Sunday Morning Service

Galatians 1

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“Accept No Substitute” • 5.26.13 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- The book that we find ourselves in is a textbook case for grace. Unmerited favor. Undeserved spiritual riches that flow from God toward God's people because of Jesus Christ.

- What could possibly be better? What could sway a person from simply receiving God's grace as one receives a gift on Christmas morning? That's what the epistle to the Galatians is all about.

- Like the Corinthian epistles that we just completed, the Galatian church was being compromised by a group of legalists, promising a deeper faith tied to traditions and regulations.

- As you go through this book, you'll be challenged and reminded of the precious nature of the gospel of grace, thoroughly equipped to stand in it.

- The book divides neatly into thee divisions. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with Paul's Personal experience with God's grace. We'll break this chapter in two.

I. God's Grace In Their Calling (v.1-10)

II. God's Grace In Paul's Conversion (v.11-24)

Text

I. God's Grace In Their Calling (v.1-10)

• Galatians 1:1,2a : "Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me," : Paul is a sent one, a man who has been given a message and carries the authority of the one whose message he has. This was his calling in grace.

- Immediately one senses the tense tone of the letter, as Paul clarifies that his office did not originate from men, nor through, or by the means of man.

- Men did not come up with the message that Paul carried and neither did they provide the method by which he carried it.

- He was not ordained by an institution or sent out by a board of directors. His calling was divine, having literally received it from the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus!

- Christ stopped Paul in his tracks and commissioned him for this task. He was an Apostle through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead!

- If you want to call two witnesses to validate your ministry, you cannot call anyone greater than Jesus the Savior and God the Father, who by raising Christ, affirmed His place as Messiah!

- This information might seem irrelevant to you and I today, especially here where most of us are Christians. But consider the alternative for a moment.

- If Paul's gospel is man's invention and only powerful because of men's methods, then it can and should be dismissed. Paul begins with a very strong affirmation to the opposite.

- We have been given a gospel that truly saves, because it comes from the One who saves!

- Paul's partners added their voices at this time to all that he was about to say.

• Galatians 1:2b-5 : "To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." : This letter was written to a group of churches in what is modern day Turkey, which Paul first encountered on his first missionary journey.

- Paul issues his standard greeting to the churches: Grace to you and peace.

- These were greetings that included both the Gentiles, as their greeting would be "charis" or grace. "Eirene" or peace would be equivalent to the Jewish greeting "shalom."

- Knowing the unmerited, undeserved favor of God precedes knowing the peace of God!

- Paul is saying, "This is what the Godhead would say to you!" Notice that this book is hardly 5 verses old and he has paired God the Father and Jesus together twice!

- There is One God and One Lord. That's where grace, favor and peace comes from! They are united in their desire to bless, expressed first in Jesus giving Himself for our sins!

- He delivered Himself up voluntarily, apart from what our sin deserves, because of our sins, as payment for what God's righteousness demands, rescuing us from this present evil age.

- You were once a prisoner. You were held captive under the sway of an evil dictatorship.

- The word "evil" here speaks of an evil that will not be satisfied unless it draws others to evil! The world system will ever exist to reveal new means of evil.

- That's why God needed to deliver you and I. This was His will, the will of our God and Father!

- Let Him receive the value that He deserves forever, for all eternity! When you and I fathom this grace that He has saved those who have believed, you will add the weight of your praise forever!

• Galatians 1:6,7 : "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." : Paul normally adds a prayer at this time, but makes an abrupt turn, signaling an urgent matter.

- Paul has heard something about them that has him thoroughly bewildered. "I am astonished, in perpetual shock at what I am hearing!"

- The emphasis is on the action of turning away, a word which was used in the military for one who had defected. That's what Paul seems to be shocked about!

- They are in the process of turning themselves away very quickly from Him, the One who called them in the grace of Christ!

- God called or invited the Galatian churches to be intimate with Him and opened a door of fellowship, based entirely on His own favor and the Galatians responded.

- What begins as an acknowledgement of facts, turns into a personal connection with the God behind those facts. They were turning back from a relationship with God!

- They had believed that they could relate to God through the riches of Christ's performance and were happy to come to that position.

- But now, another suitor had appeared, one with a different gospel, one of another kind, which was not really a gospel at all! These people were called the Judaizers.

- The Judaizers were a religious sect who sought to join Christianity to the observance of the Mosaic law. They would support your belief in Christ, but assert that truly saved people keep the law!

- Paul's gospel was that everything that was needed for salvation was finished, complete. The gospel of the Judaizers was that everything had been started, now you finish it!

- There is one gospel, the events of which center around the substitutionary atoning death of Jesus Christ. His death, burial and resurrection proving His claim to be God's Savior.

- When you have believed upon, trusted in the sufficiency of that work to the exclusion of all other work, you have entered into a relationship with God, having been born again, regenerated!

- You witness the truth of that daily as God begins to change you from the inside out, slowly, but surely. That which you once desired that was sinful, you notice you desire less!

- Why? Because God has brought you into His family, filled you with His Holy Spirit, based entirely on His grace moving toward you because you responded to Him. That's it!

˚  "Preach a full gospel: Christ and nothing less! Preach a plain gospel: Christ and nothing more! Preach a pure gospel: Christ and nothing else!" Quoted by Sandy Adams

- The counterfeit gospel that the Judaizers brought in troubled the Galatians. One commentator mentioned that this word used for "troubled" referrred to seasickness.

- The Galatians were moving smoothly toward a pleasing walk with God, but the Judaizers came and threw a wrench into their theology. They purposed to pervert the truth?

- Why would one mess with the pure gospel? Because it leaves no room for boasting. There is no room for a person to ascend a ladder of success and point to their own merit.

- From the very first pages of scripture, man has sought to cause God to look upon their offering, their best efforts and grant them salvation! God doesn't do it that way! He never has!

• Galatians 1:8,9 : "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." : Paul's message is from heaven and it has the power to change lives, being a door to the floodgates of God's grace!

- How powerful is it? If he, having been the original messenger or even an angelic being were to come from heaven with another gospel, they were to be accursed!

- Wow! What does this say about the so-called angel Moroni of the Mormon faith? Paul cannot annul or adversely change the gospel message. Neither can an angel. It's fixed in God!

- Anyone that would seek do so, Paul judging the action with Apostolic authority from God, proclaims a curse and makes sure to say it clearly again!

- If anyone preaches another gospel than the one you received Galatians, then that one preaching it, must be considered accursed!

- The word "accursed" comes from the Greek word "Anathema." It refers to something, or in this case, someone, who is devoted to God's hand for destruction.

- Now, this does not refer to someone who is honestly mistaken about spiritual things. This is meant for a person who takes the gospel and purposely twists it to turn a person away from Christ!

- That person will wake up in eternity with to a God that judges rightly, knowing the heart perfectly and seeing the actions clearly.

• Galatians 1:10 : "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." : The NLT translates verse 10: "Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God."

- Paul was not kidding! He's just consigned people who purposely perverted the gospel to a fate worse than death! No, if Paul still pleased men, then he would not be Christ's bondservant!

- What a striking statement and one that deserves more than a passing mention. This business of the gospel requires that one be pleased and another be displeased!

- Paul at one time did seek the approval of men, especially when he sought to destroy Christ's church. No longer! When you are Christ's bondservant, His is the only opinion of consequence!

- Paul had been brought into contact with a living Christ, given a living message that brought people into a gracious relationship with God. This was his life by God's grace and ours as well.

- We have been touched by that same Jesus, given the same message and mission.

II. God's Grace In Paul's Conversion (v.11-24)

• Galatians 1:11-14 : "But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers." : Paul declares for a third time that His gospel came directly from heaven!  Nobody sat Paul down to teach him the finer points of Christianity.

- He was not formally trained in this gospel like one who attends a trade school.

- This gospel came directly from Jesus Christ to Paul! Jesus unveiled it to Paul personally on the Damascus road! Consider the immediate effect.

- Paul's conduct in Judaism was centered around his persecution of the church of God. That was the crowning achievement of a zealous man in Judaism.

- Paul persecuted them beyond measure well beyond the boundary line, his goal being their total destruction, the word being the same that was used for the overthrow of a wasted city!

- He wanted to leave Christianity in shambles, unable to recover from his onslaught.

- Far from being satisfied, Paul advanced beyond any in the nation and was well known for his strong zeal for the tradition of the Pharisees. This man was committed.

- For us to understand something of Paul's heart, imagine being more intense than the most intense Navy Seal or Green Beret! "I was more intense than that guy!"

• Galatians 1:15-17 : "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus." : Listen again to those first words of verse 15: "But when it pleased God!" Paul could huff and puff all day long!

- He could fight and fight, grit his teeth and vent all his hatred toward God, but when it pleased God, He acted upon a resolve that began before Paul was even born!

- God had taken Paul from the womb of His Mother and separated him out! In God's mind that was a decision that was set that revealed itself in time, when Paul would perceive His invitation.

- God brought Paul into relationship with Himself, entirely based upon God's favor. At that time, He began the work of revealing, unveiling Jesus in the man known as Saul.

- This is God's goal in each member of His church. He wants to work in your life until He sees Jesus clearly in your actions and attitudes! He wants you to reflect Him!

- As that process was taking place, He commissioned Paul to preach Him. Who? The Jesus that was being revealed in Paul! The living being whose personality was shining through Paul!

- God said, "Go proclaim Jesus to the Gentiles! Offer this life to them!"

- When Paul understood that this was His calling, he didn't consult with anyone and he didn't take the next camel to Jerusalem to visit the Apostle's club!

- He went the other direction to Arabia and then back to Damascus! These were not centers of Christian thinking. He was not going to get any help from these places!

• Galatians 1:18-20 : "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)" : How long was Paul in Arabia and Damascus? Three years. How long did the disciples have with Jesus? Three years. Interesting!

- Three years after Paul's conversion, Paul took a trip to Jerusalem to see Peter and was there for two weeks.

- The Galatians must have thought that Paul would have been trained by the other Apostles, but Paul only saw James, the rest not being there or refusing to meet with him.

- Luke reports Paul's first visit to Jerusalem in Acts 9:26. Paul doesn't mention it here, but the fact was that the Apostles were afraid of Saul, not believing that he was a disciple!

- Thankfully, Barnabas stepped in and befriended Paul, making the meeting with Peter and James possible!

- The Galatians might have believed this to be some sort of exaggeration or tall tale from Paul, which is why he strongly insists upon the truth of this statement, invoking God's name.

- He did not meet with these men. They did not confer with him, counsel him or count him as one of theirs.

• Galatians 1:21-24 : "Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, 'He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.' And they glorified God in me." : Paul left Jerusalem without anything being added to him by the Apostles, going into Syria and Cilicia.

- What was Paul doing there? Whatever it was, he did encounter Christian churches there that were in Christ.

- He had visited and people did not recognize him, but had heard about both his zeal to persecute, as well as his conversion. Paul's testimony went before him.

- He formerly did this, but now he does this! That's the essence of our testimony as well! We used to be something until Christ came into our lives!

- Paul had been a fierce persecutor of the church, excelling in zeal, believing that he was serving God by doing so. Now, a radical transformation had occurred!

- He was no longer a persecutor, but a proclaimer of that which he had once attempted to destroy! How does that happen? How does one explain that?

- The religious nature of legalism drew him to the place where he believed torture and eradication of the church was a part of God's plan for his life!

- It was only the intervening grace of God that could derail that life and make a church, once terrified of the man known as Saul, thankful to God for Him!

- They said, "Look at how great God is for what He did in that man!?" At the sound of Saul's name, there was no more fear and dread, but wonder, awe and joy because of Jesus!

- That is what your life is supposed to bring about in those that watch you! Look at what Jesus is able to do in them! He must be real!

Conclusion
- The same grace that called Paul to be an Apostle, had also called the Galatians to a relationship with God through the merits of Christ.

- God calls people to Himself, equips them to serve as bondservants, all by the force of His grace! None of it can be earned. It all must be received.

- Paul would tell you that he knew the other side. He had been a rules, regulations and rituals guy, to the nth degree and it hadn't gotten him anywhere!

- His conversion from Saul to Paul was only possible by the gracious intervening hand of God. He was a person witness to this grace. Will you be one as well?

- Like the Galatians, you have been called into a relationship with God through His grace. Accept no substitute! Like Paul, you have been called to make this known. Allow no delay!