Galatians 1:11-24

Galatians 1:11-24

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Call to Apostleship

11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Contacts at Jerusalem

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)

21 Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. 23 But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God in me.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Gal 1:11-24

• Transcript

  Oh, here we go. Wonderful. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. This where every day you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, Lord willing you and I will make it from the book of Acts to the book of fine Lehman. And today we're at Galatians chapter one verses 11 through the end of the chapter. Let's have a little bit of coffee, we'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's word. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is. To be your children, to follow after you to hear Your word. Lord, we pray that we would father we would love you that we would know you and that you would direct our steps. In Jesus's name, Amen. Are you aware? The Book of Galatians chapter one beginning at verse 11 Galatians chapter one will begin at verse 11. And we'll read through the end of the chapter together this morning. But I make known to you brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man, for I neither received it from man nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ, for you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church beyond measure, and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my father's, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem, those to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. And then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him 15 days, but I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed before God, I do not lie. Afterward, I went into the regions of Syria and solicit them. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ, but they were hearing only he who formally persecuted us now preaches the faith, which he wants to try to destroy. And they glorified God in me. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about? Be? What's the best verse to summarizes and see, what are we called to do? In response to these words, so ame What's this about? Paul is concerned about the people in the churches of Galatia. Right, Paul is concerned similarly to second Corinthians where people were questioning his apostleship now here in in Galatia people are also questioning his apostleship his teachings, and there's what theologians call the group of the Judaizers and the Judaizers are those who are as we're going to find out as we go through the book of Galatians are trying to say in order to be truly a Christian, you have to follow all the law and you have to be circumcised. And so these Jude AI visors are questioning Paul's apostleship his authority where he got his message from and are implying that Paul's Gospel is different than that of James Paul's Gospel is different than that of Peters. And so we find here is a refutation against those ideas and a defense of his own ministry. He starts here in verse 11. Are that he made? No, but I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man, for I neither received it from men nor was I taught it, but it came how, through the revelation of Jesus Christ, it was God who gave the good news to Paul. Not men, not from someone in Jerusalem. Not from another Apostle Paul didn't get it secondhand, but it was Jesus Christ Himself, who gave Paul his message and sent him to go to the Gentiles. So he doesn't receive it from Peter. Paul doesn't receive his apostolic message from James. He received it from Jesus Christ. And so he's defending his his apostleship here that is Jesus who gave him instruction as Jesus who sins him. For you. I've heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond my contemporaries in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my father. See, he says, remember who I was. Right? It doesn't make sense for me to make myself an apostle of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus, because I was already a disciple the law. I was advancing in Judaism. I was so good at being a Pharisee I was trying to destroy Jesus's church. And it Jesus pricked my heart. Jesus grabbed Paul, Paul, Paul, why are you kicking against the goats? Hey, are you arrested his soul he changed his heart he he radically transformed his life. So much so the verse 15 But when it please God who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. See, he says, God chose me from my mother's womb. He saved me by His grace. And this didn't come through someone else's preaching. I wasn't discipled by the apostle. See, I'm not a second hand, recipient of this good news. But Paul says he went out into the desert. And there, Jesus discipled him there. God Himself, taught Paul to the rest of the disciples walked with Jesus for three years through Nazareth, Galilee, Capernaum in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. They went all in that area, but Paul goes out to the desert place that Jesus was tempted, and there for three years he's discipled by Jesus. And then he comes back to Damascus. Then he goes back. And after those three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. Right, this is three years later. Then I finally went to Jerusalem. That's what I met Peter says, I didn't I didn't get it from him. Right. When I first became a Christian, no, I went and I saw people Peter in Jerusalem after I became a Christian. And he says that he stayed with him for 15 days, right two weeks in a day he was with him. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. And then after that, then he went into the regions of Assyrians illicium. And the people in Judea they didn't even know about him. All they knew was his reputation, right. He had tried to kill the churches and now he was preaching the gospel of Christ. This was the radical transformation that God had done in the Apostle Paul's life. This was the office he had given him as he had saved him for this work. So what's this whole section about? It's Paul saying, This is how I came to know Christ. This is how I was given the gospel of Christ. This is how I was sent by Christ. And this is my relationship to the other apostles, and to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. So he's, he's laying his evangelical qualifications, his bonafides you know, this is, this is who he is, as an apostle, not by the will of man, but by the will of God was the best verse to summarize this. Well, in that first section, verses 11 through 17. I'd probably underline verses 11 and 12. And then, I probably underline verse 18, and 19 in the second section, about after three years, then he went and saw Peter and James, we're going to read more about interactions between Paul and the other apostles and leaders and Jerusalem next time when we get into chapter two, calling what are we called to do? Well, one were called to be amazed. Right? Be amazed that God saved Paul's life. Now, this is a second hand application, but maybe there's someone in your life that you think I'm not sure they could ever be saved. That drew right, God could save the hardest hearted person. Would you pray for them? Would you plead with God that they might be one of his elect? We don't know. We don't know who God has chosen. But a more no right away application. When we read the words of Paul, people, even biblical scholars, we can put that in scare quotes. If we want, have tried to drive a wedge between Paul and Peter, Paul and James and there's no wedge to be driven and find out tomorrow that the tie is even closer. And so when we pick up the writings of the apostles, we know that Paul's writings are from Christ Himself. These aren't the teachings of Paul these are the teachings of Christ. This is the gospel that Jesus Himself gave to Paul is giving to the churches. So when we pick up our Bible, we ought to lean in and listen. Read it and remember it. Why don't we pray? Father, we thank you so much. That you by your supernatural power reached down from heaven and seized the Apostle Paul's heart. Father, we pray that when we come to the word when we pick up the writings of the apostle Paul that we would know that it's your teaching, not second hand, not second rate. But it's honey to our lips. balm to our souls. The divine word from heaven. Lord, we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit we believe, Lord, we thank you that you stooped down and spoke to us. And you'd speak to us in Your word. Lord, we pray that we would have hearts to read and believe in Jesus's name Amen. Amen. Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ, and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye. Transcribed by https://otter.ai