Galatians 1:11-16 "Revelation, Testimony, & Proclamation"

Revelation, Testimony, and Proclamation in Galatians 1

Alright, if you would want to start making your way to Galatians 1, verses 11 -6 as we are going to be there for this morning. This week we are really focusing on what God revealed to Paul, how Paul uses his testimony and how he has set forth in proclaiming this good news.

Thus the title of today's message is Revelation, Testimony, Proclamation. Now this is a very applicable message to us in many ways as we are individuals who confess that God has opened our eyes, changed our hearts and has given us a revelation.

Not in the sense of a new special revelation that's meant to be authoritative over the church, but he has made us believers in Jesus Christ. This is what I mean by revelation, a trust in the finished work of Christ.

Something that you and I used to deny before we were converted. And because we now have been converted, we now bear a testimony that is according to that revelation. And what has changed in us by coming to faith in God?

The revelation is God making us anew, giving us a new heart of flesh and believing in the gospel, the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this gospel is the same from every individual believer to the next.

As this is the revelation, the message of the gospel, it does not change. And we saw last week in verse 6 and 7 that there's only one gospel and that we're to reject all others. Any gospel that is contrary to the one that Paul teaches, the one that Peter teaches, the one that we read about in God's word.

If somebody has a different gospel, they are to be accursed, anathema, cut off, they're to be damned. So this message does not change from one person to the next. However, because we are individuals, our noticeable conversion does change from person to person, as each testimony is very unique.

Whether you were born into a Christian household, were born into a cult, were born into a drug dealer's house, or were born into some other contextual situation, we all profess that we have experienced the miracle of regeneration.

So whatever our unique testimony might be, they all tell the same message, that we have gone from death to life in Jesus Christ. So the means of the revelation, aka the new birth or regeneration, is the same.

Our testimonies, however, are unique in how regeneration came to be and what the result was in our life. Now we now proclaim the gospel. So after we have been born again, after we've had that new heart put inside of us, we now go and proclaim that gospel that has saved us to others.

And think of how most of us got to church today. Did most of us drive into church? Yes, undoubtedly, not many of us walked here this morning, but we drove here. And like most of us did, without even thinking about it, each of us, we got into our vehicles, we turned the vehicle on, and we applied the gas pedal.

And what did you expect from that vehicle as soon as you pressed on the gas? You expected it to move. You expected it to go where you wanted it to go. And this was a reasonable expectation from a vehicle that you put into drive, step on the gas, and what happens?

You go. What do you do with a vehicle that when you apply the gas, it won't move? Most likely, it's time to change something. We believe that when we have been born again, if that gas pedal and motor are working in us, what are we to do?

We move and do the work of having the Holy Spirit in us. I want to bring this up before even looking at any of this text here this morning, because if we are not bearing the fruit of being born again, it would be like getting into a vehicle that has no motor, no gas, no pedal, and is completely stripped of anything that would help it or make it go, and then asking the question after you apply the gas, you ask the question, why is the vehicle not moving?

Proclaiming the gospel does not save us, but if we have been born again, if we bear a testimony of Jesus and His work, what will we do? Go. We move. We move. We go unto the nations. We make disciples.

We baptize and teach them the commandments of Christ and maintain confidence that we are in a kingdom, not of this world, whose king is sitting upon the throne in victory. So let us go ahead and read and pray over this text.

Let's pray before we read, but Galatians 1, 11 through 16, let us bow our heads in prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for this day to be able to come and to read over your text, Lord. God, I would ask that this text would just bless anybody that looks into it, that it would even help myself as we look into these things today.

We ask this in your name, Jesus the Christ, amen. So let's go ahead and read this text, 11 to 16, it says this, for I make known to you, brothers, the gospel, which I am proclaiming as good news is not according to man.

For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.

And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being far more zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God who had set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through his grace was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might proclaim him as good news among the Gentiles.

I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. This is our text for this morning. And as a way of reminder for last week, we discussed the harsh but true words of Paul as he tells us that if anyone is preaching and teaching a gospel of yoke, a gospel that lacks freedom in Christ and takes us away from the finished work of our King, that those individuals are to be anathema, damned and accursed.

And the text for today deals with how sure Paul is of that gospel, that he has received the true gospel from our Lord and that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. Thus, he can speak authoritatively in this manner to these churches of Galatia.

And by implication, this text is very meaningful to us today. Let's look back here at verse 11. It says, For I make known to you, brothers, that the gospel which I'm proclaiming as good news is not according to man.

Paul, though undoubtedly disappointed and most likely somewhat offended, how this church has strayed from his teachings about grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Listen, put yourself back in those shoes of Paul.

You you have suffered the stripes of Christ. You've gone and proclaimed freedom to these captives here in Galatia, and you walked away thinking that everything was great and fine. And then time goes by and then you hear word.

They have gone back upon the blood of Christ. They've been duped and tricked by these Judaizers. And if you put yourself in the shoes of Paul, you could be very frustrated. Very disappointed in what these churches have done, what they're doing right now.

Still, though, still, how does Paul talk to these churches, these individuals who profess to have faith in Christ? He still calls them brothers. Paul errs on the side of grace as he talks to these individuals, as he believes that these individuals are truly born again Christians.

Thus, he calls them brothers. It is as if Paul is saying that they have fallen into sin through the trickery of the Judaizers and they need to be restored. I mean, think about this church. You're sitting here in church today and.

We receive a letter from Paul and you think to yourself, wonderful, we got a we got a letter from the apostle Paul, let's open it and read it. And as soon as you start reading it, the embarrassment and shame that would come upon us as we think about what Paul is saying, we've been tricked, we've been duped, we've been hustled into thinking that our salvation comes through something that we do.

And it's not through just Christ alone that we're saying Christ is not enough. This this this letter would cut us deeply. And it would do so for right reasons. And how would we respond? Well, if we're truly born again, guess what we would do?

We'd repent. We'd seek to be restored. We would actually follow through with what Paul says here and cut those individuals, those Judaizers off from us. We would let them go onto the world. We'd send them away from us because we wouldn't want them to be inside of our own walls, hurting us and teaching heresy that denies the finished work of Christ.

But nonetheless, we have to realize this harsh words that Paul is saying in here. Paul says. That the good news that he received and what he has proclaimed to the church originally and what he now is clarifying even further in detail in this book is not from man.

Now, think of all the religions in the world, both past and present. Each false religion places before its adherents a ladder that they must climb. Rung after rung, you were demanded to climb and climb and climb as you ascend your way into heaven, trying to make it up to God on your own.

They might say something like the ladder is what Christ has provided. And you have to do your part, or it is what God has given, all you need to do is climb. I can speak from experience that this is something that was said to me while I was in a cult.

Christ here, this is the ladder, he's just given it to you, you have to now do your part. Christ makes it possible to be saved, not that he assuredly saves you. This is the teaching found in every false religion from Buddhism to the Jehovah Witnesses in their Watchtower publications.

And first of all, one must assume that God is much lower than he actually is if they think they can climb to him. And second of all, one must think that they have the endurance and strength to climb a ladder that is actually infinite in length.

It is insurmountable in its distance. There is no end to the rungs one must climb if they think this is the way they are saved. And even more than all of this, thirdly, I would say that the most blasphemous thing of all this false religions, these religions, these churches, these individuals that give ladders to its adherents to be saved, the worst of it all is this.

Think of the blasphemy one is saying about the work of Christ. By thinking they can climb to the height of God, as Jesus says in John 14, 6, he says this,. Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. Judaizers and all these false religions of the world today and tomorrow and yesterday have this in common. They would all stand before God and boast before him by saying, I have found another way, another truth other than Jesus alone.

I have obtained life through my own works. Listen to Paul in chapter 2 of Galatians in verse 16. He says this,. Yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Because by works of the law, no one will be justified. These supposed Gospels that come by men, which consist of required ordinances, work, and laws, are actually a minister of death, a yoke of slavery, and a burden too heavy for any to bear.

We must be sure that it is Christ alone who gives life, Christ alone who grants freedom, and Christ alone who saves. The true gospel of Christ has nothing to do with our obedience, our works, or our supposed righteousness.

Those things that we think are oh so good to us could never span the chasm of eternal distance between God and man. But God humbled himself, the eternal one, the word, Jesus Christ himself. He spans that chasm and through him we are sat in the heavenly places.

The gospel conveys the finished work of Christ that Jesus alone is the only true good news that exists. God saves us because he is merciful and not because we are owed. And he has saved us through the propitiation of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

Look today to him, have faith, be saved, and cherish his name higher and higher. For he is worthy of such. Let's look here at verse 12. It says this,. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now this verse is speaking specifically about the revelation that then Saul received. I do not, I do really think that reading this short account will help us understand the faith that we place in Jesus as well.

Let's turn to Acts 9, 1 through 6 as it says this,. But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for the letter, for letters to to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. This experience that Saul had as he was being drawn and called into repentance and being granted faith in the Lord whom he persecuted, was not taught to him by man, but was received through Jesus Christ.

Is this not exactly how each of us, maybe not in the same spectacular way as Saul had, but us who were born dead in our sins, haters of God, continually ruling around in sin as we made idols into our gods to worship vainly, and so much more filth and evil that we would commit, and in the midst of those things, Christ revealed himself to us.

My good friend, Pastor Jeff Rice notes about this, how many times have we seen God become flesh? Or how many times have we seen miracles like what Jesus performed, the deaf hearing, the lame walking, the blind receiving sight, or how many times have we seen someone die, seen the rigor mortis set in, the signs of death are there, and then three days later rise from the grave.

Have we ever seen this? If I told you about this, my friend, he died and he rose from the grave, would you be quick to believe me? No, you wouldn't. And why would you not be? Because we don't experience things like this on a normal basis or ever, save it be one time, and we know that it's Jesus.

We don't see this. When your relative dies, we don't think to ourselves. Oh, yes, Billy Bob died. Let's just leave him in the living room for three days and he will get back up. We don't act like this because our experiences tell us otherwise.

All this being said, our faith is not an experiential faith. It wasn't taught to us. Think about when you get in your vehicle to drive and you know, it's going to go somewhere. Why do you know it's going to go somewhere?

It's because you were taught that when you were 10 or 16, that when you saw your mom and dad get in their vehicles and they drove and they pressed down on the gas pedal, it moved. And ever since the day that you learned how to drive and you pressed on the gas, it moved.

It was experiential knowledge that you knew that gas, when it was applied, would move a vehicle. This is not how we come to have faith in Christ. Reason and experience tells us otherwise. This is what makes our faith a supernatural gift.

Trusting that God became flesh, trusting that Jesus atoned for sins in his death, and trusting that he raised from the grave without the Holy Spirit conveying this truth, this revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to us in the means of regeneration, these things would remain folly to us as our experience tells us otherwise.

And I take great joy knowing that Saul, the murderer of the early church, the persecutor of Jesus himself, was saved, was washed, and was justified the same way as you and I are. We don't receive this faith from men.

Though through the ordinary means of grace we may hear preached to us, it is the Holy Spirit, not man, that changes our hearts. It is the Holy Spirit, not man, that opens our eyes. It is the Holy Spirit and not man that gives us the ability to hear.

It is this, our regeneration, that produces a testimony. As we will see here in verses 13 to 14, let's read these things. It says, For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.

And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being far more zealous for the traditions of my fathers. Listen to how Paul now speaks of his days prior to his miraculous conversion.

He says, I was, I used to, my former. All these are past tense statements. Why would the man who hated Jesus, who had a zeal beyond his fellow countrymen to persecute the church, who undoubtedly possessed wealth and honor amongst Israel, then turn from all these worldly hopes and joys to join the church and the Jesus whom he once hated?

Not only this, but think of what Saul traded that day. Honor and wealth for chains, stripes, prison, and even death. There is no convincing of the unregenerate man to pick the latter over the former. Do you think that anyone in that day or even our day could say, Saul, now Paul, was not a believer in Jesus?

Absolutely not, because every man and woman can see the sword of Christ in the life of Paul. That is the usefulness of our testimony, what God has saved us in the midst of. Imagine being a normal Jew of that day, and knowing the mighty Saul, hearing the stories of triumph, and knowing that he walked with the blood-stained coat that told of his persecutions of those who were a part of the way, the church, to then hear how Saul was now a member of the way, that same church, that he claimed he was more wicked than any other man, and that he was through the God-man Jesus who he once railed against, that he has now been saved by him.

Saul now is called Paul and wants you to believe in Jesus and to repent of the wickedness of Judaism. This testimony would be a powerful witness to all around. Think of yourself in this. Your testimony is not the gospel.

Let's be clear in this. But it conveys what the gospel has changed in you. The revelation of Jesus in our lives produces a testimony that the world, your friends, and your family ought to hear. All this being said though, Paul is now referring to his conversion as the means to convey to those churches of Galatia that he is indeed an apostle, someone who has authority over them as the churches in this area, a man that can write scripture, a man that should be submitted to.

And what he says here in this letter comes ultimately from God himself. Knowing this for us as we read the coming texts should elevate the words of Paul as we should want, this text should want to cause us to shape our lives to that which Paul calls and commands us to do.

The churches of Galatia have strayed from the words of the apostles and they are in need of repentance and need to follow the words of those apostles of the Lord again, the very apostles that they have departed from in following the Judaizers and being tricked by them.

They need to be restored and come back to the faith. Let's look here at verse 15 to 16. It says this,. But when God, who had set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might proclaim him as good news among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.

It was when the Lord was pleased to call Saul into grace. After Saul had persecuted the church, we might think to ourselves, Why would the Lord tarry in his plan to convert Paul? Why not do it before Stephen got stoned to death?

Why not convert him in the very first days of the post-cross church? Why couldn't he have been amongst the 3 ,000 that were saved in the day of Pentecost? And to answer this question ultimately boils down to the very answer that we have seen so often throughout the past several weeks on the topic of God's sovereignty.

And that answer is this, it is because it is according to God's plan, not man's. This should tell us several things. First, in our conversion, it happened exactly when the Lord desired for us to be born again.

It didn't happen a second too early, not a second too late, but it happened exactly and precisely divinely when God instituted and desired for you to be born again. It happened that way. There's purpose and care and precision in the Lord's plan in giving to us the Holy Spirit and having and granting us faith in his Son, Jesus Christ.

And second, there is nothing that could have come or prolonged or prevented us from coming to know the Lord. There's nothing that could have gotten in its way. There's no way that our eyes, if God wanted to open them, there's no way that we could have kept our eyes shut any longer.

God acts and we cannot, nor can anyone else, prolong or prevent it from taking place. And thirdly, it is the Lord alone who saves. When we pray for God to save our family and loved ones, we trust that if they are going to be saved, it will be according to the plan of God.

And isn't it funny how we understand that this is how salvation works every Christian does as every Christian that prays for their family to be saved. They're praying a prayer saying, God, I know you're sovereign.

Those Christians that deny God's sovereignty still pray like this because they know intimately and inwardly that God alone is the one that changes their loved one's hearts. Because if we could change someone else's hearts, if we could convince someone else into having faith in Jesus, then there would be no point in praying for God to save them.

Because we could just convince them. Look, this is not me saying that you should just sit on your couch and just not do anything, not proclaim the gospel, try not to convince someone to have faith. No, do it.

But know that ultimately it is God who his plan is at work. It is God who will have to change their heart. It was God who will have to grant them faith. And that is why we pray for God to do such. And this is all in his due time and that he will do whatever he pleases.

And so because of that, we must trust him. Trust him over the salvation of your loved ones. Trust him over the salvation of your friends. Why? Because were you convinced through experiential faith to believe?

No. You weren't talked into believing in Jesus. You weren't able to produce the faith that would be pleasing to God in your spiritually dead state. You were granted faith. Through the supernatural, miraculous regeneration that is of the Holy Spirit, borning you again, birthing you again, bringing you to a newness of life in Jesus Christ.

Now, let's look at verse 16 again as we as we look at this. It says, To reveal his son in me so that I might proclaim him as good news among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.

Next week, we will come back and look a little bit more in depth about what it means that he says, I did not immediately consult. But what does he say in here? When we read here that Paul preached the good news, it says he preached it to the Gentiles.

We, however, should not read this text and conclude as many of today do that Paul only ministered to the Gentiles. Some people would argue from this kind of reasoning that Paul was only sent to the Gentiles, that there's a gospel of Paul to us, the Gentiles, us, the church, and then there's a different gospel, the gospel of Peter, which is clearly identifiable different than the gospel of Paul, and this gospel of Peter is given to the Jews.

However, we must reject this very clearly because this text does not, nor does any other text of the Bible, teach this. Why? Because Paul in verses 6 and 7, he makes it very clear that there's only one gospel that actually saves and is not a different gospel than any of the other apostles have been teaching.

Paul says if we, in verse 8, if we preach a gospel that's contrary, let us be accursed, let them be accursed. He's saying that all the apostles, Peter, Paul, John, we all are preaching this singular same gospel.

It does not change from another person to another person. Paul preached to the Jews and saw fruit from it. There's several examples of where Paul does this. However, what Paul is saying here when he says that he is sent to the Gentiles to preach the gospel, what is he getting at here?

Paul's saying that he has the particular means of connecting and conveying the gospel to the Gentiles. And we do this exact same thing today. Let me give you an example. If we were to go out as a church today, which I would love to do this, if we all went out from here today to go out evangelizing and we ran into a group of Mormon missionaries, who do you think is going to be able to connect and share the gospel better than anyone else?

Even though we're sharing the same message, who do you think would be able to best convey that gospel, that singular gospel message to these LDS missionaries? Each of us could and each of us should. But most likely, I myself would have the best means to share that which saves Jesus, his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection with them.

And why is it that I would most likely be that? Because I used to be LDS. Because I could see that connection there that happens quite frequently when I talk with LDS individuals. Look, if we were to go and run into some students while doing this evangelism or some teachers, the teachers in this room here, they would be able to better connect with these other teachers or these other students out in the street.

So I would encourage the teachers in this room to be the ones to share the gospel. If we were to go to the ranchers out north of us and we were to go and knock on doors out there, we would probably let the ranchers in our church try to share the gospel with those individuals.

Why? Because they're going to be able to connect better with them. We in our lives might be called to different types of people and different groups of people that we can better connect with. And it just so happens that Paul was commissioned to have a particular connection with the Gentiles to be able to share the singular gospel that does not change from Peter or Paul, as I'm sure Peter was sharing the gospel with Gentiles alike.

It's not like he was only sharing the gospel with the Jews. That would actually go against the great commission that says go on to the nations. Baptizing and teaching and making disciples. It would go against the great commission if we said Paul was only sent to our particular people and that was exclusively to them.

And then Peter has a different gospel and he was sent exclusively to this group. That goes against what Paul is saying here that there's only one gospel and goes against the great commission. I want to finish when we look at this text by asking us this very important question.

What is the byproduct of the revelation of Jesus in our own hearts? The change in our lives, which is our testimony. What then comes next? What is that byproduct? Imagine we all pressed on the gas pedal to come to church today.

What is the motor, the gas, the pedal inside of us when it is activated, when it's moved by the Holy Spirit? What comes next? Proclamation. A declaring of the truth of God. We trust that it was the Lord that saved us and changes people's mind, changed our mind.

But consider this. How will they, those that we love, if we were saved like this, if we had a change of heart and we know that God is the one that changes hearts. How will they, those who we love, those who we live by, those that we spend time with, how will they know the Lord if someone is not there preaching the Lord to them?

I want us to be challenged this week in telling others about Jesus, to invite them to know him, to call them to repentance and to even invite them to our church so that they can hear the gospel every single week and worship the God that is deserving of worship.

We know that it is God who changes their hearts. We know that it is God that opens their minds. We know that it is God that grants them the ability to hear the words of Christ in scripture. We know this.

But we're commissioned and we're told to go. We're told to take this message forth. And even if none, even if not a singular one comes to faith through the message we are preaching, God is glorified because you were obedient.

Because that gas pedal were pressed upon you and you went. You listened to the words of Christ and you went and proclaimed his name to the nations. This is only a good thing and this is the normal means that God does call individuals into repentance, that he does give them a new heart, is through the preacher, the individual, the Christian being obedient to Christ and telling them about the freedom that exists in Jesus Christ alone.

Do not neglect this, brothers and sisters. Be quick to share with those around us the gospel that has saved us. So be challenged with that today. Go out and tell the world, tell someone this week, tell multiple people this week about Jesus Christ, about the new heart you've been given, about the testimony, the life that God had saved you from, what you're deserving of, what has God saved you from, and not only that, but what did Christ take for you upon the cross?

Tell the world about that. That's a mighty message that they are deserving to hear. And if nothing else, do it because you love Christ and you fear God and you want to be obedient. Let's pray. Lord, I do thank you again for this text, God.

I thank you for what has been provided for us today. Lord, I would ask that this message would not go out void, but it would return to you and it would glorify you, that it would advance your kingdom.

Even if no one was born again through a message like this, Lord, that you would encourage the saints, that you would be sanctifying us, that we'd be edified, that we'd glorify and worship you, God, the God who saves us, the God who gave us repentance, the God who granted us faith in the midst of our filth and our destitution that was deserving of damnation.

Lord, you have done it and we praise your name for it, God. Lord, be glorified. We love you and we want your will to be done. We say this in your name. Amen.