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Col. 1:25-27
Paul's Stewardship: A Mystery Solved
Intro
A. PAUL?S STEWARDSHIP (vv. 25-27).
1) His stewardship was from God (v. 25).
2) His ministry was for "your benefit" (v. 25).
3) His ministry involved the preaching of the Word of God (v. 25).
4) The Word contained a mystery hidden but now revealed (v. 26).
a) This mystery was not like the mystery religions of the first century.
b) This mystery does not mean that it was totally unknown.
5) The mystery deals with God?s plan for the Gentiles (v. 27).
B. THE MYSTYERY STATED :
1) God chosen Abraham to make a covenant with him and his seed.
2) This covenant promised that the nations (Gentiles) would be included.
Gen. 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Is. 49:6 I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Zech. 2:11 "And many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people.
Zech. 9:7 Then they [Philistines] also will be a remnant for our God, And be like a clan in Judah, And Ekron like a Jebusite.
Ezek. 47:22 "And it will come about that you shall divide [the land] by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
Mic. 4:2 And many nations will come and say, "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD And to the house of the God of Jacob, That He may teach us about His ways And that we may walk in His paths."
3) The OT did not clearly reveal HOW God would include the Gentiles and the assumption was that the Gentiles would only be included as they became Jews .
4) The NT reveals that Gentiles begin to share the covenant blessings of Israel (New Covenant, Jer. 31; new heart, Ezek. 36; Holy Spirit, Joel 2), without becoming Jews.
C. THE MYSTERY SOLVED:
1) Faith in Christ is the key.
2) Christ is the mystery solver. Gal. 3:16
Conclusion
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