Living Free

Welcome to James River Church! If this is your first time visiting us we want to say thank you for joining us. We are so glad you are here

Today we are starting a series called “Living Free” going through the book of Galatians. I believe this is a great book to go through, because we live a time where information and misinformation is abundant and one day you’re told this, and the next you’re told that and if we’re not careful in filtering the truth from falsehood then we will find ourselves in confusing and chaos.

And just to provide some background, Paul is writing to the church in Galatia because he had gone through there to preach the Gospel and a lot of people came to the faith, but within months after he leaves some Jewish missionaries came through and undid the work that Paul had done by telling them that there are not truly saved unless they followed the Jewish law with its traditions and when Paul hears this, he is very upset.

We know he’s upset by a couple of things. First, we notice that in every book credited to Paul he goes to great lengths in his introduction. In Romans chapter 1 he spends the first 14 verses introducing himself, speaks on the Grace and peace of Jesus, the reason for his writing, along with praises to God for the opportunity to do so. In Phillipians, he spends 11 verses in his introduction, but in Galatians he only spends 5 verses before he goes right in to the message so he see what he has to say is very important.

Secondly, he starts verse 6 by saying:

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 which is really no Gospel at all.

The word “amazed” in the greek is thaumazō, which means “astoshined” or “marvel at”. It’s a state of shock

I am astonished or shocked that you are so quickly turning away from him who called by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different Gospel- which is really no Gospel at all. but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! 9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

This is one of the serious dangers of following Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, Islam- any belief that mentions Jesus but preaches anything other than He is the son of God, God in the flesh, who set aside the luxuries of Heaven to be born of a virgin and lived a sinless life we cannot live on our own to become the sacrifice for all humanity, dying the death we should have died because of our sin, was bodily resurrected three days later for all who believe in Him to have right relationship with God the father again and desires to co-labor with us to minister to others by the power of the Holy Spirit in us and He is coming back. This is the true and pure Gospel of Jesus and any belief that says less than this or adds more to it than this is a false belief and you need to leave it alone immediately...

The perversion and manipulation of the truth has been Satan’s favorite trick since the fall of Adam & Eve. God gave them access to all that paradise had to offer, but Satan came in and twisted their perspective so that they focused on the one single thing they couldn’t have and they did not see all that they can have. And he is still doing that today, he is blinding people to the pure, untouched, peaceful Gospel of Jesus and giving them a distorted view- and God has you here today on purpose for a purpose that is to come back to the truth. And that is why Paul is writing to the people of Galatia, they had the truth but they were so influenced by the world and the next big trend that they were accepting it all and now they are so confused they don’t even know what to believe anymore.

Verse 11:

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.

From Paul’s account in Acts and other sources of church history, we know that before his conversion to Christianity he was taught by the top Jewish rabbi of his day. He even surpassed them in notoriety and rank. When he was on his way to Damascus, that’s where he had his encounter with Jesus and his life was forever changed that day. A light from Heaven shined so brightly that it blinded him for three days and in those three days, he spent time with Jesus Christ himself.

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ

Verse 15- When God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles

POINT #1- The Gospel of Grace gives Authority

When God reveals the truth to you, believe it in confidence. When Paul received the Gospel he instantly believed it and immediately went about preaching to every place he went. He didn’t spend months questioning his experience, he didn’t ask God for multiple signs of confirmation before making a choice, his first decision wasn’t to go to the apostles- the ones who spent years with Jesus, he said “God showed me this personally and I am running with it”

There’s something powerful about living in the authority given to us by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Some times you do need that wise counsel and that mentorship to say “hey, this is what I believe God has put on my heart and spoken to me. Can you help me understand this?” which we will get to in a moment, but other times you just know that you know that you know something is true and nothing will change your mind. This is where tuning your heart to hear the voice of God is vital to your walk with Him, because the Holy Spirit will deposit things to you that are meant to be an encouragement to you or to other people and most of the time it will be things you could not have otherwise known other than God’s divine revelation. And when you get that revelation, approach it in confidence because the God of the universe is on your side and the moment He speaks is the moment things are already in motion. God’s will is going to happen, and He wants to choose you to be a part of it.

POINT #2- The Gospel of grace requires ACCOUNTABILITY

Galatians 2:1-2 “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. I went up according to a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those recognized as leaders. I wanted to be sure I was not running, and had not been running, in vain.”

Paul receives the Gospel, immediately begins to preach just off the revelation he received, and for the first three years he is going all in with the confidence in the Holy Spirit, crosses paths with Peter in Jerusalem and spends two weeks with him, and then he’s on his own ministry again for another 14 years before going to back to Jerusalem this time with his two companions to meet with the leaders of the church who we know as Peter, James, and John- those who spent time with Jesus, did ministry with Jesus, saw Jesus perform miracles, saw Jesus die, and then resurrected- he goes to them and says “hey, I want to make sure this ministry God has given me is still pure, still unchanged, and that we are on the same page, can you confirm this for me?”

This is another very important lesson for us to keep close at hand. Accountability is vital to help keep us in right step with God. This is why it’s important to be in a life group. Life group not only ministers to us by being in community, which is why we were created. We were created to Know God and to know people, but the other aspect of Life Group is keep us safe in Christ. As we go through life, we are continually at risk of being influenced by the world through media, music, trends, and experiences. Our minds and souls are like sponges, whatever it comes in contact with it consumes and it stores. What are you allowing into your life? Some things may seem okay, but are really toxic to your life.

Proverbs 14:12 says “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death”

How are you protecting yourself from the influences that come your way? I would suggest to you accountability is the most secure way to do so. Find an accountability partner, someone you trust, who is older than you, who has been in the faith longer than you, and can speak honestly about where you are at spiritually. If you’re off track, they will let you know and help you get back on track but you have to seek it out. Just as Paul did.

Chapter 2 Verse 4:

This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us. 5 But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.

As unfortunate as it is, you will frequently encounter people in your life who claim to be a follower of Jesus but they were sent from Satan to be a spy in an attempt to derail and ruin what God is doing in your life and it is important to always have a spiritual guard up, put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6) and keep pursuing the call on your life-no matter what may happen or come against you. You may ask “how do we know which people are genuine and who’s not?” and truth is you may never know with 100% certainty, but the evidence is found in the spiritual fruit that is produced in their lives. Jesus said in Luke 7 “Wisdom will be proven right by her children” meaning “Time will tell. We’ll see how it is 6 months from now” If someone is consistently the same in character through any given length of time, then I would suggest that person is genuine. If not, then you know where things stand and you just have to keep pushing forward.

6 Now from those recognized as important (what they once were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism,)—they added nothing to me.

Its not about positions or rank, but does that person have the experience and wisdom necessary to pour into my life positively?

7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was for the circumcised, 8 since the one at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles. 9 When James, Peter, and John—those recognized as pillars of the church—acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me (Meaning confirmation and permission to continue) and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I had made every effort to do.

Point #1- The Gospel of Grace gives authority

Point #2- The Gospel of Grace requires accountability

Point #3- The Gospel of Grace requires ACCEPTANCE

Without accepting the Gospel of Grace, everything else is doesn’t happen. The free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus is the only thing that can transform us from the inside out and cleans us of the things we cannot cleans ourselves of. I’ve heard people say “I have get my life right before I come to God” or “I’m not ready yet”. Listen, the focus of the Gospel of Grace is not about what you do but its about what Jesus did in your place. If you’re waiting for the right time, or you’re waiting to get your life in order, you can’t. If you could you would have by now. Jesus says “come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” You trade your pain and your problems for God’s power in your life and you are given a new start. Corinthians says “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away, behold everything is new” Jesus literally makes you a brand new person. He wipes the slate clean as if it never existed. God says in Jeremiah “I will forgive your sins and will never remember them again”

God can’t remember a sin he doesn’t know anything about. If you’re no longer held bound by where you used to be, how can where you used to be hold you bound to where you are now? You say “What do you mean?”

Well, I used to be an angry, abused, traumatized loner who hated myself, hated everyone, and I hated life and I wanted to die. I tried multiple times to end my own life and I thank God none of them worked, because today I am a happy, joyful, smiling child of God who loves life and loves people and there’s not much that can get me down. Even on my worst days I still laugh and smile. Even when I feel like I’m in the middle of a storm and it seems to get worse I still keep a positive attitude. How is that possible? Because Jesus changed my life 12 years ago. I was 15 years old and in a moment, God did more for me than I could do in 10 lifetimes and allowing him to save my life is the best decision I ever made and you can make that same decision today.

There are people here and you’ve never made a decision to follow Jesus. Or you would say you did at one time, but today you’re not right him. This is the opportunity to do so. Romans 10:9 says “if you call upon the name of the Lord you will be saved” and again in 12:19 says “If you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and confess with your mouth God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” It’s that easy

Revelation 3:20 Jesus says “I stand at the door and knock, if anyone opens it I will come in.” It’s the door of the human heart. You’re here right now not because your friends invited you, or your family brought you, but because God wants to meet you where you’re at and give you life and life to the fullest extent. This is your opportunity, this is your moment. Today is the day of salvation. Don’t worry about what people may think, because it’s not about them its about you and God. Right now, all across this room raise your hand if you would say Kyal pray for me.