christians follow god

Intro:

a couple Sunday nights ago i started down this road of looking at Galatians here at calvary and over at faith before they closed...

during the first part this year i want to preach through this book because i believe the message of this book is essential to our walks being correct with god...

the first message is online if anyone missed it but to summarize there has been a false doctrine creep into the church like a cancer and thats the false doctrine of legalism which is essentially nothing more then a law based salvation....

we are told we have to do this or do that in order to be a christian or to serve god rightly...

we are told we have to look a certain way or dress a certain way

we are told we need this or that to be a true christian

we are told we need to do things exactly like brother so and so or doctor whatchamacallit it order to be right with god

don’t misconstrue what i’m saying we need to live, worship, and present ourselves in a god honoring way, but too much enfaces is put on works and not enough on grace...

lets go ahead and get this out of the way....i am not a perfect christian and neither are you…

i fail and i fall regularly and so do you… if it was up to me to keep my salvation i’d be as lost as lost gets because i am a sinner and so would you....

we are saved by the wondrous and never ending grace of a wondrous and loving god...

there is no law in salvation only grace.... we have a lawless salvation and we better be glad we do...

some of you maybe have never sat under an expository sermon series though a book as most sunday morning sermon series i have done have been passage by passage not through a book....

and it may be weird to some of you.... but listen to me if we will let god work i believe this will be so good for our Sunday morning crowd

i believe this is something we need to hear as a church or else why would god have laid it on my heart right?

as we go through this book keep in mind that the entirety of the Bible is applicable to the church and for the church...

it may seem weird some of the things and topics ill be covering on Sunday mornings to some of you

but trust me the only way to really learn the bible is precept by precept and line by line so you can get the “BIG PICTURE” that is intended

c

contextually here we pick up where paul was under attack from some of his critics in Galatia

they were saying he was not a god called minister and that he preached a false gospel

they gossiped and tried to ruin him with falsehoods about him and sai he was only doing it for what he could get out of it

in this passage paul was proving his call and his message did come from god

he was letting them know he learned his truths form god not from man and that what he preached and taught was truth....

church we are under attack from the world who says our god isnt the real god

we are under attack From people who say our gospel is a false gospel

we are under attack by people who claim what we preach and teach isn’t of god its of man..

look at the verse with me

I. he got alone with god and corrected his life

gal 1:

Galatians 1:17 KJV 1900

Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

the first thing Paul did was he got alone with god upon his conversion…remember who Paul was when he went by Saul

he was a self righteous man

religious rules and traditions where what he though made his right with god

he based his rightness with god on his works and on what others thought of him

in his unrighteousness he launched a war against the people of god

he hated the teachings of the savior and used everything he had to kill and scatter the church

to him the savior was a lie and he was a good person without god

lets look at that… he was a sinner who loved his sin and his “good works” and trusted in them to make him right with god

in his sin he hated those who taught the truth of grace through faith in jesus as the son of god...

paul was a legalist who believed if you didn't do it his way you couldn’t be right with god and totally neglected and ignored and even fought against gods way to salvation on right living

but when he was shown the truth he craved more of the truth and got alone with god

he understood he need to learn more and more about the savior and about god’s way of doing things

he understood everything he had been taught by great men was wrong and he need to get truth from the god of all creation

he did what so many fail to do today and turned away form what he had always done and followed after god...

he grew in confidence in scripture by seeing the application of it instead of the assumption of it

he learned to walk in fellowship with christ instead of in fellowship with the religion

he learned how to actually handle the scriptures instead of just read them

now look i’m not saying to go out and get alone in the dessert with jesus because today we have the bible and so many good teacher/preachers who can contextually teach the bible as it is supposed to be taught...

but what i am saying is some of us today need to forget what we’ve been taught and get what we got from the bible not from men

some traditions and rituals have become so steeped over in our faith that we actually think they equal the grace of god

2 im 2:15

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV 1900

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

thats a verse we say and say but its also a verse that we let others study and then let others approve of us...

truth is most christians today should be absolutely ashamed of how much they don’t know about the bible because they’ve never been taught to rightly divide it...

they apply law where there is only grace and they make rules where their is only freedom…

look at what he did after he got right with god

he went back to damascus and helped correct the wrong he had done...

he went back asking for forgiveness to the very people he was on his way to kill

he went back to help where he had hurt others...

again what a lesson for us today… we avoid the truths of our sin and forget to get right by it

we act like we do no wrong to the point we aren’t willing to ask men to forgive us where we have wronged them

imagine how different the world would be if we had to go back and get right with people we have intentionally hurt

2019 taught be a sobering lesson in forgiveness because yea god will forgive me but unless i attempt to get man to see i know i’m wrong i’ll fail as a minister to men

which is my (and your) job while i am here on this earth

II. evangelism came next in Pauls life

Galatians 1:18–20 KJV 1900

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.

he went to Jerusalem to face his past and start serving the lord with the established church

remember who Paul was in Jerusalem and what he had done

when Paul lived in Jerusalem he was part of the sanhedrin because they had sanctioned him in the killing of christians abroad and backed him in the stoning of christians in Jerusalem

he went back knowing his former friends would see what he did as a betrayal of them and their god

he knew he would become under their scrutiny when he went back and possibly be killed when he went back

now don’t take this wrong take it exactly as i say it…most of us if we see “old friends” we get to the other side of the store because we don’t wanna hear about it...

we are cowards in our faith compared to paul because he went back to where they would probably kill him if they saw him and he went back with intentions of fellowshipping and serving the church

we might get mad fun of so we tuck tail and run and hope no one sees us serving or worshipping god while what we should be doing is looking and seeing what paul did and doing the same

paul went to fellowship and serve the church...

he went to see the leader of the early church (peter) and by sharing with him what had happened he wanted to be in fellowship with the rest of the church so he could serve in the church

he saw no one else but james who was pastor of the Jerusalem church probably because the rest were out in an evangelistic campaign

imagine what the conversation was between peter and paul when he shared his past with peter, his conversion with peter and his experiences with the lord in the dessert...

and then imagine hearing peter share the life of Christ with paul

imagine the doctrine and teachings that were shared between these two early church leaders

and then keep in mind paul was telling this to the church at Galatia s they would se what he learned was not of man but from god

that he was a true apostle and convert with the church and not part of some crazy jewish cult

Christians we need to see the lesson here:

real believers should be seeking to share christ with former friends and associates

unbelievers need to see the changed lives of the believers t see the truth of our conversions

believers need to seek counsel and help as they launch their ministries to see others saved… and yes we all have ministries...

fellowship with the local church is of the utmost importance

leaders should be listened to and sought after for help and guidance in ministry, life, and biblical interpretation

the local church is important for the Christian to live a life honoring to god

too often we think to little of sharing our faith and fellowshipping with the local church

our faith is what saves us and our telling others is what gets them to see the truht of it so they can be saved...

and christ commissioned the local church, he didn’t commission this or that ministry he commissioned the church

everything we do for the cause of christ is important but there is nothing more important than the church

look what he did next

he went home to tarsus

Galatians 1:21–22 KJV 1900

Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:

this is where pauls family, childhood friends, and people who (i’d imagine) were so proud of him for killing christians lived...

it was pauls desire to see them saved and see them to know the truth of his conversion...

pauls desire was also to link up with the local church there and serve god through them in tarsus

a couple things we can see here:

before paul started out on his ministry he went to the church and church leaders to be commissioned

this is a step often neglected today where people think they are called to do whatever and don’t care what whomever thinks about it

this is one of the reasons we have so man false teachers/teachings in the church today because people don’t care what the church has to say

when someone isn’t interested in serving in a church they instead what “their own” ministry its usually a good indicator that they are self centered and not called by god

when someone will bypass the example set by the apostles who came before because it doesn’t suit their needs then that person is probably not fit to lead because he couldn’t first serve

if someone cant submit and serve without it being all about them then they aren’t fit to lead a church or ministry

also we can see Pauls desire to see those he loved most saved...

he wanted maybe his brothers and sisters to be saved or his mom or his est friend from tarsus high school or whatever to be saved

he knew without the truth of the gospel which he now possessed all those people would be in a legalistic hell bound religion that would consume them and eventually separate them from god for eternity

he wanted to love and the freedom he had in christ to be shared with his fellow man especially those he loved

and look i know its hard to look someone i the face who knows all about you and tell them this is the truth and this is the way to god...

i have a brother who dislikes anything to do with the god of the bible and makes a mockery of god when he can and jokes about him when he can and guess what he is a good man, good dad, and good brother

i have family who believe the god of mans imagination who says being a good person is enough and they are some of the best people i know

we all have these people in our lives and so did paul but the lesson here is we need to go back to them and tell them the truth that will set them free from sin and bring them into fellowship with god

we need to forget how uncomfortable it will make us and remember where they will go if we don’t tell them the truth and live the truth in front of them as well

paul went back and you know he was tempted to return to his old ways but he stood true to the god he believed and we need to do the same especially when its hard

he kept the faith and his testimony and because of that look

III. results came from this

Galatians 1:23–24 KJV 1900

But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me.

a testimony of a god centered life was spread throughout the area

he didn't yet visit the churches but the believers heard about him and what had happened and were strengthened by it

they heard the one who used to be against the cause of christ was becoming a powerful tool used by god...

this testimony was used to stir others to honor god more

they never saw or know him personally but because of his testimony they glorified god...

Matthew 5:16 KJV 1900

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

conclusion:

paul was a new man after conversion...

he didn’t follow men he followed after god and listened to god...

he sought after fellowship with the church and sought to serve in the church...

he sought to see those he loves saved or at least to tell them the truth of the gospel and show them his conversion was real

and he was used even when people didn’t even now him personally....

you may never know how god will use you… but if your saved you need to follow god, you need to seek fellowship in the church and serve in the church… and you need ot be telling others about Christ and inviting them to church with you

people will be encouraged by this and glorify god in this

other churches will be encouraged and stirred to worship by this

paul was a normal man not some super human christian… he was a sinner confronted with sin and saved by grace and who followed after god and did it god’s way

how many of us need to start following god not man?

how many of us are being lead to seek fellowship and serve in the local church??

how many of us need to do more to spread the gospel???

lets let out light shine… so god can be glorified