line, right? And so that prayer wasn't just a humble stance from Christ, because He wasn't angry. He wasn't holding it to their account. He was there to die for a reason, and the disciples did not know that He was even going to die. Even right up to His death, they didn't know. And we'll see about that later. But He prayed, Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. That prayer was compassion from God, to allow the disciples that were Jesus' disciples to continue to preach the gospel that they had been preaching to the Jewish nation. There were still all those people, all those Jews, all those people who still needed to hear the message of Christ. And so they continued. And they kept trying to convince those. And some did receive them. We saw it in Acts chapter 2. We saw they received Christ. And then Stephen pleads with all the leadership that they understand that they murdered their own Messiah on the cross. And it made them so angry that they stoned Stephen to death, because they weren't wanting a Messiah that was going to allow them to be hung on a cross. They were wanting a conquering king that was going to come and sit. And they rejected him, and so did Paul. And Paul was standing there amongst them, holding the coats of those that murdered Stephen. We know God knows all things. He knew all this was going to happen. You know, He knows. But He had a plan that He had already set in place. And it wasn't plan B, if Israel didn't accept Christ as Messiah, He was going to bring it in. This was something that He had planned, according to scripture, from back before time. We see that in Ephesians 3, verse 9, that it was something that was planned from before the world began. So even before Israel got the oracles of God and received the commission from God to be the custodians to carry the word of God, and all the promises and the prophets and all those things that they carried through all that time, and to allow the line of redemption to come through Israel, their Redeemer, He had the mystery planned for the Apostle Paul. And no one knew about it. God kept it hidden. He kept it hidden for a reason. And He gave it to the Apostle Paul. So Paul is marching right now. And he's marching to Damascus. He's on the Damascus Road, heading there. And he's met by Christ, the glorified Christ, not the one that was in the flesh with the disciples. He is in His glorified position now. And He doesn't just give him a vision. He meets him on the road. And the brightness of His glory was so bright. It was at noontime that Paul was walking. It said the sun was high in the sky. And he was walking, marching, and this light blinded him, brighter than the noonday. Struck him down on the road. And he heard a voice. He didn't see him, but he heard a voice. Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Saul says, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I'm Jesus, the one you persecute. So he tells him right there, this is who I am. And so Jesus is speaking. The red letters are happening right here. See what I'm saying? And this is my point that I'm trying to bring up. And then he's told to go to, I believe it was Judas' house on a street called Straight in Damascus, and to wait there. And he would be told as to what to do. Then there's another scene that comes up in Acts 9, where there's a man by the name of Ananias, who also gets the red letters of Jesus from him. And he says, go to the house on the street called Straight and pray for, there's a man there, there's Saul of Taurus, and pray for him. And he said, well, this man is, I know who this man is. He's a, you know, he's a very vicious man. And he hates the church, which is called the Way, which was the name of, they were called back in those days, the Way. And so he says, I'm afraid of him. You know, he says, don't fear. He says, because I have set this man aside to do work that I have prescribed for him to do. And I'm using my own words here. But he will suffer greatly at the hands of others. But he will go to preach to the Gentiles, to the children of Israel, and to kings. So he's told Ananias, this man is going to be set aside for my purpose. So this is why I put the weight on Paul. And this is why I think there's not enough that's being talked about. And there's so much joy, hope and freedom in what Paul is getting ready to teach. Because you've got to remember that the Gentiles, they just rejected their Messiah. And God, you know, Scripture says, you know, they stumbled at the cross, but they fell at the death of Stephen. You know, that's what happened. That's where they fell. Now, was their fall permanent? No. God, He just put a pause on His work that He'd been doing, even from before, in the Old Testament, His plan to bring the Messiah. He brought the Messiah. He's still working. Because you've got to remember, God was the one that made the covenant with Israel. He had Abraham go to sleep. And He said, I will keep the promise for both of us, on both sides. So I will not let you fail in my promise that one day I will bring you as my chosen people, and you will be an eternal people with me. Right? So God is not done with Israel. But because of their rejection, and God gave them every opportunity, even after He died, up to the death of Stephen, and then He brought in the mystery. It's called the mystery in Scripture. But it's a revelation of a good news item. Right? I'm hesitant about saying gospel, because people kind of get upset when I say that. But gospel just really means good news. And there's many good news in the Bible. And so I'm not going to forsake explanation. I'm going to say there's another program that comes into operation, which the Apostle Paul brings. And the reason I say it's different is because everything that Jesus had preached in the four gospels, they didn't have the information that Paul had. Jesus didn't allow that to be revealed. He knew it, right? But He didn't say anything about it. And it tells us in Corinthians, why. Because He said, if the princes of this world, if those that were the evil, the Satan himself, had known what was going to happen, He would have never allowed the Son of Glory to be crucified. And the reason that was, was because the Gentiles were in Satan's back pocket. Because remember, God had made Israel His chosen people. And the Gentiles were outside of the covenants and promises of God. It's clear. We see that in Colossians 2, 13 and 14. It says it plain. So all of that being said, we're thinking, what Paul has here is not exactly the same as what's being preached over there. So I call it a different program. That's my point of saying that. So what is it that's different than he did? Well, the difference is, the body of Christ is never mentioned in the four gospels. You ever notice that? You never hear anything about the body of Christ, or, you know, or grace, as far as, you know, that we hear that there is grace, the grace of God in the Old Testament is speaking to His care for Israel, and that He allows certain things to happen. But the grace that we are talking about is an individual thing, based on each one. And so Paul is bringing in the dispensation of grace. It says it clear. A lot of people don't like that word. I don't like to use that word, because there's a whole thing around dispensationalism. And I don't ascribe to it. I agree with a lot of the premise of it, but there's so many different factions, it's crazy. But what I agree with is what Scripture says plainly. And it says plainly that it's a dispensation of grace. What is a dispensation? It's just an age of time. It's just a time period, right? There was a time period of those that did sacrifices. There was a time period when David was the king. There was a time period. There's all these different time periods. And it's really, in its whole picture, if you stand back and look at it, it's really God's scroll and His plan being rolled out in real time. And we just happen to be at the point of the dispensation of grace, right? What God did with Israel, it was happening. He got put on pause because of their rejection. Then God brought in His plan for, not for the Jew, not for the Gentile, but for the one new man. Remember, it says there is no Jew or Gentile today in this dispensation of grace. There is one new man, a new creature. We are, if we are saved through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are the one new man. We are the new creature. Or, you know, the Scripture says, Paul says it in Scripture says that we are neither Jew nor Greek. So I like to call us the neither. We're the neithers, anybody in this. So if you're a Jew, and the wonderful love and grace and mercy to God is, think about all those Jews that their program had got put on hold. God catches those that come after them until that generation dies out, and it all becomes the body of Christ, because they were seeking a Messiah to come. You never see in Scriptures that they were looking forward to a cross. You hear a lot of preachers preach that stuff, but it ain't true. You can validate it real easy by looking in Scripture. They'll say, oh, we as the Church, we look back at the cross, you know, at that time when Jesus died for our sins. And all those that are before the cross, they were looking forward to the cross. There's never been any mention anywhere. What they were looking forward to is their Messiah to come. That was their hope and eternal kingdom, a place where the throne of David would sit on earth and rule over them. We see a thousand years of that happening in the later times, in the millennium. And I don't know where you fall on rapture and when and what, but I'm a pre-Trib believer. I have my reason for that. That's another sermon. But nevertheless, I'm just trying to break down where I'm coming from here, because the kingdom will be set up eternally. And we know that it's an eternal earthly kingdom, because it says that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Have y'all read much of Revelations? Or have you followed much of that? I don't know if you've ever been through much of Revelation, but it says in the book of Revelation there will be a new heaven and a new earth. And God destroys the current ones, and then He brings in the eternal place of where our boat is going to be. And it's interesting how scripture spells it out. And this is where it gets really, just incredibly interesting to follow, is that we have a new heaven and a new earth. So this new earth comes down. And what comes out of heaven onto the new earth? It is the city of God. The city of God comes down and is placed onto the new earth. Now, if we're all supposed to be together in heaven, you know, through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all the way through Paul's ministry, all that, then why is there going to be a new heaven and a new earth, where the throne will sit, the throne of David will sit? Now, that's always been their hope, that all the Israelites have always wanted their reigning God and King to come, their Messiah, to sit on the throne of David. That was always the plan. That's what is going to happen. But David's throne was an earthly throne. It's not a heavenly one. A heavenly throne would be Christ's throne, God's throne. That's the throne in heaven, right? We can really see it in clear focus when we allow the scriptures to speak for themselves and not take what's been taught and cherry-pick and told us, this is what this means. For me, personally, I was taught what things meant in scripture, and then I would read those things in scripture, and I would say, yeah, that's exactly what that means. And I would continue it, right? And I think that's where a lot of people, even preachers today, will do that. But if we allow scripture just to speak for itself, we will see a different picture emerge. Not entirely. It's not all wrong. But there is a fracture in an avenue that is not traveled very often through what's being taught. So I don't want to say that everybody's wrong. That's not what I'm saying. However, I am saying that if you think about it, if they have an earth of kings, so what about us today? Where is our abode? We have a heavenly abode, right? Because that's what it is, that we are in Christ. We are the body of Christ. Remember it says, Christ is the head, and we are the body. And we are all members of that body. And so it says that, positionally, right now, we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ. That's where we're at, with Christ in the heavenlies. Also it says our conversation is in heaven. It's interesting that Paul puts us there in the body of Christ, and the kingdom is placed looking for an earthly home. So those are things that I'll leave on you all to decide and mull over in your own self. But I would really encourage you to validate what I'm saying. I don't want anybody to go away just taking anybody's word for it. We hear stuff a lot of times, and I'm guilty of this. I spent a lot of time, there was people that I would just, I said, hey, these people are golden. These people are what I believe are solid in their belief system. And what that did for me was, it kept me from having to go in and personally have that time in Scripture with God. I could just go to somebody and listen to what they'd say, and then, hey, that sounds good to me. That's what I believe, so I'm going to believe it, right? And that's just a dangerous place to be. It doesn't agree with what the Scripture says. It don't matter what that guy says. Because, and that's a problem I've had with the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, there's things in there that they say, well, unless you do this and this, in addition to what Scripture says, then you're not saved, or you're not this, or you're not that. I don't ascribe to that at all. It's Christ alone. His word is true. There's nothing that needs, as a matter of fact, if anybody adds or takes away from what's written here, I will add to him the things that are described. And that's not going to be in Revelations, but it's also mentioned in other places. I just wanted to say that we need to allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves entirely, and don't take anyone's word for it. Don't take my word for it. Go and look up, if those things are so. And I'm going to close with this one thought. I didn't even get to my message, because I was too busy running my head. But the thing that I want to explain to you is, for me, and I think it makes sense for all of us, in Acts 17, verse 11, Paul states about these men who were in Berea, and they were Bereans, and he said that those in Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the word day and night to see if what was written there is true. I think that a lot of the reason that people have a lot of struggling in religion and in churches today is because they try to bring in what was promised to the nation of Israel, and what Paul said about grace, and they are not, they cannot commingle. They cannot. They're separate because they apply to a different group of people. We are the new creature. We're not a part of that program. It doesn't mean that all that Jesus said doesn't apply. That's nonsense. We need to listen to everything Jesus said in the four Gospels, and apply those things that are horizontal, meaning they have a truth through all ages. But when it comes to salvation and how we are saved, we are not saved by outward works of righteousness, because the Jews had to show their faith by ... They didn't have to. I'm going to say it differently. They showed their faith in God and their hope in God by their outward works. That's what gets mixed in with grace today. And that's why so many people think, oh, I've got to add some form of works, or I've got to do something in order to be loved and accepted by God. But if we are in Christ, Christ said, look, that work that they had to do of righteousness, I did it for you. When I died on the cross, I did the work. How? He paid the sin debt. He went to the law, stood before what it was owed, and he said, I will pay it with my blood. I will pay it for all men. And that's what he did. And his blood was the appropriation for our sins. And so we are covered by the righteousness of Christ. That's why when God looks at you and me, and we sin and we mess up, He doesn't see our sin. He sees Christ's righteousness, because we're covered by Him. And we were credited that righteousness until the day of redemption. That's why it says we are sealed until the day of redemption, because Christ said, I got you covered until you get there. But does that mean we have a free ticket to sin? Paul says, Heavens, no. May it never be. That's not what we're saying at all. We're saying, because if we realize that, and we understand what is true, then we rejoice in the fact that we have this great weight that is taken off of us from this works mentality, or trying to earn our way, that all we want to do is please God. And I am a testimony of that, because I lived that way for 45 years under that works mentality. And that's why I'm so adamant about it today, because I know there's other people that do. And I'm just sharing this, because I cannot believe the freedom and the hope I found. So I'm going to shut up now, because I'm over five minutes already, and I apologize. Hey, I love y'all. This message is really just, I guess the Lord had a different plan. I thought I knew what I was doing today, but I didn't get to the message. But I just hope that you hear what I'm saying, that I'm not trying to say some other weird kind of thing. I try to explain it clearly. But I would say look into scriptures, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you, and see if it's not in context. And also, I've decided that, because I think there may be some questions and things, and maybe even on Facebook, that if you have any questions, and you have any thoughts, or you're saying, I don't know if you're right about that, I don't know if I agree with that, I'd love to hear that stuff. I'd love to sit down and talk to you. Not because I'm not going to judge or hate on anybody. I just like to talk about it, and have a conversation, because I think it's necessary. Because if I'm wrong, you're going to help me. And if you don't have a clear understanding of it, maybe it helps you. I don't know. So I thought about just taking some paper, and putting it in the back there. And if you have any questions, you know, grab a piece of paper, write it down. It can be anonymous. Just drop it into the basket back there. And you know, I'll take time and answer that. Maybe part of a service, or if there's enough of them, maybe take one service to answer, just questions and answers. Because I want us to all be on the same page here. I want us to all be one force, four men going forward, proclaiming the truth of the scriptures, and bringing hope to our community. That's my heart for it. And with all that, I say let's go ahead and do our last song here.