Copy of God's Word tonight. Let's go to the book of Galatians chapter 1 police Galatians chapter 1 and It's our intention to finish this chapter tonight We are trying to do a study here on Sunday nights of the book of Galatians And I want to speak to you tonight about Paul's testimony about the gospel Paul's testimony about the gospel of And we'll begin reading here in verse number 10. We'll read down to verse number 24 for our text this evening. If you're able to, and you can, Stan, would you do so as we give reverence to God's word this evening? Galatians chapter one, verse number 10. Paul asks a question. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversion, I'm sorry, my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my fathers. But when I pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen. Immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood. Now there went I up to Jerusalem to them, which were apostles before me. But I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. And after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days. But other than the apostles saw I none save James, the Lord's brother. Of the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not. Afterwards, I came unto the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and was an unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which he once destroyed. And they glorified God in me. Heavenly Father, we pray now your blessings on this time together tonight. Lord, how wonderful the song service has been. And now, Lord, I pray for the next few moments that you'd quiet our hearts and give our attention to the truth of God's word. Help me in my preaching, Lord. Help these folks in their listening. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. You know, it's a little bit frustrating when you You have people that should stand with you, and those people that should stand with you are not standing where you are. In fact, they stand in question of you. Now, I want to maybe just expand upon that for just a moment because I'm trying to help you understand the text a little bit tonight before we get into the text. I know that no man's above being questioned either about his behavior, his integrity, or even his preaching. Yet, when you have a track record, in other words, when you have been with people and they have seen that track record and they have seen consistency in an element of your life, when they would hear something different about you, perhaps from someone, you would suppose that they would say, no, I don't think I have a hard time really believing that. In other words, you would expect that if people had a record, had a consistency, that when someone would come behind that person and make some accusations about perhaps either their preaching, or their doctrine, or their positions, that you would say, you know, I've been around that person, I've been exposed to that person, I've heard that person, and I'm having a hard time believing what you're saying is true. I want to share just a little illustration that happened some years ago. And this goes back, I'm guessing, over 20, probably close to 23, maybe 24 years ago. I remember as a fairly, we were in the transition time, when I say transition, Dr. Thompson and the church had voted and I was a co-pastor. Dr. Thompson, of course, was the lead pastor and that was gonna be the case until the day he resigned the pulpit and then at that point there would not need to be another vote and we just automatically assumed the position as the senior pastor here. And I remember that we had a, I say we, I'm talking about the church in general, had somewhat of a falling out, if you would, with an evangelist to come here and preach. He started preaching what I call some questionable doctrine. It wasn't really all that obvious. It was just a little bit subtle, a little bit here and a little bit there. It just caused us to question a few things. I want you to know that when I invite someone into this pulpit, whether it's a guest preacher or an evangelist who's here for the meeting, I would expect that that man's going to help our church. I mean, I don't bring people in here to cause problems. We don't invite folks into the pulpit to cause issues We want folks to come in and solidify the doctrine that's already been preached a doctrine that's based upon the Word of God And so this preacher came in and this man again He he left the church and as a result of his time here that he left really causing some questions and obviously we were not better off because he administered to us and In the last meeting that he had, he brought a message and in that message he had implied that obviously we're a strong King James Church. We believe that the King James Version is the word of God in the English language. I think we would all agree with that. We understand that there are two different sets of texts in which our Bibles are obviously translated from. The King James comes from a certain Family of text and the new modern versions come from another family of text and so there's no discrepancy about that we just believe that the the King James comes from the text the The preserved word of God that's been handed down through through time and eternity to us today and our translation comes from that Well his preaching was that because other people had perhaps preached from another new version, if you were saved and someone had preached from that particular version or a soul winner had used another version of the Word of God and not the King James, then you couldn't be saved because the text was corrupt. Well, I had dealt with people after that meeting. They'd come to me and said, Pastor, you know, we were in a place, and at that time, the church we attended didn't use the King James, and we just believed the gospel. We got saved, and now we're questioning, are we really saved? And I said, let me assure you that the gospel is the gospel. Let me ensure you that if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are saved today. Let me assure you of that. Now look, I'm a King James man from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. There's no question about that. That's my position. Listen, when I study and prepare messages, I don't even consult other English versions. I don't do that. I don't see any need to. Now, I may look at a Strong's Concordance. I may look at some words from the original languages just to make sure that I understand exactly what the text is saying. But honestly, I don't necessarily think you need to be a Greek scholar or a theologian to understand the Word of God. It is the Word of God in our language and we can understand it. We sometimes may have to understand the definitions of words. And so I am King James from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. That being said, I disagreed with that evangelist. I thought he was totally off base. I thought he was absolutely wrong. And so in the days in which that went on, there was not the email thing. What I mean by that, today you can, if you want to get an answer, you can just type an email and probably within 15, 20 minutes if people check their email on a regular basis, you can get a response from them. Well, in those days, email was just coming out. I know some of you think that's unbelievable. You've grown up all your life with text messaging and electronic mail. Well, some of us are dinosaurs. We go back far enough to remember when there weren't cell phones and there wasn't electronic mail. And so we obviously had to correspond. In those days, no one did carry a cell phone. And so this was a man who was on the road. So the only best way to communicate with him was to write a letter. So I went to Dr. Thompson. We sat down. We discussed the issue. And I said, I think that this is what this man's position is. He said, well, you need to write him a letter and confirm that. And I think that's a good thing to do, don't you? Don't you think if you have a question about something, you should go to the person and try to confront the issue and make sure that you clearly understand. By the way, that's good preaching for you, too. Because oftentimes we have misunderstandings and we think one thing, and if we'd go to the person and talk to them, we'd realize that that's probably not what they meant at all. And so anyway, I sat down, I wrote this letter, drafted this letter, and then we sent it off, and then we waited for a response. Response came back from this evangelist, and here's what he said. He said, you indeed have my position correct. I do believe that unless a person is saved under the preaching of the King James Bible, they are not saved. So then again, I went back to the preacher. We're in this time of transition. I said, Doc, this guy's scheduled to come back in a couple of years. What do you think? I said, I'm of the opinion he shouldn't come back if that's his position. We don't need trouble here. He said, you're absolutely right. So you write him a letter. Thank you, sir. And so I sat down and drafted him a letter and said to him, based upon your position and your theology, we are disinviting you for the next meeting that we have scheduled with you. Everything's great, right? So as time goes on, probably a year or two later, some of our missionaries sent out of our church were out and visiting some churches where they would raise support. Some that they were familiar with, and in an area where this preacher had done a lot of preaching. So our missionaries show up, and all of a sudden, they're being questioned. Hey, we heard that your church no longer uses the King James Version. They said, what? Yeah, so and so came through here and said, you know, the new preacher coming behind the old preacher. He's not a King James man. And so we heard that your church has moved your position. If that's the case, we're not supporting you. And they said, let me assure you. That our pastor, as King James, as Pastor Roy Thompson was, we have not switched our position. But you see what happens is as people assume things, and sometimes they spread things, and as a result of that it ends up people begin to believe things. And I'm sharing that with you because what we're dealing with here in this text is exactly what has unfolded in the life of the Apostle Paul. And we're looking at it tonight. So Paul is dealing with a similar situation. The churches of Galatia had been infected, if you would, with heresy and false doctrine. These false preachers were preaching a twisted and a tainted gospel. We dealt with that a few weeks ago, and to justify their position, they told the churches in this region that Paul was not preaching the truth. That his gospel message was one that left out some critical elements of the gospel. They were preaching the truth and Paul was preaching a false gospel. So as we think about that tonight, I want you to understand that Paul is hitting this thing head-on. He's gonna deal with this matter in a head-on aspect and he's gonna take them down a line, if you would, to show them why his position is a right position. Would you notice, please, that Paul answers their accusation first in verse number 10. Now again, setting the stage, these people have come in to these churches that Paul has established. So understand, Paul has gone there originally as this church planning missionary, and God has done this great work in the region of Galatia. And I said Galatia was not a city, it was a region, and there were churches there, because as you read chapter one, you'll see that he's writing to the churches, plural. local churches in a region where Paul had gone and God had used them to call these heathen people out of their heathen ways and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and Paul has left town and behind him have come these folks who are now preaching a gospel that is a Gospel of works. You've got to do something. You've got to you can't just believe the gospel You've got to become a Jew and you've got to practice Jewish tradition and Jewish re Elements of aspects in which you are going to be doing Jewish things in order to be a believer of Jesus Christ. So Paul answers their accusation. The accusation was that Paul's message had changed to fit the Gentiles. Look at what he says in verse number 10. And this is maybe a little bit redundant from our last message, but I felt like this is where we need to jump in. But notice he says, For do I now persuade men or God? That's a question. Paul saying, who am I trying to persuade here? Am I trying to persuade men? Or am I trying to persuade God? Am I trying to bring God over to my side? Or am I trying to bring men over to my side? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. While it's not directly stated here in this text, the indication is that these false teachers were saying Paul's message among them wasn't the same message that was being preached at Jerusalem. In other words, if you went to Jerusalem, you would find that the message that we're preaching is the message that's being preached there, but Paul has come among you and he's preaching a different message. Their indication was that Paul was some Johnny-come-lately convert to Christianity, and he was telling people that he was an apostle to the Gentiles, but he wasn't preaching the truth. Now perhaps the thought That thought helps us to understand what Paul says. Look if you would at verse number one. Go back to chapter one, look at verse number one. With that thought in mind, notice that Paul immediately, as he begins this letter, makes the statement, Paul, an apostle, notice in parentheses, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who has raised him from the dead. So Paul again is immediately addressing this issue because the idea is that his authority, his integrity, his stature, if you would, as a preacher has been undermined by these folks. And he's trying to help them understand, look, whatever they're saying, I just want to tell you who has called me to this ministry. Now notice he asks this rhetorical question in verse number 10. Do I now seek to persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? Obviously these men were saying Paul is disingenuous in his integrity and it's being questioned here. It's true that Paul was in the business of persuading men. Did you hear what I said? Paul was in the business of persuading men. That's what preaching is. It's persuasive. It's a position that is based upon solid truth, and you let folks know what that position is, and you use every tool within the toolbox, if you would, to pull people along to persuade their minds, their hearts, to embrace that truth. So Paul wasn't trying to persuade God. He didn't need to bring God over to his side. He was on God's side. So he's saying, am I trying to persuade God? Of course not. But I am trying to persuade men. That's a rhetorical question. But then he goes on to make this statement. He said, am I seeking to please men? Well, isn't that an interesting question? One thing was clear that Paul wasn't doing what he was doing to please men. I gotta tell you, if someone had taken a poll right then in the region of Galatia among the churches, and they would put Paul on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the best and one perhaps being the worst, Paul wouldn't rank very high on that survey. Right now, he wasn't being held in high esteem, and so he said, I'm not here to please people, I'm here to preach the truth. These false teachers had persuaded these people through their lies and their character assassination to turn from Paul, this man who had brought the truth of the gospel to them. Isn't that incredible? Here's a man who stood before them, a man who had hazarded his life to bring them the gospel, a man who had laid down his life day in and day out, had suffered greatly to bring the gospel to them, and they had been saved, marvelously saved. And all of a sudden they've turned away. Because someone has undermined his authority, someone has brought into question his character and his integrity. The nature of Paul's ministry many times was to put him on the wrong side of people. He definitely paid a cost for the message he preached. Most places that Paul went, he was either run out of town, or put in jail, or perhaps even beaten or stoned. And I want to tell you that Paul wasn't the most popular people in most places that he went. Now I want to tell you something about preaching. If you're not aware of it, sometimes a preacher doesn't always take the most popular position. Now I understand that I'm preaching to the choir tonight. Most everybody here in this room would probably be on my side of things. Well, four people are, that's okay. But you know, when you stand out in the world, and you go out knocking on doors, and you go out standing up for the truth of the gospel, sometimes people don't always appreciate it. I know there are people in this world who think that we're absolutely crazy for some of the positions that we take. Well, I'm not here to please them, I'm here to please God. You ought not to be here to please people, but you ought to be here to please God. As long as we're on the right side of things with God, that's all that's important. And so Paul said, I'm not here to persuade God. I know where God is on this matter. But I am trying to persuade you. And that's why I'm spending some time, Paul said, in writing this letter to try to help you to understand who I am and what this ministry is about. I want you to know that Paul's admonition to a young preacher is still true today. He said, preach the word. Not your thoughts, not your ideas, not your dreams, not your ambition, but preach the word. Then he said, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. You know, there's times in which the doctrine, the word is not popular. And this is one of those times. There are people in our culture today that think this is a dangerous book. And it is dangerous, it's a sharp sword, and it'll cut you to pieces, there's no question about that. But it's not dangerous in the way they think it's dangerous, this is not a dangerous book to destroy people, it's a dangerous book to help people, to pull them out of sin and change their lives and change their direction and change their morality, change their marriage and change their families. We just need to let that book be preached. Whether it's popular in the culture or not, we're not to, gee, let's see which one, the way the wind is going. That's what's wrong with churches today. Let's find out what the people want. Instead of saying, here's what God says, and here's what God says we're supposed to do, and this is the way we're going, and if you want to be on the right side of it, get on board with us. No, let's see what people want today. They don't want Sunday night church? Well, we won't have Sunday night church. They don't want to sing hymns? Well, we won't sing hymns. They don't want this old-fashioned Bible? Well, we won't have this old-fashioned Bible. And we don't have much of church today in most places. That doesn't mean that we're the only church in town. It doesn't mean we're the only people that are doing things right. And it doesn't mean that we don't need some correction in our own lives from time to time. But I'm just simply saying that we've allowed people to make decisions rather than God to make decisions. So Paul said, I want to tell you why I'm doing what I'm doing. And he hits it head on. Notice, please, Paul then shares the source of the gospel in verses 11 and 12. He shares with us that his position in the gospel, he's not trying to please people. Now he shares the source of his gospel message. Look at verses 11 and 12. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul moves in his message and he speaks of the source. Notice that word certify, please. Certify. You know, every once in a while you may have to have a document certified. It means it's authentic. It means that it's credible. You know, if you go downtown to perhaps to apply for something, sometimes they say, we want a certified copy of your birth certificate. You can't just take your birth certificate and make a photostatic copy. You have to go and pay them money so they can make a photostatic copy, and then they stamp it to say this is a genuine document. So the idea of certifying something means that we're giving it authenticity. Here, this word means, though, to declare. It's to declare or to make known. According to Bible scholars, it is a solemn word of strong declaration. It was used to tell someone what they're about to be said is of utmost importance. So when Paul said, what I'm about to say, I'm certifying what I'm about to say. I want you to know how important it is. I'm putting a stamp upon it that this is of highest importance. Paul uses the same word, but it's translated just a little bit differently in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse number one. Here, let me read it for you. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you. That declare unto you is that same word certify. So in other words, it's to make a declaration, to make something known. Paul said, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein ye stand. So Paul is dealing with the gospel there, and he uses that same phrase or same thought as he's using here in the book of Galatians. What did Paul certify? Well, he was certifying that the source of his gospel was not of human mentality. In other words, it was not something that Paul was schooled in or taught in. He didn't go to some seminary where they taught him these things. Paul was saying very clearly and very distinctly that his message did not come from men. It's clear to now that the message was after or through any man. Paul was saying, I didn't get my message that way. So, Paul, where did you get it? Well thank you for asking, Paul says in verse number 12. For I neither received it of any man, neither was I taught it, but notice please, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now it's interesting because that word revelation means something very important as well. Revelation means a truth that is shared by God to man, a truth that a man never knew. You know we have a book in the Bible called the book of Revelation. John was on the Isle of Patmos. When the Lord Jesus showed up there on the Lord's Day. I think John was in church on the Lord's Day and the Lord showed up. That's a good place to be and the Lord shows up. He was alone and the Lord showed up. And the Lord said, I've got some letters I want you to write, John. I want you to make some things known to some churches. And then I want in this letter, it's going to continue on, not only to the seven churches, but to all the people from this time forward. I want to end my revelation of the New Testament. I want to end with this book, but I need to unveil some things to you about the future. The idea is, again, to make it clearly known to something that a man never knew. The accusation was that Paul wasn't like any other apostle. He wasn't cut from the same bolt of cloth, and that was true. Paul was an anomaly. He wasn't like Peter. By the way, those guys weren't alike either. They were alike in their training, they were alike in the fact that they had all been called one by one by the Lord to a position and to a place and they walked with the Lord for three and a half years and were eyewitnesses of all his ministry beginning at his baptism all the way to the day of his resurrection and his ascension. They were there when the Holy Spirit of God's power fell upon the church in Acts chapter 2 and certainly they were alike in that way but they were all different. So Paul is saying, yes, I am a little bit different. Think about this, Paul was prepared a special man for a special task. God had done this work in his life. The point that he's making either is what Paul was saying has happened, either what I'm telling you is the truth. God did this in my life, and if so, then I am who I claim to be, and the message that I'm preaching unto you is a true message. And if it's not true, then these men are obviously telling the truth, and I'm a liar. But if I'm telling the truth, then I'm telling you those men are liars, and you can't trust them. So he's certifying to them where he got his gospel. Now we're about to walk these folks through the churches in this region of Galatia, his testimony. And he walks them through the testimony in verses 13 to 24. Notice in verses 13 and 14, he talks a little bit about his past. He says, for you've heard of my conversation. The word conversation is an old English word. It means my manner of life, the way I conducted my life, the way I walk, my testimony. For you have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my fathers. So, two things that Paul points out here. Number one, he's saying, I was a problem to the church, and I was its supreme persecutor. In my early life, before my salvation, I was a problem for the church. The church of Jerusalem obviously was, Paul came against it with a vengeance. He hated those people. He hated their message. He hated the person of Jesus Christ. He had no use for any of it. Again, I'm telling you, if you do some research, Paul was guilty of more than just one death, I'm sure of it. He certainly was guilty of calling for the death of Stephen. And he was the chief witness against Stephen. And he gave authority to those men to stone Stephen. But I'm convinced that other people came to death because of Paul as well. And he was guilty of causing problems in families, and arresting people, and causing difficulty for the church. And so much so that the Bible says he brought havoc against the church in Acts chapter 1. And they scattered everywhere preaching the word of God. So Paul said, I want to point out, number one, that I was a persecutor. Secondly, he points out that he said I was a pompous, self-righteous Jew. He says that in verse number 14. You see, he wasn't practicing biblical Christianity. He was practicing the traditions of the fathers. In case you're not familiar, the Jewish people have a book, and it's probably yea thick. It's filled with all the traditions of the fathers, and in actuality, one of the things that Jesus railed against in his ministry here as he walked among men was the fact that they were keeping traditions and undoing the word of God. Paul said, I just wanna let you know that I was one of those people that was steeped in the traditions of my fathers. Above all of my equals, I profited in that. I became an expert in it, and I was pompous, and I was self-righteous. Paul was saying, look, if anyone knows about Judaism, You have these guys coming behind me who are these Jews and who are great into Judaism, but I'm gonna tell you, if anybody knew about Judaism, it would be me. So just be careful about who you're listening to because I was where they were. That was before I was saved. Notice Paul's conversion, we find that in verses 15 and 16. Don't you love that little three-letter word in the Bible that we find all the time, the word but, B-U-T? Man, I mean, there's wonderful statements that are made. Paul was making a statement, he said, here's who I was, but, look at verse number 15, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him, notice please the statement, among the heathen. See, Paul understood early on, yes, he was gonna be an unusual person, Now you take this man, think about it for just a moment, you take this man who all of his life, I mean from the time he's old enough to understand, he's schooled in the theology of Judaism. He's taken to the best of teachers. He sat at the feet of a man by the name of Gamaliel in Jerusalem, and he's schooled in that, and he becomes this great stalwart, if you would, this great defender, this great person who goes against Christianity, and he fights against it. Then all of a sudden, God reveals himself to Paul, and Paul realizes what a terrible mistake he's made, and then God reveals to him immediately upon his conversion, Paul, I'm sending you to the heathen, to the Gentiles. Now it's interesting because here's what I would say to you that Paul seems to be trying to help these folks to understand that they're in the region of Glacier that only God could do this kind of work. This is not a work that some man could do. Therefore the emphasis, he says, I'm immediately, notice he said, I immediately conferred not with flesh and blood. I think Paul was so overwhelmed I mean, this radical shifted his life. One day he's out there persecuting Christianity, and one day he's out there going after Christians. In fact, he's on the road to Damascus to go arrest them and cause more difficulty in their life. And all of a sudden, God strikes him, and his life is turned, I mean, immediately turned 180 degrees. And then God reveals, look, Paul, instead of being this great Judaizing person, this person who's great in the realm of Judaism, I'm gonna send you to the heathen. I think Paul was so overwhelmed by that he said, you know what, I can't confer with people about this, I've got to get along with God. Ever been so overwhelmed about something you just had to get along with God? Paul said, I don't want to talk to anyone, I just want to talk to God, I just want to spend some time in the presence of God. Notice Paul is prepared for preaching the gospel in verses 17 and 24. He walks us now, he traces the preparation for his ministry, his missionary outreach to the Gentiles. God took him, think about this, He first took him away, then He took him to a place called Arabia. We don't have a whole lot of insight on how long Paul was there, but obviously Arabia would be kind of in a desert region, and no doubt Paul spent some time there alone with God, and I have to believe that God did some unusual things in Paul's life. I have to believe what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and what he's saying here, that no man taught me the gospel, but Jesus Christ taught it to me. He revealed it to me. And I have to wonder if that didn't take place here in Arabia. And then notice after Arabia he goes back to Damascus. I think probably Paul had some business to take care of in Damascus. Isn't it interesting, the Bible says that he didn't go to Jerusalem for three years. Have you ever thought about that? Now Paul's home was probably in Jerusalem. He had great connections in Judaism amongst the Jews in Jerusalem. Why didn't he go for three years? Well, I think probably because the radical changed in his life. Immediately, Paul began to make some enemies among the Jews, and they want to kill him. In fact, we read about them wanting to kill him even in a place called Damascus. So Paul is saying, you know, God has got me in this kind of school area, and he's teaching me some things, and I'm not going back to Jerusalem. And he says it took three years to go, and then when he went, he only spent 15 days. As far as I know, from what the Bible says, this is the first meeting between Peter and Paul. Can you imagine? Here's this man who all the church in Jerusalem would know had been this chief persecutor, and all of a sudden they're hearing that he's a Christian. In fact, you may remember that the Bible tells us that in the book of Acts, that when Paul went to Jerusalem, nobody wanted to associate with him. They all shunned him. It took a man by the name of Barnabas. Say, Paul, let me take you. Let me introduce you to some folks. And obviously he was introduced to Peter. Can you imagine that first eyeball to eyeball time between Peter and Paul? All these questions, evidently Paul spent 15 days, that's obviously not enough to go through a theological dissertation, but he spent 15 days and he said, I didn't see any other apostles at all except James the Lord's brother, that's the only one that I saw. I got a feeling the rest of them had all scattered and they were out doing missionary work And so Paul just saw Peter and James and so he he went to the regions then to his boyhood home it where his testimony Was known among the and then he says his testimony is known among the churches of Judea That he had come to Christ Now the emphasis of these verses is the work that God had done in his life was unique is unique Paul have been called to deal with the Gentiles and His message was to take a message directly to them. See, these Judaizers were wanting to bring these Gentiles to Judaism, and then, obviously, it wasn't enough that they put their faith in Christ, they had to become Jews. God said, no, Paul, you go directly to the Gentiles, and you take them the message that it's repentance and faith that saves a person. They don't need to become Jews, they just need to have faith in Christ and practice biblical Christianity, New Testament Christianity. I'm gonna make an application, I'm gonna be finished tonight. Here's the application. God's work in all of us is a unique work. Did you know that? Now here's what I want you to know. We're all saved by the same work of God. It was the work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. If you're saved tonight, that's the work that saved you. He did the work. He died for your sins. So that's the same in all of our lives. Christ died for our sins. All of us. Individually, yet collectively. So he died for our sins, we're saved by that work. It's the same Holy Spirit of God that works in us to call us to him. So when the word of God is preached or presented, and the Holy Spirit of God draws men, it's the same work that happens in all of us. But the way that God works on us to draw us to himself is a special and unique work. The work of God calling us after our salvation is also unique. His work that he's called us to is a unique work. God hasn't made us a bunch of what I call a batch. We're not a batch of cookie cutters, Christians. In other words, God didn't just stamp us out and we're all just to be exactly like each other in all this. We're unique. I mean, aren't you glad that everybody's not like you? I am. Some of you say, man, I want everybody to be just like me. Man, you got to deal with yourself if that's what's going on in your heart tonight. But the truth of the matter is that God's working in all of our hearts and He's working in all our lives. God's work and His call in your life to what He's called you to do. Now look, we all have the same mandate, where to reach the world. But I'm telling you that you have a unique work that God is doing in your life. God is tooling you, He's fitting you, He's working on you to present you and to do this work in your life. Now, honestly, I do believe the Bible gives us a pretty detailed description about life and our faith. I do think that we all need to obviously follow what God says in His Word. But I do think that God says, hey, look, there's a uniqueness about this thing. And not everybody's gonna see everything just exactly the same way, and not everybody's gonna do everything just exactly the same way. God's work is a work for each of us. He's got a work for all of us to do. So understand tonight that Paul was being singled out, and they're saying, hey, hey, he's an anonymity, he's an oddball, he's a person you need to stay away from. And Paul's saying, no, not at all. Yes, God did a unique work in my life, but my calling was to take the gospel of the Gentiles, and they weren't taking it. You understand what I'm saying? Up until this point, until Paul came along, the church at Jerusalem pretty much stayed in Jerusalem. And it was Paul and his persecution that scattered them, and they began to spread the word a little bit to places like Antioch. But it wasn't until Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch and helped that church that God said, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereto I have called them. And he went into Asia, and then think about this, he went into Europe. Hey, many of us in this room today are of European descent. And it's because Paul was a missionary to our forefathers that many of us have come to faith and know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And so I'm just simply saying to you tonight, it was a unique work that God did. God had a unique calling for him. I gotta tell you, I see Brother Pittman over here tonight, and God's got a unique calling on his life to go to Europe, and obviously first to Ireland, now trying to get to the field of Sweden, because they need the gospel. Would it be wrong for me to say, well, Brother Jerome, you know, you need to just stay here in Cleveland, you're gonna do what I tell you to do. No, no, he's gotta listen to the Holy Spirit, and if he's listening to the Holy Spirit, and I'm listening to the Holy Spirit, we should be on the same page. It is the church that recognizes the gifts and callings. God spoke to the church at Antioch and said, separate me Barnabas and Saul. I'm saying the church recognizes that. But obviously these false believers, these men who twisted the truth didn't believe that. But here's what I'm saying to you tonight, that it's a unique work. The second thing I wanna say to you tonight, and we're done, is the fact that we cannot discount who God can save. I am sure that there were some in the church at Jerusalem that said, boy, anybody could be saved but Paul. And at that point, he wasn't even known as Paul, he was known as Saul, Tarshish. He is the enemy. He's made our lives miserable. We don't even want to witness to someone like that. And yet, I'm here to tell you that God can save whoever he wants to save. And God chooses to work through us to get the message. Now obviously, Paul's conversion was a little bit different. God himself did that unique work, but I think it was the way that Christians responded to his persecution. You know, we're living in these troublesome times, aren't we? And I don't know how that's all gonna end. I don't know how that's all gonna work out. I just know that these are unusual days in which we're living. And I'm not one that relishes in a jail cell. I'm not one that relishes in being put out in a situation where, you know, I've become a target. But that's probably gonna come at some point if Jesus Christ is coming and things continue down the path that they're coming. But do we need to understand that the way that we respond sometimes to persecution, the way that we deal with our adversaries, Sometimes it's God doing an unusual work in their own heart, in their own life. See, I'm convinced that one of the things that caused Paul to, when Jesus said to him on the road to Damascus, it's hard for you to kick against the pricks. I'm convinced that the pricks that he's talking about, obviously the pinning in his heart, things that he thought about, things that he saw, things that he'd experienced. Perhaps when he pillowed his head at night, he saw Stephen. just before he died, a sort of man lashing out in anger and saying, this is unfair, this is not right. He looks up to heaven and says, God forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. He dies with the glow of heaven upon his face. I don't suppose any of us will ever have to worry about being stoned. But we may be persecuted. You may find some antagonism at work I'm telling you that it's coming. If we continue down this path of biblical, and by the way, you should be as Christian at work as you are here in this church tonight. It doesn't change when you leave here tonight. We don't hide our light under a bushel. No, we're to set it on a candlestick, and it's to give light to all that are in the house. You say, well, that's easy for you to do, preacher. You live in a bubble. You come to church here, and this is where you work, and you work with Christians. Well, you ought to work with some of the people I work with. They're a little bit harder to deal with sometimes. Just kidding, they're a great group of folks. But here's what I want you to know, is that as a pastor, I'm gonna be a target. And as a result of that, depending on how we deal with our adversaries, we could either be a tool that God uses, or we could be a hindrance to what God is doing. So, I'm here to tell you tonight, God can save anybody. You may have somebody at work that's already made your life miserable. Have you prayed for that person? Have you tried to reach that person with the gospel? Maybe you say, well, I did, and that's why they're antagonistic towards me. Well, the Bible says you help them by being kind to them. You heap coals of fire on their head by doing acts of kindness to them. We don't help ourselves by shunning people or avoiding people. We need to pray for people. We need to try to reach people with the gospel. Because God can save anybody. He does that unique work. He did it in Paul's life. And Paul was defending this gospel that he is trying to help these folks understand. I preach the truth to you. Look, all that's necessary is that a person puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. They repent of their sin and put their trust in Christ. That's enough. This is the baptistry water that saves us. You don't have to be baptized to be saved. You should be. You should be baptized. But you don't have to be to be saved. You don't have to dress a certain way or do certain things in order to be saved. But if you are saved, there should be things that are happening in your life. Because God is at work. He's doing a unique work. And God can save anyone. You know, God's grace is vast, it is deep, and it is wide. And we're all a work of grace. We need to ask God to help us. We ought to be rejoicing in God's grace tonight. A grace that saved us, but a grace that can save others as well. Certainly Paul was defending that work of grace, and we'll see more of that in the book of Galatians. Let's bow our heads together in prayer tonight.