Amazing Grace

Intro

Hey guys. It’s so good too be back together with you all tonight studying Gods word together. This is a moment I really look forward to each week and I am excited to see all Jesus is going to do here tonight.

If you have your Bibles go ahead and Open up to the letter of Galatains and we will start in verse 10.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying sto please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a tservant2 of Christ.

Paul Called by God

11 For uI would have you know, brothers, that vthe gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.3 12 wFor I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it xthrough a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of ymy former life in Judaism, how zI persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely azealous was I for bthe traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he cwho had set me apart dbefore I was born,4 and who ecalled me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to5 me, in order fthat I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;6 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

18 Then gafter three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James hthe Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, ibefore God, I do not lie!) 21 jThen I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to kthe churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.

It’s Interesting right. Because right away Paul begins with a statement he wrote 2000 years ago but it is still super relevant today.

He touches on this idea of seeking the approval of others. I think it’s a good reminder for us.

We can look at Paul and think about a guy who wrote 13 letters in the NT. We can think of a super human kind of person but he is addressing something common for himself and the people of his day.

Approval- I think it’s something we all have in common with Paul and it’s probably something we all have in common with each other.

We want to be approved by others, We long to be accepted to fit in, to know we belong

and espically in our teenage years we are willing to do anything to fit in.

You see it among your friends. And maybe if you are honest you see it in your own life.

I know in my life there have been many times I’ve done things and said things with really one goal. To be approved by the people I was with.

How it played out when I was your age is I would use my sense of humor and my ability to talk to fit in. I would also lie at times to try and win the approval of others.

I thought if people actaully new the truth about me then I wouldn’t be worth loving or be worth accepting.

as an adult things defenitly changed but I might agree with others opions or ideas just to fit in

It wasn’t until I really understand Gods grace and the gospel that I expierenced freedom from this.

And maybe tonight it’s something you relate to and Pauls question is fair

whose approval are you seeking?

People

or Gods?

Let’s dive in and see what Galatians would offer us tonight on this idea.

Remeber Paul is defending the gospel and himself agaisnt false attacks that people have said about him

The first idea Paul refutes is this idea that he came to his gospel message through his own,

Reflection, Reasoining and thinking.

Paul was absoutly well versed in scirpture but before he is saved he is trying to destroy the church.

Lok at verse 13 with me.

He wanted to destroy the church. Thi swas no gradula process of discussion and revision to his thinking. in NO way was christinity with his line of thinking.

In fact he had beeen going the polar opposite.

Look at

English Standard Version Chapter 7

The Stoning of Stephen

54 Now when they heard these things lthey were enraged, and they mground their teeth at him. 55 But he, nfull of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw othe glory of God, and Jesus standing pat the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see qthe heavens opened, and rthe Son of Man standing pat the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together2 at him. 58 Then sthey cast him out of the city and tstoned him. And uthe witnesses laid down their garments vat the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, whe called out, “Lord Jesus, xreceive my spirit.” 60 And yfalling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, z“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, ahe fell asleep.

Saul Ravages the Church

8 And bSaul capproved of his execution.

His own expierence is storng evidence that the only way he was saved was because Jesus pursued him and saved him.

Paul didn’t have a trance or dream.

Christ came in a time and space to save Paul.

The second thing Paul is refuiting is this idea that his teaching came from other christian leaders.

“I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was” (v 16–17).

Paul was a man who had done many terrible things. He had “intensely … persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it” (v 13). By the time Jesus met Paul on the Damascus road, he had killed many innocent people. He was on his way to arrest and imprison more. He was filled with hate.

It's a good reminder to us. If anyone is beyond the rescue of Jesus then everyone is beyond his rescue.

and as we are reminded of this reality Paul begins to share his story.

He reminds the church who who was.

Paul is saying: I’ve already been there and done that! I know all about this subject! You cannot make yourself acceptable to God by the most zealous and detailed following of moral, ethical, or cultural codes.

For us that means we can’t just do more to be made acceptable to God.

Find the most spirtual person you know and even if you did more then them it wouldn’t be enough.

Before conversion, Paul was a great religious rule-keeper—and he knew it.

He was filled with pride.

And yet, despite all this, he was not only saved by Christ, but also called to be a preacher and leader of the faith.

His testimony is a powerful witness to the beating heart of Christianity—the gospel of grace.

Here is a great defenation of Grace

Grace is the free, unmerited favor of God, working powerfully on the mind and heart to change lives

No one is so good that they don’t need the grace of the gospel, nor so bad that they can’t receive the grace of the gospel.

It’s something the Lord has been teaching me latley.

Whether it’s Kayne, Bieber, the guy in your school who parties all the time, the most clean cut person you know

The gospel reaches all.

and if anyone is too good then we don’t need Jesus

and if anyone is too bad to be saved then we are all in trouble

C.S. Lewis once said: “Christianity must be from God, for who else could have thought it up?”

It’s not the way we would do things.

We would say good people get in with God

The Bad people are out

but if we are left to choose the good and the bad then we would surely have bias.

Illustarte it this way

30 for 30 Mike vick

Great qb....amamzing career and gets arrest for dog fighitng.

Judge makes and example of him

and then there were people who said things like this

He should hang

He should be killed for this

I will never forgive him

and I thought man. If Vick is beyond forgivness so am I

but that’s why the gospel is good news. That’s why it’s amazing grace.

because no one is to far gone.

When Paul says God “set me apart from birth,” (v 15) he means that the grace of God had been shaping and preparing him all his life for the things God was going to call him to do.

Paul had been resisting God and doing so much wrong (see ),

but God was overruling all his intentions and using his experiences and even his failures to prepare him first for his conversion, and then to be a preacher to the Gentiles (v 16).

It’s one of those lessons about God I love. Nothing is wasted with God. Even our failures draw us in.

All pauls zeal, all his OT knowldege, all his training and oppose to God was know being used for good and the advancement of the gospel.

It’s the story of Joseph.

Back in Genesis. Joesphs brothers reject him and they try to kill him and when that fails they sell him as a slave.

but even the evil they did to Joespeh god used it for good to Deliver the nation

The gospel helps us see things differently

It helps make sense of how God has been preparing us and shaping us even through our failures and our sins

so that we can become vessels of His grace in the world.

It leads us to a good question.....Why did all this happen to paul? It happened because God set his loving grace on pauls life......but not because he was worthy of it.

But simply becasue God took delight or pleasure in doing so.

This is how God has always worked. As Moses tells God’s people Israel in

: “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you.”

This is a HUGE gospel thought. and so encouraging to me.

God does not love us because we are serviceable;

He loves us simply because He loves us.

This is the only kind of love we can ever be secure in, of course, since it is the only kind of love we cannot possibly lose. This is grace.

The God of grace saves sinners.

He revels his son to both the rpoud and evil

to the religous and the irreligous

and he’s at work in His people even before he saves them.

So we can say that God revealed Christ to Paul so that He could reveal Christ through Paul.

and the same is True with us.

God has shown us Jesus so he could show Jesus through us to the world.

This is why the gospel doesn’t just make us better moral epople.

Christinity is more then just agreeing with Jesus. It’s more then just intellectual belief in Jesus

It’s a person relationship with the risne savior

we see something of Paul’s own path of growth and discipleship. He had solitary time with God.

Let's look at matthew 28:19-20. What was the first thing......Worship Jesus. And he met them in the midst of their doubts concerns and fears.

The great commision is accopmlished through time with God.

Without a personal relationship with the Lord we will never share the gospel the way we want to

and I think one we live there

The gospel removes a “man-pleasing” spirit—the drive to “win the approval of men”.

It replaces that spirit with its opposite—not needing to win or seek human approval for what you do.

In other words, the gospel produces confident and fearless followers of Jesus, doing what is right without concern for the approval and good opinion of others.

says: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare”

People make lousy saviours

The fear of man presents itself in many ways. When Saul disobeyed God in , it was because he was afraid of public opinion. When Samson gave in to Delilah (), it was because he was afraid of losing her sexual attention.

Elsewhere, Paul mentions another very common form—what we might call eye-service (; ).

It means to do a job only to the degree that you get approval of, or reward from, those over you.

So, how does the gospel destroy man-pleasing—“the fear of man”? By freeing us and motivating us to seek “to win the approval of … God” (v 10)

In the gospel, we discover that trusting in Christ brings God’s full and complete favor and approval.

When He sees the believer,

He sees Jesus (3:25–27)—and so He says to us: “With you I am well pleased” (). God is pleased with us.

And because God is pleased with us, we can live in a way which pleases God, the Creator

Anna and basketball

Imagine i coach anna.

She is my beloved daughter

if she forgets everyone I have told her. and doesn’t follow my insturction that doesn’t change teh fact that I love her and aprrover of her.

She is assure of my love regardless of her perforamce

The same is true with God

The Christian is assured of God’s love and approval. God is pleased with us in Christ. So the Christian longs to obey God, not for himself, so that God will save him, but out of gratitude to God, who he knows has already saved him. And so Paul lives as a “servant of Christ”

I hope that frees you

Let’s pray