What was it by, you know, and he told me the author and and he kind of volunteered to tell me about his philosophy of the Bible and his philosophy of Christianity. And he was telling me how he thinks that people in the church need to be exposed to modern scholarship because modern scholarship now gives us the ability to understand the Bible. We couldn't understand it until 100 years ago. when we had, you know, these fine scholars who can tell us what the Bible means. Well, you know, modern liberal scholarship basically says you can't believe the Bible. Jesus Christ is not the Son of God. Jesus Christ didn't die for your sins. That's not the truth. We'll tell you what the Bible really means. And so he was telling me all these things. And I said, well, I said with a smile on my face, you and I would have a very big philosophical difference of understanding on the Bible. He says, Well, you know, where did you go to school? And I said, The Master Seminary. He goes, Oh, John MacArthur. He goes, Yeah, you and I wouldn't agree very well. Because I believe that the Bible is true. It says what it says, and we don't have to come up with some kind of demythology. We don't have to demythologize Jesus and try to say, Who is the real Jesus? Like liberal scholarship does. All they want to do is they want to strip Jesus of his deity. of his glory, of his power, say that there is no such thing as a miracle, there is no such thing as a resurrection, and so they want to demythologize Jesus, as they would put it. No, you know what? The Bible is meant to be taken for what it says, and the book of Galatians is a book that speaks so clearly and so strongly on this message that even liberal theologians have had to back off from attacking Galatians. The Turingan School of Theology in Germany, F.C. Bauer, these are foaming at the mouth liberals. They're not just the average liberal, they're foaming at the mouth. Bauer called it one of the capital epistles of Paul. In other words, this is really, truly was by Paul. Maybe these other ones weren't, but Galatians, yeah, it really was by Paul. It's powerful and it's passionate, and that's why so many people have loved it. Martin Luther called it his Catherine. Catherine was his wife. Luther said, The epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am wed. To it I am, as it were, in wedlock. Galatians is my Catherine. And the reason why he said that is because It was such a powerful message for for Luther, because remember, he's coming at the close closing age of a thousand years of dark age with Roman Catholic theology that says that the way that you get to heaven is by doing all of these things and all of these sacraments and then going through purgatory to pay for your sins. Then you might make it to heaven. And Luther came to understand that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in a divine Son of God who died for your sins and rose again in victory over sin. This is grace. And Luther loved the book. By the way, a little footnote. You know what book of the Bible Luther couldn't stand? James. He didn't like James, because James, from James' perspective in terms of the historical context of writing and calling lukewarm Christians to obedience, for Luther this message really wasn't what he wanted to teach. But both books are true, it's just that each has its own purpose and its own message. But Galatians is a message about freedom from the curse of sin by faith in Jesus Christ, and that's why Luther loved it. Another writer called Duncan by the name of Duncan, called Galatians, the Magna Carta of Christian liberty, because freedom is such a strong note. Look over here, for example, in Graces, chapter 2. Paul talks about freedom. Chapter 2, verse 4, he says, it was because of false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. False teachers are trying to bring this message of works. They wanted to spy out our liberty. Chapter 4, verse 21, Paul talks again about freedom. He says, tell me, you who want to be under the law, don't you even listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman, one by the free woman. And Paul uses an illustration from the Old Testament to say, look, if you want to go and put yourself under a law, you're making yourself a slave. Chapter 5, verse 1, it was for freedom. that Christ set us free, and that expression, for freedom, would come out of a Roman Greco world. In the Roman culture, if you were a slave and somebody paid your price, the manumission, they paid the price of your freedom. What was that for? It was for your freedom. Set you free. And Paul says, look, Christ died for us so that we could be set free from bondage under condemnation of law. So, why in the world are you wanting to go back and say that the law is something that is mandatory? This is the way to God. Paul says it's not the way to God. You see, the issue is this. Salvation has absolutely nothing to do with human effort and human worth. It is entirely by the sovereign grace of God for those who believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ. You believe this? That's what the gospel says. And the Galatians were beginning to miss this point because false teachers were coming in and saying, listen, you Galatians, if you really want to get saved, man, you got to get circumcised. And everybody, you have to obey the law of Moses if you want to have a relationship to God. And Paul brought a major rebuke to the Galatians for listening to this message. Now, here's why he did. Because what was happening in Galatia is that the very nature of the gospel was being put on the line. I mean, other churches had problems. Look at Corinth. You want to see a church that had problems? Corinth had all kinds of problems. But, you know, when Paul writes to the Corinthians, he says, you know, I thank God for you, you know, and so on and so on. Not so in Galatians. You know what he does? He grabs them by the throat. As soon as he says, I'm writing to you, he grabs them by the throat, spiritually speaking, and he begins to rebuke them for their willingness to listen to these false messages of the false teachers. The gospel was in danger of getting redefined. And you know what would happen? If the gospel loses its distinctive character, then Christianity would basically become another sect of Judaism, just another branch of works religion. And so Paul, he contended earnestly for the faith. He couldn't allow these things to happen. Now the false teachers, we believe, were people that we would call Judaizers. John MacArthur in his book says they were causing great confusion in the churches and seriously distorting the gospel of Christ by teaching the Gentiles that they must become Jews by circumcision before they could become Christians. And that all Christians, Jewish and Gentile alike, were righteous before God only if they remained bound under the Mosaic laws, regulations, and ceremonies. In other words, no matter who you are, Jew or Gentile, you have to follow the Law of Moses. Well, you know, can you tell me anybody that has ever kept the Law of Moses? I don't know anybody. Who, you? Somebody said me? No. Nobody has kept the law of Moses. Can any one of us say that we have never broken the 10th commandment, you shall not covet? I mean, number 10 gets you on everything else, even if you can say I've never committed murder. Number 10 gets you. Furthermore, maybe you've never gone out and committed murder, but you know what? You've felt it in your heart before, haven't you? You've been angry. You've had hatred in your heart and anger. And Jesus said, if you've got anger in your heart, you're guilty enough to go before the Supreme Court. You're guilty. And so none of us are free of guilt. And going to heaven, having a relationship to God has never, ever, ever, nor ever will be because we have kept the law. But these false teachers, the Judaizers, were stirring up the pot. Look at chapter one with me. Paul says in verse 7, he says, this gospel is really not another gospel, only there are some who are disturbing you. They're stirring up the pot, you know? They're stirring up the pot, these false teachers. And Paul says in verse 8, he says, listen, he says, whether it's we or even an angel from heaven, Moroni, comes and preaches to you a gospel different than that which you received from us already, Let that person be what? Accursed. The Greek word is anathema. It means basically condemned to eternal hell. If somebody brings to you a message that is different than this, that God Himself took on human flesh in Jesus Christ and died on the cross to pay for your sins and that you can have forgiveness simply by embracing Him with genuine faith. If somebody brings you a different message than that, Paul says, let that person go to hell. You know what? That's a strong message, isn't it? That's a very strong message. Now, we can see these people in very clearly the activity. Go back with me to the book of Acts for just a moment. We can see the kind of thing that was happening described in Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15, verse 1. It says, Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas had a great dissension and debate with him, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning the issue. So, Acts kind of describes the kinds of things that were happening. Probably Galatians is taking place before Acts chapter 15. In all likelihood, Galatians is happening before. But this is the kind of problem that was happening. They were people coming from Jerusalem. Now, you have to understand something. If you were a Jew back then, and if you were a pious and religious Jew, your whole life has been centered around the law of Moses and around the scripture. And in your thinking, You've got to follow the Law of Moses because it was ingrained in their thinking. Well, we have to remember something. Salvation never came because you obeyed the Law of Moses. That's why we have sacrifices. Sacrifices are there to take away sin. Faith. Faith in God's mercy being demonstrated by an observation of the sacrificial ritual. Faith that was demonstrated by obedience. It was faith that took away the sin. And it was God's mercy that made it possible. But these false teachers were Jewish people who were coming into Galatia and saying, oh, well, this guy Paul has been here telling you that it's only by faith and you don't have to follow the Law of Moses. But you know what? You can't trust Paul because he's really not an authority. We've come from Jerusalem, and let us tell you what the truth is. You do have to obey the Law of Moses. Even though you're a Gentile, you must follow the Law of Moses. So what was happening is, you see, is that these guys were not denying Christ. They were saying, we believe in Jesus. They weren't denying Christ, but they were adding works to grace. It's like adding oil to vinegar. It doesn't mix. You cannot add works to grace because Jesus plus something equals what? Nothing. But Jesus plus nothing equals everything. If you have Christ and you have Him alone as your basis of hope, you have salvation. But if you are trying to add human effort and religion to your basis of confidence, then Christ means nothing to you. Now, we can look at modern day illustrations of that, and we could name many, many different kinds of religions in the world, but any kind of system that is saying, well, here's the thing that you have to do, And if you do these things, then you can make it to heaven. Well, Paul flipped and he jumps right to the point. He doesn't say, hello, how are you? I sure miss you guys. He just jumps right in and he says, you fools, what are you doing? Now, this morning, what we're going to do is we're going to look at three points of introduction to talk about this letter that kind of lay the foundation for understanding what's happening. And the first point, we're actually going to go through the first five verses. We're going to get into verses one and two, first of all, where we look at the author. He says, Paul. In the Roman culture, when you wrote a letter, in the Roman culture, it would typically have three elements to it. The author, the recipient, and a salutation. We start our letters by saying, Dear Bob, you know, how are you? I'm fine. Sincerely, Tim. In that culture, you began by stating who you were. Paul. Now, Paul was a Roman citizen, we know from other parts of the Bible, which meant that he would have had a Roman name. He would actually have had three Roman names. We don't know what those other names were. His Hebrew name was Saul, Shaul, which would have been probably named after the first king of Israel. So we learn about Saul, first of all, back in Acts chapter 7. In chapter 7 and 8 of the book of Acts, we find out that Saul, before his conversion, was not a very nice man. He hated Jesus Christ and he hated Christians. And it says that when the first Christian was put to death for his faith, it says that they did so. And Saul was standing right there. And what they did is the people that stoned Stephen to death, they were taking their garments and letting Paul hold them as they put Stephen to death. Saul was right there basically saying, go ahead, carry it out. And Saul, we would have good reason to believe, was on the Sanhedrin. He was on the Jewish Supreme Court, and Saul, as it says in one book, passages in Acts, that he was casting his lot for the death of the Christians. Whenever the Christians were being put to death, Saul says, I was there putting in my vote. He was on the Sanhedrin, and he, even though he was a young man, had a tremendous amount of authority. Look with me at the book of Acts for just a minute. Paul calls himself an apostle right here, but he was not an apostle before his conversion. He was what we call a Pharisee. If you look over here to Acts chapter 22, Paul tells us a little bit about who he was before his conversion. Acts chapter 22, look over here at verse 4. Look at verse 3 actually. He says, I'm a Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia. Brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel. First of all, we see that he was a highly educated man. Gamaliel is famous. I mean, even to Jews today, Gamaliel is one of the most famous teachers, rabbis of that time period. And Saul says, look, this guy was my teacher, you know. Secondly, he says, I was brought up strictly according to the laws of our fathers, being zealous for God, just as you are today. He was a very, very dedicated Jew. And he says in verse 4, that I persecuted this way to the death, binding and putting both men and women in prisons. Chapter 26, look with me over at verse 10. Chapter 26 and verse 10. He says, This is just what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. He had the authority to do that because he was on the Supreme Court. Verse 11, And I punished, as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme. And being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1.13, he says, I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Now, was Paul hypocritical at that point in his life? Not at all. You know what? He did so entirely convinced that what he did was pleasing God. When Paul did what he did, he did so with a good conscience. He said, I wasn't going against my conscience. I absolutely was convinced that what I was doing was the right thing to do. My friends, you know what you have right here? This is the spirit of religion, to use an expression. This is religion. This is religion that says that it's what you do that counts. Because when you bring grace, when you bring grace into The picture of grace says you can't do a thing to merit the favor of God. And when you bring that message to a religious person, religious people get mad. Because what you're telling them is that you're not good enough for God. I don't care what you do. And religious people get mad at that. I met this one lady one time. She says, Oh, I'm very spiritual. And I said, Have you ever been born again through faith in Jesus Christ? Man, she turned into, you know, Mr. Hyde at that point. And she, you know, got mad at me and hung up on me. I was on the phone with her. Because I talked to her about the need for personal salvation. Well, Paul was one of these people. He was very religious. And he was doing all he could to stamp out. But notice what it says here in chapter 26 of Acts, in verse 12. While thus engaged, I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priest. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. And when we had fallen down to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But arise and stand on your feet. For this purpose I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only of the things which you have seen, but also of the things which I will appear to you. Back to Galatians. This is what we call the Damascus Road experience of Saul of Tarsus. He was on the way to Damascus. Christ appeared to him. Christ blinded him. And Jesus said, Saul, you're mine. And you're going to follow me. And that day, Paul repented of his sin. He put his faith in Jesus Christ. He got saved. He got baptized. And immediately, he began to go out and do the work of an evangelist. And what Jesus said to him is Jesus said, I'm appointing you. Now, come back here to Galatians, because Paul says in verse one, Paul, an apostle. What is an apostle? You know, sometimes you'll meet people today. Maybe even they'll have it on their card, you know, Apostle Henry. It means that one who is sent out, but it doesn't merely mean to be sent out. It means that you're sent out under authority with a commission. I could send Daniel down to 7-Eleven to buy some eggs, and I could give Lance a power of authority. What do I want to say here? Power of attorney. I could give Lance the power of attorney, and I say, Lance, I want you to go out and buy a house in my name. I have just simply pimpled Daniel, but I have apostled Lance, and he is my apostolos, my apostolos, because he's going out with my authority. Now, sometimes this word apostolos is used both outside the Bible or inside the Bible in a general sense to talk about somebody who is sent out by the churches. There is a general use of apostle, for example, in 2nd Corinthians 8 23. It talks about apostles of the churches, people that were sent out. So if I sent Sergei out on a ministry, I could say, Sergei, you're going out to represent our church and do some ministry. He's an apostle of our church. But the Bible also talks about a distinctive, narrow kind of use of the term apostle to talk about a narrow, small group of people. And that's what we have right here is talking about the apostle, a small group. And the difference is, is that an apostle has several key features. Number one, to be an apostle, you had to be an eyewitness of the resurrected Son of God. So Paul received his resurrection appearance there on the Damascus Road. Jesus appeared to him. By the way, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 58, Paul said, Last of all, he appeared to me. So who's the last apostle? By the way, you can put your footnotes. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 1. And Acts chapter 1 verse 22 are two passages that show us that eyewitness of the resurrected Christ is a key feature of being an apostle, along with 1 Corinthians 15 and 58. Secondly, you had to be endowed with supernatural giftedness. Go back a couple pages to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12, where Paul says to the Corinthians, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you. with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles." You know, I could come to you and say, hey, I've got a message for you. I'm a true messenger of God, and guess what? The American Indians are descendants of the Jews. And Jesus came here to America a long time ago. And I've got this message. This is Mormonism. And I'm a messenger from God. But you see, a true messenger of God, Paul says, a true apostle is one who can do signs, wonders, miracles. You know what? Joseph Smith didn't do miracles. Neither did Charles Taze Russell of the Watchtower. Neither did Muhammad. Neither did Buddha. A representative of Jesus Christ, an apostle, is one who has the ability to do miracles. You also see that in Hebrews 2, verses 3 and 4. Number one, you had to be an eyewitness. Number two, you had this supernatural giftedness to do miracles. Number three, you were a prophetic voice for the church age. In Ephesians 2, verses 19, 20, 21, what Paul says is that the church is built upon the foundation of who? Apostles. and prophets, New Testament prophets that is. The foundation for the church is upon apostles and prophets. Because the apostles and prophets were the ones who laid the doctrinal foundation in the New Testament for the church. So that is what an apostle is. Number four, a fourth characteristic of an apostle is this. You possess this office and this giftedness because Jesus Christ has given you a direct commission Jesus Christ gave you this commission. Notice back here to Galatians now. You see what he says? Paul, an apostle, and he qualifies it. Not sent from men. Faith. I didn't come from the Vatican with this authority. It wasn't as though I was commissioned, not sent from men, nor through the agency of man. My authority as an apostle to represent Jesus Christ, that commission... By the way, here's the distinction. There were apostles from the churches, but there were only a narrow selected group who were apostles of Jesus Christ. Namely, twelve of them, plus Paul. By the way, what happened to number twelve? Judas Iscariot, he lost his office. That's what Acts chapter one says. Judas lost his office. You can debate whether or not Paul is the replacement for him. That's debatable because in the book of Acts chapter one, it says that they chose somebody to take the place of Judas Iscariot, Matthias. And the apostles got together and they cast lots. They took some dice and they said, well, which ones are going to be? Do you think that Matthias was the replacement? Based on what Paul says here in verse 1 where he says, look, I didn't come from men and my apostleship doesn't come through a human agency. It wasn't as though somebody voted to determine. Now, when you look in the book of Acts, the context certainly supports the idea that Matthias was legitimate. The context of Acts suggests that Matthias was a replacement. But when you look at other passages like this, it would seem to suggest that, you know what? Maybe he really wasn't. Maybe that replacement was Paul himself. And the apostles were just trying to be obedient and maybe it wasn't, in fact, a replacement. It doesn't matter. Either way, it doesn't matter. But the point is that true apostleship had to come from my direct commission from Jesus Christ. In John 15, Jesus said, You did not choose Me, but I chose you and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. I chose you. I am the one who established you. So Paul says, My apostleship was not from men, nor through the agency of men, but through who? There we go. Through God. Through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead. Now, what was happening back here at this time period is that the Paul's teachers, in order to dethrone Paul, they had to attack his authority. They had to say, Paul is not legitimate. You know, now Peter? Yeah, I mean, he was with Jesus. Matthew? John? Paul? He's a Johnny-come-lately. You know? You can't trust this guy. And they began to criticize and attack Paul himself. A little footnote for you on criticism. You know what? Criticism is no good. To be criticizing and attacking individuals. I want to read a quote to you from Theodore Roosevelt. Very interesting quote. Just kind of goes along with it a little bit. He says, it's not the critic who counts. not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have been done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." I like that. The false teachers were saying, Paul, he's a nobody. You can't follow him. You can't believe his doctrine. And Paul says, hey, first thing I want to do. And Paul wasn't trying to defend himself. He's defending his apostleship because of the fact that the gospel is at stake. This is the key issue. The gospel message is at stake. He says, my apostleship has come from Jesus Christ and God the Father. And we see here the Trinitarian connection between Christ and the Father. His authority to act comes equally from the two of them because both are God. The father here is the one who raised Jesus from the dead. Now, Paul had a very, very extensive ministry. When you read the book of Acts, of course, we know from Acts chapter 7 and 8 that before his conversion, he was persecuted, right? Acts chapter 9, he gets saved. Immediately, we read about the fact that Paul began to evangelize. And you know what they had to do in Damascus when Paul began his ministry of evangelization? You know how he left Damascus? in a basket. They had to let him out of the wall of the city because the Jews were trying to kill him. And he had to be humiliated. He let down in a basket from the city walls and he ran away. And then we read in Galatians 117 that when he left Damascus, he went south and he went into Arabia and he spent three years in Arabia. Doing what? Evangelizing, I'm sure. Preaching the gospel. He came back after three years. Galatians 1, 17. He says, I went to Arabia and then returned once more to Damascus. We would read from Acts 9, verse 26, that at this point in time, as we see in verse 18 of Acts 1, that three years later, I went to Jerusalem. This is three years after his conversion. He went to Jerusalem for the first time since his salvation to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him 15 days. Now, what Paul is doing here as he gives this biographical sketch, is he's telling them, listen, I didn't get this giftedness of apostle and this authority as an apostle of Christ from men. You know, I met Peter, but that was three years after Christ had called me an apostle. I spent a little time with him, but it wasn't as though they gave me this ministry. This is from God, friends. Now, in Acts 9, verses 29 and 30, It says that when Paul went down to Jerusalem on that trip, that we read about here in chapter 1, verse 18, Paul was going out and he was evangelizing and calling people to Christ. And you know what happened? They tried to kill him. There was a plot. They heard about a plot. And so the Christians, they said, Hey, Paul, you better leave, man. I don't want to go. No, you know what? It's best that you leave. Quick, go down to Caesarea and get out of town right now. And then Saul went back to his hometown of Tarsus, and he remained there for a time. Now, in the book of Acts, it doesn't pick up again with Paul until you get to chapter 11, verse 25. And what happened is that the gospel was really beginning to spread and The home base for Christian ministry was beginning to become a place called Antioch. Jerusalem was kind of losing its prominence in terms of the Book of Acts is concerned, and Antioch, which was a Gentile city up in Syria, became the central place of much missionary activity. And what happened is that so many people were getting saved that Barnabas said, You know what? That guy Saul. I spent time with him, Barnabas says. I've been with him. I've seen the guy. He's solid. He knows the Word. And he loves Christ. I need to go get him." So Barnabas left Antioch and he went over to Tarsus, where Saul lived. And he said, Saul, you've got to come up to Antioch because God's doing a great work here. And Saul came back with Barnabas to Antioch and began ministering. Barnabas was the one that brought him into the ministry. Now, we read in Acts 13, Oh, by the way, a little something happened before that. In Acts 11, verse 30, it says that while they were there in Antioch, that there was a great famine that had taken place in Israel, in Jerusalem. And what they did is Barnabas and Saul took an offering back to Jerusalem. That was Paul's second visit back to Jerusalem after his conversion. Acts 11, verse 30. Well, then they went back to Antioch, and they were in Antioch doing ministry. And then, if you look in chapter 13 of Acts, with me in just a minute, that's chapter 13, in verse 1 and following, it says, there were at Antioch in the church Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manian, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were ministering there, ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on him. They ordained them and said, We're sending you out on a mission, and they sent them away. And so being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And Acts chapter 13 and 14 is Paul's first mission trip. Acts contains three different mission trips. Paul probably went on four, but Acts has three of them. This is the first missionary trip right here. Notice also that whose name is mentioned first? Barnabas. Barnabas and Saul. But from this point on, he begins going by the name of Paul. And from that point on, it's always Paul. Because, you know, God had gifted this guy to be used in a very powerful way. And this is the beginning of it, though. So what Paul says here back in Galatians, this is who Paul is. He's the one who has been called by God. He has this gift in us. He speaks the words of God by the Holy Spirit. He performs the miracles of Christ by the power of the Spirit. He's an eyewitness of the resurrection. He used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And he says, yet, God gave me grace. And I labored more than all those other guys, you know? Paul's not putting him down, but he says, I worked harder than all those other guys. I was out there. He gave his life because he knows what it's like to be forgiven. So he writes, and he says, Paul, an apostle, not sent from men, nor through the agency of men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. And then he says, and all the brethren who are with me. We don't know exactly who that was, but certainly that probably would have included Barnabas himself. Paul mentions people that are with him, and Paul had basically a team that went with him. One writer says, These were the apostles' fellow workers, perhaps Barnabas, and as well as prophets and teachers with whom Paul ministered in Antioch. Mentioning these co-labors emphasized the fact that the teachings of this epistle were not peculiar to Paul, but were held in common with others. F.F. Bruce says, if it was sent from Syria, Syrian Antioch, if this letter came from Antioch, not long after Paul and Barnabas returned from their evangelization of the cities of South Galatia, we should think of the leaders of the Antiochian church, probably the leadership of the church there in Antioch, which is up in Syria. So here's what you have. Paul and Barnabas were out on that first missionary trip. And you know what? It wasn't easy, friends. It wasn't easy. Look back with me for just a minute to the book of Acts again, chapter 13 and 14. Look over here to Acts chapter 14 with me. This is funny, I think this is a curious thing. In verse 6, they became aware of this attempt to stone them and they fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe, and the surrounding region. So Paul and Barnabas have fled because somebody's trying to kill them, and they continue to preach the gospel. Verse 8 says, In Lystra there was a crippled man, and Paul saw this man. And the guy had never walked, crippled from birth. Verse 9, This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze upon him, and had seen that he had faith to be made well, Paul said with a loud voice, Stand up right on your feet. And he leaped up and began to walk. And what happened is that this crowd there in Lycaonia, they saw Paul heal this guy that was crippled from birth, and they said, the gods have come to visit us! And they figured, as it says down here in verse 12, that Barnabas was Zeus, and Paul was Hermes, the messenger, because Paul was doing most of the speaking. And I don't know if you've ever seen that scene in Return of the Jedi, Star Wars, when they think that the robot is a god. And then you're going, and they're all beginning to bow down before the robot, because they think the robot's a god. They're doing this to Paul and Barnabas, but Paul and Barnabas are not quite understanding what's happening, because these guys are speaking the Lycaonian language. And so, at first, they're not picking up on exactly what's happening. They probably weren't bowing down, but they were saying, the gods have come, the gods have come. Now, what happens is, is that the priests of Zeus who were there, they went off and they brought back animals and garlands and they were going to do sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. And then Paul and Barnabas began to put together what was happening and they said, oh, wait a minute. Hey, we're just men. You guys think that we're messengers of God. You think that I'm Hermes, the messenger of God. We're not. We're just like you. And we're telling you that God is calling you to repent of this kind of thing. Look over here in verse 15. We're telling you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God. So at first, the people in these cities, and this is the Galatian region, this is the Galatian region, these people, they welcomed Paul like a messenger from God. But then what happened? The Jews came in again, the unbelieving Jews, and they stirred up the pot. Notice what happens. Verse 19, But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. Now, you know what? I've been hit by rocks before. Like when David Shormy hit me with a dirt pot in kindergarten and gave me a bloody nose. It hurt. I remember it to this day. It hurts. But here's people with huge rocks, stoning Paul so bad that they said, he's dead. Some people think he might have even died. But you know what? Think about what he must have looked like after that was over. To have your head pummeled with rocks. You know what you might do? You might say, you know what? I'm giving up on this business. I'm going to go back to France and retire. No, look what happens. Verse 20. While the disciples stood around Paul, he arose, entered the city, and the next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe, and when they had preached the gospel to that city, he made many disciples, and they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples. You know what the guy did? He got right back up after being basically put to death almost, and he went right back into it. And Paul and Barnabas have just returned from this trip right now. And they're riding to these churches, and they get this report back, and the report says, hey, guess what? All these people that you were ministering to, they're walking away from the faith. How would you feel? You'd flip. This is Paul. Now, notice down here at the end of verse two, here is the recipients. Paul is the author here, the recipients to the churches of Galatia. Now, there's a very large question that has been raised over the centuries. And that question is, where was Paul when he spoke to the Galatians and ministered to the Galatians and to whom was he writing? There are two theories about the group of people that Paul is writing to. And if you were able to picture a map of Turkey, and since we don't have a map of Turkey up here on the wall, you just have to picture it in your head, okay? And I'm even going to try to portray it for you. Just imagine that Israel is right here and the Mediterranean is right here, okay? And then if you went up to the top bar of the cross, you basically run into Asia Minor. Asia Minor would be on both sides of the cross on the top. And the Mediterranean is all in here. Turkey is right up there, OK? Now, if you were looking at the two options, one option is that your ministry was in South Galatia, right above the cross. The other option is a North Galatian theory that Paul went way north into North Galatia. Now, first of all, we have to ask the question about who are the Galatians? The North Galatian theory, by the way, was the view for about 1500 years from about maybe the year 3400 until about the 19th century. There are certain times when scholarship, if it is legitimate scholarship, can help us to understand the Bible better, more better than they could in the past. And in this example here, modern scholarship did help us. North Galatia was the view until the 19th century, and it held that Paul had gone up into this northern area of Galatia. You know where the name Galatia comes from? You know, in the Roman Empire, if you were going to banish somebody from the Roman Empire, where would you send them? To Gaul. G-A-U-L. The word Galat, Galat, Galatia, Galat, or Galateke, is the same word Celtic. Galaticae Celtic. The Galatians were Celts. In other words, as in Britain and Scotland and wherever else they went. The Galatians were the Celts. The Celts migrated down from basically Germany into southern Germany and into Switzerland. They migrated eastward into Asia. And when they came into Asia Minor, into that area, they were successful in basically conquering a large area up there. And this is what we call ethnic Galatia. The northern area was inhabited by the Celts, the Galatians. And they held this land in these regions. The Romans came along in the second century, and the Romans were able to kind of conquer them. But still, the Romans let them remain as an independent kingdom. And so the Galatians were up in this northern area. Now, what happened is that during the first and second and third centuries is that the southern area of Galatia, right above the cross, came to be called a Roman province called Galatia. So you had the ethnic area in the north where you had the ethnic Galatians. The southern area was actually called Galatia as a Roman province. What happened is that the theory is that one theory is that Paul went into North Galatia. And the reason why that was very easily believed is because from about the fourth century onward, Galatia stopped being called Galatia in the South. It stopped being called a province of Rome. And so all you had left was the northern area called Galatia. And everybody assumed that this must be where Paul went because that was called Galatia. However, at the time of Paul, that southern area was called Galatia. It was a Roman province. It was a political division. Well. I'm not going to give you every aspect of detail on this, but but here's what we see is that is that scholarship over the past couple hundred years, especially by the hand of Sir William Ramsey, who did extensive studies and research and travels. Sir William Ramsey discovered that that before That southern area stopped being called Galatia. In fact, it was called Galatia. It was a Roman province in the time of Paul. And that's what we have in what we call the South Galatian theory. Sir William Ramsey, 1851 to 1939, he found out that that southern area, and there's a number of arguments that you can make to support that. Let me just mention a couple of them very briefly. Number one, to count on his missionary travels, if he was starting out from basically the very center of the cross where the two bars meet, that's where Antioch was located. Jerusalem's down here. Antioch is kind of right up there in the middle of the cross. Southern Galatia was the region right next to where Paul was, and it was a long way for Paul to go up into that northern area. Furthermore, the northern area was very difficult and mountainous, and it was unpopulated. It wasn't the heavy kind of population area. And Paul didn't like to go to places like Taft for ministry. He liked to go to Los Angeles. He didn't want to go to Barstow. He wanted to go to San Francisco and to New York, to the major centers. And it doesn't make sense if Paul went to that northern area. He was in the South. Furthermore, the North Galatian area was very difficult to travel. And from Galatians 4.13, Paul says, Hey, guys, first time I came to you is because I was sick. I was very sick. That's why I had to come to your area. It would have been very difficult for Paul to go up into those northern areas and all the mountains. The Book of Acts contains no information about any cities of churches in North Galatia. It was isolated and off the beaten path, and Paul used to like to use Roman provincial titles when he described places of ministry. You see, Barnabas is mentioned many times, and Barnabas was with Paul on that first missionary journey. It has become fairly clear over the past a couple of centuries. Most conservative scholars on his second missionary journey in Acts 1660 went back through and so we dismissed that North Galatian view and I'm giving you things that are background. This is setting a foundation, but there are points that are important in all of this as well. Now, based upon a South Galatian view, Paul probably wrote as soon as he came back. Look at Acts chapter 14 with me. We go back there. Look at Acts chapter 14. In verse. Twenty one. When they had preached the gospel to that city. And they had made many disciples. They returned to Lystra and Iconium. You know what Paul did? Paul was there in Lystra and Iconium. They went. They went to other places. Then they came back a second visit. And they were strengthening the souls of disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith. And then it says that verse 23, they appointed elders in the cities where the churches were established. And then it says, verse 24, they passed through the Pisidian region and they came into Pamphylia. And then they went through Perga and Atalia and verse 26. And there they sailed to Antioch and they went back to their home church in Antioch and they reported all the things that God was doing among the Gentiles. So if you look back to Galatians and you notice here in chapter four, verse 13, Chapter 4, verse 13, notice what Paul says. He says, You know, you Galatians, that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you there the first time. In that first missionary journey, Paul went into Galatia, into those cities, because he had a sickness, and then he continued his ministry, and then he came back on a return visit, and that was the second visit to the city. And you know what? This is really, really hard, some of the stuff to put together. I spent a lot of time on this because just trying to figure out what's going on there is a lot, and I'm not going to give you everything, but I'm giving you a couple of these things. What's that? Well, because probably it would be an overload of things. I'm trying to give you the essence of background without every supporting detail. I'll copy my notes for you if you want, all 16 pages. But what I'm doing is I'm just kind of showing, because if you try to put some of these things together, see, because what will happen is this, an unbelieving person or a liberal might come to you and say, well, Paul didn't write that book. You know, let me tell you why. Because, you see, he didn't go here to Galatia twice. He only went there once. Let me prove it to you. Well, you see, in fact, Paul did go through there a second time. So I'm trying to give you things that help you to at least have an exposure to some of the liberal arguments so that you can know and recognize some of the false views when you hear them. By the way, when Paul wrote this letter, it was right after the mission trip. Why do we think it was right after his mission trip? Look at Galatians chapter 1, chapter 1, verse 6. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you. Some people say, well, Paul didn't write this letter for about another four or five years until after that first missionary trip. But you know what Paul says? And it's emphatic. So quickly you're deserting Him. He was there. He preached to them. He got stoned. And he loved them by ministering to them. And then he gets home and he finds out that they're abandoning the faith. And he says, so quickly! Come on! Another big question is this. Look at Galatians 2. See verse 1? After an interval of 14 years, I went to Jerusalem. You see back in verse 18 when it says, after three years I went to Jerusalem? Okay. After three years means three years after His conversion, I went to Jerusalem the first time. First time I went to Jerusalem since I became saved. Chapter 2, verse 1. He says, after 14 years I went to Jerusalem a second time. That's not fourteen years after the three years, that's fourteen years from the time of his conversion. So Acts chapter Galatians 2.1 means that it's fourteen years from the time of his salvation, which probably in Acts chapter 9 was about the year 34. So this would make Paul's visit here in Galatians 2.1 about the year 47, about A.D. 47, when he made his second visit to Jerusalem. And he took along Titus. Now, the reason why this is a question is because we have to say which trip to Jerusalem is this. When we look in the book of Acts, some people think that. Remember, I read you earlier from Acts, Chapter 15, that Paul says that there was a conflict and that people were trying to teach the Gentiles that they had to obey the law. So they said, Let's send Barnabas and Paul to Jerusalem to settle the issue. Some people think that Galatians, Chapter 2 is Acts 15. I bet If you say carefully, you find that it probably isn't. It could be. I have to admit it. It could be. But this probably is not that trip to Jerusalem. There's a parallel in terms of what was happening, but for one thing, look over here at chapter two, verse 11 with me. Chapter two, verse 11. Paul says, but. When Peter came to Antioch, when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face. Do you remember what happened? Peter had come up to Antioch, and Peter used to hang out with the Gentiles, eat with the Gentiles. And then when Jews would come up from Jerusalem, influential Jews, Judaizers, false believers that profess Christ but were not truly saved, and they were saying, oh well, you've got to follow the law if you want to be saved. When Peter saw these guys coming up from Jerusalem, Peter would pull away from the Gentiles, because he didn't want to be seen with the Gentiles. Now, if this happens here, Galatians 2, verse 11 is happening after Acts 15 when they had the Jerusalem Council. The Jerusalem Council came together in Acts 15 and they said, look, we're going to settle this once and for all. Gentiles don't have to be circumcised. Gentiles don't have to follow the law of Moses to get saved. We know that's true. And the whole church agreed on that in Acts 15. Well, guess what? If Peter's activity right here is after the Jerusalem Council, it's kind of hard to think that Peter would blow it this big after that Jerusalem Council. That's an argument. The point that I'm getting to is this, is that probably Paul's visit, if you go back here to chapter two, verse one. When Paul made this second visit to Jerusalem, it was the one that we saw back in Acts chapter 11, verse 30, when he and Barnabas went down to take an offering for the famine. The second visit is the one that is mentioned right here in chapter two, verse one. It's equal to Acts chapter 11, verse 30, and it basically solves all the conflicts in terms of Reconciling all of these details together. Galatians chapter 2 verses 1 to 10 is equal to Acts chapter 11 verse 30, which would mean that it was about the year 47 when Paul went. The problems were still going on. The Jew-Gentile questions, do the Gentiles have to keep the law? Peter blew it in Antioch by kind of capitulating. Paul rebuked him before everybody. And then finally what happened is they came to a big head and in Acts chapter 15, in the year 49, they held the Jerusalem Council. About a year or two later, they held that big council and said, look, let's settle this with agreement right now. I'm throwing this. There is so much that I was trying to figure this stuff out as I was studying and studying. There's a lot to try to reconcile and at least have peace. I believe this is truly is the way that it all reconciles. Paul, he says, and all the brethren who are with me to the churches of Galatia. And finally, verses three to five, he gives the salutation. He says, grace to you and peace. Grace, the standard Greek way to greet somebody, kairēnē, but here he uses the Greek word kairēs, God's favor, God's grace to you. And shalom, of course, is the Greek word, kairēnē. Grace and peace to you. But who does grace and peace come from? From God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we see the Trinitarian theology of Paul's words. Grace and peace, where does it come from? Christ Himself, God Himself. He says, Jesus Christ, verse 4, who gave Himself for our sins. Here's the heart of the Gospel, my friends. God came down from heaven to earth to give Himself for your sins. He's the substitute for you. And if you don't believe that, you can't be saved. And if you think that your salvation, your forgiveness is going to come by being religious, then you've cut yourself off from Christ. If you think that you're going to receive God's grace by your human effort, look over here at Galatians chapter 5. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to everyone who receives circumcision that he's under obligation to keep the whole law You have been severed from Christ. You are seeking to be justified by law. You have fallen from grace. In other words, you've taken yourself from the realm of grace where there is forgiveness, there is a relationship to God, and you're trying to establish a relationship on the basis of what you do. He says you've just cut yourself off from the power source. You can't do it by yourself, friends. And if you try to, you're going to end up destroying yourselves. And this is what he's saying to them. Jesus Christ is the one, chapter 1, verse 4, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. God has a plan, and that plan is to save people like me. Why? I don't know. But that's what grace is all about. It reaches out to people who are unworthy and undeserving, and it says, I want to give you my gift of life and love. He gave Himself for us, and therefore what that means is, verse 5, it means that in the end result, all the glory goes to Him, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. You see, when you understand that salvation is entirely something that God has accomplished, we simply take it by faith. We accept it. Then all the glory goes to God, because I didn't do anything, right? Neither did you. All the glory goes to God. All we did was say, I believe. I accept it. And God says, forgiven. That simple? Is it really that simple? It is. It takes all the credit away from us and it gives it to God. And that's why religious people hate it so badly. Because it offends their pride. And that's why Paul was being persecuted right here. Paul said, look, if I still preach, If I still preach the law, why am I persecuted? I'm not preaching, you know, the law. I'm preaching grace. That's why I'm getting persecuted, because it takes all the credit away from sinful men. This book is really, really fun. We're going to have a good time in it. I can't wait to dive in to the next section. Father, we thank you for what you have done through your Son, who gave himself for our sins, who is given for many. He's the one who gave Himself that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify Himself of people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds, Titus 2.14 tells us. Christ died once for all. He died for sins. Once for all. The just for the unjust. In order that He might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3.18 tells us. Who do no sin, to become sin for us, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5.21 tells us. Him for us. Isaiah 53.4, He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Lord Jesus, all the glory goes to You. Thank you for your love. Amen. Down at the cross where my Savior died Down where for cleansing from sin I cried There to my heart was the blood of life Glory to His name Glory to His name Glory to His name There to my heart was the blood of life Glory to His name I am so wondrously saved from sin Jesus so sweetly abides within There at the cross where He took me in Glory to His name Glory to His name Glory to His name There to my heart was the blood applied, Glory to His name! O precious fountain and sage from sin, I am so glad I have entered in. There to sustain me and teach me to lean, Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name! Come to this fountain so rich and sweet, Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet. find him today and be made complete. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. There to my heart was the blood of the life. Glory to his name. Jim Cosney, could you come forward please and close us in prayer? Father we thank you for this day that you've given to us to bless us with your word to bless our hearts by the content of your word and we pray that it would take root in our hearts and bear much fruit for you in our own lives and in the lives of others as well with whom we interface. We pray that you'll strengthen us to all the tasks that remain to be done until you come to take us all home and we pray that we would be found faithful to carry them out. in the same manner. We pray that you would bless our week as it up comes and all that we say and do, let it be glorifying and uplifting to you. Let us be faithful in all things and bring us back together again safe next week. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I don't think I'll ever see you again I don't think I'll ever see you again I don't think I'll ever see you again I don't think I'll ever see you again This is probably a little bit out of step. I just picked up a gift for you, kind of in anticipation of your baby and something to give. Yeah. Oh, you're not graduating yet. Can you guys get closer now? I don't have a friend who can do that as well. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.