The Cat's Out of the Bag
By Pastor Ricky Kurth
Did
you ever wonder how the figure of speech found in our title came to be
used for the revealing of a secret? Some say it goes back to a time
when piglets were sold in bags in open-air markets. In those days, an
unscrupulous merchant might sell an unsuspecting patron a bag containing
a cat instead of a piglet, and it wasn't until the hapless
patron got home that the cat was out of the bag, and the merchant's
dishonest secret was revealed. And since cats have always been far less
valuable than pigs, the patron was always less than thrilled to learn
that the pork he thought he had purchased was only pork substitute!
Well, beginning with the ministry of the Apostle Paul, an infinitely more pleasing secret was revealed!
"Paul... an apostle... in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began... But hath in due times manifested His word through preaching, which is committed unto me..." (Titus 1:1-3).
If you're not sure what that word "manifested" means, it is well defined in something the Lord said:
"...nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest, neither any thing hid, that shall not be known..." (Luke 8:17).
So to make something manifest means to make known something that was secret or hidden.
That certainly applies to the promise of eternal life that God made to a Gentile like Titus! God promised the Jews
eternal life throughout the pages of the Old Testament, and Gentiles
who wanted to get saved in those days had to get in on that promise by
becoming "proselytes" (Acts 2:10). But Paul was raised up to reveal
that Gentiles no longer had to become Jews to get the eternal life that
God promised the Jews. Paul revealed that Gentiles had their own promise of eternal life, one that God made before the world began, but didn't let the cat out of the bag until Paul came along.
Humorist
Will Rogers is said to have quipped, "Letting the cat out of the bag is
a whole lot easier than putting it back in." If you've ever released a
cat that somehow managed to get trapped in a bag, you know he's right!
But there are many who are trying to put Paul's cat back in the bag.
That is, there are many who hold that Gentiles who want to be saved
today must still try to get in on Israel's promise of eternal
life by keeping the Law that God gave them through Moses. Others insist
that Gentiles who want to be saved must submit to water baptism "for
the remission of sins," as Peter told "the men of Israel" at Pentecost
(Acts 2:38,22).
If you're an unsaved Gentile, don't you fall for it! God
promised you eternal life long before the Law was given, and the
apostle who revealed this promise says that eternal life can't be
obtained by the "works of righteousness" of the Law (Tit. 3:5). He
further declares that it is "by the washing of regeneration" (Tit. 3:5)
that we are saved, and not the washing of water baptism. The
"regeneration" or new birth of which he speaks is yours "by
grace...through faith" (Eph. 2:8), faith in the fact that Christ died
for your sins, and rose again (I Cor. 15:1-4).
And
if you're an unsaved Jew, things have changed for you too! Just as
Gentiles who wanted to be saved in time past had to look to Moses, the
spiritual leader of the Jews, and be saved through the Law, so Jews who
want to be saved today must look to Paul, "the apostle of the Gentiles"
(Rom. 11:13), and be saved by grace through faith. That's how the Body
of Christ came to be made up of Jews and Gentiles (I Cor. 12:13; Gal.
3:28)!
So whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).
The
Day of The Lord- Isiah 2:14
By
Les Feldick
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=YgigDZRi-Pw
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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