Galatians 1:10-16

Grace, the Judaizers, and the One True Gospel

All right, well let's open into prayer and then we'll hear the word of the Lord. Father God, thank you so much for another opportunity to come into your house and seek your face to learn of your ways.

Lord, we pray that you would speak to us through your word. Your word is truth, Lord, and as we remember what we learned last week and we think about the Judaizers of the gospel who perverted the grace of God, adding works.

And so, lost the gospel itself. We pray Lord that we would be on guard against such things, Lord that grace would characterize our lives as we have been saved by grace. So we pray now for our brother John as he teaches the word that you would open our hearts and transform us by grace, in Jesus' name, amen.

Galatians, I opened it up a few weeks ago, I called it the Magna Carta, Jeff you called it the Gospel of Grace. Kind of the same thing, it has to do with the reality that in God's providence we come to him not because we work and we're good enough, but we come to him because of God's grace.

And so, verses 3 to 8, we are delivered from sin and in that delivery, even in that delivery, all the glory goes to God. And so, we start out right away understanding that the relationship we have is not something that we brought any value, all we do is we come and it's to tell us that on the cross.

And then we move on and that there's only one gospel that we had verses 6 through 9, Jeff you had fun with that last week, man it's powerful stuff. There is only one gospel and with that comes the reality that we must be careful to not be turned because this gospel is enticing and it's often presented in a way that is appealing to the flesh, if you would.

There is only one gospel and then in fact it goes on and says that if anyone preaches any gospel other than the one that we have from the Lord, let him be accursed. And so, the warnings against being involved with, being influenced by, or even being part of this falsehood of teaching, this is the gospel of grace.

And so, now we get into verses 10 to 16 and in full confession, my brother Rick identified as he looked in the scriptures of what we're studying, chapter, verse 17 finishes a sentence that started in verse 16, but I'm going to stop in verse 16 because the Greek didn't have the periods, the punctuation was.

You're going to pick this up. Did they not have sentences? Yes, they did have sentences, no, no, in fact Greek is really weird because the sentence structure is not predicate, you know, that's not, you have to understand where the verb is because the verb could be anywhere in the sentence, you just have to understand.

That being said, this section, you used the word Sunday, so I'll go ahead and use it, or you used it Monday, pericope, it's a section of scripture that has a thematic, has a specific teaching to it, so this section is emphasizing Paul, okay, we're in this gospel of grace, we're in this discussion that it's not by works, but by God's grace, it's to God's glory, and we have this big section on Paul, which makes me stop and ask why?

If it's the inadequacy of works, why now? Well, the obvious answer in the very beginning, well, Paul's the apostle, Paul's the sent one, that's what apostle is, he has that apostolic authority, we can also see in the beginning that Paul was called by God, these are obvious reasons for there to be some teaching about Paul, but Paul's teaching about himself.

That being said, there's some practical things. We are given a calling to live a way that the world doesn't really understand. We're called to live in submission to God, we're called that it's not our worth that establishes who we are, it's counter-cultural, and so it's kind of cool that this section gives us Paul, Paul is made as a model for us to imitate, in fact, that shows up in elsewhere.

In scripture.

Paul is a leader that they should be following, he is an authority, the apostolic authority, so Paul, his leadership is something that they should be willing to follow, and then because of the gospel, he does not have another gospel, he's a preacher that should be trusted.

So we have this teaching now here about Paul, Paul is not an idol to be worshipped, Paul is not that person that you should claim, some say I'm from Paul, some say I'm from Apollos, that's, you know, that's 1 Corinthians 1, you're of Christ, but we do have this Paul who's here, if we go to Philippians 3 .17, we're told to join in following his example.

He is bold enough to stand up and say, the example that I'm giving you, follow after this example. So Paul has an amazing life story that actually unfolds as we do this, Paul on his way to Damascus, doing the religious leader's bidding, great light, and then God tells him, why, why are you doing this, and then God commands him, rise, go, and do.

So now here we have this story about Paul, Jeff, I'm going to ask if you would read 10 through 16, you're going to want to go to 17, but don't.

Seeking the Approval of God Rather Than Man

Okay, sorry Rick, we're going to stop right there. For I am now, for am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God, or am I trying to please.

Man?

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel, for I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it, and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people. So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers, but when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

Paul.

Now, the first thing he's going to be talking about is, am I seeking the approval of God, or of man, am I trying to please man? If I were trying to please man, I would not be a servant of God. The first thing I want us to emphasize is Paul, as an example, is a servant of God.

Now there are things about that, but I want to make an observation, I think it comes out of this passage, you cannot be both a servant of God and a servant of man at the same time. Now we're talking here spiritually being a servant, clearly we've gone through life where we are working, we have masters at work and stuff like that, but there's a difference between having the world as your master as opposed to having God as your master.

You cannot have both God and man. I'm also going to say that it's impossible for you to be neither. It's impossible for you to say, I'm not a servant, I'm no one's servant, it really is impossible. You're either going to be following the world or you're going to be following God.

The emphasis that he brings out here is, first of all, am I seeking the approval of man or of God? Why do men need, why do they seek approval?

Recognition or something.

Recognition meaning what? That's a good answer.

What they want to see.

Okay.

And I would add on to that that what the idea of seeking approval is validating your worth.

Okay?

And so what you're saying is right, I wanted to have somebody acknowledge, you want your worth to be recognized, you want to be validated as being somebody of value. The question is, am I seeking to be considered valuable by men as opposed to by God?

What would lead somebody to want man's approval?

The need for self-esteem.

Yeah, you're right. Rick, I'm going to ask you to get Genesis 3, 1 -5, but I think it starts out right there.

Go ahead.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the tree from the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

God is portrayed in that little passage where Satan responds and speaks to Eve. God is an unreasonable taskmaster. Satan kind of deceives to say man is reasonable. And so finding your approval from man, who you would say has the reasonable approach to things, has reasonable understanding and everything else, I can more legitimately seek the approval of my next door neighbor, who, whatever that means, I get his approval, as opposed to coming home at the end of the day, you guys know my many, many, many stories, whether it's driving at Hartford Road and Route 38, some of you know that story, or being on the basketball court.

I can come home and I can say, I blew it, I blew it. I really, if I'm honest with it, it's much better for me to have a relationship in seeking God's approval, where he can give me at night and I go back and I can say, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, the fruit of the Spirit.

So getting approval from my God, and he's saying, who am I seeking approval from? Am I seeking it from man? In other words, am I doing everything that I'm doing, the calling that I have, the work that I have, the people that I meet, am I doing it so that people will pat me on the back and say, you're doing a good job.

But I would rather be able to face my Lord and Creator and have Him say, yeah, I gotcha, I gotcha. He goes on and he talks about, am I trying to please man? Men-pleasers. This is such a danger. If you're a man-pleaser, basically you're focused on doing things that are accepted by the world.

Yeah.

We do not want to be considered different to the extent that we're excluded from the good stuff.

Yeah.

Yes, you know what, we all want to be accepted as part of the in-crowd.

Yeah, Rick?

I'm just saying the passage in Genesis that Satan is suggesting that God's being unreally saved.

Yeah, yeah.

Casting doubt.

Ephesians 6 .6 is going to say the danger of doing eye service. In other words, if I'm involved in an organization or I'm involved with people, the things that I do are superficial, they're on the outside, so that it appears I'm part of the crowd.

It appears that I'm doing the work. But in my heart, I'm not really doing it. The danger of being a man-pleaser is that it's only on the surface, it's not in the heart. If you're really a man-pleaser, you're going to be giving them the word of God in the first place.

You're dealing as a man-pleaser with the flesh, not with God. James 4 .4, John, I'm going to ask you to pull that out, because the reality is you're on one side of the fence, or you're on the other side of the fence.

It kind of goes along with my comment that you can't be a servant of God and of man. You cannot serve both God and man. But you are going to be one. You can't be neither. You're going to be one. James 4 .4.

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

That's a heavy, heavy phrase. Friendship with the world equals enmity with God. I'm just going to let that one sit there. So here we have Paul. At this point in time, he's got the first-person singular pronoun.

I like to follow pronouns. It kind of tells you what's happening in the sentences. Am I seeking a proof? Am I trying to please man? If I were trying to please man, I would not be a servant of God. Paul, prior to the road to Damascus, was a man-pleaser.

Prior to the road to Damascus, he was on his way to persecute the church, because that's what the crowd told him to do. He was willing to follow. He was willing to be seeking the approval of man. But now, Paul is going to say, I get it.

It is more preferable. It is more beneficial for me to be a servant of God. Romans 6 .16 is going to challenge you. Who are you presenting yourself to? To whom are you presenting yourself? To whom are you a slave?

At the beginning of this, he starts this out by saying that you are going to be a slave to somebody. My observation here is freedom is not found by denying God's authority. And the world will teach you, don't fall down, don't use it as a crutch, don't be so weak.

You don't need God. No, the truth is, freedom only comes by submitting to God's authority. Because you're going to be a slave either to this world or to God. Give me verses 11 and 12 again, please.

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

When man approaches scripture and attempts to understand or teach it without God, it becomes man's gospel. If you even come to this story, this glory story, if you even come to God's very, very word and you try to teach Joshua chapter 3 without seeking after God, without desiring the Holy Spirit, without His revelation, what you end up getting here are words that you can interpret any way you want.

And so what you end up with is man's gospel. So what we need to do, and what he's talking about, I would have you know, brothers, the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. What I'm teaching you is actually God's gospel.

I didn't receive it from man, I wasn't taught it by man, I received it through the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so we need to recognize true gospel. Two comments I want to make, Phil in the first one, true gospel is made available by the revelation of God.

It does not originate by man. Tim, I've asked you to memorize a little ditty. Do you remember it?

A little ditty, it was something like, why don't you start it?

If your output exceeds your intake,.

Then your upkeep will be your downfall. Had to think for a second.

If you want to be involved in preaching, teaching, giving the word of God, it's without this being from the word of God into your heart, all you've got is man's gospel. And he's saying, what I have is a gospel that was not man's gospel.

It came to me, you do know your phone's going off.

We all could hear it.

I want to make a claim, and that says that false gospel always is presented by the world as an alternative to the sovereignty of God. Try that again. False gospel is always presented by the world as an alternative to the sovereignty of God.

True gospel is the sovereignty of God. True gospel is, I delivered unto you first importance that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried, he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

It's all about God. 1 Timothy 3 .16 is going to start out by saying, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And if it's given by inspiration of God, it should be understood as being inspired by God.

And in light of that, 1 Corinthians 2, 9, and 10 are going to say, things that aren't seen, things that are heard are revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. So having been taught the gospel means that you're hearing things that are coming from his inspired word as illuminated, as presented.

Because 1 Corinthians 2 .14 is going to say, natural man cannot understand the things of God. It comes from the Holy Spirit. Recognizing the gospel means seeking after that which is in conformity with God's will, with his sovereignty.

And to the best that you can, the person who is presenting and you're putting yourself in their presence and hearing their teaching, is the evidence that they are a follower of God there? Or is the evidence that they're preaching something other than the sovereignty of God?

If you're hearing somebody teach, preach, and it isn't the same gospel, go away from it. The second part of the gospel is it administers to the person and then that person can use it. Preparation for ministry requires receiving the true gospel.

I received it through the revelation. Nor was I taught it, but I received it through the revelation of Jesus Christ. To me, implies that as he was on the road to Damascus, he had religious teachings, religious understandings.

He was zealous. He was taught at the foot of Gamaliel. He had all of this going for him. But once the light hit him on the road to Damascus, he now needed to be taught truth. And that truth comes to him through the revelation of Jesus.

This is what's going to prepare you for a life of ministry. And I want to define life of ministry not to say you're Pastor Jeff. I want to say your life of ministry isn't, I'm teaching a, your life of ministry is everybody here.

It's your family. It's your neighbor. It's everybody here. Second Timothy 3 .16 is going to go on. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness.

It's not only going to teach us, it's going to, of course, correct us. It's going to get us on the right way so that the man of God may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Romans 16 is then going to say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God.

We must be taught by God. The model here for Paul is that he's a servant of God. He does not seek man's approval. It's God's approval. And his freedom is found in God and God alone. And now having been taught by God, that's the next model that we need to have is to spend time in reality being taught.

Give me 13 to 16, please.

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

But when he who had set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

Paul’s Former Life in Judaism and His Calling by Grace

Give me a synopsis of Paul's resume through the first 13 and 14, his early life without God. How would you describe, what would be on his resume?

Monster.

Killer.

What do you mean by monster?

We all know.

Okay, he's zealous, but I'm going to come back to that. Today's political environment is so bifurcated.

What's that word?

Bifurcated. Split it into two.

Hang on.

If you are on this side of the aisle, everything on that side of the aisle is wrong. And if you're on that side of the aisle, everything on this side of the aisle is right, even if it's something that you would like.

There has to be opposition.

Now, John, you and we around this table would agree with you, he's a monster. But what about to those who actually signed the letters and gave them to him? Did they consider him a monster?

Go, Paul, go.

Yeah, that's what they would say. So the reality is to the world, and at this point in time I'm saying the Jewish leaders who were not comfortable with the Messiah and his followers, he wasn't a monster, he was doing the right thing.

And so, Bob, you used the word zealous. He actually had an urge, an urgency to be doing what had to be done. Yeah, go ahead.

But I don't, in context, just like any of us growing up, you know, we were all in second grade, and now there's people still in second grade, but here we are. I see him more as an academic genius, theological genius, and he studied under an incredible King Aemilius.

And, you know, this hatred for the Church was spun out after the Church was established, and in context, his sense that he's going to be selected, chosen to be a minister to the Gentiles. So this is a very strange preparation, that this is a man who was murdering Christians who were advancing the message out of Samaria, and taking the other Muslims, and here he is being prepared for this ministry.

You nailed it. You absolutely nailed this. That's what we got here, is we have a picture of an individual that if I were to be putting a resume for, you know, for a pastor for a new startup church, well, he was privileged.

His religious heritage, he was privileged. He's from the tribe of Benjamin, Pharisee of Pharisees. He was educated at the foot of Camellia, which he was considered like the guru. He had what it needed to be, and in fact, now when he is given a charge, he didn't haphazardly go after it.

He was zealous. He was in the forefront. Yes, let's go. He was that type of a guy. And he was also very self-righteous. He was confident that what he was doing was right. He had no second thoughts or pantheon.

Absolutely. You guys are getting it. You guys are absolutely getting it. Not only all of this, but do you realize that he was carrying out the desires of the religious leaders? He was obedient. He was there.

You want somebody who's going to go out and carry the banner. This was Paul. From the world's perspective, totally successful. From the world's perspective, totally effective. Now God is going to use who Paul was in his ministry.

He is going to understand the Jewish life. He is going to flat out know. He's been taught it. He knows it. And oh, by the way, just as an extra benefit, he's a Roman citizen. And he's able to play that trump card when it's appropriate.

No pun intended on that one. Now after the road to Damascus, everything changes. I find this, you've got to love this pericope because it's so Calvinistic in its content. And he who had set me apart before I was born.

The reality of the calling that Paul received was not in any way in response or recognition of Paul's value and worth. Because who he was called was even before he was born, before he was ever taught at the foot of Gamaliel.

Ephesians 1 .5 says that we are predestined according to his will. This is the sovereign God, how he has chosen. And then in Second Timothy 1 .9, it's going to talk about that we are saved and called according to his purpose.

This all occurs for Paul before he was even born. He was called to be a child of God and he was called for a purpose. Everything that he did before the road to Damascus is true. And it did not negate God's ability to change him from Saul to Paul and to change him from a persecutor to a missionary.

Before I was even born, before I was even born, he called me by his grace. That's the second point I want to make here, the model.

Who you are,.

And I know, yeah, Stan.

It's parallel to Moses. You have two men here that are just the opposite.

Now, one of the reasons why, and Jeff has mentioned this many times, we can be confident that this book is not a fabrication because there's a whole lot of warts in it. Who would write a holy book with all these warts in it?

Moses actually had his failures to the extent that he was not allowed to go into the promised land. But God, before Moses was born, had already ordained. We're going to talk about Moses in just a minute.

There is no reason for anybody in this room to feel my background is going to catch up with me. I can't really do this because somebody's going to find out about my background. God already knows your background.

He chose you anyway, and he's going to do it. This is all by grace. 1 Timothy 1, 12 -14. Janet, can you pull that one out if you've got it? Okay, go ahead. I do this often. I rudely stop my readers. You've got to read that again.

There is so much love in that section. Start it over again.

I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer and persecutor and an insolent man, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus.

I love this. Even though I was dog meat, he did according to his choice, and he made it happen by the grace that overflowed. What's your background? I don't need to know, and I really don't... Well, I mean, okay.

If you're a sex offender, we're not going to have you work in our nursery, so... But God is a God that will use... Ephesians 2, you were really, really dead in trespasses and sins, but God. And then in here, it says, God revealed the true gospel to Paul.

Now, we talked about Paul as Saul, the Pharisee of Pharisees, studying under the foot of Gamaliel, hearing all of the Old Testament. Thank you for bringing that up. Hearing all of the Old Testament that is out there and eventually, because he needed to get beyond what he had as his religious background, he had the best teacher of all.

Now, I'm glad... Stan, I'm glad you compared him with Moses, because Moses is in the wilderness, and he sees a burning bush. We could draw parallels to the light coming from the burning bush to the light that Paul had.

We'll stop right there. Paul goes there, and he says, Who shall I say that you are? And God answers, I am. That's the revelation that he needed. Everything that Moses needed to know is found in Ego Ami.

For Paul, he says, After something changed, but when, okay, he had called me, he was pleased to reveal his son to me. After the event on the road to Damascus, Paul goes into a new schoolhouse, and he is taught by God.

Paul makes a significant message here that what he has and what he has to give to the church at Galatians is truth given to him by God. Now, he is going to spend time in Jerusalem. He's going to spend time.

But he spent time in the university of God hearing what he needs. This is such a model for us. And sitting under the teaching of Pastor Jeff on Sunday mornings cannot be overstated. Sitting around this table, going to a small group, cannot be overstated.

Your time in the Word, seeking after the Holy Spirit and letting God speak truth into your heart cannot be replaced. We need to be taught by God. Isaiah 42 is going to say, I will take you, I will keep you, and I will give you.

All of these are promises of God's direct intervention and action on your life to prepare you for where he is going to send you. That I might preach him among the Gentiles. Genesis 12, 3. Barb, I'll give you a minute to find it.

Genesis 12, 3. The promise of God that is being fulfilled in this little verse here, in verse 16, but was pleased to reveal his Son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles is the fulfillment of a promise given all the way back by God to Abram.

Why don't you give me verses 1 to 3?

Okay.

The Lord has said to Abram, Leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great.

And you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all the peoples of earth will be blessed through you.

All the peoples of earth. This was the opening promise. By the way, there are so many parallels there. Abram was told, Leave me or go and do what I'm going to do. Paul had a life. He had a very successful life.

And God said, Stop doing what you're doing. Go this way instead. And Abram was told that through him, through this promise and this blessing and this introduction of God, the Abramic covenant, not just the Jews but all the nations of the world would be blessed through him.

And here's Paul. He revealed his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles. Paul's sphere of ministry prior to the road to Damascus was Jew. And kill anybody that is in the way. Paul's ministry and his opportunity now is the world.

He was sent out to all the nations. My takeaway challenge to you from this, Paul is given to us in the early part of this book which is going to emphasize over and over again grace not works. Grace not works.

It's going to emphasize our coming before God is through the cross. He's going to emphasize. But then this teaching on Paul. We are given Paul as an example. First of all, make a choice to be a servant of God.

There are opportunities for you to manifest your worth, to find men's approval by being a servant of the world in one way or another. Find your fulfillment in being a servant of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men assault you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. For me, rejoice and be glad. For great is your reward in the kingdom of heaven.

Choose to be a servant of God. The second one, intentionally get grounded in the true gospel. When you encounter somebody and they have a question, you're grounded in the word. When you're tempted to do something that you shouldn't, you're grounded in the word.

When you spend time knowing that I should be seeking God's guide, you'll be seeking God's guide. Be grounded in the true gospel. And then the last one is, let God transform you. Paul had an amazing transformation.

That occurred at a flash,.

Literally, on the road to Damascus. I don't know your story, but I will confess that God is not done transforming me. Sandy will attest to that. Let him transform you. Don't hold on to the things that you don't need to hold on to.

Get rid of them so that there is God instead of rust in your life. I think the encouragement from this example from Paul can be summed up, God, according to his sovereign will, prepares, calls, and equips those he chooses to use for his kingdom purpose.

That's each one of us.

Absolutely.

I would just suggest chosen to persecute the Jews by God having chosen him a direction in a different path.

And there was nothing of his own choice in being called. He was bound and determined to go the opposite way, and grace found him. Yeah, let's pray. Oh, Lord, we do want to give you thanks for your grace, and we want to give all credit for our salvation, the opening of our eyes, to you, Lord.

We were blind, and now we see, and we take no glory or credit from that. We say, Lord, thank you for saving us. Thank you for opening our eyes. We love grace, and we thank you for your grace, which, as John quoted in Timothy, was given us before the ages began, and Paul was set apart before he was born.

Lord, in the same way, we thank you for your grace. And now, Lord, as we consider these words, we pray for deliverance from groupthink, as Paul was caught up in this groupthink around him and dead set on what they had decided, and yet missing the spirit of revelation.

Lord, I pray, if ever we're swept up in groupthink, that you would pull us out of that. Keep us from that, Lord, when it goes awry and different from your word. And, Lord, we also want to ask now, in Jesus' name, for the same spirit of revelation that Paul had, to receive directly from you through your word, not ever contrary to what you say, but the spirit of wisdom and revelation of Isaiah 11, 1 and 2, that was the Christ, the anointed one, that your spirit then would rest on us, and we would be able to discern what is true, that you would train the powers of our discernment to distinguish good from evil, that your spirit would lead us when we open the text.

It wouldn't just be reading words that our minds drift and go and run in all different directions and get distracted, but by the spirit of revelation we would receive from you in your word and be changed.