First Witness

Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us at this time.

We confess that, Father, we confess before you that parts of our minds are always,

and our heart and our will is always in rebellion against you, that we want to pick at things.

We want to reject things. We want to be critical of things.

And, Father, we confess before you that part of that is the leading of your Holy Spirit,

moving us to ask questions, and part of it, Father, is just that bit of rebellion in us.

And so, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would gently but deeply fall upon us,

that your Holy Spirit would help us to use the best of our minds and the best of our hearts

and the best of our wills to think about your word.

And at the same time, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would humble our hearts,

humble our minds, humble our wills, to recognize that we need your Holy Spirit

to bring the truth home to us deeply.

So, Father, do this wonderful and gracious work inside of us as we think about your word.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Thank you.

And I read this big, big, big, fat academic commentary.

It's like this fat, really.

It's in volume two and small print.

And I had it open and I have my Bible and I'm working on it.

And this fellow comes up to me and says, what are you doing?

And I thought I'd have this little bit of a teaching moment with him.

And I said, well, you know, this guy Luke, he lived about 30, 35 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

He went around and gathered accurate information.

And he wrote down these eyewitness reports, et cetera, et cetera.

And I'm starting to say this.

And he said, there's no such thing as valid eyewitness reports.

You're completely and utterly wasting your time.

And by the way, I just raised my voice for this.

This fellow, one of the things he likes to do to embarrass me in Starbucks is to raise his voice

so that the whole Starbucks can hear him when he sort of comes after me.

He doesn't do it all the time.

But I think if he thinks he has a winning point, the volume goes up.

And he went on and he said, you know, that terrorist who came and attacked Parliament Hill,

he shot the soldier and went there.

He said, there's been like 15 different eyewitness reports.

And they all say completely and utterly different things.

And if they can't get something like that right, your attempt to read the gospel and Luke and believe that's eyewitness,

that's complete and utter waste of time, eyewitness stuff.

It just doesn't happen.

It has no value or worth.

Now, I wish I could share with you that I had this unbelievably witty, cutting, or not cutting, response to beat him.

If there was a videographer going around videotaping my life, which would be really boring, by the way,

this would not be in my highlight reels in terms of my response to the fellow.

You know, I said something.

I can't even remember what I said.

I sort of sputtered away at something.

And he went and sat down in his seat.

Well, about a month later, which is maybe a month and a half, two months ago,

once again, he came in.

And I'm working with the big, fat commentary, my Bible open.

And he comes.

And he says, oh, you're still trying to look at that book and the eyewitness testimony.

And remember, the guy, the terrorist, it doesn't work.

But, you know, when you try to share the faith with people, you're not always going to hit home runs.

In fact, a lot of times, you won't even hit singles.

In fact, many times, you're going to strike out in three pitches, laying the ball just go by.

And you strike out.

And that's fine.

It's not the end of the world.

So when it happened the first time, I thought about it and I prayed about it.

And I realized something that I would say to him.

And I said, God, please give me another opportunity to talk to him.

So a month later, I get this opportunity.

He goes into his rent.

And I said, I stop him and I say, this is true.

I realized what he did for a living.

I said, your whole living involves swearing affidavits of witnesses of what went on and arguing them in court.

I said, the day that you quit your job and write an essay in the Globe and Mail saying that you have been perpetrating lies for the last 30 years of your life and that it's all bunk and nonsense, the day you do that, I'm going to listen to what you have to say about evidence.

You can see why I have so many friends, by the way.

Anyway, he got a bit red.

He sputtered and went back down.

And he's not said anything to me about historical evidence since then.

So I mention all of this because, you know, what I'm going to look at, the title of the sermon is called First Witness.

And on one level, what we're going to look at today isn't actually, from one point of view, it's not the first witness.

The text that I was just reading from John, that's the very first witness, in a sense, it tells the very first people who found out that the tomb was empty.

And it also will tell you just after that who the very first person was to see that Jesus had risen from the dead.

But if you have Bibles with them, you turn to the book of Galatians, we're going to look at the very first historical record of evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.

And it sort of looks funny because it looks like a holy book.

This used to have sort of gold on the edge, but it's getting battered around and it doesn't anymore.

And it looks like it's a holy book.

But before Galatians 1 started as a holy book, it was a circular letter.

It was a circular letter written by a man named Paul.

And at the time, he was probably in Antioch of Syria.

And he wrote a letter to a group of former Jewish people and former pagans who had become Christians who were living in what we now call southern Turkey.

And we don't know precisely when Jesus died.

It was probably either in the year 30 or the year 33.

A lot of scholars believe that he died in the spring of the year 33.

And this that we're looking at was written somewhere between the year 47 and 48.

So it was written 14 to 15 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

And it was originally written as a letter.

He didn't sit down to write a holy book.

He just wrote a letter.

And so from the point of view of history, because this letter has been preserved over time and it's now in this book,

this is actually from an historical point of view, potentially the very first piece of written documents or evidence of people's belief that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Now, some of you might say, one moment, George.

14 or 15 years later?

Okay, you sort of had me a little bit with that guy.

You know, because, you know, by the way, that terrorist thing, if you just imagine for a second, you know, my friend who was saying you can't believe eyewitness accounts.

You know, if we had, if one of us after this service or on Easter Monday, if we were to go to Parliament Hill and have a little table and say that the soldier never died at the war memorial and that there was no terrorist, that he never shot any bullets,

if we were to say that, we would be mocked if not having people actually be very angry at us.

That would just, there's just too many people who saw it.

But 14 or 15 years, do you think it would matter if we did that 14 years from now?

Well, maybe it would.

Maybe there'd not be that many people around.

But imagine, there's something very significant that gripped an entire city 14 years ago this September, and it was the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in New York.

September 11, 2001.

That's 13 and a half, almost 14 years ago.

How do you think it would work if one of us was to go to New York and set up a booth and have a self-published book or a circular letter that said that the World Trade Towers never existed,

that nobody died in this spot?

How do you think we would be responded to?

You know, the evidence here that's talking about, it's not 14-year-old evidence as to whether Jesus was wearing a robe that came to here or came to there.

You'd say, oh, gosh, who's going to remember that?

Well, actually, some people remember clothing, and they might remember that, but that's a separate matter.

You know, or whether his eyes were a certain color, another type of color.

But this is talking about an astonishing event.

One of the things which is so interesting about the death and resurrection of Jesus is, you know how the Muslims,

one of the pillars of the Islamic faith is that they're to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

And so once a year in particular, there's thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of people who gather at Mecca.

And one of the things about the death and resurrection of Jesus is it happened at, like, in a sense,

the Jewish equivalent of the pilgrimage to Mecca.

It happened during the Passover.

And so the city of Jerusalem was vastly, vastly, vastly swollen with pilgrims who had come from the entire known world.

And the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem was a public, citywide, acknowledged event.

And it was a controversial event.

Quite a few years ago, George Bush came to Ottawa, and he was at the height of his unpopularity here in Canada.

And it was talked about everywhere.

You couldn't watch television.

You couldn't listen to the radio.

You couldn't read the newspaper without knowing that George Bush was going to come.

He was really funny about it.

He said that the people of Ottawa were very friendly.

They were always waving at him all of the time.

And occasionally, people waved with all five fingers.

And so it was like a public event.

And so Jesus didn't sort of just die.

It's not like he was somebody, you know, dying in some odd terrorist, you know, cell.

And we're not even sure if he's dead or alive or something like that.

He entered in a public way.

His death was a public death.

It was so public, they had to describe the charges against him in three different languages.

And the tomb wasn't in some obscure spot locked up.

It was in a public place.

It had public access that anybody could come to.

And what is it cannot be denied at all at any point in time, you know, historically, is that the Christian faith did not spread because of political power.

It did not spread because of violence.

In fact, it spread despite political opposition, despite cultural opposition, despite murderous opposition.

Once again, just maybe the final mention of Islam.

It cannot be doubted that historically what contributed to the spread of Islam was the military success of Muhammad and his followers.

The murderous, in fact, the murder was committed.

And caravans were raided and cities were raided.

And they were very, very successful.

But the Christian story is the complete and utter opposite of that.

Stephen is killed very shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

And he's killed because he proclaims that Jesus had died, that the tomb is empty, the body can't be found, and that Jesus appeared to witnesses to show that he was alive.

James dies very early.

In fact, Paul was so energized by having Stephen put to death, he wanted to get in on the campaign to imprison early Christians and to persecute early Christians and potentially even to kill early Christians.

And so what accounts for this early explosive rise of the Christian faith, despite the fact they had no political power, no cultural power, and that in fact the power of the politics and culture and even the powers of violence were constantly used against them instead of for them?

Well, not only was the grave empty, but many people, hundreds and hundreds of people, claimed that they had seen Jesus alive and that he had risen from the dead.

And this is the first bit of historical evidence.

This had written 14 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It might, where people still could go and say, did they ever find the body of Jesus?

Like, what, didn't they, did they find that body?

People could still go and inquire about that, but it's not just the empty tomb, it's that Jesus appears.

And here's how it goes, verse 1.

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 brothers who are with me.

To the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Amen.

Now, I'm going to say some more things about it, but I want to pause here for a second, just to sort of, and I'm going to worry some of you by this first point.

But I'd like to, Andrew, if you could put this first point up on the screen, and then we're just going to talk around it a little bit before we sort of, I'm going to look back at these verses and then talk about a few other verses in chapter 1.

Sort of like a big idea for you to understand what's happening here, and also to maybe understand why my friend, who was so critical of evidence, like what was partially driving his hostility to evidence in regards to religion.

And here's the first point.

The spiritual myth, what we long for, became fact.

The Messiah lived, died, and was resurrected in knowable history.

That's what's at work here.

I'm going to show you why it's at work here.

But that's what's at work here in this piece of historical evidence.

Because the historical evidence, not only does it talk about Jesus actually being raised and resurrected, but the fellow who's saying this is also making a bigger type of claim in this text.

Which I articulate, the spiritual myth, what we long for, became fact.

But the Messiah lived, died, and was resurrected in knowable history.

And some of you very devout Christians are very worried.

He's an Anglican.

Does that mean he believes the Old Testament is all myth?

Well, we're going to get to that in a second.

I don't.

But if you look again at the text, notice the way that he refers to Jesus.

Look again at verse 1.

Paul, an apostle, not from men, nor through men, but through Jesus Christ, Messiah.

That's what Christ means.

It means Messiah.

Look again at verse 3.

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

And then if you go through, if you read the rest of the letter, you'll see that he constantly refers to Jesus as the Messiah.

The Messiah.

That's who he is.

He's the Messiah.

For 2,000 years, there have been poets and lawmakers and prophets and visionaries and just ordinary Joes who have had and heard of this idea that someday God would send the Messiah.

And in the entire ancient world and even in the modern world, there's this belief.

There's this belief in the spiritual.

And there's this belief in a sense that we have these ideas that we have longings for things.

And what Paul is saying when he says that the Messiah died and was raised, he's opening up the entire Old Testament.

He's opening up the witness of poets and visionaries and mystics and lawmakers and people who wrote history and philosophers.

He's talking about rituals.

He's talking about ceremonies.

And he's talking about all of these things that we so easily just think of as spiritual things but are not real.

And he's saying that the witness of all of these things have been going on for 2,000 years, that these things are not just spiritual myth, idea, out there things.

It became fact.

It became fact when he calls Jesus Messiah.

And that this Messiah, the stories of Jesus, the prophecies, the poems, the longings, the visions, these became fact.

And he walked among us.

And he died upon the cross.

And then the tomb was empty.

And he arose and was seen.

I mean, if you think about it for a second, as Jeremiah was sharing earlier about Islam, Muhammad is an ordinary man who has these spiritual visions from God.

Like, what is Buddhism?

Buddhism is about a man who believes that he has found enlightenment.

And he talks about it.

And he gives advice.

He talks about the things that he's seen.

What is Hinduism?

Hinduism is, in a sense, just the cultural and popular religion of the Indian people.

But it's all about stories.

And it's about myths.

And it's about ideas.

And it's about spiritual things.

And what is it that we think in our culture?

We talk about spirituality.

And we talk about longings.

And we talk about all of these types of things.

And out of all of this world, this early writer is written to people who believed, originally, before they became Christian, in Greek myths.

And nobody thinks that these Greek myths actually happen.

And nobody thinks it actually matters.

And Paul is saying that in a world that has myth and has longing and has the spiritual and has, in all of the world, a particular people who also have prophecies and laws and rituals, that in the midst of all of this stuff, which just seems to be something which comes from our head and from our heart, that all of these things, that it actually becomes fact and walks amongst us in knowable history.

And he does it when he says Christ.

He opens the door.

You see, in our culture, I'm reading a novel right now by an author by the name of Thomas Perry.

And he has a recurring character in some of his novels.

And she's a Seneca, which I think is one of the Iroquois tribes.

And he mixes a lot of sort of Iroquois religion and spirituality into his novels.

And this particular novel, it's one of the things which sort of goes through the novel, is her inner struggle with the fact that most of her life, she believes the science that she learned in high school and university.

And that she knows that that's like the most true.

But on the other hand, she sort of has this feeling that there must be something that's sort of spiritual.

That there must be something to these stories and this idea of wisdom.

And you see, in our culture, just as it's been the case throughout most of history, there's this idea that there's like things that actually happen.

Like there's tables that you can knock on and chairs that you can sit on and food that you can eat and money that you can count.

And then there's spiritual things.

And in fact, in our culture, if you were to really go after this author and say, oh, come on, you can't act.

I mean, really, it's science.

You can't believe these things.

I mean, she knows that she has, in a sense, in the novel.

The novelist knows that there's no basis to believe in these mystical things, that science is true.

But on the other hand, it sure seems like there should be something mystical, which is already there.

And in such a world, the mystical becomes fact.

The mystical becomes fact.

In knowable history.

That's what Paul is claiming.

And in fact, it's actually, you see, it's because of Jesus that now we realize that the real God deals with real people by revealing real truth and doing real things.

The real God deals with real people by giving real truth and doing real things.

And that it's not just an anomaly here in the New Testament.

That, in fact, in light of the gospel, that we can go back and we can read Deuteronomy and Joshua and Judges.

And we can see that God has always been doing real things and revealing real truth to his people.

And that what we now know of as the Old Testament is not just spiritual things, but are also often historical accounts of God doing actual things with actual people.

Because that's the living God.

Because that's the living God.

And he knows that real people need real truth and God to do real things.

And the pinnacle of all of this is when Jesus dies upon the cross after having lived a public ministry for three years.

And his death upon the cross and his death upon the cross and his death upon the cross and a tomb which is really empty.

And real appearances that make no mistake.

You have to go beyond this to other historical witnesses that Jesus was able to eat fish, that he could be touched, that a range of other things that this really happened.

And so this is a mind-blowing idea that in the face of the longings and the myths and the spiritual things in the world that we inhabit, that myth, that longings, that they become fact.

And that's what Paul's claiming when he says, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Messiah and God the Father.

And all the brothers and sisters who are with me to the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Messiah.

The spiritual myth, what we long for, became fact.

The Messiah lived and died and was resurrected in knowable history.

Now, some of you might say, okay, George, let's say that's true.

Let's say it actually happened.

So what?

I actually had that happen to me in a, I thought I'd give this knockdown, I had this like half an hour conversation with this smart young man in a Starbucks.

Maybe it was half an hour, it was like 20 minutes.

And I thought, wow, I really, I was thinking I really nailed this, you know, in terms of the evidence.

And at the end of it, he just said, so what?

So what?

Once again, not one of my better moments if they were videotaping George's triumphs at witnessing in Starbucks.

That would be in the blooper section, not the, here's what, it's the before picture, not the after picture.

And I have to confess, I was so focused on the fact that I, you know, I eventually did come up with something that sort of struck him by it.

In fact, I told him that if all he cared about, if all he cares about is what to eat, what to wear, who to sleep with, and how to make money,

then nothing in the Bible will make even the least sense to him.

But if he has any sense at all of longings, if he has any concern at all about the reality of death,

if he has any concern about the meaning of life, then this is where you've got to go.

Which made him pause.

At the end of the day, I think he actually really is only concerned with who he can sleep with, what he can eat, what he can drink,

how he will make money, and what he'll wear.

That it hasn't struck him that he needs to think about anything more.

But the question can be, so what?

So what?

There's a famous skeptic about the resurrection who said, so what if God did a conjuring trick with bones?

Like, what does that matter to us?

Well, imagine for a second that your family is having some type of trouble.

You know, that never happens to families that they have trouble.

And you bring in a family counselor, and you get the different family members together,

and she has some group sessions, and then she meets privately with each of the individual family members.

And often in counseling sessions, what you often try to do is they often want to get a particular event

that they can look at as a way to try to get at what's going on.

And so let's say the counselor comes in, and after listening to the different people,

she tells you, well, you know, in this story, it's this event that we're looking at,

you did this and this and this and this,

and you did these things because of this and this and this and this.

This is what you were trying to do.

This is why you were doing it.

This is the meaning of what you did.

And if she did that to you, you'd go,

one moment,

you haven't asked me

what I thought I was doing.

Like, you haven't listened to me.

Surely, unless you're claiming that I'm just a liar or that I'm deluded,

surely what I say that I was thinking and what I was trying to do,

surely that has to have some bearing on the meaning of what was going on.

Like, you can't just listen to other people.

And that would just be fair.

You know, unless the person's lying or deceiving.

I'm watching a series on Netflix.

I think it's called Bloodline.

And one of the things which is curious about it

is that there's family dynamics.

And a lot of times,

somebody is actually being deceptive.

And when they're sort of called about what they were doing,

they try to deceive.

And so, you know, it can be.

It isn't always just up to the individual person

to determine what they've done.

Because sometimes we lie.

Sometimes we deceive.

Sometimes we are confused about what we've done.

But what Paul is going to say here

is that surely,

if in fact Jesus willingly died,

and if he predicted to everybody

that he was going to die upon the cross for other people,

and if he said that he did this out of love for us,

and it was going to cost him something,

and there's no particular benefit

that he gets out of being so badly treated,

and if he actually rose from the dead,

doesn't it make sense

that we should listen to what he said

the meaning of the events are?

In fact, that's what goes on here in the text.

Paul goes on to say

that the meaning of the event

isn't something that he's thought up,

that he's invented or imposed on events,

that all he's done

is received from Jesus

the meaning of the events.

In fact,

he says that if he was just to think it up himself,

it wouldn't be worth anything.

Let's look at the text.

Verse 11 of chapter 1.

Verse 11 of chapter 1.

For I would have you know,

brothers and sisters,

that the gospel that was preached by me,

that's the gospel means sort of the account

of what happened on the cross,

is not man's gospel.

In other words,

it didn't come from human beings.

For I did not receive it from any man or woman,

nor was I taught it,

but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

In other words,

you know,

in a sense,

every time we reveal what's going on

inside of our heads,

it's a bit of a revelation.

Like if I was to say,

if I was to close my eyes

and then I'm going to think about something,

and if I was to ask every one of you,

okay,

what was I thinking about?

You'd go,

I don't know.

Well,

I can tell you I'm thinking about a really nice,

I was thinking about a really,

really nice older lady by the name of Ruth Jo Barton,

who's now dead,

whose cottage we used to go to.

I need to reveal that to you,

don't I?

And it's the same often

when we're trying to understand the meaning of events

is the person has to let you know

what's going on in their mind,

in their heart.

And that's what Paul says.

That when he tells everybody

not only the fact of the resurrection

and the meaning of the resurrection,

it's not something he invented.

He actually goes,

he asks Jesus,

Jesus tells him the meaning of the event.

Let's continue.

Verse 13.

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism,

how I persecuted the church of God violently

and tried to destroy it.

And I was advancing in Judaism

before many of my own age among my people.

So extremely zealous was I

for the traditions of my fathers.

Notice how he understands the distinction

between learning things from others

and human beings

and learning them from Jesus.

He understands that.

In fact, he goes on to say,

as you can see,

if there was anybody

that you wouldn't want to trust

to understand the significance of Jesus,

you wouldn't want to trust me.

Like, we don't know what everybody thought

when they saw Stephen,

the first Christian martyr,

stoned to death.

But what we know from the historical record

is that Stephen being stoned to death

did not cause Paul to be repulsed.

It gave him an idea for a new career

to kill more.

And so Paul said,

listen, if you're thinking

that it's I figured this stuff out,

whoa, no.

In fact, if it was up to me,

you'd want to run from me.

Verse 15.

But when he who had set me apart

before I was born

and who called me by his grace

was pleased to reveal his son to me

in order that I might preach him

among the Gentiles,

I did not immediately consult with anyone,

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.

Then after three years,

I went up to Jerusalem

to visit Cephas

and remain with him 15 days.

But I saw none of the other apostles

except James, the Lord's brother.

In what I am writing to you before God,

I do not lie.

Then I went into the regions

of Syria and Cilicia

and I was still unknown in person

to the churches of Judea

that are in Christ.

They were only hearing it said,

he who used to persecute us

is now preaching the faith

he once tried to destroy

and they glorified God

because of me.

So here's the second point,

sort of the big idea in the text.

The true meaning of the death

and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth

came from Jesus

before and after his resurrection.

The true meaning of the death

and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth

came from Jesus

before and after his resurrection.

Those of you who have been coming

to the other church,

you know, prior to this,

we've been going through

the book of Luke

and we're just about to come up

to the crucifixion actually

in the book of Luke

and we've been tracking along with it.

We see how many times

that Jesus predicted

that he was going to die upon the cross

and told the disciples the meaning

of why he was going to die upon the cross.

And now Paul is saying

he didn't necessarily hear

all of that at first,

but what he does know

is that it was after Jesus

was resurrected from the dead

because I saw him,

he explained to me

the meaning of his death

upon the cross

and his resurrection.

You see, that's why,

that's part of the reason why,

it's like some of you

might have been really bothered.

Like, why is it that Paul

seems to be so mean

to people who disagree with him?

Were some of you bothered by that?

Look up at verse 6

where you see Paul

being apparently very mean.

I am astonished

that you are so quickly

deserting him who called you

in the grace of Christ

and are turning

to a different gospel.

Not that there is another one,

but there are some

who trouble you

and want to distort

the gospel of Christ.

But even if we,

that's himself,

or an angel from heaven

should preach to you

a gospel contrary

to the one we preached to you,

let him be accursed.

As we have said before,

so now I say again,

he wants to make sure

he wasn't misheard.

If anyone is preaching

to you a gospel

contrary to the one

you received,

let him be accursed.

For am I now seeking

the approval of man or of God

or am I trying to please man?

If I were still trying

to please man,

I would not be a slave of Christ.

So some of you might say,

George, why is accursed?

Why is that so harsh?

Why is that so harsh?

Well, think about it

for two seconds.

Just two things about it.

The first thing is this.

Remember that story

I told you again?

Imagine your family

is in some type of crisis

and you bring in

a family counselor.

Wouldn't you be really angry

if the counselor

completely and utterly

disregarded everything you said

about the meaning of your act

and took it that everybody else

was telling the truth?

Wouldn't you be upset?

And Paul is saying here,

listen, this is nothing

personal about me.

In fact, he includes himself

that if I go off the rails

and start saying something,

don't listen to me.

He's saying, listen,

the one who died

and the one who rose

from the dead,

he told us

the meaning of what happened.

Don't we want to just

extend to Jesus

the same thing that we want

want to extend to ourselves?

And that's why Paul is saying,

but it's even more that

because remember I said

that of course

if you think about it,

so here's the first thing

that in the gospel,

Paul by using the word Messiah

is saying that in a sense

myth becomes fact,

the spiritual becomes real

and knowable history.

And then he said,

in terms of the so what question,

well, to even start to understand

what the so what question is,

we don't just go to our attempts

to impose meaning on this.

Let's listen to what

the person who rose

from the dead

explained as the meaning

of the text.

And in fact,

if there's anybody

that you should believe,

it would be somebody

who could be raised

from the dead,

who's defeated death.

Because that's what

resurrection means,

he's defeated death

and that which causes death

and all powers

of death,

all of them,

he's defeated.

So the first thing

Paul is just saying,

it makes sense for him

to be so concerned about this

because the meaning

is coming from

Jesus himself

who was raised.

But the other thing

is what is the meaning

which we haven't said yet.

Well,

what was the simple summary

of the meaning?

Let's go to verses

one to five again.

Paul,

an apostle,

not from men

nor through man

but through Jesus Messiah

and God the Father

who raised Jesus

from the dead

and all the brothers

and sisters who are with me

to the churches of Galatia.

Here's the meaning.

I mean,

the first meaning

is it's the Messiah

who died.

It's the Messiah

who rose from the dead.

It's the Messiah

who entered knowable history.

And then the meaning?

Grace to you

and peace

from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Messiah

who gave himself

for our sins

to deliver us

from the present evil age

according to the will

of our God and Father

to whom be the glory

forever

and ever.

Amen.

That's the meaning

from Jesus

who is the Messiah

who died

and rose again.

That is the meaning.

Andrew,

if you could put it up

the next point.

The living God

has always rejected

human pride,

human boasting,

and self-salvation.

Instead,

he provided the person

and work of his Son

to truly rescue us

and bring us

to life

and freedom

in God himself.

The living God

has always rejected

human pride,

human boasting,

and self-salvation.

Instead,

he provided

the person

and work

of his Son

to truly rescue us

and bring us

to life

and freedom

in God himself.

Look at what it says

again in verse 3

and 4.

Grace to you

and peace

from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Messiah

who gave himself

for our sins

to deliver us.

He didn't come

to add value

to our lives.

He didn't come

to be a therapist.

He didn't come

to give advice.

He did something

radically different.

That whether we recognize

it or not,

it would be as if

we go swimming

off of an outcrop

in the ocean

and we don't know

that there's powerful currents

and we're starting

to drown.

And in a sense,

what this is saying

is that all religion

and all spirituality

and all secular

and non-religious attempts

to find human meaning

are really just advice.

It's as if people

seeing us

drowning

in the ocean,

they throw books

at us.

Read this.

It tells you

how to swim.

You shouldn't have

swam in there.

You're a bad person.

Here,

you do this,

you know,

and we yell

at them

or maybe we're

very kind

or whisper to them.

Maybe we say,

I'm going to be up here

thinking good thoughts

that you get better.

And what the Bible

is saying

is that all,

it's God

seeing our

complete and other need

that all

of our pride,

whether it's

religious pride,

spiritual pride,

secular pride,

atheistic pride,

all boasting,

whether it's

religious boasting,

spiritual boasting,

atheist boasting,

secular boasting,

boasting in terms

of sexual conquest

and money in the bank

or how many

awards your kids

have made

because you're

the best soccer mom

in the city,

in the universe,

in the galaxy,

that whatever boasting

that we have,

whatever attempts

to save ourselves

through earning money,

through being successful

in relationships,

through doing rituals,

through knowing mantras,

through knowing

how to be enlightened,

whatever type of

self-salvation,

boasting or sin,

God has always

rejected that

and he sees

that we are drowning

and Jesus

does not primarily

come to throw

a book at us

or say,

do this.

the gospel says

is that the meaning

of the death

and resurrection

of Jesus

in knowable history

is that Jesus

jumps in the water

with a rope around him

and grabs us

when we cannot swim anymore

and the current

and the waves

are about to drown us

and he brings us

out to life

and freedom

and health.

that is what

the Savior

did.

That is what

he can do

for you.

That

is the meaning

of his death

and resurrection.

That

is why

it is called

the gospel

good news.

That is why

it is not

good advice,

good rituals,

good techniques,

good observations.

It is good news.

This is what

Jesus did.

Grace to you

and peace

from God our Father

and the Lord

Jesus Messiah

who gave

himself

for our sins

to deliver us

from the present

evil age

according to the will

of our God

and Father

to whom be the glory

forever and ever.

Amen.

Why is it called

an evil age?

It is an age

where we will all die.

It is an age

where no human utopia

will ever be created

because there is

something bent

and wrong within us.

It is an age

marked by political power.

It is an age

marked by our desire

to tower over others

and when we cannot

succeed

that we cower

under others.

And this

is what marks

our age.

And in the midst

of such age

people merely

give us

advice.

And Jesus

came

and defeated

in his death

upon the cross

and in his resurrection

all boasting

all pride

all ritual

all political power

all sin

all of the things

that keep us

separate from God

all of the things

that are bent

and broken in us

that we can never

possibly fix ourselves

he delivered us

from this

in his death

upon the cross

and in his resurrection.

That is the meaning.

One final thing

after the so what question

the final question

is now what?

Now what?

Now what?

Look at these key words

again in verse 3

and 4 and 5.

Grace to you

and peace

from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ

who gave himself

for our sins

to deliver us

from the present

evil age

according to the will

of our God and Father

to whom

be the glory

forever

and ever.

Amen.

Grace.

God's unmerited

favor

made real

to transform

peace

to be

restored

and reconciled

and in proper

relationship

to the creator

the sustainer

of all things

the end

of all things

to be

properly

restored to him

not on the basis

of our own accomplishments

but because

the Jesus

dying upon the cross

is a power

for salvation

that is graciously

and powerfully

effectively

come to us

that we receive

like beggars

not weighing our merits

but pardoning our offenses

that makes us

at peace with God.

Andrew if you could

put up the final point

this isn't original

to me

now what?

I have been saved

I am being saved

and I will be saved

by grace alone

through faith alone

in Christ alone

now what?

You put your faith

in Jesus

you put your faith

in Jesus

and then that's just

something from the past

and then you live

the rest of your life

on your own power

by your own accomplishments

by your own self

salvation

your own pride

your own boasting

well that's in fact

why we have to

weekly and daily repent

Father

I'm just so sorry

for the fact

that today

pride and boasting

and self salvation

has characterized

my life in this way

in this way

in this way

it's poisoned my relationship

with my wife

with my kids

with my boss

with my neighbor

and I ask your forgiveness

Father grip me

with the gospel

help me Father

to live out of the truth

that I am saved

only by grace

only by putting my faith

and trust in Jesus

alone

and that that Father

help me to be so gripped

by this

to know that I have been

saved in the past

that even today

I need to be so gripped

with the gospel

by what you have done

for me on the cross

by the gift of the Holy Spirit

that comes in me

and constantly brings me

back to Jesus

again and again

and that my final glorification

Father everything

is an act of grace

that I am to have a faith

in Jesus

in

and only in him

and that Father

as I am gripped

by the fact

that I have been saved

I am being saved

and I will be saved

by

by

by

by

by grace alone

through faith alone

and Christ alone

that as

as this grips me

it

it pushes me

into confronting

my pride

and boasting

and self-salvation

the knowledge

that

that it's by grace alone

by

faith alone

and Christ alone

it pulls me

and draws me

into trying things

I would have never

never done

when I think about changes

it grounds me

to know that this is

myth become fact

and it's not just

another therapeutic story

it grounds me

something to stand on

as I

as I start to look

in gratitude

for the things

which I'm being pushed to

and then pulled to

and as I

and as I

and as I think

and I'm gripped upon

the fact that it's by grace alone

through faith alone

in Christ alone

that I've been saved

I'm being saved

and I will be saved

it shapes how I'm to understand

how my mind is to work

and how my will is to work

and my heart is to work

and my lips are to work

and my memories are to work

and my longings are to work

and how to

how to deal with

with my fears

and how to deal with

my relationships

and how even

I should have a heart

for the city

and the world

that as

as it

as it

as it grips me

as I first

hear the gospel

and put my faith

in this thing

in what Jesus

has done for me

in the cross

and as I

as I'm reminded

of the gospel

again and again

that that's

that that's

it's out of that

that I live

it's out of that

that I have a hope

for glory

that that's the now what

that's the now what

for you friends

and some of you

for the first time

in your life

there's no time

better than today

to say

Jesus

I have lived

in rebellion

against you

I want to be

you are the end

of my longings

the end of my yearnings

and you're true

and you're real

and I acknowledge

that you alone

will rescue me

can rescue me

rescue me

Jesus

I need to be rescued

and some of you

the day is the

this might be the first day

you ever say that prayer

from your heart

and there's no better time

than today to do it

but for those of us

who've done it

boy

if you're at all like me

you so need

to be reminded

of the gospel

and to be reminded

once again

that I have been saved

I am being saved

I will be saved

by grace alone

through faith alone

in Christ alone

there's no better time

than today

to say

precious Jesus

Father

pour out your Holy Spirit

upon me

and make me

a disciple of Jesus

gripped by the gospel

who lives for your glory

please stand

Father I just ask

that you would pour out

your Holy Spirit

upon us

continue to pour out

your Holy Spirit

upon us

Father if there are

those here

who are

thinking that maybe

today is the time

that your Holy Spirit

is pressing upon them

to turn to you

to be their Savior

and Lord

Father

help them with the words

Father help them

just to say

Jesus be my Savior

and my Lord

I hold nothing back

Father help them

just to say that

to you honestly

Jesus be my Savior

and my Lord

I hold nothing back

live in me forever

Father help them

and guide them

to cry out to you

with those words

their own words

from their heart

to you

they don't have to be

perfect Father

we know that

because you do the work

and you just look

for some call

out from their heart

from our heart

to you

and then you cross

that infinite distance

and fill them

with grace and peace

your Son

with the Holy Spirit

and Father

for the rest of us

the Holy Spirit

as he convicts us

Father pour out

your Holy Spirit

upon us

pour out

your Holy Spirit

upon us

make us disciples

of Jesus

gripped by the gospel

who live for your glory

bring home to us

in a deep way

that we have been saved

are being saved

and will be saved

by grace alone

through faith alone

in Jesus Christ alone

and this we ask

in Jesus' name

Amen