Galatians 1:1-10

No. Well, today we're at the book of Galatians, my second favorite book of the Bible. Why don't we go ahead and pray? We'll get into the Lord's word together. Coffee first and pray. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for the blessing it is. to have your son and to have the gospel that tells us about your son. Father, we pray that you would bless us as we get into the book of Galatians. We pray that you would teach us and encourage us, warn us and build us up in Jesus's name.
Amen. All right. So we're at the book of Galatians. Do you know what? what galatia is so galatia was a region kind of in the center of what we call turkey today so so it's that region so it's not just to the church but to the churches in that region well second corinthians is written to the church in corinth Yeah, this is this is Galatians, right so right here so I'll let you actually read one through five But through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren who are all with me the church of Galatians Read it carefully and all the brethren to the churches to the churches of Galatia. Praise to you and peace from God the Father.
Oh Lord Jesus Christ, you gave yourself forth for us that you might deliver that he might deliver us from this present evil egg according to the will of all gods and bodies to whom we be glory forever and ever. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to prevent or to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, for an angel from God, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. So we already talked about where Galatia is. Paul here is going to again defend his apostleship in the book of Galatians.
So in 2nd Corinthians, there's a whole bunch of people who have kind of thought, oh, maybe Paul's not a real apostle and stuff like that. Now, Paul has to defend both his office as an apostle and his message as an apostle. Right. So Paul, an apostle. And how did Paul become an apostle? What does it say in verse one? Um. Not for me, no. Nope, not from men nor not not though nor Through man How did Paul become an apostle was it through man was it because of men How did he become an apostle who sent him?
Oh That's right. Jesus and God, the father who raised Jesus from the dead. That's his apostolic authority. Do you remember what apostle means? Well, yeah, kind of. Yeah. So messenger, you want to know the word for messenger in Greek? Angelos. What do you think Angelos sounds like? Angel, right? Yeah, so sometimes it's an angel, sometimes it's a messenger, but this is apostolos. This is a sent out one. So who was he sent out? Who was he made an apostle through? Through Jesus Christ, right? He says, and all the brethren who are with me to the churches of Galatia.
And he wants to start off with a greeting. Right. So normally in a Greek letter, you would say, hey, rain, which means greeting. But here he starts with. Harris. The grace to you and peace from God, the father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself. And so he talks about the gospel right away. Isn't this great? So right away he says grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever heard someone say that before? Who do you hear say that? Right. Every every Lord's Day when we start church, right? Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here it's. God, the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then it talks about Jesus in verse four. What does it say about Jesus? Who gave himself for us? OK, so he gave himself. for our sins. What does that mean? That's right. He made him who knew no sin become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. so we want to so it's Jesus who's the one who atoned for our sins remember we talked about the great swap remember that what is the great swap that's right we were sinful he was righteous He takes our sin. He gives us his righteousness. That's called double imputation. Right, but in in the first part of imputation where he takes our sins, this is the atonement is that he washes us from our sins, right?
Good. That he might. Oh, why did Jesus? Why did Jesus die from for our sins? What's to say here that he might? Well read it closely that he might deliver us That he might deliver us from this present evil age is that so true today Do we live in evil times? Yeah Did Jesus just save us from? you know Yeah, but has he saved us for eternity? Has he saved us that in our lives right now that we live in an evil age, we can live under God?
Right. And whose whose decision was this? What's that? God the Father. This is according to the will of our God and Father. But this was God's plan. This is God's choice. And who receives the glory because of this? That's right. To whom be glory forever and ever.
Pretty good way to start off a letter, huh? You think I preach a whole sermon from that? You think I have preached a whole sermon from that? Did you know when you were a little tiny baby, you heard me preach Galatians? I don't think you did. I think you would have been a newborn. Well, he jumps right into the problem. In verse six through 10. What's he what's he surprised by?
What's going on in some of the churches in Galatia? That's right people are preaching a different gospel Right. He says I marveled that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel Which is not another do you know what the word gospel means? Good news and he's saying it's not even good news Yeah It's not the good news Or it's not even a good news. Right. And so he says, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the good news of Christ. And what does he say in verse eight? But even if we or what? Angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you that what we have preached to you, let him be a cause. Can you believe an angel would preach a gospel different than Jesus's? You could. Yeah. Right. This comes from the pit of hell, not from the heights of heaven.
And so he says, even if an angel was to come to you with another gospel, should you believe them? What if they come and they have mighty powers? What if they come and they're really persuasive? What if they come and they possess great wealth? What if they come and they have amazing power? What if they come and they give revelation to somebody who's uneducated? Meaning gives, seems to give new word from God, even though that person is uneducated and all of a sudden they're able to start writing.
No. Did you know that's what happened with Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism? Yeah, he thought he got new revelation, but his gospel was different than the one that had been received. Did you know that's what happened with Muhammad? Yeah, he received new revelation from an angel, Gabriel. What was his gospel, the gospel that was received? No, actually, it was that angel who tricked him and and said, oh, this is the Christians have corrupted the Bible. The Christians have had given a different gospel than my gospel. No. So he says, even if an angel. Myself and another apostle or even an angel should come and preach to another gospel, what do you think you should do?
What's that? You're accursed. Yeah, you are accursed. That's right. As we have said before, so now we say again, if anyone preaches another gospel to you other than what we have received, other than what you have received, let him be accursed. Isn't that a little harsh? No. No. Why not? But why do they have to be accursed? Doesn't that seem hard? I mean, he's saying they're anathema, they're gonna go to hell. But doesn't that seem harsh? You know what I think is harsh?
Damning other people to hell with a false gospel. Tricking other people away from following the Lord Jesus Christ. Telling other people that somehow they can atone for their own sins by going on some pilgrimage or keeping some crazy sets of laws rather than depending on the grace and peace of Jesus Christ. And so he ends it in verse 10, he says, Do I now persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ. You remember what Paul was before he became an apostle of Jesus?
No, he was a Pharisee. He wasn't just a Pharisee, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees, a Hebrew of Hebrews. And he was a persecutor of the church. We'll read that tomorrow. But. If he was going to please men, was he already doing that? Oh, yeah, he was. Well, right here now. Well, yeah, not here and now but I'm saying in his before he became a bondservant of Jesus was he already pleasing people Did people like his message Yeah, they did Right. He was advancing.
He was doing great stuff people liked him So why would he give all that up to follow Jesus? He was preaching a fake message. But more than that, he didn't know the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But once he came to know Jesus. Could he do anything else?
No. And so Paul says, I wanted to go and be a people pleaser, I would have stayed in Jerusalem. Right, but instead I came and I knew I knew Jesus Christ or Jesus Christ made himself known to Paul. And so now he's a slave of Jesus. Right, so he's defending his apostleship. What do you think, Baba?
What would be the best verse to underline in this whole section? I think three. Three through, oh, you can't do more than one verse, can you? Well, it's kind of like a chunk, like it all ties together. That's okay. I was actually going to say three through five and eight. That would be mine.
Well, let's talk about calling, see calling. What are we supposed to do in response to these words? Not follow. Yeah, not follow other gospels, right? Even ones that mean we maybe wouldn't think about like coming from an angel. But are there all sorts of people who tell us how to live a good life? All sorts of gurus, all sorts of mentors. But if it doesn't. Rest and it isn't rooted in Jesus Christ. Well, it's probably not true. But is it really the good news? No. People will try to tell us there's good news.
Here's how you can live the good life. You can get a good job, make a lot of money, buy nice things, and then you have a good life. There are people who say, well, you can you can live poor and be satisfied and give all your money to the poor. And then as you as you divest yourself of all the earthly good things, then you'll live a good life and then the Lord will receive you. There are people who say, Oh, the good life is about, is about not necessarily all the stuff, but all the pleasures. But you can, you can go and you could fulfill your heart with life and with, with, uh, experiences, and then you'll have meaning for your life.
Is that the good news? No. But yeah, there are all sorts of people who try to convince us of different gospels. Where do we go to find the true gospel? That's right. That's right, we go to the gospels, we go to the gospel, we go to Paul, Peter, James, John. And we go, we go to the scriptures. Oh, you ready to pray with them? OK. Father, thank you. So much.
That you have told us about Jesus Christ. that you have presented him to us in the gospel. Lord, we pray that we would receive the apostolic gospel and that we would receive and rest on Jesus Christ alone, the one who is atoned for our sins, the one who delivers us from this present evil age. And Father, we pray that we would follow you all the days of our lives. In Jesus's name, amen. May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with you. May you believe the gospel and follow him all the days of your life. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye. Oh, sure.
I guess you could tell a joke. You're always this joke teller. What was the greatest grape in grape history? What was the greatest grape in grape history? Oh, I know it. No doubt. What? Who was it? Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great. Don't encourage this kid. I'm just kidding. All right. Love you. All right. Talk to you guys tomorrow. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.