GALATIANS

Galatians 1:10-12; 2:15-21Page 989 in Pew Bibles

10. For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.

GALATIANS

11. Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not based on a human point of view.

12. For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation from Jesus Christ.

GALATIANS

Now skip down to Chapter 2…

15. We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners”;

16. yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.

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17. But if, while seeking to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are also found to be sinners, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!

18. If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.

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19. For through the law I have died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ;

20. and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

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21. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

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Agitators and Gospel Changers

• Disturbing the hearts and minds of believers, robbing them of peace

• To change the gospel: Christ plus something else

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• Opponents: Trying to discredit him in order to discredit his message

• In order to defend his message, he sometimes had to address the accusations of the false teachers

Why Paul’s WritingsOften Seem Egotistical

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The Basic Question of Motive

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Who Are You Trying to Impress?

• 1:10 “For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.”

• Pseudo-Christian Movements: – Celebrity focused– Peer pressure driven >

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The Originof the Gospel

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Direct Revelation

• Vs. 11-12 “Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not based on a human point of view. For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation from Jesus Christ.”

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The Originof the Gospel

Five Exhibits of Evidence

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Exhibit 1: Absence of Training by the Apostles

• 1:15-16 “But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, so that I could preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.”

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GALATIANS

Quick Insight: • 1:15-16 “God… was pleased to reveal His Son in

me”• “In me,” not “to me”• John Stott: “…Essentially it was an inner

illumination of his soul, God shining into his heart… this revelation was so inward and became so much a part of him, that he was able to make it known to others.” >

GALATIANS

Exhibit 1: The Lack of Training by the Apostles

• 1:17-19 “I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus. Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him 15 days. But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.”

2 >

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Exhibit 2: Not Even the Jewish Church in Jerusalem Followed

Those Rules • 2:1-3 “Then after 14 years I went up again to

Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also… But not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”

3 >

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Exhibit 3: Prior Experience With This Same Issue

• 2:4-5 “This issue arose because of false brothers smuggled in, who came in secretly to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. But we did not yield in submission to these people for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain for you.”

QI >

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Quick Insight: • 2:4 “False brothers smuggled in, who came in

secretly to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.”

• Their Identity: False brothers – not saved• Their Arrival: Planted like foreign operatives into

an enemy city

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Quick Insight: • 2:4 “…to spy on our freedom that we have in

Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.”• Their Assignment: To gather evidence believers

weren’t following Jewish law• Their Ultimate Agenda: To force believers to

follow Jewish law

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Exhibit 4: Recognition by the Big 3

• 2:6-10 “But from those recognized as important… When James, Cephas, and John, recognized as pillars, acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised…”

QI >

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Quick Insight: • 2:6 “…those recognized as important added

nothing to me.”• Curtis Vaughan: “…Paul learned nothing from the

men of repute he didn’t already know and gained no authority from them he did not already possess.”

• Groupies & Fans: The mistake of thinking the victory of another is a victory for me 5 >

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Exhibit 5: Authority to Rebuke Peter

• 2:11-13 “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For he used to eat with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.”

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The Basic Conceptof the Gospel

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The Non-Plan of Salvation

• 2:16 “We know that no one is justified by the works of the law… by the works of the law no human being will be justified.”

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Declared Right by Faith Alone

• 2:16 “We know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law…”

Def >

Saving Faith

Saving faith is when I throw myself completely on

the mercy of God

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A Common Misunderstanding of the Gospel

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The Idea that Grace Leads to Sin

• 2:17 “But if, while seeking to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are also found to be sinners, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!”

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The Life-Changing Dynamic of the Gospel

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Alive to God

• 2:19-20 “For through the law I have died to the law, that I might live to God…”

• Died to the Law: Jesus, in a way that fulfilled the terms of the law, ended the law’s demands on the believer’s life

• Live to God: No longer separated from God and able to respond to God

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Christ in Me

• 2:19-20 “…I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me...”

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Living by Faith

• 2:19-20 “…The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

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The Contradiction of Self-Trust and the Gospel

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If We Can Be in Good Standing withGod on the Basis of Our Own Record,

Then What’s the Cross About?

• 2:21 “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”

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GALATIANS

William Gurnall

Satan’s Two Main Strategies

His first main design is to draw into sin. The second main design is

to accuse, vex, and trouble the saint for sin.

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GRACE

God’s

Riches

At

Christ’s

Expense 5 >