Galatians 1

Paul an Apostle

Sermon text: Galatians1

Galatians 1 (NKJV)

Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God in me.

Grace to you and Peace

Saul of Tarsus( Paul ) was born, raised, and taught in Jewish traditions and customs. He was taught by rabbis in the Law of Moses as well as all the Torah and Prophets. He was bar mitzvah at age 13 giving Saul his coming of age privilege to participate in religious public worship and observances. In all aspects Saul was a Jewish boy evolving into a Jewish young man. He soon was discovered to be exceptionally bright and was accepted to be discipled under rabbi Gamaliel ( name translates into The Lord is my recompense/reward) and excelled. Gamaliel was part of the Sanhedrin and was a most sought after master rabbi to learn under. Just Imagine this as a Hebrew Harvard graduate school. So this was a big deal for Saul and his family. He was becoming a Jews Jew. He was at the top part of his class. His family was proud, his in laws were proud to have him in their family as arranged by his and her families in the Jewish traditions. He was in the Sanhedrin who was the Court of Justice and Supreme Council in Saul’s days. It was attributed to his intellect and political connections as he excelled in the Sanhedrin as a young man. A real up and comer in leadership in Israel. He was an Antichrist through and through as was most of the Sanhedrin. They hated Jesus as well as Messianic Jews. They hated the Church in Jerusalem, as well as the few Gentile Believers of Jesus. He was zealous for all things Jewish and hated all things Jesus as the Messiah. So Saul was primed to be the destroyer of the Church of Jesus. Ambition, the desire to be the best and His zeal for God drove Saul to put down this Messiah Jesus and all the followers of Jesus. They would pay for Blaspheming the Jewish one and only God. Or as we know , He was on his way to be Saul the Christian Killer, until Damascus. Advancement was sure to follow His success. Then, Damascus, Saul’s come to Jesus moment. A defining moment in time where Heaven and Earth intersected and God started transforming Jewish champion Saul into Jesus’s beloved disciple Paul.

The Damascus persecution was planned and Saul was on his way and nearly there and he met Jesus again. So everything he was, everything that he believed and lived out with great zeal, was changed with this encounter with the Resurrected Jesus. EVERYTHING CHANGED. Saul’s whole world changed! Saul the Jewish Champion was dying and a new man was emerging as a disciple of the resurrected Christ. The antichrist spirit was defeated in Saul’s life. He had to grab hold and digest the reality that Jesus is the Messiah. As Paul, he would eventually discover Jesus was not just the Jewish Messiah but was also the Gentile Messiah. He would be one of the major instruments Jesus would use to bring the Good News to the Gentiles and see the Holy Spirit fall on and in Gentiles as it had on Jewish believers. He was now Paul an instrument of Jesus, called to suffer much for Jesus and the Gospel Paul called His Good News. Paul would excel in all the things Jesus sent him to do, with the same type of zeal and commitment he did when He was Saul. Paul had a new life and a new world. He had a new teacher in the things of God. Jesus and Holy Spirit would be his new Gamaliel, but much greater, GOD would be Pauls new Teacher of all things in his New Life in Christ (Messiah) Jesus! Paul would encounter a joy and peace when he had these encounters just as we have today when Jesus and Holy Spirit floods and overflows all of our Soul with Himself. Similar to the experience when Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit.

We can listen to his greeting with a new respect and understanding, as a traditional Jewish and Gentile greeting Grace and Peace to you. Paul had found his grace and peace in Jesus. The rest as they say, is treasured history. lets hear it again.

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ

We can almost hear Paul say to us “this grace and peace I have found can be yours also. Just listen to this Good News of the Jesus Gospel".

A different Gospel? God Forbid!!

Paul had spent much time planting, establishing, leading then teaching the Churches in the Galatia area. They were established by Apostles Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey through Cyprus, Pamphylia then on to southern Gaul called Galatia. Note: these places were next door within 100 miles of the Revelation Churches.

During this time Paul and Barnabas preached the Gospel! Paul preached his Gospel that was given to him by Jesus and Holy Spirit as this: Colossians 2:4-15

Colossians 2:4–15 (NKJV)

Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

The New King James Version (Chapter 3)Galatians

22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

The New King James Version (Chapter 3)ROMANS 3

God’s Righteousness Through Faith21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

So we know the Gospel. We know it is all about Jesus as the Messiah or Christ, and it is the only way to have sins forgiven. Believing in Jesus is the way, the only way to be justified By Faith in the day of accounting for the decision to accept Gods plan of salvation or rejecting Gods plan of salvation through Gods only begotten Son Jesus.

The New King James Version (Chapter 1)Ephesians

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

The New King James Version (Chapter 2)Ephesians

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

False Gospels bring you in another way than grace by faith in Jesus only. Without Jesus it is just another antichrist driven doctrine that should be rejected immediately. Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Pauls credentials

Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews:

Saul was in The Sanhedrin (the 70) Leadership and Supreme Court of Hebrew Law.

Student of Gamaliel( grandson of Hillel) both great Master rabbis and fluent in all things Hebrew. Paul had the best education he could hope for as a young Saul.

He had been flawless in keeping the righteous requirements of the Law according to Rabbis, but not God.

He knew the old testament very well. He knew Hebrew/ Jewish traditions very well. He had zeal second to none. He had drive. He loved God. He hated what the Sanhedrin hated, their enemies were Saul enemies as well.

Saul was a Pharisee. Saul was born a Roman citizen. Paul was an Apostle, a teacher, church planter, and evangelist, missionary, and a true loyal believer in Jesus as the Messiah and only begotten Son of Father God.

Conclusion

The Gospel is Grace through Faith in Jesus as our Messiah or Christ. We have heard it put this way, “ salvation by grace only, by faith only, by Jesus only. No additions, no subtractions.”

It is all about Jesus reconciling us back to God the Father in a Covenant of Grace by Faith in Jesus. Believing in Jesus, Loving in Jesus, Trusting Jesus is our covenant way.

Loyalty to our God (Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit), is rewarded by inheriting eternal life with Jesus in eternity.

Pastoral Prayer

Jesus, may you be worshipped by us your people with all that is in us. As we keep your commandments, hear our cry to know you better and deeper. Help us to walk hand in hand with you Jesus through Holy Spirit. We need you Jesus in daily life. Let our desire be in you and your Grace Covenant. Let us hold true to the Gospel in Jesus and spurn the other false gospels that would try to lead us away from you Jesus.

Pastoral Blessing

May Jesus be so real to you. May God Bless you in your life with provision, grace, peace, and a very deep love for all of God: Father Son and Holy Spirit in Jesus Name. May His face shine upon you. May He keep you in his love, grace, faith and peace. Thank you Jesus! Hallelujah!