Galatians 1. Paul's authority. Paul's authority. Now, Paul didn't
have any authority, but Paul was given authority by God. So
that's what this is talking about in this passage of scripture.
Let's begin in verse 11 and read down through verse 17. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. It's not derived from any human
source. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it. Men didn't teach me what I'm
saying, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, he taught me
what I preach directly. For you've heard of my conversation
in times 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 my equals in my own nation, being more
exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. 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
among the heathen. Immediately, I conferred not
with flesh and blood. I didn't need to check this out
with other men to make sure it was right. Neither went I up
to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me. I didn't
need to go to John and James and Peter, but I went into Arabia
and returned again unto Damascus. Let's pray. Lord, how we give thanks for who you are, for the gospel of thy blessed
son, for your word. Lord, how we thank you that your
word is not derived from any human source after man, but it's
your word. Lord, how we thank you that salvation
is utterly by your grace in your son. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that he might be revealed to us for Christ's sake. We're so thankful for this opportunity
of meeting together. We, Lord, we remember our friends
that are sick. We pray for your great blessing
upon them. According to your will. We pray
for the healing of their bodies, the healing of their minds. Lord,
we pray for grace to walk by faith with our dear son. We pray
for open doors to preach your gospel. We pray for your blessing
on all your people, wherever they meet together. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. Now, what if I came to you or
what if Paul came to them and began with, well, here's what
I think about the gospel. Here's what I think. Or here
is my opinion with regard to the gospel, or here's what it
means to me. It'd be a real problem. But that's not the way Paul comes.
He says, I assure you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me was not derived from any human source. I wasn't taught
this by men. I was taught this by the revelation
of Jesus Christ himself. Now, the people described in
verse 7 were trying to undermine Paul's authority. He said in
verse 6, I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ under another gospel,
which is not another. but there'd be some that trouble
you and would pervert or change the gospel of Christ. Now they
were trying to undermine the authority of Paul, not that Paul
had any authority in and of himself, but he's saying the gospel that
I'm bringing is what God gave me directly, and if they could
undermine his authority, it undermines the message itself. And that's
why Paul is protecting his authority against these people. They were
questioning it because if they could question his authority,
they could say, this gospel he's preaching is not directly from
God. He's giving us his opinion. And
Paul says, no, I'm not. Verse 12, for I neither received it of
men. This gospel that I preach, I
didn't receive it from men, neither was I taught it by men, but by
the revelation of Jesus Christ. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 for a moment. Hold your finger there. Paul says in verse three, for
I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. I'm only delivering to you what
Christ gave me, I received, and bring back to you. Back to our
text. I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Verse 13. For you've heard of
my conversation in times past in the Jews religion, how that
beyond measure, I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it. Now, Paul is talking about his
experience as a Pharisee. This was a man-made denomination.
You don't read about him in the Old Testament. It's something
that happened some 150 years before the birth of Christ, the
Pharisees. the separated ones, and he says, I profited in this
religion above many, my own people of my own nation of my own age.
I was exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers
that made me want to persecute and destroy and murder and kill
people of the faith. Look in Acts chapter seven. This is at the stoning of Stephen. Verse 57, then they cried out
with a loud voice and stopped their ears. Think about Stephen
preaching and then putting their fingers in their ears and crying
out with a loud voice, gnashing their teeth on him. They were
so enraged by what he said. And they cast him out of the
city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. Verse one of chapter eight, and
Saul was consenting unto his death. He was saying, this is
what should be done. Now put yourself. Just as a witness,
this young man, Saul, telling everybody, we need to stone Stephen
and put him to death. He needs to be shut up. And the
only way to do it is to kill him. This is what I want. Now
this man had some unusual rage against Christ, didn't he? Verse three, as for Saul, he
made havoc of the church, entering into every house. And hailing
men and women committed them to prison. Look in chapter 9
verse 1, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest. Now there is no question that
this man, Saul of Tarsus, had an unusual hatred for Christ
and his people. More so than the average Pharisee,
I would say. I mean, he wanted everybody dead
that called upon the name of Christ. Now, remember how I introduced
this message by saying, don't give your opinion? Paul's not
giving his opinion. Well, I want to put a hold on
that for a second. I want to give my opinion about
something. So bear me out. Why did Paul hate Jesus Christ
so much? Turn with me to Mark chapter
10. Verse 17. And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running. Now picture this in your mind,
this young man running toward the Lord Jesus Christ and kneeled
to him. He showed him some respect. He
was impressed with this one. And he asked him, good master,
what shall I do? that I may inherit eternal life. And Jesus said to him, why callest
thou me good? There's none good but one, that
is God. Now he knew what this young man
was doing. He was saying, what can I do to reach your level
of goodness? I want to know, what can I do
to be like you? He was impressed with the Lord
on some level. And I love what the Lord says.
Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not
kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false
witness. Defraud not. Honor thy father
and thy mother. Does anybody know the commandment
he left out? Thou shalt not covet. And he answered and said unto
him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. All these. Every one of them have I observed
from my youth. I know one other person who made
that claim. Paul said in Philippians chapter
three, touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. He's the only other man other
than this rich young ruler who made this claim. Now, let me
repeat. It doesn't matter whether this
is true, but this is just my thoughts as to why Paul hated
Christ so much. Verse 21, then Jesus beholding
him, what? He loved him. He loved him. Now, when he was speaking to
the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23, when he said, you generation
of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Doesn't
say he loved them, does it? But this young man, he loved. There won't be anybody in hell
that he loved. He loves his people. So whether
this man was Paul or not, he was somebody that was like Paul
because the Lord loved him. Now that, why does God the Holy
Spirit point this out? There's a reason for it. The
Lord beholding this man, he loved him. And said unto him, one thing
thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come,
take up thy cross and follow me. And he was sad at that saying
and went away grieved for he had great possessions." He was
a covetous man. He thought he'd kept all the
commandments and he didn't realize he'd broken them all and that
was demonstrated by his covetousness. Now when Paul spoke of when the
Lord taught him what sin was. Do you remember what he said
in Romans chapter 7? I'd not known sin except the law had
said thou shalt not covet. Like I said, if the rich young
ruler is not Paul, he's somebody very much like him. And Paul
was eaten up with covetousness. And I think that this rich young
ruler was so enraged at this that he thought, I'm going to
prove Jesus Christ is a fraud. And I'm going to destroy everyone
that has anything to do with him. He had some kind of personal
vendetta against the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I know all men by
nature hate him. But I mean, he took it to another
level, didn't he? He was gonna kill everybody that
called upon the name of Christ. Now, that's why I think Paul
and the rich young ruler may be the same person. He said,
you know, in the Jews' religion, I was above everybody else, being
more exceedingly zealous of their tradition. Now, I love the way
he points out that what I believed was not what the Bible taught.
I just believed in human tradition, man-made religion. It wasn't
what the Bible taught. And back to our text in Galatians
chapter one. Now, once again, that's speculation
about the rich young ruler. So if somebody says, I don't
agree with that, that's fine because it's my speculation.
I don't care if you agree with it or not in that sentence because
it's just my opinion. But let's go back to, this is
not opinion. Now we're gonna go back to what God's word actually
states. He says in verse 13, you've heard
of my conversation in times 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 mine equals in mine
own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my father's butt. It's one of the best words in
the Bible, but, in spite of all that, but, but God, but, when
it pleased God. Now here's the difference. When
it pleased God. When were you saved? when it
pleased God. And look at what Paul says, when
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb. Do you know if you're a believer?
God separated you from your mother's womb before you were even born. And you know that everything
that's taken place in your life is according to God's good pleasure. And even when you were unconverted
and had never heard the gospel, God's hand was upon you for good
to bring you to this place that he speaks of when Paul says,
when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb. Isn't that overwhelming? Why me? Why would the Lord do
that for me? Somebody says, why not me? Well,
you got, you're not one of them then. Why me? Why would he separate me from
my mother's womb? And look what it says. When it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by his grace to reveal his son in me. Now everyone who he has separated
he calls. If you've not been called, you
weren't separated from the womb. What's this thing of being called?
Well, this is the call of, and listen to this word, this is
the only description that's appropriate. This is the call of his irresistible,
invincible grace. If he calls you, you can't resist
this call. Now this doesn't mean you're
angry with it and he's dragging you and you're kicking against
it against your will. No, he makes himself and his
grace irresistible to you. If you can resist it, he hadn't
called you. If you can't resist him, he's
called you. Lazarus! Come forth. He that was dead came forth. Matthew, follow me. Don't you love that? He forsook
all and followed the Lord Jesus Christ, Zacchaeus. I love the story of Zacchaeus.
of the chief of the publicans, very rich, probably very much
dominated by covetousness like Paul was, like every natural
man is, but the scripture says he sought to see Jesus who he
was. Now that's when, as far as my experience goes, that's
when salvation begins, when I want to find out who the Lord Jesus
Christ really is. Oh, that's a blessing of his
grace. He sought to see Jesus who he
was. You know, he went up into the
tree because he couldn't see who he was because he's a little
of stature. And I think that demonstrates to us when you seek
to see who he is, you find that you can't. You can't. You're
too little of stature. You can't see his high, holy,
glorious person. And then I love to think of the
Lord walking by, and there's a man up in a tree, Zacchaeus,
and he looked up and called him by name. Zacchaeus! Make haste. Come down. For today I must abide
at thy house. That means when he comes to your
house, he's there for good. He's never gonna leave. And that
is the call of irresistible, invincible, effectual grace. And you'll notice he said he
called me by his grace. That's why it's effectual. It's by his
grace. One of the things I love about
the character of God, I love to think of his independence.
That means he does not need for you to do something before he
can do something for you. He causes you to do it. That's
his independence. He didn't say, well, I need to
see Phil respond. No, he causes you to respond.
He doesn't need something first out of you before he can do something.
He's utterly independent. He has no needs. He has no needs
of anything I can first do before he can first respond to me. Zacchaeus. Make haste, come down, for today
I must abide at thy house. Now this is the call of the gospel. We preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto
them which are what? Called. Both Jews and Greeks. Christ, the power of God, Christ,
the wisdom of God. He's called you by our gospel.
That's what Paul said to the Thessalonians. Now, if you haven't
heard the gospel, you haven't been called. He called you by
our gospel. It's the call of the gospel,
the gospel of grace that those who are called respond to. He
called you by our gospel, not a false gospel, not a false message,
the truth of the gospel. Now go back to Galatians 1, or
maybe you're still there. But when a pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called by his grace to reveal
his son in me that I might preach him. Now the call of grace is
the revealing of Jesus Christ. When he calls you, you find out
who he is. Now, for just a moment, quit
thinking about yourself. May God give me the grace to
do that about my experience, what I know, and all that kind
of foolishness that will cause us to look inwardly to figure
out whether or not we're saved. Do you believe who he is? Do you believe he's God? Do you
believe he's the creator? Do you believe he's the son of
God? Do you believe he's the man Christ Jesus, the God man,
the only savior of sinners to reveal his son? Now, when God
calls a man or a woman. Here's what they find out. Who
he is. That's what Zacchaeus wanted
to find out. He sought to see Jesus, who he
was. And when God calls you, you know
who he is. He's God's Christ. He's the creator. He's the son of God. He's the
savior of sinners. You know who he is. When he's revealed to you. You
find out who God is and not before then. When he's revealed to you,
you find out who you are, and not before then. When he's revealed,
you know who you are. You know you're a sinner. You
know that when he's revealed, and if you don't get that, he
hadn't been revealed. When he reveals himself, one
thing you're sure of, you are a sinner. And you don't know
that until he's revealed. When he's revealed, you know
it. If you're sketchy there, well, maybe he's not been revealed.
But if he's been revealed, you know that. And you know when
he's revealed, you know he is salvation. You know that. When he's revealed, you know
everything God requires is found in him. He himself is salvation. But notice how he says this.
in verse 16, to reveal his son to me. Now, if Christ has revealed,
he's revealed to you, but that's not the language Paul uses, is
it? To reveal his son in me. I've said this on numerous occasions
before, but doesn't take away from the truth of it. If all
he does is reveal himself to me, it's not enough. I'll forget. If this is about my knowledge
of him, I'll forget. I'll leave. I'll go in a different
direction. If all it is is he's revealed
to me, it's not enough. He must be revealed in me, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Turn to Galatians chapter two,
verse 20. I'm crucified with Christ. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? And this is true of every believer.
This is not just Paul. This is true of every believer. I'm crucified with Christ in
the beloved. I went to the tree. I'm crucified
with Christ. I'm crucified dead. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. I believe, and I know why. It's because Christ liveth in
me. I have a new heart. I know why. It's because Christ
liveth in me. I have faith. I know why. It's because Christ liveth in
me. That's the only explanation.
It wouldn't come from my nature. I love God and I know why. Christ
liveth in me. This new nature that every believer
possesses, the new man, here's the reason behind it. Christ
liveth in me. To reveal his son in me. for this reason, back to Galatians
1, to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him. Now this is when Christ
is revealed, not only to the preacher, but to the hearer.
Everything we believe can be summed up by this word, Him. him, that I might preach him. You see, who he is determines
everything else, doesn't it? That I might preach him. Now, we're not trying to convince
people of the accuracy of the doctrine of grace. I've spent
far too much time trying to prove election and predestination and
prove limited atonement and prove irresistible grace, and those
are all true. But if he's seen, All that's obvious. We're telling
who He is. We preach Him. What's the reason? What's God's
purpose? Him. His glory. Why did God elect a people? Him. Explain to me redemption? Him. He redeemed. What is this justification
being justified? Justified by His righteousness,
Him, that I might preach Him among the heathen. He is our
message now that when He is revealed, He is our message. And Paul says
that I might preach Him and you're saying, and I'm saying, that's
what I want to hear. I want to hear Him. I don't want to hear
anything but Him. that I might preach him among
the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood, neither when I went up to Jerusalem to them
which were apostles before me." Now, I love this. Paul said,
when he revealed himself to me, I didn't have to go to Peter
or John or James and try to see if what I believe matched up
with what they believed. I didn't need to confer with
flesh and blood. I didn't need to see, does this
measure up? Tell me if I'm wrong. As a matter
of fact, if you go on reading and look in verse 18, Or verse
17, neither when I went up to Jerusalem to them which were
apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, the desert, and
returned again in Damascus. Then after three years, I went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter. Three years. He was in Arabia
for three years. He was in the desert. I guess
much like John the Baptist, I guess, the Lord was teaching him the
gospel. And he did not need other men's
opinions when the Lord taught him. Now, if the Lord has taught
me and you, here's something we understand. Salvation is him. All together, He is everything
in my salvation. I do not have anything else but
Him. And I'm satisfied to have nothing
else but Him, because in reality, having nothing but Him is only
when I have all. things. Christ is all. May God give us grace just like
Paul when he is revealed to preach him among the heathen. Amen.