Sermon: Giving Glory to God

I'm ask you to take a copy of God's word this morning and turn open to the Book of Galatians as we continue our way through that book this morning. If you wanna grab a pew Bible, you can do so and turn right to page 9 7 2 9 7 2 in the Pew Bible. We continue our way through the book of Galatians this morning. We're looking at Galatians chapter one and verses 11 through 24,

Galatians chapter one verses 11 through 24

and let's pray before we open the word together this morning.

Father, we are in need of a word outside of us. We are in need of quiet hearts and quiet minds.

We pray that you would still the voices within even this morning, those of sin, those of self, of imagination, those of the to-do lists of today or tomorrow, those of the regrets of yesterday or last night, pray that you would quiet us within that we would be still, that we would know this morning that you are God,

you thunder in our ears and thunder in our hearts and we pray this in the strong name of Christ Jesus. Amen. Galatians chapter one verses 11 through 24. This is the holy er, sufficient word of God

for I would have you know brothers that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. Pride did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people. So extremely zealous was I for the traditions

of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately consult with anyone nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. But I went into, went away into Arabian, returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit CFUs and remained with him 15 days.

But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. And what I am writing to you before God, I do not lie. Then I went into the regions of Syria and Alisia and I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said he who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy and they glorify God because of me. The grass withers and the flower fades.

The word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Maybe one of the most unique things about the Christian life is that the Christian is called to suffer. If there is anything that is counter-cultural, it is surely that that we are called the sufferer. And maybe even more astonishing than that is that we are often called the sufferer silently. Now think about the fact that we're called the sufferer. We could go to a number of scriptures, but just one Romans eight, that great chapter,

maybe the greatest chapter in the scriptures. Paul says this, that we are children of God and of children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him called to suffer. And yet we have the great example of our Lord and Savior. Isaiah 53, Peter will cite it where he was one who suffered silently and I think the vast majority of time that the Christian is

to suffer in this world silently. But there are times that we're not to suffer silently when the gospel is at stake, Paul's suffering, he's suffering. As men have come, Judaizers have come to these churches in modern day Turkey, Asia minor to Galacia and they are opposing him, but they're not just opposing him, they're, they're calling his character in his position into question. And by doing so, they're calling into question the message

that he preached. And so Paul is going to defend himself in our text and he does so because the gospel was at stake. You can see it in the opening verse of our passage verse 11, for I would have you know brothers that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. So just as a reminder, you have these false teachers that have come to Galatian. They're saying Paul is a second rate apostle. He didn't receive the message from Jesus like Peter

and like John and like James. His message is being questioned and pose concerns. Souls are at stake. And so he can't be silent. He, he wants them to understand these Galatians that the message that they receive from him that he preached to them, that he received from Jesus Christ,

maybe a a children's game will help us to think through what he's being accused of. You kids may know this game, the game telephone, you know the game telephone if the adults will remember this game where you sit in a circle with a whole bunch of other kids and the first person whispers a sentence into the ear of the person to their right. And that person then is to whisper that sentence into the ear of the person to their right

and on it goes around the circle. But as you know, what inevitably happens is you get two or three or four people down the line and that sentence gets jostled and gets shifted and it changes and it gets to the last person. The last person in the circle is to say the sentence out loud that has made it all the way around the circle. And as they say it, it's completely different from the sentence that started the circle.

And it's incredibly funny.

But this isn't funny.

Paul is being accused of having received the gospel message down the line. And these judaizers are making the case that what he received has been jumbled. Jesus preached it to Peter and John and Peter and John or the other apostles, they passed it down the line. And somewhere along the line, maybe right after Peter, maybe right after John, maybe it was after further disciples, that's how Paul learned it. And what he learned isn't right to

what he's preached isn't right.

And it's not funny. But you think about the impact of this. This is a day when you couldn't pick up a telephone and call someone. This isn't a day where you could text someone from afar and you could say, is this really what was said? You, you couldn't do that. And this region of the world is hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem. This is days and days of travel away. And here are teachers saying, we come from Jerusalem,

we sit under James, we sit under John, we sit under Peter or fuss as Paul calls him in the text. And the message that you received is not the message we have heard

what EU Galatians received. Paul is telling them, and he is dogmatic. I received from Jesus to our first point this morning. Christ revealed, Christ revealed. Paul says in verse 12, for I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. If you go down further, go down to verse 19, he says it yet again. He, he learned it from no one. In fact, he underscores it more

by saying go back up to verse 16. He says, I did not consult with anyone verse 17, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles. Now he says instead he went to Arabia, most likely the area around Damascus and he stayed there for three years. He's making the case. I didn't recede this message from any other Christians. And he goes on, it was only after three years verse 18 that he went to Jerusalem and spoke with fuss Paul's name for Peter.

And then he was only with him, he says for 15 days. And he says even then he didn't see any of the other apostles besides Peter and James. Now that may sound strange. Wait, Paul, you went all the way to Jerusalem, you're now among the apostles and the only apostles that you met with were Peter and James. But you have to remember he was the persecutor of the church. They were afraid of him. He says as much in verse 23.

And And So Paul or Saul, as he was known then was Feared. Luke records This in Acts 9 26. He says this, And when he, meaning Paul had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples and they were All afraid of him For they did not believe That he was a disciple. Here's my point, Paul saying all of this. I didn't have contact with anyone. I didn't receive this message from men. As he says in verse 12, I received it through

a revelation of Jesus Christ

is Paul recalling what Luke Records in Acts nine. In Acts nine, Luke gives us this account of when Paul is going from Jerusalem to Damascus, what we call the Damascus road experience. And Paul again at that time he's called soul and he is persecuting the church and he is on his way to Damascus from Jerusalem and he's seeking to round up men and women that identified themselves as Christians when all of a sudden a light comes from heaven

and it shines upon him. And he is blinded on this road, on his way to Damascus and he falls down on his knees and he hears a voice from the heavens that says soul, soul, why are you persecuting me?

And He cries out and he says, Who is it Lord?

And the response that he gets from that cloud is, I am Jesus Who you are persecuting.

And when he Hears this, he receives The revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Ananias and Safari and Barnabas and Apollo as We go through The book of Acts, they will assist him but, But Christ Revealed himself to him and he gave him the message of The gospel so that as Paul says, he might be a preacher to the Gentiles. In fact, in Acts nine, Luke tells of him being led and his blindness to Ananias and as he gets to Ananias place, he regains a sight and Luke says that he's filled with the Holy Spirit

and then he eats a little bit of food. He spends a little bit of time with some disciples. And then Luke says this and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of God. Christ had been revealed to him.

Second, second point, Christ followed. Christ followed. It's an amazing transformation. Paul goes from destroyer to disciple. He, he's transformed. Verse 13, he, he highlights his diabolical opposition to the gospel before his conversion. He notes, they quote, have heard of his former life in Judaism and he doesn't gloss it over in any way. His former heir in sin says in verse 13, I persecuted the church of God violently.

Luke describes this in Acts nine. He says this, Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. And he goes on to tell how Paul Saul was seeking to round up Christian men and women and his aim in doing so is stated very clearly by Paul in our passage at the end of verse 13, he wanted to quote, try and destroy the church. That was his aim as Leon Morris said For Paul in those days to be alive was to be hunting Christians.

He wanted to destroy the church and every semblance of it, many have tried, many will try destroy the Christian faith and each has and will always fail just like soul did. Because this is a truth that can't be undone you, you have to know that our faith is a fortress. The gates of hell shall never prevail against it. The Lord Jesus said it's been established by his sovereign decree and it's been purchased by the blood of the Son of God

and it's been applied and given by the spirit of God. This is a faith that can't be out fleeing. It can't be undone, it can't be turned upside down.

It can't be dashed. It's a firm foundation as Jesus will say it's a fortress. As the psalmist will say it's a refuge

trius, Saul did. He was but kicking against the goads. That's what Jesus says to him on the Damascus road.

Paul states said Acts 26, uh, a goad was just a prod. It was a a prod that farmers would use that had a sharp end on the other end of the stick and that that prod was used to move oxen along. And what Jesus is saying to to Saul Paul on that Damascus road is that you're just kicking against the gods. What happens when an ox kicks against that God that has a pointy end on the end of it, it just causes him to move all the faster you've been pricked.

That's what Jesus is saying to me. You were trying to dash it to pieces you were kicking against that which was moving you along and that which was truth and you were just pricked all the more.

Paul was a man who was at the heights of Jewish society. He was trained by that teacher Galio. He says in verse 14, I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people. His entire life has been shaped so that he would be a pharisee of Pharisees and he was among the best. He was committed to it. He was more than committed to it. He was convinced of this being the way to honor God. As he says in verse 14, zealous he was for the traditions

of his fathers and few have had more zeal for the faith that they clung to than the than Saul did. Saul of Tarsus who tells us in Acts eight, Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. He watched as Stephen was stoned to death. He happily stood there while they laid all of their cloaks at his feet to honor him and they laid their cloaks there so

that they were not encumbered and he with approval, condoned them, throwing stones at Stephen's head and killing him.

In fact, he will say in Acts 26 that he cast his vote for Christians being put to death Zealous. He ripped families apart,

he imprisoned people, he beat them, he condoned death.

But along the way, his life is radically changed.

One experience radically changed.

He goes, goes from enemy of Christ to follower of Christ, from persecutor of the faith to believer of the faith, from destroyer to disciple.

How do you account for that?

How does that make any sense?

It's an interesting question because I'd argue that outside the life of Jesus Christ, there's been no life that has had more an influence upon world history than that of the apostle Paul.

And I would argue that his changed life is one of the greatest pieces of evidence for the truth of the Christian faith. You when he converted to Christ, he lost everything. Everything.

His status, his friends, his connections, his vocation, his position. Now things like this have happened in history. People move from one political party to another, one army to another, one family to another, one, religion to another. But here's the difference. There's always gain. There's always the promise of earthly gain. Paul is at the heights of Jewish religion. He's at the heights of Jewish society.

He's at the heights of what he was trained for and what he's been molded for. He is the elite of the elite and he's making even a greater name for himself by persecuting these Christians.

And yet what he embraced offered nothing in an earthly sense, nothing. Jesus said if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me. And that's what Saul did. No promise of anything in this life. And this is so very unlike others. When Muhammad founded Islam, he leads an army. He conquers territory, inhabits cities. He accumulates power, wealth, prestige and exulted status. When Joseph Smith founds Mormonism, he gains a wife

and another wife and another wife and follower after follower after follower that treats him like he's a God, not Paul. Listen to what Paul receives. He catalogs this in two Corinthians 11. He Speaks of many imprisonments and then he says this quote with countless beatings and often near death, five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes les one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked.

A night and a day I was adrift, drift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst, often without food and cold and exposure and apart from other things. There's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety

for all the churches. And this is all before Paul will be imprisoned and he will die. A martyr of the faith as a Popper and a prisoner and a political enemy. Why Would a man at the Height of society

Abandon all of that? For this,

there's only one explanation. He believed what he received, believed what he received,

He had encountered Christ. And When You see the beauty of Christ, all The promises and trappings and Glitter of this world loses its shine 'cause there is nothing more beautiful and you simply want Christ.

He was Willing to leave all behind. He was Willing to endure all in the present for him and he was willing to strive with all in the future To glorify him. And that's Our final point. Christ Glorified, Christ revealed. Christ followed, Christ glorified. That's always the path. That's the path. Christ revealed. Christ followed. Christ glorified. What caused The change in Paul is at the heart of why he is so animated concerning these lies

that these false teachers are telling. Look at the language in verses 13 through 14, the subject is Paul, look at the language I persecuted. I tried to destroy. I was advancing. I was extremely jealous. Now look at the the change in verses 15 and 16 when he called me by his grace, he was pleased to reveal his son to me. The former was all Paul's work. The latter is all God's work. And Paul was changed because he had received grace upon grace

by the revelation of Jesus. This was not his doing, it was God. And so God is deserving of all glory.

Blind men cannot see unless they're given sight

and we can only see Jesus if he is revealed to us by the father. Verse 16, he God the Father was pleased to reveal his son to me. Paul uses similar language throughout the New Testament in his epistles. Uh, this idea of the apprehension of Christ. Ephesians one as example. He speaks about having the eyes of our hearts enlightened. We behold him, we see him.

Jesus said in Matthew 13, 13 seen they do not see and that is every single person born into this world they see but they they don't see. They they have eyes in their head and they can see with those eyes, they can see that there is order in the world. They can see that there must be a God that has established all these things. The sky's proclaim his hand work the heavens declare his glory. It's clear there is order in this world.

There must be something that established this order. They see that there is a God but they do not see God

hear, but they do not hear

why? Because they're blind. Sinners are blind and we're all born in this world helpless and blind. We just kind of dwell in kind of we do. We dwell in perpetual darkness.

The light has shown in Christ. But as Jesus said in John three, people love darkness rather than the light. So what has to happen?

God in his abounding grace Reveals His son to the sinner.

Your glorious text verse 16 is it's one that every Christian can echo. God Is pleased Reveal his son to me,

To me

Even more beautiful than man. I'm not sure why the ESV chooses to interpret that preposition in verse 16. The way that it does, it says two, but you'll see even in your ESV, there's a footnote that that's not actually the preposition there and other Bible translations take, what is that preposition there in the Greek? The NIV, the NSB, the KJV, the CSB the A SV. They all agree it's not two. The Greek preposition is in.

He has revealed his son In me Or to paraphrase him in Ephesians one, he has opened the eyes of my heart. I've seen him

Or change From the inside Out

or never Change from the outside in.

And Paul tells his story so it is clear because this is the great he of the Judaizers do this without do Circumcision And be saved. Do the law and be saved. Do this outwardly and Paul say no,

we're never changed from the outside and that leads to the within must be changed Within and then we are changed. On the outside

He revealed The sun in me. He enlightened the eyes of my heart and I saw and now I truly See It means it's of Grace. Verse 15, Who called me by his grace.

This was always God's plan for Paul And he makes this very clear by saying in verse 15, God had set me apart Before I Was born. Paul had done nothing. He could do nothing to catch God's attention or earn God's favor because he was nothing. He wasn't even alive and God chose him and called him by his grace. And every Christian can say the exact same Thing.

He's not unique in this way. In fact, he uses the same language for all Christians in Ephesians one or Romans eight. Or we Could go to various passages but Just Ephesians one, listen, blessed to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the World In love. He predestined us and then says this,

This is all to the praise of its glorious grace.

He sets us aside even before we Exist and then he calls us And he opens the eyes of our Heart. Christ in us Revealed so that he receives all the glory. It's all of grace.

Verse 24. That's how he ends. They glorified God because of me,

glorified God because of me. That that's a tragic error these judaizers are making. They're not just leading these Galatians away from salvation by saying do, They're Also steering away the glory that is To God all is to his glory

and this gospel does that. It gives him all Glory.

So lemme simply remind you of three things in closing. First, we were created For his glory and our salvation is for his Glory. Anything, anything that robs Christ, the Father, the spirit or triune God of glory is not from heaven. It's all to his glory.

I was reading a a count of a Presbyterian pastor this week who lived in the 18 hundreds and he was on his deathbed and he called his two daughters to himself while he was on his death deathbed and his final words that he spoke to them and the daughter is recalling it. One of the daughters was recalling it after he had died

and the final words that he said to them was a question. He said, daughters, what is the chief end of man?

And his daughter has responded, man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. It was they had been catechized. They know the first question and answer to the Westminster shorter catechism.

The daughter says she was initially upset that these were his final words. Couldn't he say something more endearing? I love you. You'll be all right without me. Then she wrote this.

At the time, I did not feel that much had been said to me. I stood by the bedside of my dying. Father as I had so often been asked and answered that question before, very different, however, has been my view under a riper judgment and experience of volume, could not have embodied more.

He spoke the most important thing to her. Thought this, this is what you were created for. This is what you were recreated for. Live for this glorify and enjoy God.

Second, we have to keep reminding each generation of the church a conversion does not occur by creating the right atmosphere or making the right arguments or advertising Jesus the right way.

No one comes to saving faith by atmosphere, argument, or advertising only by grace, God's grace, just as it is not their work. So it is not our work. We use his means of grace for the salvation of his people. That means if it's all of grace that you and I are to be dependent upon prayer, where to be upon his word, preaching his word and proclaiming his word because he has chosen to meet his grace, meet out his grace to people through those means of grace

and that makes it all of grace.

So we keep praying, we keep proclaiming the gospel, we keep preaching the gospel and we wait upon him to reveal himself

and it gives us great hope finally.

Know that because it is all of his grace that all in any can be saved.

It's no mistake that the Apostle Paul was the great persecutor of Christians in the early church soul. It's no mistake that the great preacher to the Gentiles, the great writer of the New Testament epistles was one of the worst persecutor of Christians in the history of the world. It's not a mistake.

It's meant to show you that even the worst of sinners

can be redeemed by his grace.

No matter what you've been, no matter what you've done, he chooses to set apart. He chooses to call, he chooses to reveal himself to sinners. And yes, that means wretched sinners like you, just like you, maybe even worse than you,

but you don't know what I've said or done against Christ or Christians. True.

JC Riel once wrote this. He said, the apostle Paul entered heaven to the cheers of those He martyred. That's how the gospel works. That's how it works. It's all of grace. His grace is more than sufficient as gospel is all of grace. You can enter heaven to the cheers of Christians and angels and we could take it even a step further. Dear sinner, you can enter the gates of heaven to the cheers of Christ if you, but look to him for your salvation

and trust in his life lived and died on the cross for you just receive the grace

all to his glory. Let's pray.

Our Father, we are thankful for so great a savior.

We can take the worst of sinners,

make them disciples. We're thankful that it is not from without, but from within.

You. Pour out your grace upon us, that you give us a sight of the beauty of your son

and that we get the delight in him and your glory in his face by the power of the Spirit, from that moment throughout all of eternity. Who is a God like you? The gracious, so merciful, so kind.

You are worthy of all glory and we give it to you even this morning in Christ's name. Amen.