If I had not recognized the SBC pulpit this evening, I would have figured the Cunning Royal Jester (Eph 4:14) was speaking to an audience that had never heard his ‘mid-Acts’ doctrine before! Oh, no! Could a passage in Hebrews apply?
Heb 5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Evidently the Cunning Royal Jester thought the 'Wednesday night faithful' needed a refresher of his paradigm .... or maybe his false foundation is crumbling beneath him as we chisel it away! He drew his infamous chart, with a circle around Paul’s epistles. He pointed that, inside the circle, there is ‘no difference’, indicating that there was a difference outside the circle. One problem with that teaching is Peter’s testimony of ‘now, no difference’ (Acts 15:9) .... when God chose him (Acts 15:7) to take the gospel (Acts 15:7) of salvation (Acts 11:14) to Cornelius and his kinsmen and near friends (Acts 10:24) who were Gentiles (Acts 10:1):
Acts 15:7-9 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
9 And put no difference between us and them,
purifying their hearts by faith.
God sent Peter to leave from Joppa and go to Caesarea (Acts 9:36-43, 10:1-48) to preach to the Gentiles, directly after God’s announcement to Peter that He had cleansed the Gentiles (Acts 10:9-33, 11:4-14).
Here is a thought: If Saul (Paul - Acts 13:9) was the ‘first member’ of a ‘new’ church, called the ‘body of Christ’, made up of Jew and Gentile with ‘no difference’ .... then WHY did God not send him, instead of Peter?
Well now, that throws a wrench in ‘mid-Acts’ heresy, huh?
Let’s continue on in the scripture passage:
Acts 15:10-11 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
There is Peter, before Paul, taking salvation by grace to the Gentiles!
Matt 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind.
And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Woops! The Cunning Royal Jester and his jokers are in the ditch!
This is David Dowell saying, "Think about it!"
