What Can We Learn From Paul’s Testimony? Part 1 (Galatians 1:11-16a)
GIST: We aren’t naturally looking for the Gospel, but Jesus is pursuing us! And→we can’t be too far gone for Him to find us! Because→before we were even born, Jesus loved us and had a plan for us.
This morning we’re going to continue our study in Galatians together. For the last two weeks, we’ve been discussing Paul’s immediate dive into the meat of this letter: don’t forget the gospel! Today, we’re starting in verse 11. This is an autobiographical section that actually extends into 2:10. It appears that in order to call the gospel into question, false teachers have been dismissing Paul’s validity as a witness. To counter this, Paul shares his testimony. He’s not doing this to defend himself, but to point them, yet again, to the power of the gospel. Let’s read verses 11-16. Then, I’ll give us a gist.
“11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 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. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 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. 15 But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by His grace, 16 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…”
For the next two weeks, I want us to consider what we can learn from Paul’s testimony. Here’s our gist/points for this morning: We aren’t naturally looking for the Gospel, but Jesus is pursuing us! And→we can’t be too far gone for Him to find us! Because→before we were even born, Jesus loved us and had a plan for us. First→
I. We Aren’t Naturally Looking For The Gospel, But Jesus Is Pursuing Us!
It’s important to remember that this passage comes right after Paul tells the Galatians he’s not trying to please men. He knows the gospel won’t always make people happy because the gospel is→
Not From Man. As we pointed out last week, this isn’t some human invention. It isn’t something Paul came up with to get people to join his club. This is the message of salvation that has been revealed throughout Scripture. Paul, like everyone else who has ever been rescued from their sin, was rescued by Jesus, not man. Even if you receive the gospel after hearing someone share it with you, it is Jesus who reveals His truth to you. Paul further emphasizes this by making it very clear that he was→
Not Looking For Rescue. Paul stood by approving of the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He experienced that incredible witness but was unmoved. Well actually, he was very moved...to wipe Christianty from the face of the earth! He took it on as his personal mission to snuff out what he saw as a despicable false religion. He did not think for a minute that he needed Jesus. And guys, that’s our natural state. We don’t go looking for Jesus to save us, but we are still being→
Pursued By Grace. We’ll come back to this point before we close, but in case I lose you, I want to make sure I lay this out from the beginning here. Jesus loves you. That’s what makes salvation possible. Your pursuit of God is possible because of His pursuit of you. Does this bring us back to the familiar ground of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility? Yeah, it does. But here’s the key, you can be forgiven. You can be rescued. You can know Him. You can experience the life for which you were designed. Why? Because of His amazing gift of grace.
Romans 5:8 “8 but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Now, I don’t want to skirt around the serious objection here. If we don’t naturally pursue God, but He is pursuing us, and we are saved by His revelation→
What About Those Who Never Hear? Honestly guys, that’s a hard one. I’ve wrestled with that question myself a lot. When I do, here’s what I try to remember. God is the same God today as He has always been. Therefore, if He loved sinful man so much that He took on human flesh, died a disgraceful death, endured the Hell I deserved, and rose again victorious once and for all over sin— then I can trust Him to still love that passionately. Which means, I can trust that His love is sufficient to reach all who will come to Him, even if I don’t understand how He does that.
And that feeds nicely into our second observation this morning→
II. We Can’t Be Too Far Gone For Him To Find Us!
In the eyes of man, Paul wasn’t a prime candidate for salvation. We already said he wasn’t looking to be saved, but that wasn’t a passive stance he was taking. I think we could categorize him at least three ways from our text this morning. First, he was→
Violently Opposed. He didn’t just think Christianty was a silly waste of time. He definitely wasn’t of the “live and let live” mindset. He literally tells us he wanted to destroy Christians. He took an active and violent stance against Jesus. Do people do that today? Absolutely. It doesn’t matter if they are terrorists or policy makers, their attempts to stop Christianity aren’t enough to disqualify them from the grace of God. They need rescued, and Jesus can still rescue them! Paul did despicable deeds, and Jesus still pursued him.
In his sin, Paul would have also considered himself→
Intellectually Superior. He had been trained by one of the most famous Jewish rabbis. He began moving up the ranks from a young age. He was smart, and he used that as an excuse. He thought he knew better than Jesus. He didn’t buy into what these Christians were selling. I’m sure he had all kinds of arguments against it because he spends so much time in his letters arguing against intellectual objections. Many in our world today hide behind this stance as well. The Bible is widely regarded as outdated and beneath our modern understandings of life. If that’s you, I urge you to examine the Bible for yourself. I’m no genius, but I would be willing to walk with you as you wrestle with these intellectual objections. God’s grace is enough for you. You need rescued, and Jesus can still rescue you.
Lastly, Paul was also→
Passionately Traditional. He was definitely stuck in his ways! He was zealous for keeping things the way he had always heard they should be, and Jesus didn’t fit into that picture. Guys, we are moving away from a culture that is dominated by traditions that point to Jesus. For generations now, people have been slipping away from not only attending church, but also taking Jesus’ Word seriously in their homes. When I was growing up, most of my friends had grandparents who went to church, but their parents were “hit and missers” at best. I’m 32 years old now. Those kids I grew up with are now parents. That means there is a large number of children being raised now whose closest connection to a faithful Christian is a great grandparent they likely never met. We are surrounded by traditions now that have nothing to do with Jesus. Why are people too busy on Sundays to carve out an hour for worship? Because our culture doesn’t value that. Turn on the TV for two seconds. Get on social media and start scrolling. Better yet, ask a teenager or college student to let you scroll through their social media. Jesus doesn’t fit with the traditions that are being zealously sought after. Yet, His grace is still enough!
Do you know people who could fit into these categories? They’re not too far gone. Don’t stop praying for them. Don’t stop sharing Jesus with them. They need rescued, and He is powerful enough to rescue them!
Ok, last observation. We aren’t naturally looking for the Gospel, but Jesus is pursuing us! And→we can’t be too far gone for Him to find us! Because→
III. Before We Were Even Born, Jesus Loved Us And Had A Plan For Us.
As we close just look at verse 15 and the beginning of 16 again. “... He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal His Son to me…”. Paul was→
Set Apart & Called By Grace Before Birth. Guys, before you were even born, Jesus loved you. He has a purpose for your life and is still→
Pleased To Reveal Himself to you. Will you come to Him today?
Let’s recap in our→
TAKEAWAYS
We aren’t naturally looking for the Gospel, but Jesus is pursuing us!
And→we can’t be too far gone for Him to find us!
Because→before we were even born, Jesus loved us and had a plan for us.
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