Wise up
Sunday sermon July 30, 2006 (Galatians 1:1-5, through Galatians part 1)
Intro: People do some of the dumbest things.
Here is a top 10 list of famous last words:
• Okay, Let it down slowly
• What does this button do?
• Step back a bit, I can’t get you in the picture.
• It’s OK, I saw them do it on TV
• What duck?
• Hey everyone, watch this!
• Well we’ve made it this far.
• The odds of that happening have to be a million to one!
• These are the good kind of mushrooms.
• I’ll get a world record for this.
People do a lot of really stupid things! / I don’t mean to be insulting; but it’s true.
Hopefully you have learned from your stupid mistakes.
We are starting a new series; we will be studying through the entire book of Galatians
The Galatians had begun down a very stupid path and Paul writes to them in an attempt to bring them back to their senses. They had accepted a very small looking lie, a very reasonable, seemingly beneficial lie. This “little” lie actually threatened their salvation.
They had given up their freedom in Christ and started relying on good behavior for their merit.
Our problem, as God sees it, isn’t our need to behave, our need is for freedom.
I invite you to join me on a journey from bondage to freedom in our study of Galatians.
• I suggest you read and reread and reread this book. In fact I hope you read it a dozen times over the course of the next few weeks.
• We need to take that knowledge and put it to use in our lives.
• As we go through this book we will be teaching and preaching on some the biggest concepts of Biblical truth.
o How to understand the difference between God’s Law and God’s Grace
o Sowing and reaping
o Christian liberty, faith and freedom
o Living by the flesh or living by the spirit.
• I also recommend Ted Haggard’s book on Galatians called “Foolish No More”
• The Book of Galatians is one of the most important books in all of the Bible:
Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe, has written about the freedom march of Galatians. He says, “The Galatian letter is not a book to be taken lightly. Galatians was Martin Luther’s charter of liberty during the Reformation. Luther’s writings, in turn, brought the truth of salvation by faith to John Wesley’s heart…It was Wesley whom God used in such a remarkable way to spearhead revival in the British Isles…that revival positively affected the entire English-speaking world. As we study Galatians, we are participating in a tremendous spiritual chain reaction that even today could result in another revival.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee wrote: “In a sense I believe this epistle has been the backbone and background for every great spiritual movement and revival that has taken place in the past nineteen hundred years. And, my friend, it will be the background for other revivals. I would like to see the Spirit of God move in our land today. I would like to hear the Epistle to the Galatians declared to America. I believe it would revolutionize lives.”
I pray that this study of Galatians will literally change your whole life. I pray that God’s Spirit will speak directly into your spirit. I don’t want this to be a simple academic exercise but a literal revival of your heart.
This study is for you if,
• If you have fought battle after battle to try and free yourself from the shackles of guilt and shame…
• If you have tried to measure up, but constantly feel that you fall short…
• If you feel that you could never be the man or woman that God wants you to be…
• If you are struggling with sin and find it hard to make good choices in life…
• If you are struggling with religious legalism,
• If you lack power to resist sin, if you feel condemned and guilty,
• If you don’t feel forgiven, then I have good news for you!
Galatians is for you! You can have freedom. You can experience it daily.
Text: Galatians 1:1-5 Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia: 3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
I. Seeing Jesus changes everything!
“Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:”
a. Super Saint Saul meets the King of Kings!
• The immaculate credentials of a murder
1. Philippians 3:4b-7
2. But he didn’t actually know God and he was a murder in his heart.
3. He was completely lost and doomed for Hell.
• Damascus road
1. Acts 9:1-19 “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats…”
2. Jesus confronts him, saves Him, baptizes him in the Holy Spirit, and begins to reveal Himself to Paul.
3. Jesus calls him and send him.
b. God reveals His love
Paul had gone the long way around. He took no short cuts in learning the hard lessons. He was passionate about reaching people who did not know God and teaching them exactly how awesome God’s Love is and exactly how we can know God.
God’s main goal for your life isn’t good behavior…its for you to be free.
No one understood this more than Paul.
Why? Because, Paul could see both sides of His life. (Before Christ and after Christ)
He also realized that the place he was in Christ had nothing at all to do with how good a person or how good a Christian he was.
Paul saw were he had been before Jesus and were he was with Jesus and he also saw that he did absolutely nothing to get there. Jesus had done it all.
He recognized that man is in opposition to God, and God is in opposition to bondage because of the effects sin has on us.
P.T. Forsythe, said, "The secret of the Lord is with those who have been broken by his cross and healed by his Spirit."
Galatians shines a spotlight on two essential truths: the cross of Christ as the only way a person can get right with God, and the Spirit of Christ as the only way a person can walk with God.
When you see this, it changes everything!
II. Hearing Jesus’ message changes everything
“3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4who gave himself for our sins”
a. Which part of “Grace and peace” is unclear?
• This is more than a simple benediction.
• There is no way to translate “Grace and Peace” into “Guilt and Condemnation”
b. Is Paul over reacting?
• With only a quick glance at this scathing letter, you may come away with some advice for Paul, “Dude, Don’t blow a gasket!”
Why is Paul so upset?
• Paul had preached the message of Salvation by grace through faith to these gentile people and they accepted salvation.
• Paul taught them about and essentially introduced them to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Life.
• The Judaizers came in and started demanding they ALSO obey the Law – brought only dry idealology and lifestyle guidelines.
• Jesus gives “grace, peace and life” but Law only gives “Guilt, condemnation and death”
• They were adding to the Gospel. It sounded good, it sounded right, and it sounded helpful.
• He saw it as a different Gospel altogether. He saw it as powerful but lacking the power of God.
The Bible, Jesus and Paul present to us a world that is like a sinking burning ship wreck. But Jesus comes with a life-boat and loads up anybody who will take his help. Some people refuse help, claiming they can swim home on their own. Others are smart enough to get into the boat.
The Galatian believers recognized the grave end of their sinful lives, they accepted Jesus invitation to get into the life boat. But there are only two oars in this life boat and Jesus is using them both. Essentially, what the Galatians decide to do is take the oars from Jesus and start “helping him out” with their great seamanship.
Paul basically says to them, “You wrecked the first ship; what makes you think you’ll do any better with the life-boat. Just sit and let Jesus row.”
• They not only attacked the message, they attacked the messenger. (convincing some that Paul was a self-appointed apostle.)
• Much of chapter 1 and most of chapter 2 is Paul establishing his authority and message under Christ! We won’t spend much time on this again. Just understand this as you read.)
If there is one thing in life you must “get right” it’s this: You must understand and properly accept the Gospel of Jesus. Adding to the Gospel actually subtracts from it!
III. Accepting Jesus’ help makes all the difference.
“…the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age”
Jesus came to rescue us. Do you want to be rescued from this present evil age?
As I survey the human landscape I see four basic kinds of People:
1. There are those who see their sinfulness and are trapped and condemned by it. They make desperate attempts at freedom but without success. These people are helplessly lost.
2. There are those who saw there sin, experienced marginal success in overcoming parts of it. These tiny successes led to huge pride, they think they can make it on there own. These people are blindly lost.
3. There are those who are content to live in sin. Don’t care about God or don’t think he exists or has anything to do their lives. These people are utterly lost.
4. There are those who see their sin, have seen that marginal success over sin isn’t enough. They have given up on trying to be good enough and simply accept the Grace of God with its forgiveness and power to see real transformation.
a. Rescue me?
• Whether or not we have committed sin, sin resides in us.
• We are sinners. We sin naturally. It’s not a learned behavior.
We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.
• No doubt every one of us has wrestled with right and wrong – and have chosen wrong
b. Sin is killing us, the “world” won’t help and neither does the Law.
• The “world” only puts fuel on the fire
• The law only helps in identification and offers some external constraint.
Ted Haggard writes, “External constraint, the law, can limit the number of sins we commit, but it can’t keep us from being sinners.
The Law was given as a restraint, but Grace is given for transformation.
It’s like this,
You can put a murder in prison so he can’t murder again. Or you can take hate out of his heart and he won’t want to murder again.
You can restrain a sinner with bars, guilt, and fear of punishment. The weakness with this method is the sinner will ALWAYS need these restraints to refrain from sinning
The Gospel is about Grace, forgiveness and transformation. This is the life changing power of God!
This is the bottom line issue of Galatians.
IV. When God gets involved everything changes!
“…according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
a. Understand, It’s God’s idea.
b. God chose Paul, and he chooses you.
It’s Just Jesus, because Jesus gives grace. That’s it. There is nothing more, because you don’t need anything more. Nothing else works
