Scripture referenced 21 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Galatians 1:1-5 Paul's God-given authority, not from man but through Jesus Christ
1 Paul, an apostle (not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead),
2 and all the brothers who are with me, to the assemblies of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—
5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
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Keep this verse
Galatians 1:6-10
Paul's rebuke of the Galatians for turning from the free grace gospel
6 I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different “good news”;
7 and there isn’t another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you, and want to pervert the Good News of Christ.
8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed.
9 As we have said before, so I now say again: if any man preaches to you any “good news” other than that which you received, let him be cursed.
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.
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Galatians 1:11-12
the gospel Paul preached was not from man but through the revelation of Jesus Christ
11 But I make known to you, brothers, concerning the Good News which was preached by me, that it is not according to man.
12 For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Galatians 1:13-14
Paul's former conduct persecuting the church and his zeal for Judaism
13 For you have heard of my way of living in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God, and ravaged it.
14 I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
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Galatians 1:15-16
God separated Paul from his mother's womb and called him by grace to reveal His Son
15 But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace,
16 to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I didn’t immediately confer with flesh and blood,
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Galatians 1:17
Paul did not go to Jerusalem but went to Arabia and returned to Damascus
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia. Then I returned to Damascus.
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Galatians 1:18-19
after three years Paul went to Jerusalem and stayed fifteen days with Peter, seeing also James
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days.
19 But of the other apostles I saw no one, except James, the Lord’s brother.
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Galatians 1:20
Paul's legal oath that he does not lie in what he writes
20 Now about the things which I write to you, behold, before God, I’m not lying.
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Galatians 1:21-23
Paul went to Syria and Cilicia, unknown to the churches of Judea except by report
21 Then I came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22 I was still unknown by face to the assemblies of Judea which were in Christ,
23 but they only heard: “He who once persecuted us now preaches the faith that he once tried to destroy.”
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Galatians 1:24
the churches glorified God in Paul
24 And they glorified God in me.
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Galatians 2:1
after fourteen years Paul went again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus
1 Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
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Galatians 2:2
Paul communicated his gospel privately to those of reputation, lest he run in vain
2 I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.
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Galatians 2:3
Titus, a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised
3 But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
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Galatians 2:4-5
false brethren came by stealth to spy out the liberty in Christ and bring believers into bondage
4 This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage;
5 to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.
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Galatians 2:6
those of reputation added nothing to Paul's gospel; God shows no personal favoritism
6 But from those who were reputed to be important (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man)—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,
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Galatians 2:7-8
the gospel for the uncircumcised was committed to Paul as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter
7 but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised
8 (for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles);
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Galatians 2:9
James, Peter, and John gave Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship
9 and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.
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Galatians 2:10
they asked only that Paul remember the poor, which he was eager to do
10 They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do.
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Isaiah 49:1
the Lord called Isaiah from the womb, used to parallel Paul's call from birth
1 Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother he has mentioned my name.
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Jeremiah 1:5
God knew and ordained Jeremiah as a prophet before he was born, paralleling Paul's call
5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
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Acts 15
the Jerusalem Council, where the apostles agreed there is one gospel for Jew and Gentile alike
1 Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.”
2 Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.
3 They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers.
4 When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them.
5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.
7 When there had been much discussion, Peter rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that a good while ago God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News, and believe.
8 God, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us.
9 He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
10 Now therefore why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”
12 All the multitude kept silence, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul reporting what signs and wonders God had done among the nations through them.
13 After they were silent, James answered, “Brothers, listen to me.
14 Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations, to take out of them a people for his name.
15 This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,
16 ‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up,
17 That the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.
18 All of God’s works are known to him from eternity.’
19 “Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,
20 but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
21 For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brothers.
23 They wrote these things by their hand: “The apostles, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings.
24 Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment;
25 it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth.
28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things:
29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”
30 So, when they were sent off, they came to Antioch. Having gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter.
31 When they had read it, they rejoiced over the encouragement.
32 Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers with many words, and strengthened them.
33 After they had spent some time there, they were sent back with greetings from the brothers to the apostles.
35 But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return now and visit our brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”
37 Barnabas planned to take John, who was called Mark, with them also.
38 But Paul didn’t think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and didn’t go with them to do the work.
39 Then the contention grew so sharp that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed away to Cyprus,
40 but Paul chose Silas, and went out, being commended by the brothers to the grace of God.
41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was the second installment in the pastor's walk through Galatians, covering Paul's autobiography in chapters one and two. The focus was on how Paul got his gospel, how he verified it, and why the congregation at First B can still trust it today. Along the way, the pastor addressed a current movement that would set the words of Jesus against the rest of the New Testament.
What was said
Paul opens his autobiography by recounting who he was before Christ found him: a man who persecuted the church beyond measure, who outpaced all his contemporaries in Jewish zeal, and who took enormous pride in all of it. The pastor noted that when you line up the verbs in those verses, they are almost entirely first person. I persecuted. I tried to destroy. I advanced. I was zealous. The whole passage is saturated with self.
Then comes what the pastor called an "extra large adversative conjunction." The word but turns everything. "When it pleased God," Paul writes, and the subject shifts completely. It was not Paul's effort or achievement that changed anything. God had separated him from his mother's womb and called him through grace. The pastor connected this to the calls of Isaiah and Jeremiah, both of whom understood that God's claim on them began before their birth, not because of anything they had done.
Because Paul received his gospel directly from Christ and not from the apostles in Jerusalem, he could not have been passing along an abbreviated version of their teaching. He had not heard their teaching when he first began to preach. The pastor used a straightforward illustration: if two students turn in identical book reports and one never saw the other's paper, the answer is simple. Same book. Same source. That is Paul's point.
After fourteen years, Paul did go up to Jerusalem, and he went privately to the leaders he trusted, wanting to make sure he had not been running in vain. The pastor described this as a moment of genuine humility, possibly even a crisis of ministry, not a sign of doubt about the gospel itself but a sign that Paul was unwilling to assume he could not be corrected. What he found was that the apostles added nothing to his message. They gave him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship and confirmed that the gospel for the Gentiles and the gospel for the circumcised were the same gospel.
Two things flow out of that confirmation. First, Paul resists any notion of church hierarchy. Peter, James, and John are described as those who seem to be pillars. There are no title tags, no papal office, no chain of command. Second, there was no pressure to circumcise Titus, the Gentile traveling with Paul, from any of the recognized leaders. The pressure came from people Paul calls false brothers who slipped in to spy on the liberty believers have in Christ.
The practical application the pastor drew was the "First B" idea he introduced the week before: be what you are, pursue it with everything you have, behold what God is doing, believe, and stay real about where you are. Paul never lost sight of the fact that he had been the chief persecutor of the very church he now served. That honesty was not self-pity; it was the thing that kept grace from becoming abstract to him.
The pastor closed with a direct word about the Red Letter Movement, which holds the spoken words of Jesus to a higher authority than the rest of the New Testament. His response was straightforward: all of Pauline theology is grounded in the tradition of Jesus, and the red letters themselves came to us through the men who wrote them down. You cannot throw out Paul, Peter, James, and John and keep Jesus, because those are the people through whom Jesus gave us the text. Over the gospel, he said, there should be no division, no confusion, no additions, and no subtractions.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor talked about Paul skipping his usual thanksgiving and going straight into a rebuke, because the Galatians had so quickly turned away from the gospel they had accepted. Where have you seen that kind of fickle drift happen, either in your own life or in people around you?
- Before his conversion, Paul listed everything in terms of what he had done: I persecuted, I advanced, I was zealous. After his conversion, he shifted to what God had done. Have you noticed that same kind of shift in the way you talk about your own faith story?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 13,446 words
0:00
Speaker 3Welcome back. It's good to have you. It's it feels a little empty here when when you're gone. And I'm I'm just grateful. I'm grateful for you.
0:07
I'm grateful to have a church family where we can come together being like minded to worship Christ. And he's given us another beautiful day. Would you agree? I mean, the sun's shining. It's it's gorgeous out here.
0:19
Should we use his breath in our lungs to praise him? Let's do that. Let's stand up and we'll sing.
0:37
Speaker 2Alright. Give thanks to the Lord, God and king. Thanks to the Lord, our God king. His love endures forever for he's good. He's above all things.
0:52
His love endures forever. Sing praise, sing praise with a mighty hand. Let's sing it. With a mighty hand and outstretched arm is love endures forever for the life that's been reborn is love induced forever sing praise sing praise sing praise. Let's sing forever he's faithful.
1:36
Forever God is faithful. Forever, God is strong. Forever, God is with us forever, forever, forever. From the rising sun. From the rising to the setting sun.
2:00
His love endures forever. By the grace of God, we will carry on endures forever. Sing praise. Let's sing forever he's faithful. Forever God is faithful forever God is strong forever God is with us forever forever and forever God is faithful forever God is strong forever God is with us forever forever forever
3:12
Speaker 3Let's pray together, shall we? God, we are grateful for another day. And, we do want to, right out of the gate, just say to you, you are faithful. In in in life, you are faithful. Even in the hard stuff and the good stuff, you remain faithful.
3:27
You're constant. You're never changing. And that is such a wonderful attribute of yours that we don't we don't we don't share like you do when that that faithfulness. We we can be here and there and everywhere, but yet you are constant and for that, we give you thanks. We wanna praise you.
3:44
We wanna meet with you and say that you are God. Amen. You can have a seat.
3:54
Speaker 1Is this thing on? Is it working now? Very good. So, welcome. Glad that you're here.
3:59
I'm glad you, most of you are getting back from spring break, it looks like. We've got just a few announcements. I'm going to try my best to eliminate the announcements. I've been trying for three years. I haven't been able to do it yet but the bulletins are going to have the announcements for all the upcoming stuff but I am trying to eliminate em but if you're interested in volunteering for VBS, June 22 through the twenty sixth, contact Christa.
4:24
She's right over here. Christa Clemmer, Carl's wife and our children's director and just plain awesome. June 22 through the twenty sixth and she is the one that will coordinate for that but VBS is coming up. It's a great time. Monday nights at First B roll on.
4:38
They continue. Carl will be back tomorrow night. We finish Matthew. Where are you going next?
4:44
Speaker 2I'm first John.
4:45
Speaker 1First John, walking in the light. So first John, study of John's epistles, and this We're gonna be doing that at one hundred thirty this afternoon. Oy. Oy. Today, we're starting this.
5:02
So, and we'll be in the gospel of John. So, if you want to come hear the gospel of John presented in Spanish, We're going to do that today but tomorrow night will be the letters of John. First, second, and third right in a row, right? That's way you're going to
5:20
Speaker 2do it? Yes.
5:21
Speaker 1Good deal. And next is welcome. And y'all can stand up and greet one another. I'm getting better. Illuminating.
5:46
Speaker 2Glory to the Lord on high God of wonders, God of wonders beyond our galaxy. You are holy. Holy universe, there's your majesty. Lord of heaven and earth alright early in the morning we'll give him praise Early in the morning, I will celebrate night. And as I stumble in the darkness, You are holy, holy.
7:08
Universe clears your majesty. You are holy, holding you're the Lord of heaven and earth let's sing hallelujah to him Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth. Hallelujah
7:43
Speaker 3earth. Hallelujah
7:46
Speaker 2to To the the Lord lord of of heaven heaven and earth. God wonders beyond our galaxy. You are holy. Holy universe, there's your majesty. You are holy, holy,
8:36
Speaker 3God again, it's good to meet with you and it's good to praise you for you are holy. You really are the God that has created us and not only that, you you have met with us and you meet with us through Christ, through your Holy Spirit, and you are alive and well and it's just good to be with you and I I know God that a lot of times we get so crazy busy. We get going and we just tend to leave you behind and I and I pray that once again, we would just sort of change our posture, our position a bit here to just meet meet with you and know that you are here and that you are present with us because that is one of your attributes. You are all present and we're grateful for that.
9:34
Speaker 2Worthy is the lamb who was slain holy holy is he sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy seat.
9:56
Speaker 3Let's repeat that line again, shall we?
10:06
Speaker 2Holy holy is he sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy seat. Let's sing of
10:23
Speaker 3his holiness
10:23
Speaker 2together. Holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty was is to come. With all creation, I sing praise to the king of kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you. Golden rainbows live in color.
11:10
Now she's a lightning rolls of thunder. They're singing on their strength and glory and power be to you the only wise king. Holy holy holy is our Lord God almighty was in his midst come. With all creation, I sing praise to the king of kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you.
12:08
Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder at the mention of your name. Jesus, your name is power, breath and living water. Such marvelous mystery holy holy holy the Lord God almighty was his mystical. With all creation, I sing praise to the king of kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you
13:14
Speaker 3God, once again, it is good to it's good to just hang out in your presence. It is. It's it's like nothing other nothing nothing that the world can give. You are so much more, so much greater and it's good to be known by you and it's good to know you and you truly are a friend and I pray that we wouldn't forfeit the loving relationship with you that we can have and that friendship relationship that we can have but you're God and yet you're you're our friend. It's just amazing and I pray that we would take everything to you in Jesus name.
13:55
Amen. Let's sing what a friend we have in Jesus.
14:08
Speaker 2What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry. Everything to God in prayer peace we often for fear oh needless pain we bear Oh, because we do not care. Everything's you got in prayer.
14:52
And we should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who with all sorrows share. Jesus knows I every weakness take it to the Lord in prayer. Now we're weak and heavy laden.
15:43
And are we weak and heavy laden, numbered with a load of care. Precious savior's still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer.
16:13
And his arms have taken shielding. Thou going to
16:34
Speaker 3thank and you for being our friend and our savior and I pray that as trials and temptations like the the song says, as they come up in our lives which they do because this life is it's tough. It can be difficult and joyful all at the same time but I pray that we would take these things to you first rather than trying to carry it all on our own shoulders that we would first come to you and give them to you, lay that your feet, and say, God, would you help us do this each and every single day? God, we thank you for every gift, everything that you give. We recognize that this world is yours and what we have is yours and naked we come to this world and naked will go out. It is just that way.
17:21
We can't bring things with us and I pray that we would store up treasure in heaven and we would look to the spiritual things that we would set our mind on things above where you are seated. We give you thanks. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.
17:38
You can have a seat but I I love as a worship leader. I just love to sing with you. I really do and this isn't a concert. It just isn't. This is our time in worship is meant for us to sing together as a church family and would you sing this song with us?
18:21
Speaker 2Amazing artistry across the evening sky. When I feel the mystery of a distant galaxy, It all's and humbles me to be loved by a god so high. And what can I do but thank you? What can I do but give my life to you? A hallelujah.
18:53
Hallelujah. What can I do? Praise you every day, make everything I do a hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
19:21
When I hear the story of a God of mercy who shared humanity and suffered by our side. On the cross they nailed you too that could not hold you, making all things new by the power of your risen life. Thank you, Jesus. And what can I do but thank you? What can I do but give my life to you?
19:57
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What can I do but praise you every day make everything I can do a hallelujah?
20:33
Speaker 1Alright. Good morning. It's good to have y'all back. I have been working through children's church. That's right.
20:40
It's happening again. Y'all are welcome to scoot. And I had a I knew when I didn't put the slide in there that I was gonna forget this. Yesterday, did any any y'all come by here yesterday in the morning? A few of you?
20:56
Yeah. Yesterday morning, this sanctuary did not look like it looks. It was just as full but it was not of people. It was of stuff. So, the McCooey's kinda orchestrated a yard sale and a lot of y'all brought in stuff on Friday.
21:09
The place filled up all day long on Friday and it was completely stuffed. Actually, my flip flops which were hiding behind this amplifier almost got sold. Oh, really? They didn't. They almost got sold but the whole stage was covered with shoes, stuff stuff this deep in this building And at 03:30 yesterday afternoon, it was all gone.
21:28
We're vacuuming at 03:30. And they raised over $3,000, $3,200 yesterday. So I was I was just impressed by the cooperation of everybody coming together and and getting it done. It was pretty amazing. So and it was all donation only.
21:46
$3,200 came for the Guatemala mission trip. And the Maccooees are going, and I think you have a couple others. I'm going. A couple other folks are going too. Somebody texted me this morning and said that they were going for sure.
21:58
So, that's good. Do we have slides? We do. Good. That's good because those are my notes.
22:05
Galatians, we started on Palm Sunday couple weeks ago in Galatians and we went one through 10 and Paul tells in the first five verses, he hits one thing really, really, really hard and that is that he has authority from God to give the message that he has been given and in the second set of verses six through 10, he really talks about it is a Christ centered, free grace message. So, before I start today, I want to tell Paul's message of the gospel. The gospel is Jesus Christ. The man from Nazareth, born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, was without sin, and gave his sacrificially, gave his credit. Gave what he did not owe to God so that all who believe and put their faith in him can be saved.
23:01
Crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected. So, we've been talking about all through Corinthians. We talked about it last week at Easter but that's the gospel at the front side and there's nothing added to that and nothing can be taken away from it. It needed to be just as it was. Paul doesn't reduce it any further than he can but he had spread that message in Galatia and to the Galatians, they had accepted it but they had turned away from it and because they had turned away from it, what was it they turned towards?
23:32
The rest of the book, he'll be covering this again. Now, we'll say before I even start today, that this is not one of those sermons that's a three point how to live your life sermon. It's just not a three pointer where you go. This applies exactly in these three ways and if you implement these, you will feel better and you'll be happier else. The gospel will do that for you.
23:53
Yes. It may bring upon you some trials and temptations too though. So, as I go into it today, just know, it's not this simple kind of three point how to live your life sermon. It only furthers the story. I'm kind of being merciful myself this morning.
24:09
Paul's backstory, he tells it multiple times but I hope that you'll see some stuff today that you might not have seen before. So, two weeks ago, we discussed the fickle nature of humanity and you mentioned that this morning in your prayer, Carl, one of your prayers this morning when you said that God is unchangeable and we're not that way. We are marked by our changeableness and our fickle behavior. Paul's God given authority and his Christ centered message are going come through every time. Now, the backstory, if you want to think about it this way, it's almost a legal argument and in a couple of weeks, I'm probably going to bring this up again.
24:45
He starts out with the opening statement in his first 10 verses is his opening statement and then, you would assume his opposition would have the chance to do the same and then he goes into a rebuke section. Now, normally, what Paul does after his introductory little mark, hey, I'm Paul. I'm writing this letter along with Sosthenes or along with whoever and I'm writing it to you, the Galatians or the Corinthians or the Thessalonians or whoever. Normally, right after that, he says, I thank my God for each of you. Every time I think about you, he's just overflowing with thanks giving to God for saving him.
25:20
He doesn't do that at all in Galatians. He skips the thankfulness period and gets right into the rebuke. So, this is sort of a wagging finger but he does it by telling his story. But I make known to you brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. He's saying, this is not a human philosophy.
25:42
It's not something actually. For I neither received it from man nor was I taught it. I didn't go and sit up under a teacher. I didn't sit with a rabbi. I didn't go to seminary.
25:53
It came through the revealing, the revelation of Jesus Christ through the revealing 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. Everybody had heard about that. Paul's conversion was very very dramatic. On the road to Damascus holding writs in his hand where he could arrest and drag back the Christians found among the synagogues and bring them back to Jerusalem to be tried.
26:26
That was his goal when on the Damascus Road, he was struck by Jesus. And seeing him in his glory had to bow the knee and was converted from Saul of Tarsus to Paul, the apostle of the church. Now, Paul means little one which is funny, Paul Wett. So, it's kind of funny since you're huge. But it means small, little one.
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For I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and I 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. You know this song? Things I learned in a hobo jungle were things they never taught me in a classroom. You all know that?
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I take a lot of pride in what I am. You know that? It's Merle Haggard. Well, Paul says, took a lot of pride in what I was. And he means it.
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I took a whole lot of pride in what I was. I outpaced everybody. Actually, Martin Luther would say the same thing. As far as being a monk, if monkery could save you, then I would have done very well because I slept without a blanket when others used one blanket. I slept on the floor when they had a mattress.
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I did everything that I could do on myself and I took a lot of pride in what I was but pride is what God's trying to break down, right? Yeah. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. I take a lot of pride in what I am. That's a bad situation.
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But check this out. So, if you go back through and you count all the verbs when it says, you heard of my former conduct in Judaism. How I persecuted and I tried to destroy and I advanced my contemporaries, my own nation. I was being zealous for my traditions of my fathers. It's very self centered.
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Are y'all picking that up? Oh, I love an extra large adversative conjunction. And I cannot lie. When it pleased God, who separated, 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. Examine that for a minute.
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He just went from I, I, I, I, I, I, I, and then he says, at just the right time in history, when it pleased God, it was not up to me. It was right when it pleased him. He's the one who brought me forth from my mother's womb. He's the one not only that, the way that the grammar works there. In this version, you don't see it as much.
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Who separated me from my mother's womb and called me. It is he called me from birth and if you look at you've already seen that. If you look at Isaiah forty nine one, he's talking about his call and he says, listen, oh coast lands to me and take heed you peoples from afar. So, Isaiah, thousand years before, is talking about the Gentiles. The word getting out to the Gentiles and he says, the Lord has called me from the womb, from the matrix actually.
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The matrix is the womb, the matrice in Spanish. The matrix of my mother, he has made mention of my name. He called me to do this before I was even born. Isaiah had that kind of confidence in the word that God spoke over him and Jeremiah, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were born, I sanctified you and I ordained you as a prophet to the nations. Paul in saying this, when it pleased God, he called me from birth by his grace to reveal the son in me.
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That's not a proud statement. That is utter humility. If you look at it, pre conversion, actions, and assumptions, Paul was who he was. Actually, last week, I introduced something that hit me pretty hard and I may go to it at the end of this sermon. I said, first B, First Baptist, we downplay the Baptist but first B, first B, what you are and be real about what it is that you are.
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Paul was very real about what it was that he was. First, he was a persecutor of the church. He was someone who tried to destroy it. He was advancing beyond all others because he was driven. He was what he was with all his effort, with all his force.
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But when he beheld Jesus, he believed and it changed everything and then behold the change in his life. He went full force after that. God needed the kind of zeal that Paul had. He gave it to him in the first place and Paul, when he realized that God had given it to him since before he was born, he had it, then he must do this. Then, he realized that God set me apart and he called me through his grace and it was not because of all the efforts that Paul had made against the church.
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It was because of God's grace. God was to use him to reveal his son in him so that he might proclaim Christ and that might there is one of those important things too. All of us have before us if we're being real before God and we behold him and we believe and we behold what it is that he has for us. If we do that, then, we have the choice that might, it's a subjunctive if you care, means that you have a choice of whether to do it or not. It's contingent upon your will to do what it is that God's called you to do and so Paul he did it.
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He went for it and God did reveal the son through Paul's ministry and it was the very simple gospel I've stated at the very beginning. So, to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confirm with flesh and blood. He's saying, I didn't even then go to seminary. I didn't even then go and try to figure this out nor did I go up to Jerusalem. Well, that was the the heart of the church, right?
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That's where it started. That was the the locust, the center of Christianity. That's where it had its birth was Jerusalem. So, he said and I didn't go up into Jerusalem and try to learn the right way from them. Now, apparently, Paul had been come come had been accused of getting his information and preaching to them some abbreviated or truncated every commentary.
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It says, truncated gospel where he just told them the good news but he didn't tell em anything about the works that have to come with it. They were, the Galatians were falling back from having believed the grace to have him having had someone tell them that you had to add to that works of the law like circumcision and other works. Paul is saying, I didn't go up to Jerusalem. I didn't get their message and get it wrong. I got this message directly from God, directly from Jesus Christ and when I got it, it changed everything.
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All of the works that I had been so heavy on before all fell away and I saw them as filthy rags, he'll say later. No, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. He equates himself with them. They were apostles and they were chronologically before him apostles but they didn't have any rank over him. There's no sense of hierarchy here but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus.
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He's just telling about his trip. Talk about that. Paul's authority was God given. He'll hit it multiple more times throughout the book. It comes back through and it's by God's grace alone.
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He's not saying, listen to me because I know what I'm talking about. He's saying, listen to me because this is what God has shown me. This is what God has shown me. It was revealed to me and then, he'll go from there and we'll say this, then, after three years, so he'd been a believer for three years. I went up then to Jerusalem to see Peter and I remained with him for fifteen days, two weeks but I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother and he is explaining and again, I say this is kind of a legal sense that he's doing this.
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He's laying it out exactly as it happened because he knows they've had a bad report. The other witnesses have spoken and he is rebutting what they know. Now, concerning these things which I write to you indeed before God, I do not lie. That is actually a legal oath. It's a legal statement of fact and he's saying, I will testify to this in court if necessary.
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This is exactly what happened. He goes on to say, afterwards, I went into the regions of Syria and Celicia and I was unknown by faith to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. Now, Jerusalem is right in the center of Judea. It's South Of Syria and in Syria, Damascus was in Syria, right? And Antioch of Syria is where he was preaching and teaching and and had a home base there with Barnabas before his missionary journeys.
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I was unknown by faith to the churches of Judea which were in Christ but they were hearing only he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith and that faith again is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Salvation is available in him alone through the cross, the message of the cross. He who formally persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy. That in itself is a pretty awesome statement, right? That he had been so zealous against and now, God had turned his life completely around and what did they do?
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They glorified God in me. That's what I'd love for people to say. That they glorify God in me because of what it is that I'm doing, because of what it is that I feel like I can't help but do. Woe be unto me if I don't do it. That Paul would say that too.
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Woe be unto me if I don't preach the gospel. So that others may glory in God, in him. There was no division when he saw Peter and James. There was no confusion as to whether or not what was gospel. When Jesus asked the disciples, who is it that the world says that I am?
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Well, some say Elijah and some say this and some say that. He says, but who do you say that I am? And we always give Peter the credit because he stepped up and spoke first. He said, you are the Christ, son of the living God. Jesus said, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.
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This is not from a man. You didn't get this from man. This has been revealed to you in the person of Jesus by God. There was no confusion. No additions, no subtractions.
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They glorified God and Paul. So, there's not any animosity. There's no division between and that's important because we're Americans. We have seen lots of denominational conflict and denominational differences. We've seen where one very minor point might divide a congregation.
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Paul says, there is no division in Christianity. There is not and there can be no confusion about what the gospel is. I'm writing you the letter to clarify what is and what is not gospel. Don't add to it. Don't take away from it.
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So, in Galatians two, then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and I also took Titus with me. Titus was a Greek. We'll see you in just a minute and I went up by revelation. I went up because something was telling him he had to be there. God was showing him that he needed to go up to Jerusalem and they needed to set some things straight and be sure about what it it was that they're teaching and preaching.
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I went up by revelation and I communicated to them. That's the apostles, Peter, James, other apostles. That gospel which I preach among the Gentiles which is what the Galatians had already accepted. Free grace, not cheap grace, free grace, available to all who would believe. I went up by revelation, communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run or had run-in vain.
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Now, that to me, when I read that and thought about it and kind of stirred over it and stirred over it, I was like, what is that saying? Before he went up and got a soapbox and started preaching the gospel of free grace in Jerusalem, he wanted to make sure with those other guys because he had gotten it directly from God. He wanted a chance to talk to him and say, what is going on? Is there more to it than this? If you ever try to practice church, people will add to the gospel.
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People add in Mexico, I said, when I got down there, I had on blue jeans and they were like, my mom's a Christian? Because I had on blue jeans. Christians don't wear blue jeans. Oh my goodness. This is a statement made in utter humility.
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When he got together with those guys privately to those who he had trust in their reputation. He had trust in who they were. He wanted to make sure that he had not run or not run-in vain. He was checking with him. So, I think this is a statement of utter humility on Paul's part.
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He's confident in his message but he's telling his backstory too. He's honing in on, yes, when when I was saved, if you hear the the other places of the conversion story, he didn't know exactly what's going on but he knew he was going to serve Jesus and he knew he was going do it the way he showed him how. He wanted to make sure so less by any means, I I might run or had run-in vain. Yet, not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. Now, those folks in Jerusalem that he was talking to didn't have a problem with Titus, having accepted Christ but not being circumcised, not following the works of the Mosaic Law.
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No problem for them. And this, the pressure to circumcise Titus, there was some pressure. Paul says where it came from. It it occurred because of some false brethren, false Christians, secretly brought in. They came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus.
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Freedom and liberty is really, really hard for people to understand. Religiosity always tries to sneak in. Superstition, primitive religion, always tries to sneak in that you have to do XYZ to get this outcome. He's saying, they came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. That they might bring us into bondage to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue to you.
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So that the truth of the simple gospel of Jesus, the free grace gospel. Put your faith in him. Do not tarry until you're better. Don't try to get better. Don't try to do XYZ to get ABC.
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That the truth of the gospel, Jesus Christ, perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection might continue with you. We weren't willing to give in. But from those who seem to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man. Where we heard about personal favoritism, there's no favoritism with God.
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James said that. Everything that Paul saying agrees with Peter, with James. But from those who seem to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man. For those who seem to be something added nothing to me.
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But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me just as the gospel for the circumcised had been committed to Peter. For he who worked effectively in Peter for apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles. When they saw that and when James and Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that had been given to me, then they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. There is no division there. There's no confusion there.
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They gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we should go to the Gentiles and they would go to the circumcised. Partially, why? Because Paul and Barnabas lived in Syria and Antioch and the disciples lived in Jerusalem and the people that they knew in Jerusalem were mostly Jews and the people outside of that, they all knew that Jesus said, start here and go there. They all knew that. The message is for the whole wide world.
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So, wherever you are, do that. That they should go to the Gentiles and and that they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor the very thing which I was eager to do. If you want to look back in Acts 15 about the Jerusalem Council, that's what this is pointing to. There's some people that disagree with that but I think that's what it was pointing to.
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Acts 15, the first part. This is where they all got together and said, is there a different gospel for the Gentiles than there is for the Jews? And the agreement was absolutely not. There's one gospel. Jesus Christ is the way, he is the truth, and he is the life.
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No one comes to the father except through him. That's it. Paul seems to be rejecting also here any notion of hierarchy when he says, those who seem to be pillars. He's saying that Peter did not have papal authority. This is five hundred years before it would be posed or four hundred and something.
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He didn't have the authority of one guy being the head and then others under him and then others under him. Paul is saying that those who seem to be pillars, they perceive the grace with him. There was general agreement among all of em. And the grace that had been given him, they recognized that God was flowing through Paul, his grace because what did Paul deserve as far as Christians were concerned? He'd been killing him.
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He'd been seeking him out to drag him back and try them. He had been a persecutor of the church. This was truly a case of loving your enemies. Christ, when he called Paul on that Damascus Road, said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why are you after my church?
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Why are you after my people? When the grace of Christ had been given to him, they recognized that they given the right hand of fellowship. There's no division, no confusion, no additions, no subtractions. So, Paul's autobiography is going to have to be continued next week, okay? And that's what I was saying.
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We're furthering the story along but I wanted to bring up just a couple of takeaways for today. Paul's Christ centered message of the gospel was given to him by the grace of God. He says it, I believe it. We've seen that he wrote, you know, a lot of the New Testament and a lot of the areas around that were influenced by Paul and speaking this free grace gospel. Now, I do want to mention that we can still trust him today.
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That gospel has not changed. It is the gospel. It is the good news for all time. And the reason I want to mention it is because of the red letter movement. Have you all heard anything about the red letter?
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Anybody? I could see one nodding head. That's good. The red letter movement is a group wants to focus all attention on what Christ said in the New Testament. The red letters, you know, in most red letter editions of the Bible, Christ, when he speaks, the letters are read.
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So, the red letter movement says, we want to pay attention to what Jesus said. Jesus never confronted this issue, this issue, this issue, or this issue. So, we can afford not to. As a church, we can just not do that. Paul, as a messenger of God and a true and trusted servant of his, in all humility, checking with all the disciples, checking with all that he knew of Jesus and open to his correction.
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We see multiple times. Everything in Pauline theology is grounded in the medical tradition. I had a professor that said that I have to say it every two or three weeks just to be sure. All of Pauline theology is founded in the tradition of Jesus. The red letter movement says, you don't have to confront these issues because when you do, you're going to cause division, you're going to cause problems.
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Don't listen to Paul. Don't listen to Peter. Don't listen to James. Don't listen to John. Just listen to Jesus.
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Well, honestly, Jesus didn't write down the Bible. He didn't scribble it out. He inspired it. Holy Spirit inspired no doubt but he did it through Peter. He did it through James.
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He did it through John. He did it through Paul. All of it is authoritative. So, when you run up against that issue, you say, you cannot throw Paul out. You can't throw two thirds of the New Testament away and just concentrate just on sweet gin and Jesus, meek and mild because Jesus has a justice component too.
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I'm I love preaching grace but I don't want it to ever, I don't want for God's grace to come across as something that is just lax where he's looking over, looking over stuff. That's alright. No, no big deal. If God through his apostles, his sent ones, if God through his Bible is telling us what is and is not right, wrong. We have to listen to that.
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So, discussing the red letter movement. If you hadn't heard about it, you will. Over the gospel, there should be no division, no confusion, no additions, and no subtractions. And those are the takeaways. We furthered the story.
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But if we could, Blake, will you go to that first B deal? I I was thinking about a lot of stories in the Bible. Follow this pattern and I I said last week for those of you who weren't here, that first B is this this church. First, be. Whatever it is that you are, however God has wired you, go after it, please.
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Do whatever you do with all your heart. Go after that. Learn the way of whatever it is he's sending you. Figure that out. Paul had that.
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Paul had this Jewish background. He had good teachers and he went for it and he was exceedingly zealous, he says. And he was real about it. He knew who he was. And then when he beheld Christ and he believed, it changed him completely, absolutely and completely and that's subjective I put in there a little while ago about that he might preach the gospel.
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I'd say, behold what God will do. If you take him for what he's told you to do and you step out in obedience, it's amazing what he'll do but then, don't ever get past the point of being real. Paul didn't get past the point of being real. He was still humble. He still knows that he's a man and he could make mistakes.
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He had no idea he's writing inspired scripture. I don't think when he wrote it. I don't think he did. But being real, he admitted that I want to make sure that I'm not doing this in vain. So, I checked it out.
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Turns out, he wasn't doing it in vain. This is the gospel. This is the way it is to be presented. So, be real about it. If you're a believer, you've believed in Christ and you are still struggling through some issues, I am too.
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I'd love to pray with you. We have elders. Elders, would y'all stand up, please? Put you on the spot a bit. And can I get some of you to go to each corner?
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Would y'all mind that? These guys, we're all struggling through together. Some of us, most of us, elders kind of implies that we've been on our walk longer than others. Some of them are young guys but they're mature believers. If you would like to, you don't have to come down to the front like the typical Southern Baptist Way but during this last song, if you'd like to pray, you can go to the back or to the front.
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Just be real about whatever's going on. You don't have to be specific if you don't want to but if you need a step of commitment, if you need something to just say, hey, I'm struggling through something. Will you pray with me? These guys always will. And there are plenty of others out here that will too.
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I know that. But first B, behold, believe, and be real and would y'all stand up and we'll sing this last song. Your grace is enough because that's what it's about.
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Speaker 2How great is your faithfulness oh God You wrestle with the sinner's heart. You lead us by still waters and still mercy and nothing can keep us apart so remember your people remember your children, remember your promise, oh God. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough for me.
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Great is your love and just and you lead us in the song of your salvation and all your people sing along so remember So remember your people, remember your children, remember your promise, oh God. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough for me. Let's sing it one more time like we mean it.
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And your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough for me.
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Speaker 1Amen. I have a benediction for you today from Romans. Now, may the only God of endurance and of encouragement give all of y'all this to be continually like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus that y'all all may in one accord and with one unified and eloquent voice always be glorifying the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans five, five, and six. Amen.
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Amen. Book club Wednesday night. That's one other announcement I forgot. Book club Wednesday night at 06:30. This Sunday, we're going to be studying Galatians continuing on.
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I started it on Palm Sunday. So, just two weeks ago but a lot of folks were not here on Palm Sunday because it's spring break also and a lot weren't here on Easter because it's spring break. We had lots of additions come in last week too. Who were here but Galatians is an very very interesting book. Last, well, two weeks ago, we talked about just the first 10 verses and what I drew out of that and what the sermon was mainly about two weeks ago was about the fickle nature of our humanity because Paul says to them in a very strong rebuke section just after he does his introduction, he gets this pretty strong rebuke going and he says, I'm astonished or amazed that so quickly you have turned away from the gospel as it was presented to you And so the fickle nature of human changeableness, the fickle nature of our humanity came up.
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Paul made in those first 10 verses two really strong points. The first five verses, he made the point that my authority is God given authority. It didn't come from man. It came through the revelation of the revealing of Jesus Christ. As Christ revealed himself to me and showed me as Hebrews says, the exact representation of God.
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He showed me who God was and it changed his life. So, Paul's God given authority is in those first five verses. His Christ centered free grace message was what the second set of verses six through 10 is about and the rest of the book is going to be about those two things. It's over and over and over. I mentioned that it's kind of like faith versus works or grace versus law and that will come up multiple times too but that really is grace and faith is the Christ centered message that all that needs to be done to accomplish salvation has been done.
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What is lacking is you believing it and I've also started something last week. Maybe I'll get to it at the end of the sermon in the middle of the sermon about first B. First B. We'll go from there but Paul's God given authority and Christ centered message. Most of the time, when you stand up before a large group of people, you hope that it'll be a home run.
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You know, that's that's what your hope is and sometimes people pat on the back and they'll say, wow, that was a home run. I am shooting for a base hit today, okay? This is not a home run passage. This is this is a furthering. You know, I wanna load the bases up and then, let God knock it out of the park a few weeks down the line.
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So, this is a base hit sermon, I hope. That's what we're shooting for. I don't want to strike out but Paul's backstory, April 12 today. So, here we go. Starting in eleven, this this would be formally the rebuke section of the letter.
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So, he starts out with an introduction. I, Paul, an apostle of Jesus, not by man, all of that sort of stuff where he's saying his authority is God given. Then, he starts rebuking them in in the sixth verse. Straight out of the box. Now, normally, after Paul does his introduction, what does he normally do?
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When he says, grace be unto you and peace in our father and Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God for you every single time that I think about you. He says that. To the Corinthians, he's like, I'm so thankful for whatever. Thessalonians, I'm thankful that the word of God is flourishing and taken off from you.
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He doesn't do that at all in Galatians. There's no thanks. He's not thankful at all for what's going on in Galatia. He knows that they accepted the gospel but quickly, their fickle humanity turned away from it. So, he's not thankful and he lets him know immediately and it gets stronger through the next couple of chapters but in verse 11, he says, I make known.
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I want to reveal to you. I want to show you brethren, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me, that simple gospel that I've enumerated of Jesus Christ living a perfect life. Dying a perfect sacrificial death, being buried, and being resurrected by God. That's what he preached to them. For the forgiveness of sins.
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Brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was preached by me is not according to man. It's not according to man. Four, I neither received it from man nor was I taught it but it came through the revelation or the revealing of Jesus Christ. Revelation in our minds, a lot of times, revelation the book for one thing but Revelation in general, we think of as being some super mystical experience. It is an uncovering, a glorious unfolding.
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It is something being peeled back so that you see it the way that it is, a revealing. So, this message, this gospel came to me not from man. I didn't get it from my mentor. Not from nor was I taught it. So, it wasn't like his Jewish training under Gamaliel.
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He had been to seminary basically and they taught him the way. Nope. Wasn't taught it but it came to me through the revealing of Jesus Christ himself. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism. Everybody had heard that.
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How I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and I tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation. Being more zealous or exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. So, in just those first few verses there, he's saying, I want you to know that I have God given authority. It comes from Christ.
1:00:17
So, that's the Christ centered message. He's already hitting this note over and over but it's repetition and variation throughout the book. He's going to go back now and give his autobiography. You know of my history in Judaism. Do you all know this song?
1:00:31
The first service didn't know this song. I'm ashamed of them. Things I learned in the hobo jungle. You all know this song? Where things they never taught me in the classroom.
1:00:40
No. He gets to the chorus and it's this over and over. It's like, I take a lot of pride in what I am. That's Merle Haggard. Well, Paul saying, I took a lot of pride in what I was but it's a past tense thing, okay?
1:00:52
It's a past tense thing. He's saying, I took a lot of pride. I was exceedingly zealous. In fact, let's go back and look at it. Just check this out.
1:01:00
For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure. How I tried to destroy it. How I advanced in Judaism. How it was beyond my contemporaries. I was better than all of them and I was really proud of it.
1:01:15
Contemporaries in my own nation took real pride of being a Jewish guy, a Jew. I was being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. Do you see where that is? It's putting everything. I actually, when I read this, it it strikes me how before Christ and even in my in my younger days, how my environment, I was so proud of my church and my family and the way that I was.
1:01:45
In fact, I was a racist flat out because of I didn't realize that. But I love an extra large adversative conjunction. I cannot lie. This but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and he called me through his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. Do you see a big difference in this and this?
1:02:14
It's huge. Everything was about him before. I remember that. I remember feeling like I took a ton of pride in not just I mean, my family. And they're great folks.
1:02:24
Don't get me wrong. But I took a lot of pride in being a McDaniel in Shiloh, Georgia, in Harris County. Wouldn't consider being from Alabama. Excuse me, but that's true. Like, I took pity on people that weren't from where I was from and the family I was and the church that I was in.
1:02:41
I I looked down on others and I I this resonates. Paul resonates with me on this a lot but when it pleased God, when he revealed and peeled back some of the veil and I saw through that, Paul says that I realized when it pleased God, I realized it. That he separated me from my mother's womb already having called me to do this. So, everything that I believe before, he's going to use it for his glory. I was wrong but I see the error of my ways and he's going to use even the bad stuff.
1:03:13
When he says in Romans to offer your lives as a living sacrifice, he's saying, bring it all. Don't just bring the good stuff. Bring the bad stuff too. God can mix that together and make it into something good. Pre conversion actions and assumptions.
1:03:28
I persecuted, I tried, I advanced, I was zealous. Post conversion realization and actions is God is the prime mover. After conversion, Paul doesn't consider himself to be always right. He considers God always right and he just wants to channel that to other people. God set me apart from my very birth.
1:03:47
God called me through his grace. God was to use me to reveal his son in and through me so that I might proclaim Christ and that might is very important for you grammarians. Might is a subjunctive, and it says that I might proclaim, meaning Paul had a choice. Now my first B that I introduced last week, the first B like first, comma, B. You want to switch to that for a second, Blake?
1:04:15
I said last week first B is what we call this place now. Most a lot of us do. You know, we downplay the Baptist part of it. But I woke up Tuesday morning of last week, and I thought of this. So first, be.
1:04:30
First, be. Just be what it is that you are. Whatever that is, seek after it with your whole heart. Be exceedingly zealous about it just like Paul was. Go for it.
1:04:41
Be what it is that you are and Paul was that. He was real. He was he was not just believing that the law, the Torah was really really important. He was seeking out to do everything that he could. Absolutely everything that he could do to further that message of Judas, Judaistic exclusivism.
1:05:04
He was going after people for going against the Torah. He was real. But when he beheld Jesus, he believed and it changed him completely. When Jesus, when he was beholding him and Jesus said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? When he was persecuting the church, why are you persecuting me?
1:05:24
It made a believer out of Paul. His first hand experience with the risen lord that he beheld him and then after that, after he believed, he was just as exceedingly zealous for the Lord and behold what happened. He wrote two thirds of the New Testament. He traveled thousands of miles and he presented that free gospel of grace and he saw people converted. He saw lives changed.
1:05:50
He saw what God could do in people's lives. But he was still real about it. He never got away from the feeling that he was the chief of sinners. He never got away from the feeling that he was a humble servant of a mighty God. He never and a lot of times we read Paul that he's got this kind of egotistical wagon, finger wagon kind of guy.
1:06:12
Sometimes we do read it like that. But he was very, very real about his shortcomings. He was very real about his relationship with God. Alright, you can go back to the regularly scheduled program now. Thank you.
1:06:29
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace. This, in this New King James translation, you you don't see it quite as clearly because it looks like he's saying, he set him apart separated him from his mother's womb. He did do that but the clause is all one thing together. All that yellow is together. He set me apart for a call from the very moment of my birth.
1:06:52
That's what he's saying. Like Isaiah. Isaiah 49 when speaking of his call as a prophet of the Lord. Listen, oh coastlands, outlying areas. Listen to me, capital M, that's God speaking through Isaiah and take heed you peoples from afar for the Lord has called me from the womb, from the matrix of my mother, and he has made mention of my name.
1:07:18
He's talking about how God in his sovereignty and his goodness has people the works set up beforehand that they should walk in them. Jeremiah says, then the word word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, Jeremiah, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you and set you apart. I ordained you as a prophet to the nations. Paul is seeing in this verse that same kind of call.
1:07:46
When God revealed it to him or when he beheld God's goodness and glory, he realized then that everything, the bad stuff he had been through in the past, everything was ordained and set up for God so that he might be able to use him into the future for God's glory. So, to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. Again, there's that might and it's a subjunctive Meaning, that he had a choice whether to do it or not do it. What Paul would say though is woe be unto me if I do not preach this gospel because it's what God has given me to do. So, behold, I'm going to do it.
1:08:21
That I might preach him among the Gentiles, the nations, the same ones that sorry, the same ones that I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Israel was never supposed to hoard the blessing of a relationship with God. They were supposed to spread it. So, Paul says, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, the nations, every tribe, tongue, and nation. 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.
1:08:57
Let's get back. I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. So, after Jesus has calls him on the Damascus Road, he did not immediately go and find out who's in charge in Jerusalem and then see if he could help out with what they were doing. He knew from directly from Christ. He knew what he was supposed to do.
1:09:18
I want for you to spread my word among the Gentiles and so he started doing it. I didn't immediately confer with flesh and blood. The flesh and blood, there's an interesting little phrase too. You remember when Jesus was asking the disciples, who does the world say that I am? Who do the people say that I am?
1:09:34
Well, some say you're Elijah, some say this, some say that. Says, but who do you say that I am? And Peter steps up, mighty confession. He goes, thou art the Christ, son of the living God and Jesus, what did he say? He said, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.
1:09:48
You were not taught this by any man. You didn't learn it in seminary. You didn't learn it from reading a book. You got this because God revealed it to you. They might, God might reveal it through the book but I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.
1:10:08
He mentions that there were apostles before him, those who were sent out because he knows that that's true but he says, I didn't go immediately. Now, what this points to, if you look at it as a whole, if you read this letter at a whole, Paul is answering some accusations. The accusation is that he was delivering to the Galatians and abbreviated or a truncated gospel that it was not the whole gospel. It was just the good news. He only shared the good part about grace.
1:10:37
He didn't share the but you have to add these works to it too. So, what they were accusing him of is preaching a lawless gospel completely without out of bounds. That's what they're accusing him of because the people who are accusing him thought that you had to follow all the mosaic law also. I didn't confer with the flesh and blood nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. So, he could not have been given, he's saying, a truncated gospel, a a shorter or abbreviated version of the apostles teaching.
1:11:11
He couldn't have done that because he hadn't even talked to them. He got his message from the same source. There are two kids sitting in class one day. One of them is a great student, one of them is a bad student. And the great student says gets an A on a paper.
1:11:25
The bad student gets an A on the same paper. The teacher goes to the student who's a bad student and says, now how is it that you account for the fact that your book reports are exactly the same? Exactly. He goes, same book. No, sorry.
1:11:44
I couldn't resist. Somebody asked me to tell a joke in the service. Sorry. He says, I didn't ask them. I didn't copy off their paper.
1:11:52
I didn't just get some of their answers. I went to the same book. I really did go to the same source. Now, it's divine revealing of a divine God who can work through the Holy Spirit and so, I got it from the source. That's why it sounds the same.
1:12:06
Paul's authority was God given and that's what he's going after to prove there and it's by God's grace alone. He does not say because I work so hard at Judaism, God then bless me as a Christian. He doesn't say that. He just says, before all that stuff was to prepare me to be able to do his will now but it's by his grace and he says, even after he didn't go to Jerusalem but he went up to Arabia and he returned again to Damascus. So, that's in Syria, Syrian Antioch is where Barnabas had taken him.
1:12:35
He was the preacher at the Antioch Baptist Church. Sorry, Antioch B. And when he was there, he was preaching this gospel of grace. He's preaching this gospel of free grace and it was growing and things were happening and then they went on the missionary journeys and he's preaching this free grace all over the place and it's transforming people's lives and he has seen it. Paul's authority was God given and he was confident in that fact.
1:13:02
By God's grace and then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and I remained with him for fifteen days. So, he'd been up there and he stayed two weeks with Peter but that's just a short time, you know. We go on mission trips sometimes for a couple of weeks. Paul was stepping back and he goes and visits with Peter for a while and he said, I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother and then, he says, now concerning the things which I write you, indeed, before God, I do not lie. What is that?
1:13:32
That's a legal oath. That's the way that they would have sworn to testimony back then in that time, in that place. He's saying, I will stand before a judge and say this because it is the truth. I received this. I didn't go up and learn it from them and come back and give you part of it.
1:13:47
I know this to be true because I got it from Jesus and he's saying, this is the true record of the account because they had been given various accounts of how Paul had been trained. So, it's a legal oath. Afterward, he says, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and I was unknown by faith 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.
1:14:16
You still hear his autobiography in there? And what happened when he preached the faith that he once tried to destroy? I mean, tried to destroy. They glorified God in him. That's what they did because it was the same gospel.
1:14:32
It was the same thing when he went up in those others, God was changing his life through the simple telling of the story of Jesus. Sacrificial death and opening the invitation to whosoever's. They glorified God in him. There was no division. There was no confusion and there were no additions and there were no subtractions to the gospel.
1:14:55
What he had presented to the Galatians, no division between what he was presenting to Gentiles and what Peter, James, were presenting to Jews. There's no division. There was no confusion and we'll get to that in a minute. There are no additions and no subtractions. They glorified God in Paul.
1:15:14
God got the glory he deserved but it was by means of Paul delivering the message. Everybody with me so far? Alright. So, I've got two strikes now. No, just kidding.
1:15:24
Then, after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnas and also took Titus with me. Barnabas, son of encouragement. Remember that? Titus is a Greek guy that he picked up. Titus, a Gentile.
1:15:39
So Paul and Barnabas with a Gentile are going up to Jerusalem. It's been either fourteen years since his conversion. That's most likely. It's most probable. Paul was converted about two years after Jesus' crucifixion.
1:15:55
And fourteen years would put the date just about right for this to be hitting at the time for the Jerusalem Council we read about in Acts five fifteen. So then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and I also took Titus with me and I went up by revelation. So, again, Christ is revealing something to him. He's starting to see that I need to go to Jerusalem. We need to get some things settled.
1:16:24
Now, in the first service, I presented this and I just said, he went up by revelation. I skipped right on past it but I want you to consider something because that somebody mentioned it to me afterwards. It seems like Paul after these 14 might have been having a crisis of faith. Occasionally, we will have kind of doubts about ourselves. If you've been in ministry, occasionally, you have doubts about your ministry too and so Paul was starting to say, let me go on.
1:16:48
Let me do it from the Bible instead of me saying it and I communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. I I told him, this is the gospel. But privately and to those who were of reputation. So, there are the people that Paul thought ought to know, Peter, James, some of those that have been with Jesus, the apostles. They were the people of reputation.
1:17:13
He went to them privately because he was having a crisis of faith. He was having a crisis of ministry anyway where he was going, I've been presenting this for fourteen years now and I've seen amazing and wonderful things but there's starting to be some influence coming from around the way and we read in Acts that some who were of a party that claimed to be from James were coming up to Antioch from Jerusalem. Those guys coming up there and saying that you had to be circumcised or you had to follow the Jewish law and Paul was like, I'm I've not been preaching that and I don't believe that that's true and so he wanted to go back to the source. So, this is after fourteen years. He goes back and he's going to confer with the guys and make sure they're all on the same page.
1:17:57
Lest by any means, I might run or might have run or had run-in vain. He's saying that I've been preaching this for a long time and I just want to make sure that I'm not truncating the gospel. That's what Paul's argument right now is saying. He said, this is a phase I went through. The phase is the Jerusalem Council.
1:18:15
Ain't that awesome? But it's a statement made in utter humility. He's saying, I I could be wrong. I could be missing the mark. I could have misunderstood.
1:18:24
So, I'm going to go and make sure I'm on the same page. Yet, he says, not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, a Gentile, he was not compelled to be circumcised by the people who are of reputation, by the people that Paul was conferring to in private. And this, that pressure to circumcise Titus, it occurred, there was some pressure there, but nobody compelled him to do it but there was some pressure there because there were false brethren who had secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out the liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. That they might bring us into bondage. Now, what were the Galatians being tempted?
1:19:04
What had they turned away from the simple gospel towards? Paul says it in the sixth verse. He says, you've turned away so quickly from the grace of God and you turn back to works of the law. It's the same thing was happening here. He said, I've been through that before.
1:19:18
That was around right '49 or so. I went down and I checked with him at the Jerusalem Council. We got together and we made a decision. To whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, and when he says we, he means the whole group, he, Barnabas, Titus, and the other guys of reputation, true servants. We did not yield submission even for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
1:19:45
The truth of that free gospel might continue with you. But from those who seem to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man. For those who seem to be something, they added nothing to me. When I said that there were was no division and that there was no confusion and that there were no additions and no subtractions, he was saying, they didn't add anything into my gospel.
1:20:11
It was the gospel just like I thought it was. It's great to have that confirmation after so many years of preaching it. They didn't add anything to me. It's also cool that this God shows no personal favoritism demand. I like seeing that because that's Paul and James, that comes out very strong in James that personal favoritism is not shown by God.
1:20:30
God doesn't play favorites. Amen. Praise God. Thank you. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised, that's Gentiles, had been committed to me just as the gospel for the circumcised had been committed to Peter, for he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the Jews, also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles.
1:20:54
He's saying, once they saw that and when James and Peter and John who seemed to be pillars to me, these were the guys. They've been with Jesus. They were the guys who seem to be the pillars of the church but notice they seem to be pillars. They didn't have little name tags that said what they were. They didn't have papal authority.
1:21:13
That was what was claimed six hundred years later about Peter that he had a certain amount of authority that was in his office because he was the rock. No. There was no. He said, they seem to be pillars. There seem to be guys who had their head screwed on straight, understood what was going on.
1:21:27
I trusted them. When they perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and they gave to Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. And that we should go to the Gentiles and they would go to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. If you read chapter 15 of Acts, you'll see this Jerusalem council.
1:21:50
It kind of plays out just like Paul says. He's replaying it for the Galatians to say the decision has been made and it was that, no, this is the gospel just like you said. There's nothing that can be added to it. Nothing needs to be taken away from it. Paul is the rejecting any notion of a hierarchy there.
1:22:07
It's not like, you know what I told you last week too about just a simple retelling of the story of the gospel and people accepting it and then they tell it to somebody else. That's the way that this thing spreads. Christ is the one who's going to build his church. It's not based on hierarchy. It's not based on a CEO executive style business plan.
1:22:31
My little thingy stopped working. That's all right. We'll edit this part out. There's a few other things we could probably edit out too. No division, no confusion, no additions, and no subtractions.
1:22:48
Praise God. It is the gospel just like we had said. So, Paul's autobiography will go that far but we just wanna put the man on base. It is to be continued, okay? He goes next week, we'll go into some, there's some confrontation that does happen and it explains this process further but we'll do it hopefully back clean up next week.
1:23:09
Paul's autobiography to be continued. So, the takeaways for us today are these, Paul's Christ centered message of the gospel was given to him straight up by the grace of God. It was not something that he earned. It was not something that he developed. It wasn't his own thinking.
1:23:26
It was something that was given to him by the grace of God. He gives that credit where it's due and one more, Blake. This thing just quit working, I think. We can still trust Paul today. And one more.
1:23:41
Have you all ever heard of the Red Letter Movement? It's a Christ it's, I'd say pseudo Christian myself but it's a Christian, it's a movement within contemporary Christianity that considers the words of Jesus to be more authoritative than any of the black words in the Bible. You know, red letter editions that have the words of Jesus in red. That's where they take the name and they say that Jesus never discussed this and never discussed this and never discussed this and never discussed this. These four, three, four, five, 10, whatever, hot button issues of today.
1:24:16
Homosexuality is one of them. That's where you'll hear this term the most. And discussing this, you cannot put Jesus's words at a higher standard than Paul's words. All of Paul's theology, all of it, and every word of scripture that he wrote was divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. Do you not think that God in his almightiness could stop Paul from writing something he didn't want to write?
1:24:43
Well, how about the third Corinthian letter or the second Corinthian letter, whichever the one that he wrote that was severe, I think he might have gotten out of bounds with what the Holy Spirit wanted said in the Bible. So, we don't have that one. God protects his word. The red letter movement would say that Jesus never confronted people on this issue, this issue, or this issue and so we shouldn't either. We should welcome and affirm and bring everybody into the fold without calling them out for that being sin.
1:25:12
Now, Jesus did confront adultery and sexual sin. He did and he said, you're forgiven. Now, go and sin no more but they don't want to read that part either. So I just want to say, when you're talking with people today, Jesus never mentioned that. He never did that.
1:25:32
Yeah, but Paul is an extension of Jesus' message. All of Pauline theology is grounded in dominical, our Lord's tradition. So, we need to know that. Also, Paul, Peter, James, John, all the ones that we've seen mentioned here so far, all of those guys were the were the authors. There's dual authorship.
1:25:52
The Holy Spirit wrote. These guys wrote. And they're the ones who put those red letters on that paper. Does that make sense to you too? So the words of Jesus that are included in the New Testament came through either Paul or Peter or James or John or maybe through the other writers of the New Testament but you can't value one more than the other.
1:26:12
The whole concept of the canon of scripture and of scripture in general starts to fade if you tend to favor one thing over another. Enough of that. Over the gospel, there should be no division, no confusion, no additions, and no subtractions. We need to keep it the simple gospel. Even if I feel like I've said this a million times, it still has to remain that because that is the way that God saves people.
1:26:39
That's just the way he does it and it's not going to change. That's the way that it is. So, I think that's it. Judy, would you want to come on up to the front? And the first B message.
1:26:50
So, don't you don't have to go to it but first B, we're going to sing just as I am and so as we sing just as I am, consider where you are and consider what you are. If you're a believer, look for God to reveal to you what it is he would have you do and once you behold it, be doing it. Be obedient to it. There's amazing, amazing, excuse me, blessing for you and for the body of Christ, for the church. If we would just be obedient to what he's told us to do.
1:27:21
If you're not a believer this morning and you hear the words to this very famous old invitation song, Just As I Am, without one plea. There's nothing that I've done that I deserve, Lord, but that your blood was shed for me. That's the only way anybody ever gets in to the family of God. And that you bit me come to you. I'm coming.
1:27:48
If you want to come down to the front, it's an actual invitation. You're welcome to come down to the front. I'll stop singing. I'll turn the microphone off and we can pray. If I'm busy with somebody else, somebody else in here that is a believer will stand up and pray with you too, okay?
1:28:04
If you're struggling through stuff and having a crisis of faith, come to the Jerusalem Council. Let's get this thing all together, okay? Would you stand with me? We're going to sing just as I am. Now, may the only God of endurance and encouragement give all y'all this, to be continually like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that y'all may in one accord and with one unified and eloquent voice always be glorifying the God and father of our Lord Jesus
1:28:31
Speaker 2Christ.
1:28:32
Speaker 1Amen. Amen. Amen.
Topics
Biblical AuthorityFalse TeachersGospel BasicsGrace Vs WorksPaul'S ConversionRed Letter Movement
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