Untitled Sermon (4)

READ GALATIANS 1:1-5

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU LOOKED AT A NEWSPAPER AND READ SOME GOOD NEWS?

IN A WORLD FILLED WITH TROUBLE, IT IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT TO FIND ANY ‘GOOD NEWS.’

BUT TO THE PERSON WHO HAS TRUSTED CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOR, THE REAL ‘GOOD NEWS’ IS THE GOSPEL:

…FOR I DELIVERED TO YOU AS OF FIRST MOST IMPORTANCE WHAT I ASLO RECEIVED, THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, AND THAT HE WAS BURIED, AND THAT HE WAS RAISED ON THE THIRD DAY ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES...

IT IS GOOD NEWS THAT SINNERS CAN BE FORGIVEN AND GO TO HEAVEN BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS CHRIST DID ON THE CROSS. THE GOOD NEWS OF SALVATION THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE IN THE WORLD.

IT WAS THIS GOOD NEWS, THIS MESSAGE THAT CHANGED PAUL’S LIFE AND THROUGH HIM, THE LIVES OF OTHERS.

WHO ARE THESE GALATIANS? THEY WERE A PEOPLE KNOWN AS THE GAULS WHO LEFT THEIR HOME IN SOUTHERN EUROPE AND SETTLED IN NORTHERN ASIA MINOR. AFTER BECOMING KNOWN AS GALATIA IN 232 B.C. KING AMYNTAS BEQUEATHED HIS KINGDOM TO ROME, AND GALATIA BECAME A ROMAN PROVINCE IN 25 B.C.

DURING PAUL’S FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY IN THE SYNAGAOGUE AT ANITOCH () THE JEWS HEARD THE INABILITY OF THE LAW FOR SALVATION ANNOUNCED, AND THE GENTILES HEARD THE OFFER OF A SALVATION ACQUIRED AT THE CROSS THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST ALONE.

AND IT WAS FROM THAT TIME BOTH JEW AND GENTILE RECOGNIZED THAT PAUL WAS A CHAMPION FOR THE GENTILES AND AN ADVERSARY OF JUDAISM WHICH WAS BEING OBSERVED.

SO THE GALATIAN XIANS FOR THE MOST PART WERE NOT THE GAULS OF OLD, BUT GREEKS AND JEWS FROM FLOURISHING CITIES SITUATED ON THE HIGHWAYS OF COMMERCE AND GOVERNMENT.

THIS THEN, BRINGS US TO THE QUESTION OF WHO WERE THE JUDAIZERS? TO ANSWER THIS WE HAVE TO GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO CAIN AND ABEL. YOU SEE IT WAS HOW THESE TWO MEN RESPONDED TO ADAM’S INSTRUCTIONS ON WHAT THE LORD REQUIRED OF SINNERS AT THAT TIME. A BLOOD SACRIFICE WAS NEEDED TO APPROACH GOD PROPERLY BECAUSE THIS SYMBOLIZED THAT ACTUAL SACRIFICE FOR SIN WHICH GOD WOULD SOME DAY SHOW US THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.

THIS DID NOT BRING ABOUT SALVATION BUT WITHOUT THIS ACT OF FAITH, THIS OFFERING OF THE SACRIFICE WOULD BE A FORM, AND A MOCKERY IN THE EYES OF GOD.

IT WAS CAIN’S REJECTION OF ADAM’S INSTRUCTIONS; THE TEACHING OF SALVATION THROUGH FAITH IN A SUBSTITUTIONARY SACRIFICE, AND SUBSTITUTED FOR IT HIS OWN PERSONAL MERIT AND GOOD WORKS.

ABEL’S OFFERING WAS ACCEPTABLE AND HE WAS DECLARED RIGHTEOUS; CAIN’S WAS NOT. SINCE THAT TIME DOWN THROUGH THE AGES THESE TWO OPPOSING TENDENCIES ARE SEEN IN THE HUMAN RACE. HOW YOU MAY ASK?

WELL, THERE IS ALWAYS A LITTLE GROUP WHICH OFFERS THE SYMBOLIC SACRIFICES AS AN INDICATION OF A REAL LIVING FAITH IN THE FUTURE SUBSTITUTIONARY SACRIFICE, AND THERE WAS ALWAYS THE LARGER GROUP WHO EXERCISED NO HEART FAITH TO GAIN SALVATION BY GRACE, BUT WANTED TO GAIN SALVATION BY THERE OWN PERSONAL GOOD WORKS AND MERIT.

THE JUDAIZERS MUTILATED THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL BY SUBSTITUTING WORKS FOR GRACE, AND ALSO THEIR OWN LIVES AND THOSE WHO FOLLOWED.

I REMIND YOU THAT PAUL WROTE THIS EPISTLE, OR LETTER, PRIMARILY TO COUNTERACT THE TEACHINGS OF THE JUDAIZERS, WHO TAUGHT THAT GENTILES, IN ORDER TO BE SAVED, HAD TO BECOME JEWS FIRST.

WHICH MEANT THEY WOULD HAVE TO SUBMIT TO CIRCUMCISION SO THEY COULD IDENTIFY WITH THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEY MADE IT PART OF SALVATION. ALSO, GENTILES WOULD HAVE TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL. BUT THEY ALSO HAD TO FAITHFULLY OBSERVE THE LAW AND THAT WOULD PROVIDE THEM RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH GOD.

WHAT IS A JUDAIZER? THEY WERE

THESE JUDAIZERS HAD COME TO A BELIEF IT WAS THROUGH HUMAN EFFORT THAT SALVATION WAS GAINED. THEY DEPENDED ON GOOD WORKS FOR ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD, WHICH TAKES US BACK TO CAIN.

BUT PAUL DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IN IN THE LAW AND THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS BY FAITH.

AS HE WROTE IN

…FOR MOSES WRITES THAT THE MAN WHO PRACTICES THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS BASED ON LAW SHALL LIVE BY THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS...

THE PROBLEM IS THAT NO ONE CAN PERFECTLY OBEY THE MOSAIC LAW, AND THEREFORE ANY ATTEMPT TO PRODUCE A RIGHTEOUSNESS WOULD RESULT IN WHAT ISAIAH CALLS FILTHY RAGS.

NOW, THIS CRISIS OF FAITH FOR THE GALATIANS IS VERY SERIOUS, SO MUCH SO THAT THEY WERE WILLING TO SUBMIT TO THE KNIFE AND GET CIRCUMCISED.

WHEN YOU CAME TO SALVATION DID WE NOT EMBRACED THE GOSPEL WITH GREAT ENTHUSIASM AT FIRST, BUT WE FOUND THAT LIVING THE XIAN LIFE ISN’S WHAT WE EXPECTED? THIS IS HOW THE GALATIANS REACTED AND SO WE CAN FIND OURSELVES IN THE SHOES OF THE GALATIANS.

WE TOO WRESTLE WITH A BIT OF BUYER’S REMORSE, WONDERING WETHER SOMETHING MORE IS NEEDED TO GET US TO WHERE WE WANT TO GO IN LIFE.

IT WAS IN ALL THIS TURMOIL THAT PAUL WRITES THIS LETTER. WHICH IS WHY PAUL’S FIRST WORD TO THEM IS TO INSIST THAT THE MESSAGE OF GRACE STILL STANDS.

BUT NOTICE IN VS 1, HE SPEAKS ABOUT THE MESSENGER AND NOT THE MESSAGE. USUALLY, AN OPENING SALUTATION CONSISTS OF THE AUTHOR’S NAME, THE NAME OF THOSE TO WHOM HE IS WRITING, AND MOST OF THE TIME AN EXPRESSION OF GOOD WISHES.

IT WAS IN ALL THIS TERMOIL THAT PAUL WRITES THIS LETTER.

PAUL IMMEDIATELY HAS THE STATEMENT OF HIS CLAIM TO BE AN APOSTLE, WHICH THE JUDAIZERS WERE DENYING. BUT MAKING THIS CLAIM IS NOT NEW TO PAUL. IN ALL OF HIS GREETINGS BUT A FEW, PAUL WRITES ‘AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIT’.

BY THE ADDING OF THE WORDS; NOT SENT FROM MEN....), PAUL AT ONCE HIGHLIGHTS HIS CLAIM THAT HE WAS COMMISSIONED BY JESUS TO PREACH THE GOSPEL WITH AUTHORITY.

WHY WOULD THE JUDAIZERS QUESTION PAUL’S AUTHORITY? WELL IN IT WOULD SEEM THAT TWO MAJOR PREREQUISITES FOR BEING AN APOSTLE WERE: 1. TO HAVE BEEN AN EYEWITNESS FO CHRIST’S MINISTRY FRO THE TIME OF HTE BAPTISM BY JOHN UP TO AND INCLUDING THE RESURRECTION. AND 2. TO HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FOR THE OFFICE BY THE RISEN LORD.

PAUL CLAIMS TO HAVE FULFILLED THESE CONDITIONS AS THE RESULT OF HIS DAMASCUS ROAD EXPERIENCE AND LATER IN THIS LETTER EXPANDS ON IN DETAIL; AND LUKE, ENDORSES NOT ONLY PAUL’S CLAIM BUT ALSO SPEAKS OF BARNABAS AS BEING CALLED TO THIS OFFICE.

PAUL’S CLAIM WAS THAT HIS APOSTLESHIP CAME TO HIM DIRECTLY FROM AND THROUGH GOD THE FATHER AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND HE WANTS TO REMIND THE GALATIANS THAT THE GOSPEL THAT HE HAD PREACHED TO THEM IS ACTUALLY THE RECEIVED DOCTRINE OF ALL THE XIAN CHURCH.

NOW IF WE WOULD TAKE A MOMENT AND THINK ABOUT WHAT PAUL IS ATTEMPTING TO ACCOMPLISH OR THINK ABOUT HIS MISSION; WE ALSO SHOULD THINK ABOUT WHAT IS OUR MISSION THE LORD HAS FOR US.

ARE WE REALLY DEAD TO SIN AND ALIVE IN CHRIST?

ASK YOURSELF; HAVE I YIELDED MY BODY A LIVING SACRIFICE?

AM I SEEKING THE REAL WELFARE OF OTHERS?

AM I LVING A PURE, SIMPLE, PATIENT, STEADFAST LIFE?

AND THIS QUESTION HERE IS ONE I THINK WE SHOULD BE ASKING OURSELVES DAILY; AM I READY, IF GOD SHOULD CALL ME, TO DO SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR HIM? AND WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND OF COURSE THAT WE MUST MAKE SURE THAT IT IS A CALL, AND WE MUST WAIT AND WATCH AND PRAY.

THEN WE MUST BE OBEDIENT TO WHAT THE LORD’S VISION IS FOR US. NOW I UNDERSTAND THAT A NEW WORK, A NEW DIRECTION, A NEW VISION MAY BE SCARY AND RISKY, BUT WE MUST STEP FORWARD ON FATIH, BEARING CHRIST’S MESSAGE AND NOT BE DISOBEDIENT KNOWING THAT WE HAVE THE PRAYERS OF OUR COMMUNITY ANS SURE OF THE VERY FACT WE HAVE HELP OF THE ONE WHO WILL NEVER LEAVE US OR FORSAKE US.

IN VS 3 WE HAVE THE WORDS GRACE AND PEACE. THESE TWO WORDS ARE USED IN ALL OF PAUL’S GREETINGS. NOW WE ARE ALL AWARE OF AS TIME GOES ON THINGS SEEM TO LOSE THIER SIGNIFICANCE.

FOR EXAMPLE: GOODBYE DOES NOT MEAN AS MUCH AS ‘GOD BE WITH YOU’ OR HOW ABOUT ‘ADIEU?’

THIS FRENCH WORD IS NOT USED OFTEN TODAY BY US IN THE WEST. IT DOES MEAN GOODBYE BUT ARE YOU AWARE ‘ADIEU’ LITERALLY MEANS ‘TO GOD’ AND WAS PART OF ‘A DIEU VOUS COMMANT, ‘I COMMEND YOU TO GOD.’

SO I JUST GAVE YOU ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING GOODBYE TO SOMEONE. AND THE WORD GOODBYE HAS A HEIGHTENED MEANING TO US NOW.

SO THESE WORDS GRACE AND PEACE COULD ALSO BE IN DANGER OF LOSING THEIR SIGNIFICANCE.

GRACE IS FREE, UNDESERVED FAVOR, AND PEACE IS ITS FRUIT. BOTH COME FORTH FROM THE FATHER, WHO GIVES TO ALL MEN LIBERALLY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.

BUT IN WRITING TO THE GALATIANS THE WORD GRACE HAS GREATER IMPORTANCE. FOR THE GALATIANS TO CHOOSE LAW IS TO FALL FROM GRACE. TO LIVE BY WORKS IS TO LOSE THE PEACE WITH GOD THAT WAS PURCHASED FOR BELIEVERS BY CHRIST’S ATONEMENT. THIS IS WHY PAUL WROTE THIS EPISTLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

PAUL THEN GETS RIGHT TO THE POINT IN VS 4.

THE AGE IN WHICH PAUL LIVED WAS AN EVIL ONE, AND THIS IS STILL TRUE TODAY. WE EACH KNOW THE SIN OF OUR HEARTS AND WE SEE SIGNS OF THE SAME ALL AROUND US. NO ONE IS IMMUNE. WE CAN ALL EASILY BE ENTANGLES BY SIN IN WHICH WE NEED TO BE RESCUED.

…THE LORD WILL DELIVER (RESCUE) ME FROM EVERY EVIL DEED, AND WILL BRING ME SAFELY TO HIS HEAVENLY KINGDOM; TO HIM BE THE GLORY FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN…

DISENTANGLEMENT, DELIVERANCE OR RESCUE MUST COME FROM ABOVE.

JOHN MACARTHUR WRITES....SO IN THIS BRIEF SALUTATION PAUL SUMMARIZES HIS AUTHORITY (HIS RIGHT TO SPEAK), HIS MESSAGE (THE TRUTHS HE SPEAKS), AND HIS MOTIVE (HIS REASON FOR SPEAKING).

MAY I BRING ONE MORE THING TO YOUR ATTENTION? THIS LETTER TO THE GALATIANS, AS COMMENTATOR, TODD WILSON WRITES, IS ALSO A LETTER FOR PRODIGALS. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE MADE A MESS OF THIER OWN LIVES, WHO ARE ALMOST READY TO SHIPWRECK THEIR FAITH, ON THE BRINK OF MORAL OR SPIRITUAL DISASTER.

GALATIANS BEGINS AND ENDS BY CALLING WAYWARD BELIEVERS BACK TO GRACE; PERFECT FOR PRODIGALS.

PAUL NEVER STOPS REMINDING US THE MESSAGE OF GRACE STILL STANDS; THE FOUNTAIN OF GRACE STILL FLOWS; AND THE WAY BACK TO GRACE COULDN’T BE EASIER; ALL IT TAKES IS HEARTFELT ‘AMEN’ SPOKEN IN RESPONSE TO ALL THAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US IN CHRIST.

THIS IS GOOD NEW FOR PRODIGALS TO HEAR. THE MESSAGE IN THIS LETTER IS FOR EVERY WAYWARD CHILD OF GOD. THIS IS THE ASSURANCE EVRERY DRIFTING CHURCH OR DISILLUSIONED XIAN NEEDS TO HEAR. THIS IS THE PROMISE EVERY WONDERING SOUL IN OUR OWN PRODIGAL WORLD NEEDS TO HEAR!

TELL STORY OF PRODIGAL SON:

UNDERSTAND THIS ALL IMPORTANT FIRST LESSON OF GOSPEL ROOTED LIVING: GO BACK TO GRACE!

AS WE STRIVE TO MOVE FORWARD IN THE XIAN LIFE, WE MUST REMEMBER THAT WE NEED TO GO BACK; AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN, TO GRACE. WE MUST IF WE ARE TO MOVE FORWARD IN OUR XIAN LIFESTYLE.

HERE IS A CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF US. THIS A DAILY CHALLENGE FOR US THAT WE SHOULD BE DETERMINED TO KEEP:

EVERY TIME I BLOW IT, I’LL GO BACK TO GRACE. I WON’T IGNORE IT, PLAY DUMB, HIDE, OR TRY TO PASS THE BUCK TO MY SPOUSE OR MY BOSS OR MY MOM OR DAD OR MY NEIGHBOR OR MY GENES OR MY PERSONALITY OR MY UPBRINGING OR MY FINANCIAL SITUATION! INSTEAD I’LL LOOK MY MISTAKE IN THE EYES AND THEN GO BACK TO GRACE; TO THE CROSS, THAT PLACE WHERE JESUS CHRIST HAS ALREADY TAKEN THE BLAME AND CONDEMNATION AND GUILT UPON HIMSELF.

AND THERE, AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS, LET US RESOLVE TO BOW DOWN IN HUMBLE ADORATION AND WORSHIP, GIVING GLORY AND HONOR AND PRAISE TO THE ONE

…WHO GAVE HIMSELF FOR US SO THAT HE MIGHT RESCUE US FROM THIS PRESENT EVIL AGE, ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF OUR GOD AND FATHER, TO WHOM BE THE GLORY FOREVERMORE. AMEN…VS 4-5

PRAY: