Did Paul Preach a Different Gospel?

Hey, Pastor Adriel here, and we want to hear from our podcast audience specifically. Give us a call at 1130 Pacific Time, 833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE, with your question about the Christian faith.

This is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. Our phone lines are open for the next 25 minutes or so, so hop on the phone at 833, the CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch Adriel Live right now on our YouTube channel and message us that way. And of course, you can always email us a question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, let's go to Mark in Cody, Wyoming. Mark, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Can the Holy Spirit flee you? Hey, Mark, thanks for that question. Can the Holy Spirit flee you?

Or I'm assuming you're saying leave you. And of course, in the Old Testament, you have some examples where it looks like this happened. You think of Saul, for example, the first king of Israel, where we're told that the Spirit of God departed from him. But what about for Christians today living under the New Covenant? Well, one of the things I think it's really important for us to recognize, Mark, is that under the New Covenant, there's this wonderful thing that happens. All of the people of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul talks about this in the book of Ephesians, in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13. He says this, In him, that is in Jesus Christ, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. That is, the Holy Spirit is like this down payment, if you will, guarantee of everything that we stand to receive in the future as well, the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

And I don't believe that that's something that can be or will be taken away from a true believer. But I will say this, genuine Christians can grieve the Holy Spirit. And there are times where we feel like the Spirit of God is distant from us.

Sometimes that could be just because of the circumstances of life, maybe physical suffering. Sometimes I think that's because of sin and the things that we do in disobedience to God's word. And so we feel this grieving of the Spirit, if you will, God's hand is heavy upon us. It's a part of the discipline of the Lord. And yet, I don't think that that means that the Spirit of God has abandoned us or left us forever. And so I would say, no, the Holy Spirit does not leave the children of God sealed by the Holy Spirit, born of the Spirit. But we can grieve the Spirit.

And we do experience that in our lives at times as Christians. Mark, does that answer your question, brother? I appreciate it. Hey, thank you so much for giving us your call. God bless. Hey, Mark, thanks so much for listening. Great to have a listener in Wyoming.

What a beautiful state that is. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Quick question, quick follow-up for you on that, Adriel. We were talking about this at my small group the other night. And we mentioned the difficulty, the tragedy of grieving the Holy Spirit through our sin. Someone else mentioned quenching the Holy Spirit.

Do you think that's the same thing? Yeah, I do think, in particular, I think that there can be a similarity there, oftentimes quenching the Spirit. We're thinking in terms of quenching the work of the Spirit through our deeds.

And so, yeah, I think that there's something very similar there. I mean, we're in a personal relationship with the true and the living God. And so there is this experience associated with the Christian life where when we sin, we have that sense of conviction. I think it's a sign of the Spirit's work in our lives. And a lot of times, I think, sometimes believers can assume when they experience that quenching of the Spirit, if you will, or grieving the Spirit, they think, well, maybe God has abandoned me. Well, no, because we're sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption. And so that's one of the promises that is really meant to give us confidence that the Spirit of God is not going to abandon us as those who are in Christ.

Great comforting word there. Thanks so much for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity, and we'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life.

Let's go to Michael in Springfield, Missouri. Michael, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, I was wanting to know about the people who were drowned in the flood, whether there was ever any call for repentance or in what has happened to their souls. And was there any opportunity for salvation for them?

Hey, Michael, thanks for that question. There are two passages of scripture that I think we can go to that shed some light on this, and both written by Peter, in 1 Peter and in 2 Peter. In 1 Peter 3, verse 18, we read, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Noah was this preacher of righteousness in his day. And so I imagine that while the ark was being built, he was calling people to repentance, to faith in the true and the living God, warning them.

And we know that the ark took quite some time to build. But here it seems like it's clear that Noah and his family were spared, but the rest of the world faced this judgment. You also see this in 2 Peter chapter 2, and actually there in 2 Peter chapter 2, the context is, you know, Peter is saying, Hey, there is a judgment coming on the unbelieving and on the ungodly, and he uses Noah and the people in Noah's day as an example. He begins in verse 4, If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness, to be kept until the judgment, and if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness. That's where I get the idea that Noah was a preacher, that he was preaching the truth, he was preaching righteousness with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

And so one of the things you see leading up to the flood narrative is that things on earth were just getting progressively worse and worse. Mankind was going after the way of sin and plunging headlong into sin, and so that's why God brought this judgment. Now did God give these people another opportunity after they had died to repent? Well, no, I think that their opportunity was while they lived on earth, listening to Noah, the herald of righteousness. I don't believe that there is a second chance of salvation for people after they've died. Some people will read that 1 Peter text, 1 Peter chapter 3, as indicating that, but that's not how I read that passage.

And so those two texts, Michael, indicate that the world that was then at that time in Noah's day, that they had turned away from God, and that's why they faced the judgment that they faced. Thank you for your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We want to tell you about a very special group of people who support this program on a regular basis. We call them our inner core, and if you'd like to join the inner core, there are some special benefits that come along with that, and Adriel will tell you a bit about that right now.

Yes, well, there are several benefits for joining the inner core. We send you a copy of the book Core Christianity by Dr. Michael Horton, a friend of mine and theology professor, and the kind of book that we think every Christian should read. We need to get back to the core doctrines of the Christian faith, who God is and what he's done for us, doctrines that too often, brothers and sisters, we assume. So if you want to grow in your walk with the Lord, this is a phenomenal resource, and we send it to all of our inner core members. The inner core is basically our monthly supporters. They support us with their prayers, and friends, we need your prayers. What we want to see happen is we want to see the Word of God continue to go out and lives be changed by the Spirit, by the Word of God. So we need to pray together for that, and I know our inner core members pray for us and with us to that end. They also support us with a monthly donation of $25 or more, and that helps us to keep the lights on. So if you've been blessed by Core Christianity, if you're encouraged by the things you hear on this broadcast, consider joining the inner core, and we'll send you some great resources and really appreciate your support. You can learn more about joining the inner core by going to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core, and as Adriel mentioned, it would just be a huge benefit to us. We don't receive money from a particular church or denomination.

We don't play commercials on this program. We really do depend on people just like you and me to support the program. So please go to our website, check it out, corechristianity.com forward slash inner core. Now one of the ways you can ask a question here on this program is by leaving us a voicemail. You can call our voicemail 24 hours a day at 833-THE-CORE.

Here's a voicemail we received from one of our callers earlier this week. My question is, I would like to know if you can answer it. Why are so many of the denominations following the dispensation that the apostles were operating in? Instead of following Paul, who was the disciple that God filled with his spirit. Paul didn't meet the man Jesus, but he did meet the resurrected spirit of life on the road to Damascus.

So why isn't that being preached other than running every scripture in the Bible together without rightly dividing it? So I would like to hear the answer to that question. Thank you so much. Okay.

Well, thank you for that voicemail. It sounds to me like you are suggesting that there is a stark difference between the gospel that the apostle Paul preached or received from Jesus, from the eternal son of the father as he's on the road to Damascus, and the gospel as it was preached by the other apostles. You think of Peter and James and so on and so forth.

That is not true. There are some people who try to pit the apostles against Jesus or Paul against Jesus, or the apostles against each other, but we shouldn't do that because they're preaching one gospel. You brought up the fact that we read all the scripture together.

Well, it's meant to be read that way. This is God's revelation, and it's not contradicting itself. It's pointing us to the same reality, ultimately, redemption in Jesus Christ, whether we're reading the Old Testament or the New Testament. The focus is on the redemptive work of God. Now, where do you go in the Bible to show that the apostles aren't preaching different gospels from one another, or that they have a different message from the message that Jesus gave to them?

One place, and this is really simple. It's in Galatians chapter two. Galatians chapter two, where Paul says, basically he describes him after his conversion, going to Jerusalem to consult with the rest of the apostles in Jerusalem to make sure that they were on the same page with regard to the gospel.

He says in verse one, after fourteen years, I went up again in Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaimed among the Gentiles in order to make sure that I was not running or had not run in vain. He says, look, I went to Jerusalem and I let them know about what it was that I was preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't teaching something false, that I wasn't serving the Lord in vain, doing something that was wrong.

They all get together and they have this discussion. He goes on to say, just a little bit later in Galatians chapter two, verse eight, for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised, that is to the Jews, worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles. When James and Cephas and John, Cephas being Peter, who seemed to be pillars, pillars in the church, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. You have this meeting of the disciples, of the apostles, and they're shaking hands.

They're saying, hey, we're on the same page. Now let's divvy up this ministry. Paul, you go over there to the Gentiles, preach the gospel to them, the same gospel that we're preaching to the Jews. We need to realize that there's one gospel proclaimed by the apostles that they received from Jesus. It's the great deposit of faith, the faith once for all delivered to the saints as Jude talks about. Friends, it's that gospel that we need to know today.

Think about this. You know that game, the race, the relay race, where people are racing and they hand the baton off to the next racer and then they do a lap and they'll hand that baton off to the next racer. That's how the gospel has progressed for the last 2,000 years. Jesus gave the baton to the apostles and that baton was the gospel that was to be preached. They gave that baton to the churches that they planted and Paul says to Timothy, what we've given you and trust to faithful men who are going to be able to teach others also and they started to pass the baton and we've been passing the baton of the gospel for 2,000 years and that's where the power is. It's there in the gospel and so we hold fast to that message and then we continue to pass it on. Thank you for that question.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, a question about theology or doctrine or how our faith intersects with our culture, give us a call right now. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, if you haven't noticed on the calendar, it's the 1st of October and starting next week, we're going to be offering some very special resources for the fall and some of them actually tie in with Halloween, believe it or not. Coming up here in just a couple of weeks, a lot of people have questions about Halloween and satanic involvement in that and we've got some great resources that will help you not only understand that a little bit but also talk to your kids about it. So be sticking around for that starting next week here on Core Christianity. Now one of the ways you can ask Adriel a question is by sending us a message through our YouTube channel. Adriel is live on YouTube every day, or Monday through Friday, from 1130 to noon Pacific time.

1130 to noon Pacific time if you want to watch us on YouTube. David was watching us earlier and he says, What is your position on communion? Open, closed, or what?

Yeah, hey, thanks for that question, David, and thanks for watching us on YouTube. So in terms of the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, who should be able to receive it and how does a church go about this? My church in particular, sometimes we call this fencing the table where as we're introducing the Lord's Supper in the context of the worship service, I say, This is a meal for Christians.

Which is to say that it's closed in some sense. This has been the reality for the history of the church. In fact, did you know that in the ancient church, what they used to do when they would begin to take the Lord's Supper is they would dismiss everyone who wasn't technically a member of the church, and the deacon would shout out the doors, the doors, to make sure that the doors were locked.

I mean, this was a very special thing that was taking place that was only for the quote unquote faithful. I mean, talk about closed communion, right? But what we'll do is I'll say, Look, this is a meal for Christians. That is for those who have been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That's the ordinance or sacrament of our entrance into the church, and for those who believe the gospel, who have received Jesus Christ by faith. You have in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 this call for communicants, for those who are taking the Lord's Supper, to examine themselves. In other words, we are, you are, as those taking the body and blood of Jesus by faith, called to examine yourself, and it's what the apostle Paul gets into. He begins in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23, I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way also, He took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

Let a person examine himself then. And so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself, and that is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. In other words, when we think about how serious this meal is, this is the holy meal given to the church, and Paul says, You want to know why some of you guys have gotten sick in the last few weeks? Why some of you are weak? Why some have even died? It's because they fail to judge the sin in their lives.

That is, they come to the table irresponsibly, clinging to their sin, not believing in Jesus. So this is a really serious thing. God cares, brothers and sisters, about how He's worshiped and how we approach Him. Ask Ananias and Sapphira in Acts, chapter 5. Ask Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus, chapter 10. This is a serious thing.

It was a serious thing under the Old Covenant, and it's a serious thing still under the New Covenant. And so we don't just let people come to the Lord's table willy-nilly, but at the same time, let me say this, sometimes, and this has been true in the history of the church as well, people have been afraid to come to the Lord's table because they think, Oh man, this is just such a somber event, the mystery here, the power of the Spirit. I don't feel worthy.

I don't think I should come. Well, look, none of us are worthy in and of ourselves. We come as humble sinners to receive the grace that God offers to us in the table by faith, the love of Jesus, the work of Jesus for us and for our salvation. And so the Lord's Supper is not for perfect people because there are none.

We're not perfect. We come as repentant sinners. And so if you're struggling and you've been struggling all week and you get to the Lord's table and you feel like, Oh man, I'm just not worthy, I could have done better this week. Hey, it's for you. You turn from your sins, you lift your eyes to Jesus and you say, I need your grace.

Feed me. And he feeds you and it is for you. But if you're coming to the Lord's table thinking, yes, sin, whatever, I'm going to live however I want and I'm just going to take this because I'm a member of this church or whatnot, be careful. Be careful, Paul says, because God disciplines his people and he was doing it for the Corinthians and he still does it today. And so we come to the Lord humbly. Thanks for that question, David. Great reminder. Thanks for that, Adriel.

This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. You can leave us your question on voicemail 24 hours a day. You can call us at 833-THE-CORE. You can even call us over the weekend if you want. Leave us a message. Maybe you're thinking about something that's come up during this program and you want some further clarification on it. Give us a buzz.

1-833-843-2673. Well, let's go to a voicemail question we received from one of our listeners named Robert. I have a question. I probably won't get an answer, but why should I give any money to a church that has a preacher has more money than everybody in the church and who has the biggest house in the church? I don't think the preacher should have the biggest house, these big fancy churches.

Why should they spend the money on them when they could put the money back in the church? That just bothers me. I'd like for you to give me an answer, please.

Thank you. Boy, Robert, thank you for that question. One of the qualifications that Paul gives in 1 Timothy chapter 3 for elders to be qualified is that they should not be, they cannot be a lover of money. So greed, a love of money, lavish in that regard, that disqualifies a pastor from ministry. But he also says just a couple chapters later in chapter 5 of 1 Timothy verse 17, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages. In other words, there the apostle Paul is encouraging that we should support our pastors.

We should make sure that they're cared for, that they're able to provide for themselves and for their families. Now does that mean that they need a jet and a limousine and some of those things that you see, you know, when you turn on the TV and you have these prosperity gospel preachers? No, and I think that brings reproach onto the church.

It's a really bad witness. And so I think there are two dangers here. One is, yeah, if there seems to be something shady going on with the church's finances, if the ministry of the church is not directed towards the advancement of the gospel, helping missions to take place, caring for the needs of the poor, so on and so forth, there's a problem. If all the resources are going to, you know, buying the pastor his mansion and making sure that he has the finest jewelry and that kind of a thing, that's an issue. And yet at the same time, another issue is, and I'm sensitive to this as a minister of the gospel, we want to also make sure that we're taking care of our pastors.

I read a statistic the other day that was shocking and sad. It said something like only 10% of ministers who begin in the ministry actually retire from the ministry. And part of the challenge, I think, is a lot of people, you know, who are trying to faithfully serve the church are just having a hard time providing for their families. And sometimes I think within the church, there can even be this assumption that, you know, the pastor really should be poverty stricken. That makes him more holy, more righteous before God.

And friends, that's just not true. We want to, if you have a faithful minister, we want to take good care of them. That doesn't mean they need to have the biggest house in the church or that kind of a thing, but we want to do what Paul says in 1 Timothy 5, not muzzle the ox.

And so really there are a couple of dangers here, and I appreciate the fact, Robert, that you brought up the one that you did. We need to stay away from that, but we also need to make sure that we're taking care of one another. In particular, taking care of faithful pastors. We need, the world needs more faithful pastors who are going to preach the Word of God without fear, without shame.

And if you have that, man, make sure you share your love and appreciation with that pastor. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together. Thanks for listening to today's episode of CORE Christianity. Adriel and I love our podcast audience, and we'd love to take your questions. Give us a call Monday through Friday at 1130 a.m. Pacific time at 833-843-2673. That's 833-The-CORE.