Grace Abounds

A Sermon Series Through the Book of Galatians

“No One Is Beyond the Reach of His Amazing Grace”

Galatians 1:10-24

 Introduction

There once was a man who was searching for his keys under the street light. His friends came along stopped and asked him “Exactly, where did you drop your keys?” “In my house,” the man answered. “In your house? Then why are you looking out here?” “Because the light is better out here.”

You are not going to find what you are looking for unless you are looking in the right place. Most people are looking for spiritual life in the wrong place. Originally the Galatian people knew where to find the key to salvation. They had heard Paul’s message and had been saved by putting their faith in Jesus Christ. Now they were confused. They began to listen to legalists who said they needed two keys to be saved – faith and good works. Confused the Galatians were looking for the key to salvation and Christian maturity in the wrong place.[1]

 Prayer

Paul’s Defense of His Authority to Share the Gospel (vv.10-11)

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.

Paul’s critics were saying that Paul had watered down what it takes to please God, or to be right with him (justification) by removing the requirement to follow the law. Paul then refutes this claim by asking two questions (v. 10). His motive is to please God and not men.

Regarding Paul following the earthly traditions of man, or looking religious to others, Paul says, Philippians 3:4-6 “. . . If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

If salvation was about keeping rules, and appearing religious Paul had accomplished that. He walked away from trying to appear a certain way to men, and is now seeking the approval of God alone. You can’t follow the rules of this world, to be liked by the people of this world, and preach the gospel (and please God at the same time).

Martin Luther said, “. . . For the world finds nothing more irritating and intolerable than hearing its wisdom, righteousness, religion, and power condemned . . . For if we denounce men and all their efforts, it is inevitable that we quickly encounter bitter hatred, persecution, excommunication, condemnation, and execution.”[2]

Have you ever heard the saying, “God really doesn’t mind what you believe as long as you are sincere?” Paul was incredibly sincere against those he saw as the enemy of God – even to the point of killing them. Emotionally Paul was invested fully in the belief that Jesus followers had to be stamped out. His mind was not going to be changed by a reasonably stated argument. Nothing was going to convince him that what he was doing was wrong – God had to do it. He was violent, a persecutor, and an arrogant man.

God can change the heart of any man.

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

No one led Paul to the Lord. He did not read a gospel tract, he did not go forward and talk to a preacher at the end of a worship service. He did not receive it, and he was not taught the gospel – then how does he know the gospel? Paul doesn’t argue proofs from theology – he simply tells his story. “He argues for the divine origin and nature of the gospel by describing the profound change the gospel has made in his life.”[3]

 Paul Was an Enemy of the Gospel – Paul’s Need For Grace (vv. 12-14)

12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

“For you have heard of my former life . . .”

Paul did not make himself an apostle, and the gospel did not come from men – (v. 1) “Paul, an apostle — not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father . . .” Paul points to his own life as proof that God changes lives. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Paul fully understood what the false teachers were pushing – he himself had taught and believed the same thing before he came to know Christ. He was zealous for this belief to the point of trying to stamp out the early Christian church (Acts 7).

(v. 13) “I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it,” – His use of the word “destroy” stresses that in his former life his actions against the church were exceptionally violent and that he had intended to obliterate it. Acts 8:3 “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” He was “breathing threats and murder” against the church (9:1).

Paul was sincere in his beliefs – he persecuted other people who thought differently than he did, he was violent and destructive. He was extremely zealous for the traditions of his beliefs.

Paul Moved From Persecutor to Preacher – Paul Receives Grace (vv. 15-17)

15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born,[4] and who called me by his grace, 16 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; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

 “But when he . . . called me by his grace, . . .”

So how did Paul go from zealously persecuting the church to being a top leader in its ranks? Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and he was saved (Acts 9). God called Paul (destined before he was even born) to preach the gospel.

He was saved by God’s grace, and he was called to gospel ministry by God’s grace – both were from God, not his own doing. He went from persecutor to preacher because God worked in his heart.

The other 12 had seen Christ, lived with him, were called by him, trained by him and commissioned by him – Paul was not there during any of that. How could he then claim to be an apostle? Paul’s salvation and calling was based on revelation. Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and there called him to salvation and ministry. Once saved, Paul could have gone straight to the other apostles and learned from them. Instead, he did not consult any man, “his purpose in going to Arabia was to pray, study, and be alone with the Lord.”[5]

(v. 17) So, when Paul says, “nor did I go up to Jerusalem,” – Paul wants us to understand that the gospel he received from God was not influenced by the teaching of any men.

 Paul Met With Certain Apostles – Paul’s Life Having Received Grace (vv. 18-20)

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!)

 After having been taught by Christ for three years, now he could move to fellowship with other apostles as a fellow apostle (not student). Paul uses the word, “to visit” – it is a very specific word, and it is only used here in the NT. It means “to inquire, to get acquainted.”[6] He wants us to understand that he did not go there to be taught.

Acts 9:29 shows that while he was visiting with Peter and James there was a plot to kill him, so he flees to Syria and Cilicia (Acts 21:39, 22:3).

So he swears an oath, “In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!” (v. 20) this is the type of oath that one would swear in court. Paul is giving this account to show that he did not receive the gospel from anyone, it was revealed to him from God. “He neither invented nor inherited his gospel. He did not make it up on his own and he did not get it from anyone else – not before his conversion, not during his conversion, and not after.”[7]

There is Glory to God Because of Heart Change – Paul’s Life After His Conversion (vv. 21-24)

 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”  24 And they glorified God because of me.

“He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith”

So where did the gospel come from? Paul says, v. 12 “I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” And again in v. 16 “was pleased to reveal his Son to me,” It was something unknown and covered by God, but then revealed or uncovered and shown to Paul. When Paul was on the road to Damascus and Christ appeared to him, Acts 9:4 “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Paul knew that he was Jesus, and that He was killed on a Roman cross (for our sin), had risen now from the dead because He is appearing to him.

(v. 23) ““He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” This is the effect of the gospel upon a person. Paul held the coats of those that killed the first Christian martyr Stephen. He was zealous in his attempt to wipe out those that followed Jesus. His reputation was that of man who was incredibly religious and fought against threats to his beliefs.

So when he arrives as a Christian, the churches were concerned – but the power of the gospel is that it radically changes a person’s heart. When the church heard of what Jesus did in Paul’s heart, “they glorified God because of me.” Paul also said in 1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

If you have a false gospel there is no hope for a transformed life.

The reason we gather, in the name of Christ, is because we know and have come to understand that we needed and continue to need radical life transformation. We are sinners in need of salvation. We continue to be sinners in need of grace and, like Pail, we share in the responsibility to share this gospel so that others can know life transformation and be set free from sin.

Paul’s argument for the soul changing power of the gospel was to tell his story. There is no difference for us today, you are the best argument for the transformational power of the gospel. Nothing is more real than you telling your story of how you came to know and understand the gospel. Remember Paul’s words and le them help you share your story:

“For you have heard of my former life . . .” This is what your life was like before you knew Jesus. “But when he . . . called me by his grace, . . .” This is when you heard the gospel and placed your faith in Jesus. “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith” This is what your life is life after you were saved by God’s grace.

For me my grandparents would come and pick me up and take me to church. But I had no interest in what was taught there, in fact it taught me how to appear good on the outside and disguise who I was on the inside. Then one day, in middle school I was sitting on the school bus when a special-needs little boy sat next to me. He smiled too much, and was just not cool like I was.

When it came time for the boy to step off the bus, I tripped him and he fell down the steps of the bus. His mom was there to pick him up, dust off his clothes, gather the scattered parts of his lunch box, and hold his hand as they walked back to their house. The other kids on the bus laughed and pointed fingers at him as we drove off – but I was not laughing. I knew my heart was dark and that I was pretending.

Later that summer I went to a VBS where the pastor came and explained the gospel during craft time – and I jumped at the chance to be saved from my sin. I knew I needed Jesus and His grace, and now I have been called by Jesus to preach the gospel that has changed my soul.

Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” The gospel is the power of God to save the most hardened violent criminal. We forget the power of the gospel to change the hardened heart.

“John Newton, the eighteen-century pastor, was a man who understands the power of the gospel and the grace of God. He was the author of the timeless hymn, “Amazing Grace,” whose lyrics seem to tell each of our stories better than we ourselves could. But before Newton was a great Christian hymn writer, he was a rascal, a slave trader, a rebel.

But God stepped in and saved Newton, and before his death he wrote is own epitaph that he wanted put into marble, It read, “John Newton, Clerk, Once an Infidel and Libertine, A servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith, He had long labored to destroy.”[8]

The violent slave trader radically saved by the gospel and died a preacher of what changed him forever. That is Amazing Grace. Do you know Jesus today? Do you want Him to change your wicked heart and free you from your sin?

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[1] Illustration from Anders, 19.

[2] Ryken, 24.

[3] Todd Wilson, Preaching the Word, Galatians, Gospel Rooted Living (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2013) 44.

[4] The Pharisees believed that they were set apart for God because of their keeping the law, Paul explains that it was God and his plan that set Paul apart (God’s grace), not how Paul lived his life or followed the law.

[5] Max Anders, Holman New Testament Commentary, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, & Colossians (Nashville, Tennessee; Homan Reference, 1999) 9.

[6] L. Ann Jervis, New International Biblical Commentary, Galatians (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishing, 2005) 47.

[7] Ryken, 30.

[8] Wilson, 48.