Galatians 1:1-25 - A Picture of Conversion

Church, we are in Galatians chapter one this morning.

The second week into our study through Galatians in the New Testament, after the Gospels, after Romans, first and second, Corinthians.

You get to Ephesians, turn back.

Galatians chapter one.

We're picking it up in verse ten and we'll read through verse 24.

This is God's holy, perfect word for us.

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 servant of Christ.

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel, for I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through revelation of Jesus Christ.

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 beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

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 remained with him fifteen days.

But I saw none other than the 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 Sicilia, and I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.

They only were hearing it said, He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.

And they glorify God because of me.

This is the word of the Lord.

And he's facing two major issues.

One is that there is a false gospel being taught among, that's spreading among these churches.

And that gospel is that you need to be saved by calling on Jesus Christ and following the traditions of the Jews.

They're adding on to the gospel the way of salvation.

So Paul's writing to rebuke them of this false teaching.

But before he does that, he deals with his apostolic authority.

He's not writing as just kind of another church leader or another elder.

He's saying, listen, I have been called by God to be an apostle.

I have unique authority because of that.

He's not saying this because he's kind of upset that people are kind of dissing his authority and now he's coming in to lay down the law.

He's saying that because he loves them.

And because most importantly, Christ has given him a charge to preach the gospel to the churches, to see people go from death to life.

And Paul's not going to stand back and just say, well, you know, it's their life.

Let them choose it.

Let them have at it.

They'll reap the consequences.

No, he lays into these churches heavily and says, Listen, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ.

And you are messing up the gospel.

It's a counterfeit gospel.

He says toward the end in verse 9 anyone who proclaims and spreads this gospel should be accursed.

This is how serious this is.

Again, I said this last week.

This isn't an issue where Paul's saying, hey, don't let there be disunity among yourselves.

Get along.

Learn to be unified.

This isn't that situation.

He's writing and saying, listen, you get this wrong, you get the gospel wrong.

You get the good news, the way of salvation.

You even get God wrong.

Because you get the gospel wrong, you think that Christ is not sufficient enough to atone for your sin, then you don't understand who Christ is.

So it's so important that the church understands the gospel.

And he's spending the rest of chapter one and then almost all of chapter two or a good half of chapter two kind of laying out again his authority.

And he goes back to his salvation, his testimony.

He grew up in a culture of Jews.

And not did he just grew up in it, he grew up and he was really, really, really good at it.

And some people grow up in a Christian culture and you're just kind of used to being a good Christian.

You're good at it.

You know what kind of Bible verse to reference, you know how to talk, you kind of know what's going on in the Psalms, and you have some handle on what things, what's happening, and you grow up just kind of good, and everyone kind of applauds you, and they had a good job.

You're a good Christian.

Wow, look at you.

And all of a sudden, you kind of get into uh teenage years and even into adulthood, and all of a sudden you realize, man, I know a lot about the Bible for my peers and for my age, but I don't think I know Christ.

I have a knowledge, but it's not bringing any transformation in my life.

I've read the scriptures, I call on Jesus, I tell people I'm a Christian, but if you were to examine my life, I don't know that you would see that Christ is the Lord and master of my life.

See, again, we live, we swim in a world where there's a lot of cultural Christians.

People who are really regenerate, they're not born again, they've just grown up around this thing, stuff, and they know how to kind of navigate it.

I was in a conversation this week with a young person who's getting ready to graduate from a Christian school with a degree, a bachelor's degree in Christian ministry.

We're talking, and I just said, brother, what is he talking about?

I just said, Well, can you just tell me what the gospel is?

He just looked out the window and he's like, Yeah, that's a good question.

That's not the time to be wrestling with what is the gospel?

Do we know it?

Part of that is this brother's fault, not studying enough.

Part of it is the churches that he's been involved with, or his parents, those who are raising him.

But we live in this kind of world where we just grow up and say, I don't know how you're saved.

I don't know what the gospel is.

It's a terribly awful thing to do as Christians, to affirm the faith of other people when we don't see evidence of being regenerated.

So Paul is being very careful not to just affirm, well, if you call on the name of Jesus, and it can kind of be whatever Jesus you want it to be, and as long as your heart is good, then that's all it takes.

No, the most loving thing we can do as Christians is be clear about the gospel, be clear about what it looks like to follow Christ, and then be clear with others whether we see that in their life.

Now, to be clear, we're not the ones saying you are saved or you're not saved.

It's not our place at all.

But it is our place to discern what's going on in their life and saying, I see your life, and I read scripture, and it's it's not lining up.

You can say whatever you want to say, that's fine.

But what scripture says, what the authority says, is this.

And this scriptures is where we go.

It is our final authority.

Again, Paul grew up in this religious culture, but his salvation was for his own glory.

His salvation was by himself, and it was false, and it was not true.

This morning I want us to show, see in this passage, how Paul lays out that salvation is for God's glory.

It's for the glory of God.

Our salvation, your salvation, is for the glory of God.

It's not by man, it's by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And we'll see Paul laying out his false salvation and then his true salvation.

Verse 10.

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 servant of Christ.

See, Paul just finishes up kind of laying into them about this false gospel that they've been kind of adhering to.

Verse 6, going back there, says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ.

You know, turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another gospel.

Paul's laying at the here you've been trading in the fear of man.

Well, what's this guy saying?

Well, I think we should follow him.

Well, what's this guy saying?

Maybe he's right.

He seems pretty articulate.

Let's follow his way.

And Paul's just saying, listen, we're not here to serve man.

Now he's saying, do we want here to be to be servants, to be lorded, to be submitting to man's ideas.

Scripture's clear, we're to serve one another, the heart of humility and gratitude.

But he's saying here is that this is something the Lord is doing.

We're not seeking the approval of man, but rather God.

We'll see later in chapter 2 or 1 and chapter 2 that he doesn't go around looking for approval either.

He's not saying, well, well, hey apostles, what do you guys think?

You think I'm in?

No, he's trusting what Christ has called him to on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, that Christ has set him apart for this work.

Approval is a funny thing.

Because, in a sense, like we all want approval.

It's part of our brokenness, it's part of our sin nature.

Um, we all want it.

But no one really just walks up and says, Hey, can you give me some approval?

Hey, could you can you just give me some affirmation?

Could really use your words as a broken, flawed person to me to help me feel better about myself.

And we see this ranging in our culture.

People looking for approval to do what they want to do.

There's a pattern, I think, in culture, and I think if we're honest, there's a pattern also the same pattern in our own hearts, if we're honest.

And it goes something like this.

I'm a good person, so I should be free to do whatever I feel is right.

Because I'm a good person.

I'm a good person, so I should be able to do whatever I think is right because I'm a good person.

Then it devolves a little bit.

I'm a good person, so I should be free to do whatever I feel is right, and you should just let me practice my truth because I'm a good person.

I'm not hurting anyone.

So I'm a good person, just let me do my thing.

Don't you worry about you.

I'm not hurting anyone with this.

Just let me do my thing and leave me alone.

So then we give ourselves over to that.

We swim in those waters for a minute, and then it changes to I'm a good person, don't judge me.

Don't judge me, I'm a good person.

And then it even devolves more to I'm a good person, and you need to acknowledge that.

You need to support my truth, or you are a bad person.

Right?

This slow kind of gradual drift.

I want approval.

I want you to approve of my life.

I don't just want you to allow me to do this.

I want you to say that it's good and it's right and it's okay.

We start making ourselves the arbitrator of good and not good and what's right and what's not right, what's sin and what's not sin.

And all of a sudden we're deep, neck deep into sin.

And we're looking to other people to give us affirmation that it's okay.

It's alright.

Other people struggle with it too, or it's not that bad, or God's love.

Surely God's love could overcome all these things.

Just let me have what I want.

Let me be what I want.

But God lovingly and graciously puts an end to that.

Why?

Well, because one, we're not made for that.

We're not saved to just do whatever we want.

We're not created.

God didn't form you and give you all the abilities he's given you, and sight and sound and the intellect, all those things, just so you can then go and do what you want.

But rather that you would serve him.

That through your your life for him, you would glorify him above everything else in your life.

Scripture speaking about money says you can't serve two masters.

That could be said about anything.

You cannot serve two masters.

You cannot seek the approval of mankind and God.

You cannot be friends with the world and friends with God.

James 4, 4 says, You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Now, James isn't saying, go buy a hundred acres and hunker down and don't talk to people who are in the world.

What he's saying is, don't cozy up to the world.

Don't be friends with the world, with their thinking, because it will corrupt you.

The issue that Paul is dealing with in Galatians is here, it's an issue because brothers and sisters kind of let their guard down, like, well, well, what's some other ideas?

The gospel's great, but but that sounds interesting as well.

They begin to entertain these things, false things, pervert the gospel.

So most of us, we do struggle with seeking man's approval.

We want people to like us.

But if we're honest with ourselves, there's one person's approval that we're seeking the most.

There's one person's approval that we're after the most, that we work the hardest to get.

And that is our own approval.

Our own approval.

I want to be able to do what I want to do and I want to feel okay about it.

I'm a hard worker and I'm responsible.

So I need to get out of bed early and get my day started on the right foot, or else I'm gonna be disappointed in myself.

I'm too tired to get out of bed right now.

I feel down today.

I just need to sleep a little bit more.

I will feel a little bit better if I just lay here, scrolling on my phone for 20 more minutes.

We all have these things that drive us because we're seeking our own approval.

I'm hungry, I eat.

I want something, I try to go get it to be satisfied.

I feel bad about myself, so I paint everyone else in a different picture, so I feel better about myself compared to them.

You see this?

We're after our own approval.

And Paul's just killing that, saying, Listen, we're not living for our own approval.

We're not living for any man's approval, including ourselves.

We're seeking the approval of Christ.

Because when we live for Christ, his approval, what are we doing?

Well, we're diligent with our time.

We're diligent with our money, our resources, our energy.

We guard our heart against the sin that so easily besets us.

We live in such a way that brings glory and honor to him.

By our obedience, by our worship, we are saved not by man.

We're saved by the gospel of Christ to glorify him.

Verse 11 gets into this salvation is from God.

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it.

But I received it through revelation of Jesus Christ.

This this gospel, this salvation message.

And then the reality of salvation in Paul's life.

It's not because of man's gospel.

There's so many things out there that can kind of give you the lie that somehow you can save yourself.

Or maybe not even save yourself, but you can still make yourself a whole lot better of a person.

And so there maybe that'll make a difference in the end.

There's so many books and resources that promise if you read them, or if you if you take this class, or you sign up for this course, or you do this thing, or whatever, whatever, whatever, your life will improve.

You'll finally be the person you want to be.

You'll finally lose the weight you want to lose, you'll finally be the shape you want to be, you'll finally this, that, and then you reach your goals.

If you just buy into this self-help method, you're gonna be who you want to be.

Just stick with it.

The problem with all this, there's a lot of problems, but one, is they're they're co-opting just biblical truth.

So, so this is kind of interesting.

If you read this literature and this stuff, they're talking about, hey, you need to have good habits, you need to be disciplined, you need to have a routine to your life, you need to be kind of focused in on what you're here for, what's your meaning, what's your purpose?

Those are all things Christ gave his church.

Live simply.

You need to think about the things in your life.

Do they matter?

Be intentional with your time, be intentional with your stuff.

Don't be giving over to the things of the world.

But be have seek to be content.

You need to be mindful, you need to be present, you need to be intentional with the conversations you're in.

So much of just worldly literature is filled with all these ideas that are all just they're just taken from scripture.

Like these are the things God calls his people to.

To be disciplined in your life, to be regular in the word, to be present, not to be dictated by the stuff in your life, to be people who are self-controlled.

But that's where the worldly things stop.

Right?

They don't go on to salvation, they stop.

And when you stop with that, you're just more prideful.

You're more arrogant, you feel like, man, I've really actually done something with my life, I've actually done this thing, and kind of look at me.

I'm I'm kind of a testament to the to the system, it works.

But without Christ, you're all the more destined for hell.

Because you blinded yourself with your pride and this idea that you can do it.

It doesn't bring salvation.

Salvation comes from Christ alone.

It's interesting about Paul he's talking about this radical kind of transformation.

This road to Damascus experience.

The salvation is the same.

The reality, the way that he was saved, is the same way that we are saved.

He was granted faith by.

God to believe that Jesus really is God and Jesus really died for his sins and that God really loves him.

That's if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, it's the same salvation.

You're saved the same way, saved in the same way as Paul.

I'm not saying now you're a Paul and now you have apostolic authority.

Paul is just as lost and sinful as everyone else.

And Christ's redemption, his atoning blood was just as powerful to redeem Paul and to save him as it is for all of us.

It's amazing that Paul then recites this false salvation.

He gets ahead of the people.

It's like, like, listen, I'm going to tell you how bad I was.

Let me remind you how bad I was.

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 beyond many of my own age, among many people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

So he's just laying out his false salvation.

This is this was my hope.

I was doing everything right.

So I thought.

Being zealous for God, as all of you are this day.

That should be a warning.

Zealous for God.

What was he zealous for?

He was under the illusion he was zealous for God, but he was not zealous for God.

And the way that God demands, he was zealous for his own pride.

He was zealous to be the man, to be somebody.

Just like all of them.

Verse 4 I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.

From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

Paul's just laying out this false living, this idea that he was going to earn his way or be the model kind of Jew.

He's not hiding under this.

He's not saying, you know, I before Christ came, I was still trying to be a pretty good person.

I was trying to live a good, clean life.

Say, no, I was killing them.

He's got blood on his hands.

Literally.

He was seeking the destruction of God's people.

Seeking salvation by destroying God's people.

He was trying to earn his way to heaven.

So you can understand a little bit how passionate he gets to the church in Galatians when they're starting to kind of change the gospel and say, you need to believe in Jesus, but also you need to be circumcised and you need to do this and this on top of the gospel.

And so it comes with such fierceness, saying, you are wrong.

It is only through Jesus Christ.

Turn with me again to chapter 23 of Luke.

Luke 23.

I want you to see something here.

Luke chapter 23, Jesus is being crucified.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

There's two criminals beside him.

In verse 39 of Luke 23, one of the criminals were hanged, railed at him, who were hanged, railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us.

But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds.

The due reward for our deeds.

But this man has done nothing wrong.

And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Today you will be with me in paradise.

The thief knew two things.

He knew that he was a sinner, condemned to death, rightfully so, deserving the punishment, and he knew that Jesus was a savior.

And he called out to him.

He did not have a whole lot of things figured out, but in that moment, he wasn't looking to his works, he wasn't looking to his good life or his reputation.

He knew he needed a sinner, a savior, because he was a sinner.

And he cried out to that savior, Jesus Christ.

This is what he did.

This is what salvation looks like.

Yes, there's lots of other components and parts that go into that, but it's you realizing you're a sinner, realizing that you sin, and your heart is to do what you want to do.

It's not to follow the Lord, it's me focused.

It's to repent of that and cry out to Jesus, save me, remember me, have mercy on me.

And you who don't deserve mercy, you don't deserve grace, you don't even deserve that for God to even know you exist.

But he does.

And he comes and he brings salvation and he delivers you, he saves you.

What a gift that is.

Church, what a gift it is to be saved.

No longer seeking the things of the world, no longer giving over to things that are just empty and dead.

Salvation, true salvation is what God brings.

Look in verse 15 of Galatians chapter 1.

Galatians 1 · chapter mention

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, he who called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.

Preach him among the Gentiles.

So I'll just pause there for a moment.

Again, has to be a hundred percent Jesus in some part of me.

I have to do something, right?

I've got to, some part of me has got to do something for this salvation.

What Paul says is that Christ set him apart before he was born.

So what do we do with the rest of Paul's life earlier when he's persecuting the church, when he's killing Christians?

There's a tension there in our hearts.

There's a tension in the scripture there.

What we know is that Christ has called Paul to himself, set him apart before he was born.

Called him by his grace.

And at the right time, and in the right way, Christ saved him.

There wasn't a moment in the early church where Jesus kind of started the church like, man, I'm really concerned about Paul, this guy who's persecuting us.

Imagine being a Christian, and your brothers and sisters are being martyred, they're being killed.

And the person who's doing it is someone that God is going to redeem.

Someone that God has planned to use since before your birth and his birth.

This is a part of God's plan.

That when God brings salvation, it isn't by happenstance, it's not because you just kind of wake up to it one day, but God brings this about.

Set him apart, chose him, he elected him, he predestined him.

By God's sweet grace, he saved him.

He didn't just save him so that he can just be saved and enjoy him, which is a good thing, but he saved him to take that message of the gospel to others, to preach among the Gentiles.

See, our salvation is the greatest gift we will ever receive.

You will never receive a greater gift than your salvation.

So if you're if you're a believer, you've been saved, I'll remind you of that.

There's nothing more precious to you that you are now with your creator.

And because of this, you should share that with others.

Because of this, you shouldn't just keep it to yourself and say, Well, I'm glad I'm saved.

What an amazing gift.

I'm not going to hell.

What an amazing gift.

I know my creator.

Now we're just going to wait until he returns or until I die.

But rather to be sent to share the good news with someone else.

Because someone took time to share it with you.

True salvation, as we see in Paul's life, brings true change.

Paul Washer has a quote talking about salvation, and someone says, he says, I have a new relationship with Christ.

Well, do you have a new relationship with sin?

Because if you do not have a new relationship with sin, meaning you're starting to hate it, you're appalled by it, and you don't have a new relationship with Christ.

See, it's not our job again to measure when Christ brings change and how he brings change.

But he brings change.

There's no question about that.

Our salvation brings change, it leads to action.

This is what Paul then does.

He's reminding the church in Galatia.

I don't serve man.

As a matter of fact, I wasn't saved by man's gospel.

I'm not going to follow man because I wasn't saved by man.

I was saved by Christ.

I was a wicked, I killed people, persecuted the church.

Christ saved me and called me.

I'm going to walk in obedience to that.

I'm going to be faithful to that.

So the rest of chapter 1, verses 16, the second part of 16 through 23, we see where Paul travels and preaches Christ.

He is faithful to the task.

Over time he goes to see Peter and he continues to faithfully proclaim Christ.

He didn't give up, he didn't get weary and just kind of turn in and say, hey, I've done my bit.

I worked hard.

I did what I could.

It's time for someone else to kind of pick it up.

And they can do it.

That's not what he's saying.

What we see at the end of chapter one is that true salvation also brings praise to God.

Verse 24.

Well, verse 23.

They only were hearing, it said, He who used to persecute us now, preaching, is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.

And they glorified God because of him.

There's something amazing about when somebody is saved, when Christ saves them, it brings praise.

Here's a little test for your heart with just how are you doing with God and your walk with him and your joy and all those things.

When you hear of someone's salvation, is it just kind of that's nice?

Good for them.

Are you joyful?

Are you praising the Lord that someone who was dead in their sin is now alive in Christ?

Someone who had no hope now has hope.

And that the reality that's the thing is true for you, that you were dead and now you're alive, is also true for them.

They're dead and now they're alive.

Does it bring praise to your lips to hear that someone has been saved?

In Luke 15, 10, Christ says that the angels rejoice when someone is saved, that the angels bring praise when there is salvation.

We are to be a people who are praising God, rejoicing in what He has done for us.

So, church, listen to me.

If you're seeking the approval of man, seek Christ.

If you're struggling to glorify God and praise him as you should, then seek Christ.

If you're feeling the weariness and the weight of trying to earn God's favor, turn to Christ.

If your affections are dry and your heart is dry, it's weary, turn to Christ.

He will restore you.

Open his word regularly and read it.

Pray for him to encourage you.

Seek him out through his word, through fellowship with other believers.

By listening to good, wholesome things and not garbage.

So we hear this sermon about salvation and we we know we're believers, but we're just kind of we feel like we're in a ditch.

We're just kind of in a lull.

We're in a dry spell.

It's like, ah, I just don't, I'm weary and I'm tired.

And then we just keep going back to the same old worldly things.

Instead of seeking our Savior, turning to Him, confessing sin one to another and trusting in Him.

Prayer is that if you are a Christian, that you would be built up in your faith.

In Psalm 51, where David is confessing after his affair and the death, the affair with Bathsheba, and the child dies, and he cries out to the Lord in Psalm 51, restore the joy of my salvation.

We're not David, and we're not going through these things, but that should be a cry of our hearts.

The life just kind of grinds on us.

Lord, restore my salvation.

I'm kind of giving over to sin.

Lord, restore the joy of my salvation.

I feel like I don't want to serve people.

I'm tired of giving of myself.

Lord, restore my salvation that I might worship you and glorify you and share the good news of the gospel with others.

Because God will be faithful to restore.

He's always faithful to restore.

If you're not a Christian, I pray that you would genuinely ask yourself, why am I not surrendered to Christ?

What sin am I holding on to that I don't want to let go of?

What thing is too precious to me?

I want to tell you, come to Christ today.

Repent of those things.

I'd love to talk with you after the service.

I'm sure there's a lot of people who would love to encourage you and pray with you to turn from the things of the world to Christ, to trust him and to walk with him all of your days and for eternity.

This is what he offers.

It's free to walk with Christ.

Let's pray.

Jesus, our salvation is free because you have paid the price for it.

I pray that we would not stay in the dormantness of our hearts.

Let it reveal, let it see what's there.

Let it address it.

Let it convict us.

Let it tear out the sin in our life.

Let it, your word and your spirit, build us up.

I thank you for, Lord, how you always preserve your church.

In the midst of all the struggles of false teaching and confusion, you preserve your people.

I praise you for this, Lord Jesus.

May we humbly faithfully obey you.

In your name alone, Jesus.

Amen.