So we must spend the rest of our time this morning in considering Paul's apostleship. But do remember that in all we say, we are really thinking of this particular issue: THE SPIRITUAL AND THE HEAVENLY NATURE OF THIS DISPENSATION. The principles of Paul's apostleship lie at the very foundation of this dispensation. Well, let us look at it in just two fragments. The Letter to the Galatians, chapter one, and verses eleven and twelve.
"For I make known to you, brethren, as touching the Gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ."
Chapter two, and verse six:
"But from those who were reputed to be somewhat (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth not man's person) - they, I say, who were of repute imparted nothing to me."
All right then, these two fragments settle the question. The source of Paul's apostleship, 'not from men, neither through a man. I received nothing from men, it came to me by revelation of Jesus Christ.' What does it amount to?
I must pause here to put in parenthesis just this request. We are having these morning meetings, and perhaps you are looking upon them as meetings for teaching, and you will perhaps remember them in the future as some special meetings in which a special subject was considered. Well, of course, there is teaching, and it is focused upon a special matter. But I do want to say this to you earnestly, that what I am saying is not only a statement of truth, it is a 'testimony' of your foundation. It is a test as to the ground upon which you individually stand. So that this is not just a series of special meetings for teaching, this is a vital challenge to our spiritual position. If what we have said is true, that the whole dispensation in a sense focuses upon the spiritual experience of the Apostle Paul, that is, in a fuller way than in any other case except the Lord Jesus Himself, then what we have said about Paul's apostleship is basic to our own spiritual lives.
So what does this source of Paul's apostleship mean for us? It means that the basic reality of this dispensation is a personal, direct encounter with Jesus Christ. I want to repeat that. It is perhaps the most important thing out of which everything else will come.The basic reality of the dispensation in which we live is a personal direct encounter with Jesus Christ. It is personal between Christ and ourselves personally. It is direct because it is not through man. It is not through a priest or any other kind of intermediary. It is not through a ritual; it is not through a system; and it is not through man. It is directly between Christ and ourselves. [YES!!] We shall fail in the very purpose of this dispensation, unless we can say, 'that is how it is with us.' The method in which it happens may differ between Paul's experience and ours, but every one of us individually must be able to say: 'I have met Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ has met me directly, (inwardly). [It's true! He will!] Men may have helped, but I did not receive it from men. I did not even receive it from those great men in Jerusalem. I did not receive it from the great representatives of Christianity. I received it personally and directly from the Lord.'
What a searching thing that is! How that will find us out. It just raises some questions. How did we get what we have got? Are you prepared to go home with that question? How did I get my Christianity? How did I get what I have got? How did it come to me? Did it come to me by thinking it out? I reasoned out this matter of Christian life, and I came to certain intellectual conclusions, in comparing it with all other things I saw that this was the best thing, so that in my mind I decided that this thing is right? Is it just an intellectual conclusion? Is that how I got it? Is that the ground on which I stand? Or, did it come to me by the impact of some strong personality? Some teacher, or some leader, with a very forceful personality and I came under the impact of that personality. So I received it through a man's strong personality. Is that the ground on which you stand? Was it through the persuasion of other people? They said you ought to come to Christ, and they kept on saying that, and at last I yielded to them, I gave way to their persuasion, and so I profess Christianity, and I got baptized, and that is the ground on which I stand.
How did we get what we got? That is going to decide everything for the future. Sooner or later the stresses of life will come upon our position. The Lord will allow our position to be tried in the fires. And His object in so doing will be to find out exactly what we are resting upon. So Paul said, "I received it not from men, nor from a man. Peter may have been a very important man, but I did not get it from Peter. James may have been the Lord's own brother in the flesh, and he ought to know, but I did not receive it from James. John was a very loving devoted disciple, he was one of the first three, but I did not get it from John. These men gave me nothing. I RECEIVED IT BY DIRECT REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. That is the basis of this dispensation. That is the basis of true spiritual Christianity. And that is the great distinguishing mark between a legal system and a spiritual life.
Now in the next place, for a few minutes, we have to consider the crises behind Paul's apostleship. You see, we are keeping close to this letter. And for the time being, we are keeping close to Paul's testimony, which testimony is the basis of things. Behind the apostleship of Paul was a tremendous crisis. Chapter one, and verse thirteen, "Ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure, I persecuted the Church of God, and made havoc of it". You must say that with very strong emphasis, because that is how Paul said it. "My life in the Jews' religion," fancy Paul saying a thing like that; a man who was a Jew by birth and upbringing, a man who was just kept in Judaism, I would have liked to see the look on his face when he said this -"In the Jews' religion.. In the Jews' religion," that is how I lived in time past. I persecuted the Church of God, and I made havoc of the Church of God. And I advanced in the Jew's religion, beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the tradition of my fathers. Unless you put sufficient emphasis upon all that, and realize what all that meant to Paul or to Saul of Tarsus as he was called before, you cannot appreciate the tremendous crisis in his life; the immense crises behind his apostleship.
Note, it was a crisis, not a development. It was a crisis, not an evolution. it was a clear-cut thing that happened at a certain time. There was a crisis in this man's life. And that crisis meant the dividing of his whole life between what was in the past and what was in the future. For him it was the finishing of a whole system and the beginning of an altogether new heavenly order of things.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5)
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