The Gift of Grace (Galatians 1:1-10)

We're gonna really lay a foundation of the book of Galatians here this morning because what we always want to do is understand first what the the Holy Spirit is writing through Paul and what is the intent to the original audience.

And once we understand that, then it makes it a lot easier for us to apply it to ourselves once we understand that context.

So we're gonna spend the first little chunk of today really laying a foundation for the book of Galatians and talking about the history and why it was written and all of those things, and then we'll jump into verses uh one through ten.

So we're gonna just start off here by throwing a map up there.

You know, for the last year or so we've been going through 1st and 2 Corinthians, uh, which is located in modern Greece, right here.

Oops, got that.

Um, and so what we're gonna do is we're gonna be shifting the map over to here.

Let's go to that next slide, and we're gonna be talking about Galatia.

So Corinth is over here somewhere, Ephesus is right here, but now we're gonna be talking about this region right in here, which is modern-day Turkey.

Um, and it was referred to as Galatia by the Roman Empire because it was made up largely of immigrants from Gaul that immigrated to this region around the third century BC.

Now, Rome waged war many times against the Gauls, who at one time inhabited modern-day France, parts of Germany, parts of Switzerland, and parts of northern Italy.

And Rome defeated the Gauls in the second century, but they still left them with a lot of independence until under Julius Caesar the Romans waged war against the Gauls from 58 BC through 50 BC.

It was an eight-year war called the Gaelic Wars.

You might be familiar with that term from history.

And that's when Rome completely took them over.

And then in 25 BC, it officially became a Roman province.

Therefore, the Romans called it Galatia.

So Galatia, that's where that word comes from.

Now, the region of Galatia was one of the few places that Paul visited on all three of his missionary journeys, as we see in the book of Acts.

So let's talk about Galatia as it relates to Acts.

So we have a slide for that as well.

So on Paul's first missionary journey, which we find in Acts 13 and 14, we see Paul planting churches specifically in this region.

He'd first go into the synagogue in each town, and he would start by sharing the gospel there.

But once he was rejected by the Jews, he would take the message to the Gentiles in those towns and saw lots of people come to faith in Christ during those times.

You know, my old pastor used to say, you know, Paul didn't see revival in these areas because there was really nothing to revive.

Paul saw vival in these areas, in this region of just these mass amounts of people coming to Christ.

And then on his first journey, as he went from city to city, he then doubled back, he doubled back and revisited these cities to further encourage the new believers that he had just seen come to Christ.

And then in Acts 15, we see Paul, Barnabas, and a few others, they're sent to Jerusalem for what we now call the Jerusalem Council to figure out a hotly debated topic in this point in church history.

And that topic was should converted Gentiles be required to be circumcised?

And really the bigger question, should they be required to uphold the rest of the law of Moses as well?

Should basically should they become Jews first and then we can call them Christians.

The council ended up saying no, they shouldn't, but they did say that we should tell the converted Gentiles to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.

So that was the result of this council.

So as far as our timeline goes, you know, the question becomes: did Paul write Galatians before or after this council that we see in Acts 15?

Some scholars say, well, it was after because he refers to the council in chapter 2.

But then Paul makes a point in chapter 2 that he went to the Jerusalem leaders privately on that trip, and Jerusalem's uh the Jerusalem Council that we see in Acts seems to be much more public than what Paul describes in chapter 2.

So other scholars draw the conclusion that Galatians was written before the Jerusalem Council, otherwise, Paul surely would have mentioned the Jerusalem Council in the book of Galatians.

My personal opinion is that it doesn't really matter if it was on either side of Acts 15 because the council only confirmed what Paul was already teaching and basically just said, Paul, just keep doing what you're doing.

So, in any case, most do agree that Galatians was written within a couple years on either side of 50 AD.

The reason we're going into so much detail and we're telling you about this, it's important because Judaizers, who we talked about in 2 Corinthians, didn't agree with Paul, and they didn't agree with the decision that the Jerusalem Council arrived at.

And we're gonna get into that a bit.

Now, before we do that, let's just continue on our timeline.

So Paul goes on to his second missionary journey, which we find in Acts 16 through 1821.

And Paul, in the second missionary journey, he goes back to Galatia, he picks up Timothy, and then they spread the message regarding the decision that was made by the Jerusalem council.

First in Galatia, and then they move on to other regions.

And then on Paul's third missionary journey, which we see in Acts 18, 22 through 21, 17, it just says, as far as Galatia goes, it says, after spending some time in Jerusalem and Antioch, he set out, traveling through one place after another, in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

So that's all we know about Galatia and that third trip that Paul took.

So that's our Acts timeline that we're looking at regarding Paul and the Galatian churches.

Now, since planting these churches on his first journey, some Judaizers have shown up and once again questioned Paul's authority as an apostle and questioned the gospel of grace that he had preached to them.

Just like we saw a lot in 2 Corinthians.

So we're going to be talking a lot about these Judaizers as we go through this book of Galatians.

So I want to make sure that we understand that term well.

So the word Judaizer actually comes from Galatians 2.14, where it says, How can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?

And it's the only place that this word, it's a phrase in English, but it's a word in the Greek, it's the only place that this word is used in the New Testament.

So I want to throw it up so we can we can see this word and the definition.

It means to adopt Jewish customs and rites, imitate the Jews, and there it is.

Judaize, one who observes the ritual law of the Jews.

So Judaizers were those that preached Jesus and the law.

That you needed both of those things to be saved.

Basically saying you are saved by Jesus and the works that you do.

They made salvation by faith in Jesus through grace seem too easy.

So they would tell people, you know, salvation through Jesus and circumcision and becoming Jewish and basically upholding the Old Testament law.

So honoring the Sabbath, dietary laws, ceremonial washing before you eat, and on and on and on.

And that type of teaching was appealing to the flesh of the Galatians.

That type of teaching appeals to our flesh as well because it makes us feel like we've earned our salvation in some way, you know, and then allows us to start comparing ourselves to other Christians.

You know, having ideas in our head like, well, you know, I have my faults, but at least I'm not as bad as that guy, you know, and at least I'm not like them and I don't do this, this, and this.

So as Paul writes this letter to the Galatians, we'll see him start off defending the gospel that he preached to them, and then we'll largely spend his time talking about how we are saved by grace and not by works.

He'll talk a lot about freedom in Christ and what that means and what that looks like.

He's gonna talk a lot about justification.

You know, another word that I want to make sure that we understand from the get-go, because he's gonna be talking about justification.

And we get a great look at justification in Romans 3 verses 21 through 24, and we have a slide for that as well.

Romans 3:21–24

It says, But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the law and the prophets.

The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ.

To all believe who believe, since there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

They are, and there's that word, justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

You see, justification is God declaring us righteous when we come to faith in Jesus Christ.

It doesn't have anything to do with our works, it's God's declaration over us.

And this is the point that Paul's gonna be driving at home over and over and over through this book.

So really keep an eye on that as we make our way through Galatians.

So that's what we get to look forward to in the book of Galatians.

That's kind of a little bit of the history and the foundation of why this book was written and what we get to look forward to as we jump in.

So, with all of that, if you're able, let's stand for the reading of God's word.

We're gonna be reading chapter 1, verse 1 through verse 10.

Paul, an apostle, not from men or by man, but by 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 the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

To him be the glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him.

As we have said before, I now say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him.

For am I now trying to persuade people or God, or am I striving to please people?

If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for this new book that we get to start today and go through.

Lord, I know that there's so much that you have for each one of us in this book.

So I pray that we would approach you, that we would approach the study of your word with all humility and truly asking what you want to do in our lives through your word.

Lord, we want to be able to understand your word and then apply it to our lives.

Not just gain head knowledge, Lord, but that it would be heart knowledge and it would be the knowledge that changes us to become more and more like Jesus, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So, as we're gonna see, the first two chapters of Galatians, Paul is gonna give us this very brief introduction that we see here this morning, and then he's gonna focus on his story of how grace has affected his own personal life.

And then in chapters three and four, he'll explain the doctrine of grace, and then in chapters five and six, he's gonna explain the application of the grace of God in our lives.

So, in our verses today, we see that he wastes no time in jumping into that theme of grace.

And note that as we go through this intro, he's even weaving in this theme of grace, even in his inner, not even his introduction, but even in his salutation of hello, this is who I am, this is where the letter's coming from, this is who's with me at the time, and then jumps into the that correction we see in verse 6.

So keep an eye on how he's already starting to weave grace into the theme.

Look at verse 1.

Paul, an apostle, not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.

So, right off, Paul is establishing who this letter is from.

You know, we put our signatures at the end of letters, at the end of emails in our culture.

They started theirs with who the letter was from, which I think actually makes a lot more sense of knowing who you're reading the letter from, you know, before you actually start reading it.

But Paul confirms right here from the get-go that he is an apostle and that his apostleship was not something that was self-given, but that it was an appointment by Jesus Christ himself.

And he includes, and God the Father.

You know, with Paul not being one of the twelve original disciples that was with Jesus for those years, he had to face all kinds of questions of whether his apostleship was real or not.

So he mentions that it was Jesus that appointed him, not man.

Not James, it wasn't Peter, it wasn't even himself, but his appointment as an apostle was by Jesus Christ.

You know, specifically we see on the road to Damascus, that's how Paul was called into his apostleship.

And as we're gonna see next week in verse 12, Jesus also taught him the gospel himself.

And this is important because we'll see the Judaizers try and question Paul's authority along with the gospel that he preached.

So, in a way, Paul's telling him right off the bat if you disagree with the gospel that I preach to you, then you're disagreeing with Jesus Christ himself.

But I want us to notice that even in his calling in verse 1, he's starting to weave in the gospel.

You know, my calling is from Jesus Christ directly and God the Father, who by the way raised him from the dead.

Now in verse 2, we find out that Paul was not alone while he was writing this letter.

He says, And all the brothers who are with me to the churches in Galatia.

You know, this is simply a greeting.

It's not a statement that's saying that the writing of this letter was a group effort between me and all the people that were with me.

You know, Paul's gonna start using the term I here pretty soon and as he moves on to the instruction of this letter.

And then notice that he addressed the letter to the churches of Galatia, um, churches, plural of Galatia.

So we know this letter was meant to be passed around from church to church in this region.

It wasn't to one specific church or one specific person.

So all these churches in this region needed this message that Paul is writing, which tells me that the Judaizers were getting around to all of these churches as well that Paul had planted on his first missionary journey.

Look at verse 3 with me.

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

A lot of you know grace is a Gentile greeting, peace is a Jewish greeting, so he's really covering all of his bases here.

But it's so much deeper, I think, than just a greeting that Paul's giving this church.

Grace is the theme that we're gonna see throughout this whole letter.

But it's only by the grace of God that we can have peace with God, and therefore peace in every other way in our life as well.

And when you think about it, who would know this better than the Apostle Paul?

And who better to write this letter against the Judaizers than Paul himself?

You know, before his calling, Paul was persecuting God's church because he, in his own words, was a Pharisee of Pharisees, which meant that he thought grace was for Sisses until Jesus put him in his place on that road to Damascus, and he realized that it was only through the grace of Jesus that he could ever have peace with God for himself.

And then, after his conversion, he becomes the biggest proponent of grace in the New Testament.

Grace is mentioned by Paul, depending on the translation that you're counting in, over a hundred times in the New Testament.

He uses it more than all of the other authors in the New Testament combined.

So he starts off here and he says, Grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

He goes on to verse 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.

Again, do you see how he's already weaving the gospel into this?

Already talking about how Jesus gave, that word gave is key there.

He gave himself in our place to rescue us from our sin.

And it was to rescue us from the sin that we could not rescue ourselves from.

I have a question for you.

Does anybody else feel like they're living in a present evil age right now?

I really do.

You know, when you can so blatantly see the schemes of Satan working and not only working, but being celebrated because they're working.

You know, as I get older, I really feel like my disgust for sin and the effect that sin has on the world is growing daily.

You know, the effects of the curse on this earth and every human that's lived after the curse, it's heartbreaking.

And it feels like it becomes more and more heartbreaking every day.

But we can be encouraged.

Look at verse 4.

Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age.

When we give ourselves to Christ, we get to start living for a different kingdom.

The kingdom of God.

And we soon realize that this broken world that has been ravaged by sin is not our home.

And the rescue that we see here does not mean that we're removed from this world when we commit our lives to Jesus Christ.

That will happen when we die or we're snatched up to heaven.

But there is a rescue from our current state that Paul is speaking of here.

I think David Guzick put it best in his commentary.

So I just want to read you a little passage.

He says, the idea behind the word deliver is not deliverance from the presence of something, but deliverance from the power of something.

We will not be delivered from the presence of this present evil age until we go to be with Jesus.

But we can experience the deliverance from the power of this present evil age right now.

You know, we're gonna have to deal with the presence of sin.

We're gonna have to deal with the curse until we are with Jesus.

But it has no power over us anymore.

Because Jesus has come to our rescue, Paul says.

And then he says in verse 5, To him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

So I have another question.

And I I'm not asking this question to make anybody feel guilty, but to really think about, and I need to think about it just as much as anybody.

When was the last time that you gave glory to God for your salvation?

I know that I need that reminder to glory in the gift of salvation that Jesus has given me, and I need it often.

You know, I've been walking with Christ since I was a kid, and I know that I can get callous and I can get nonchalant sometimes when it's talking about Jesus' salvation.

You know, and as we mature, we can start to slip a little bit into elevating ourselves and taking some credit for what God has really done in our life.

But the whole plan of salvation through grace is ultimately for the glory of God.

And not for our glory.

So Paul points them once again to God and away from themselves when it comes to regarding salvation.

Now we're going to see here, Paul's going to turn from his greeting section, and then he's going to immediately start addressing some issues that the Galatian churches have, which is really unlike Paul and his other letters.

Right about here, he usually says something like he did to the Romans.

Right here at this point in this letter.

But here he goes straight into it in verse 6.

He says, I'm amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

There's no encouraging words here for the Galatian churches.

You know, he's not saying, I thank God for you, or anything like that.

He just jumps right into his shock of them turning from grace to a different gospel, which I think kind of adds an element of severity to what Paul's doing here in his correction of the Galatians.

He wastes no time.

It's like we just need to get to business, guys.

But as we talk so much about in 2 Corinthians, any gospel that is Jesus and anything else is a false gospel.

If it's Jesus and works, which we're talking about right here, it is a false gospel.

When it's Jesus and anything else, any other road, that is a false gospel.

But notice how Paul says that they were turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ.

Another question for you.

Can you earn a gift?

You can respond.

Can you earn a gift?

If you earn it, it's called a wage, not a gift, right?

And if it's a gift, it means that it was something that was given free.

There's no cost to it.

These false teachers preaching another gospel were teaching that you had to earn your free gift of salvation.

That doesn't even make sense, does it?

When you put that all together?

Just like works-based salvation makes absolutely no sense as well.

He goes on in verse 7.

Not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Your translation may say pervert the gospel of Christ.

You know, the gospel simply means good news.

The gospel of Christ is the good news that He came to this earth.

He lived a perfect life.

He died the death that we deserved on the cross as payment for our sins.

He was buried and rose by the power of God on the third day, defeating death in the grave and proving that he was God, paving a way for salvation to be a free gift that just has to be received by us and not paid for with our works.

And then the Judaizers are coming in and saying, Yeah, sure, sure, sure.

But you also need to be circumcised.

And you also need to honor the Sabbath.

And you also need to follow these dietary laws, and you also need to really uphold the law in the whole of the Old Testament.

That was the distorting of the gospel that he's referring to here in verse 7.

Paul wanted them to know the simplicity of the gospel he taught them and that it could stand all by itself.

It wasn't too easy.

Like what I first taught you guys, he's like, just stick with that.

That's all that you need.

You know, and some people really get weirded out by how Paul refers to the gospel that he preached to the Romans, as we see in Romans.

He did it twice.

He called it my gospel.

And they think because of that, that maybe Paul's gospel is different than Peter's, and maybe Peter's gospel is even different than James.

But this verse right here flat out destroys those arguments.

He says, not that there is another gospel.

There's only one true gospel of Jesus Christ, and there's no variations to it.

When Paul refers to the gospel that he taught, or even calls it my gospel, he's only differentiating the gospel that he preached from that of false teachers, not from Peter or any of the other apostles.

Because, as he says, there's only one true gospel.

Look at verse 8 with me.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him.

Angels can fall.

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

So even if you have this supernatural experience, it doesn't mean that you can believe any supernatural being that may show up.

Even if an angel varies from the gospel that Paul taught them, he's saying, don't believe him.

After all, Paul was taught the gospel, as we already mentioned, by Jesus himself.

And anyone that spoke a different gospel who perverts the gospel, Paul says, a curse be on him.

And in case they forgot, look at verse 9.

As we have said before, I now say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him.

He says it twice, so he really wants to drive home his point here.

You know, this really reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew 18, 6.

He said, But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be thrown in the depth of the sea.

You see, Jesus takes it seriously when somebody causes a child of God to stumble.

And a false gospel does exactly that.

It's causing this Galatian church troubles and it's causing them to stumble.

Look at verse 10.

For I am now trying to persuade people, or for am I now trying to persuade people or God?

Or am I striving to please people?

You know, the idea here really is: am I trying to win over the approval of man or of God in my ministry?

Which is rhetorical.

He's obviously concerned only with God's approval, but it makes me think that the false teachers were appealing to the flesh to win over the approval of man.

Probably especially from those that are Jewish and want nothing to do with Jesus.

Maybe a compromise between the two faiths.

Oh, we can do it both ways.

They were teaching a gospel that made them popular and that fed the flesh of the Galatians.

And he finishes with verse 10.

He said, If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

This really kind of makes me chuckle.

True servants of Christ are not serving Christ to please people.

True servants of Christ usually have a good amount of opposition and a good amount of critics.

Because they aren't trying to please man.

And they're not trying to please their Christian, uh, their critics.

They're just trying to do what God has called them to do.

You know, and this word for servant here is not the one we saw in 2 Corinthians that means deacon.

This is the word for bond servant or slave, an outright slave.

We have a slide for this word as well.

A slave, bondman, man of servical condition, a slave, metaph, one who gives himself up to another's will, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men, devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests.

A servant, attendant.

That's all in that word that Paul used right there for servant.

You know, I'd say Paul is devoted to another to the disregard of his own interests.

Isn't he?

I told you that I chuckle when I read the second half of verse 10.

Because if Paul were trying to please a man, do you think he would have been stoned or whipped or beaten by man?

You know, if somebody is truly trying to become famous and win the approval of man, the worst course of action you can take is preaching the one true gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's never been popular.

And if we preach the gospel and we stand up for the one true gospel, we will suffer persecution.

You know, to this point in U.S.

history, none of us have had to suffer the persecution to the extent that Paul has, but we get plenty of eye rolls from our family, don't we?

Thanksgiving?

Anyone coming up, looking up, looking forward to that?

We get maybe made fun of at our workplace for being true followers of Christ or preaching the one true gospel.

We get painted as hateful because we believe that there's only one true road to heaven, and we believe that the Bible is still true and correct for today.

You know, Paul knew this to a much greater extent than we do.

And he was ready to die defending the gospel if that's what it took.

He was the furthest thing from a people pleaser.

If he was a people pleaser, he would have said, Hey Galatia, you know, if it feels good, do it.

Just follow your heart, Galatia.

You know, yeah, the Judaizer's message is different, but as long as your heart's in the right place, you do you, Galatia.

You know?

No, Paul will continue to say to them, there's one gospel.

You're saved by faith through the grace of Jesus Christ.

Justification is given to you by God.

You cannot earn any of this.

And next week we'll see that as we uh we're gonna see that as we get to see some of Paul's testimony as well, that you cannot earn any of this.

But for this morning, my hope is that we here this morning, this group, can leave with a deeper appreciation for the grace of God in our own lives.

Believing that His grace is sufficient and that we don't need to supplement it with anything.

You know, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.

I read this last week as well.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Salvation is a gift.

It's free to us, but it cost Jesus his life.

Let's glory in that gift.

That we just have to reach out and accept that gift, and it is free to us.

Let's glory in the fact that God has declared us righteousness or declared us righteous if we have accepted that gift.

And that we get to live in the freedom of Christ now and not under the burden of the law.

We have so much to be thankful for in that gift of grace that God the Father and Jesus Christ Himself have given so freely to each one of us.

And if you're here today and you have not accepted that free gift, Jesus is just holding it out, saying, Whoever wants this free gift, just reach out and take it as your own.

It is a free gift.

And I want to encourage you this morning to reach out and take that free gift if you have not done that yet.

He's already done all the work, he's already paid the price.

Our end is just reaching out and accepting that.

And if you do that, you can just do it in the quietness of your own seat.

You can come up and talk with us after, and we can pray with you.

But it's just accepting that gift and saying, Jesus, I surrender and I accept that gift of salvation, the work that you did on the cross for my sins to forgive me and to wash me and to cleanse me so that I can enter into this relationship with you.

Let's pray.

Lord, we want to glory in the gift of salvation.

Glory in the fact that you have given your son Jesus Christ to pay the debt that we could not pay, that we had accrued, and there was no way for us to pay it.

To come and to live a perfect life on this earth and to pay the price through his death that we deserve to pay, death on a cross.

Lord, I pray that we would never grow callous to that fact.

That we would only glory in it more and more as we realize what wretched sinners that we were before we came to you.

And realizing that we are still far from perfect in our actions and in the sin that we are still dealing with while we are in this other kingdom, while we're not face to face with you.

But I pray, while I thank you, God, that you see us as righteous, that you declare us through justification as righteous in your sight because of the works of Jesus, and that we can accept those works as our own.

Lord, help us to glory in your grace, that your grace is sufficient, that we don't need to add to it, that we don't need to try and earn it, but from the day that we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that we have been justified by your grace.

And that we would glory in those daily.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.