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Thank you for coming to worship with us at Redemption Hill Church.

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Thank you, everyone who has served us so well today.

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Thank you worship team, production team.

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I thanked them last service, so I was like, I better do it again this service too.

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Coffee, kids, those ministering the gospel to our kids, I want to honor you.

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And I'm excited to preach to you from God's Word, so let's, we got a lot to cover, okay?

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If you're new, we've been going through the book of Galatians.

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We're not too far in, so open your Bibles to Galatians.

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Just in the New Testament, chapter one, we're going to continue to work through this.

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We like to work through books of the Bible.

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That's God's Word to us.

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We believe it is.

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So that's how we preach.

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We preach expositionally through passages, books of the Bible, passages of Scripture,

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verse by verse and chapter by chapter.

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So we're in Galatians one, and we're going to work through verses 11 through

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24 this morning.

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So we're going to conclude chapter one.

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As you're turning to Galatians.

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Let me ask you a question.

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Have you heard of the persecution of Christians that is occurring in other parts of the world,

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specifically in North Korea?

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North Korea, if you didn't know, is one of the most radical persecutors of the Christian

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faith because primarily because of one of the leaders of North Korea, or at least the

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leader of North Korea, I guess, we could say Kim Jong-un.

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I think I said that right.

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Let me tell you a little bit about the persecution that's being endured in North Korea.

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And this information is a little outdated.

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It came from an article that I found last year.

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I found it this week, but the article was written last year.

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In May of last year, 2023, North Korea sentenced a two-year-old, a two-year-old, to life in

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prison.

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You want to know why?

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Because that child's parent was found with a Bible.

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In another case, a member of the ruling party, a friend of Kim Jong-un's, was sentenced to

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execution in front of 3,000 people at a local air force camp because this individual was

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in possession of a Bible.

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In addition to executions and imprisonment, Christians there are enduring starvation,

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dehydration, tainted food, beatings.

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They're forced to adopt these agonizing positions like physically for long periods of time,

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like torture.

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Last year, this information has changed a little bit, 70,000 Christians at least had

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been imprisoned or had died for their faith in North Korea under the leadership of Kim

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Jong-un.

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Now, I was convicted as I studied that this week and learned of those facts.

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It's like I know the church throughout the world is being persecuted, but sometimes Sunday

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we don't think about that because right now we're not being persecuted.

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We got air conditioning.

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You got a parking spot.

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You've got a Bible in your hands.

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You got people pulling the gospel into your kids, but you guys do know the majority of

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the world doesn't experience church like we are.

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There's a great hostility towards Christians and it should cause us to do two things.

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Number one, we should be praying for them.

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We should be praying for the persecuted church, praying that the Lord would sustain them,

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that maybe the Lord would show some favor to those Christians and get them out of that

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situation.

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And number two, if it's His will.

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Number two, we should be praying actually for those that are persecuting those Christians.

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We should be praying that God would change the hearts of men like Kim Jong-un.

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He would shine the light of the gospel on him.

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Now I know what some of you are thinking.

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How could God save a man like that who is so hostile towards His message and His people?

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Just with that question in mind, I would like you to see our text today because God saved

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a man named Paul who just like Kim Jong-un hated Christians, despised Christians.

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His life, His aim before coming to know Jesus was to put an end to Christians.

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God rescued this man and changed him from a murderer and made him a missionary from a

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persecutor.

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Paul was made and transformed into a preacher.

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The invitation this morning is to just see how big God's transformative grace is.

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Hear it from Paul himself.

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Let's read our text beginning in verse 11.

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This is God's word, for I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached

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by me is not man's gospel.

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For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through

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a revelation of Jesus Christ.

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For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently,

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and I tried to destroy it.

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And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many, my own age among my people, so extremely zealous

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was I for the traditions of my fathers, but when he who had set me apart before I was

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born who called me by His grace was pleased to reveal His Son to me in order that I might

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preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did I

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go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned

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again to Damascus.

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Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him 15 days,

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but I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother, and what I'm writing

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to you before God, I do not lie.

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Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown in person to the churches

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of Judea that are in Christ.

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They were only hearing it said of me, he who used to persecute us is now preaching the

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faith he once tried to destroy and they glorify God because of me.

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This is God's word, amen.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we need Your grace this morning to give us eyes to see and ears to hear Your

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word, to receive it humbly with faith, trusting in what Jesus has done for us.

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Would You speak through my words?

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That is a great mystery, how You can take my words and use them to speak Your word, Your

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truth to Your people as we dig into Your word.

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Would You do that?

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That's a miracle.

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We ask that You would do that.

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You would soften hearts.

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You would convict us of sin.

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You would point us to Jesus.

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You would show us just how big Your grace is, how it transforms the worst and makes the

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missionaries.

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You are so good and so kind.

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We love You.

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Would You bless the preaching of Your word in Jesus' name, amen.

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Now, we have to ask ourselves a question here.

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What in the world is Paul doing?

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Is he just giving us his testimony in these verses?

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See, when we approach the Bible, it's important we understand context.

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We don't want to just take this passage and divorce it from what comes before or what

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comes after.

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We know why Paul is writing what seems to be a testimony of what's happened to him.

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Paul's point isn't just to give his testimony.

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Remember what is happening here.

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This is our third week.

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Remember I told you in week one Paul's apostleship and Paul's message are under attack.

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The two are interconnected.

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If you can discredit the messenger, you can discredit the message.

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So what's happened is Paul has planted these churches in Galatia.

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He's left.

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It hasn't been long since he's left.

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False teachers have snuck in.

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They were Jews.

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And what they are doing is telling these Gentile converts who are not Jews, hey, you want to

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enhance your salvation?

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You want to get a closer seat to the table?

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Then you need to live and look like a Jew just like us other Jews.

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So yeah, you need to believe in the Messiah, believe in Jesus.

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But also remember you got to do that circumcision thing.

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And the law is still really important.

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And Paul is upset.

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So he writes back this corrective word of astonishment.

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Remember last week?

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I'm so astonished.

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It didn't take you that long and you so quickly turned to a different gospel.

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Verse six.

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Not that there's even another gospel.

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The gospel that he preached is what's at stake here.

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The gospel.

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Because these false teachers have also taught that Paul can't be trusted.

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He's not an apostle like the apostles that walked with Jesus on this earth, like the

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12, like James, John, Peter, Matthew.

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We can go on and on and on.

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He's not one of those.

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He didn't witness the resurrected Christ hours after the stone was rolled away.

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He persecuted the church.

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So his apostleship is under attack and therefore guess what else is also under attack?

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His gospel.

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So the claim seems to be that somehow Paul's gospel didn't come from God like the other's

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other apostles.

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It came from somewhere else.

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It was passed down to him and he's manipulated it and twisted it and made it this free gospel

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of grace, which it is.

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And he is being accused of pleasing man by preaching this gospel of grace.

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And remember last week he ended verse 10 by saying, I'm not here to please man.

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And this week he says, I didn't get my gospel from man.

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So what is Paul doing with this autobiography?

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He is proving his point.

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The gospel that they are abandoning, the gospel that saves, the gospel that Jesus himself

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gave Paul to preach, the only gospel came not from any man, was never tainted by any

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man.

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It came from Jesus to Paul and Paul is living proof, not only of the message of the gospel,

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but of the power of the gospel.

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So let me help you this morning because this is kind of a unique passage because we've

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got really what Paul is doing is he's giving his claim and then he's going to defend it.

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So if you'll put the slide of the outline on the screen, this will help you guys.

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So Paul is going to do two things.

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He's going to make his claim.

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We see that in verses 11 and 12.

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I didn't get my gospel from man.

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I got it from God.

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And then he's going to prove his point.

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His testimony is his alibi, it's his proof that at no time during his pre-conversion,

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his conversion and immediately after his conversion was his gospel ever influenced or given to

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him by a man.

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And the mystery is he's preaching the same gospel that the other apostles are.

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The only answer can be that his gospel did in fact come from God.

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And there's a lot of implications if it did.

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But I do want us to do this.

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When we get to the second part, I do want us to look at Paul and see him as a model

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for us to see the pattern of grace in his life.

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We are going to distinguish some differences between Paul and us because as I said a few

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weeks ago, we're not apostles.

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Okay?

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Capital A, office of apostle, there are none.

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And that's a good thing.

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But we can trust Paul's words because he was one.

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Right?

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And so we're going to see grace working through Paul's life and that grace also works in and

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through us.

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And I'll get to those three workings of grace under part two.

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So let's cover part one.

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Part one is Paul's claim.

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What is he claiming?

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We'll look at verse 11.

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For I would have you know, brothers, this is Paul's way of saying, listen up, give this

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ear.

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This is important.

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He says, the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

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The gospel that I preached to you when I planted you churches of Galatia, that gospel wasn't

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man's gospel, even if these false teachers are claiming that is the case.

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Says I didn't get it from a man.

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I wasn't taught it from a man.

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Where did Paul get his gospel from?

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It's pretty clear here.

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Jesus himself.

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All right.

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So let's go ahead and get this out of the way.

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Paul's unique.

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Paul didn't learn the gospel like you and I learned the gospel.

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Paul didn't sit in a Sunday service and learn the gospel.

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Didn't happen.

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Paul didn't attend church and learn the gospel.

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He didn't have a friend.

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Meet with him over coffee and teach him the gospel.

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He didn't have a small group, gospel community group, let me correct myself, to go to and

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learn the gospel.

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He didn't have a Sunday school teacher to go to the, to learn the gospel.

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He didn't go to seminary to learn the gospel.

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And please keep in mind, Paul's not against those things, but Paul's unique.

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Why is Paul unique?

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He's done apostle, always remember, pause and apostle.

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We're not apostles.

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So Paul's got a unique experience that we didn't get.

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Now again, their patterns and Paul's conversion that are true for us as well.

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Paul's even saying, look, I didn't even consult with the disciples to have them proofread

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my paper.

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I didn't need them to tell me if my gospel was right or wrong.

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Why?

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Because Jesus gave me the gospel.

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I didn't get it from a man.

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I didn't get it from a man.

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So let's, let's go ahead and see this.

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Paul's salvation experience was unique, not normative.

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You need to know that unique, not normative.

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Jesus didn't show up to me in a, in a vision or in person as he did to Paul.

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Paul's encounter with Jesus in Acts 9 was a physical reality.

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You guys know that he wasn't dreaming anything.

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None of the apostles had a dream when they saw the resurrected Christ.

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If that's the case, Jesus' resurrection can be questioned.

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You guys do know that, right?

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He physically appeared to the disciples, hence why they can be apostles and to Paul.

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So the reason Paul can be an apostle is because he witnessed physically with his own eyes,

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not in a dream or a vision, the resurrected Christ commissioning him to be his spokesman.

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We talked about this two weeks ago when we talked about apostles to not only plant and

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establish the churches and be the foundation upon which every other church is built.

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You guys do realize we, a church, are built on the foundation of the apostles, including

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Paul, that's Ephesians 2, but to also be the authority for the New Testament so that when

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we read the scripture in the New Testament, we can have confidence that what we're reading

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is the words of Jesus or are the words of Jesus.

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You guys with me?

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Okay.

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But we ain't Paul.

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We didn't, like, like I wasn't saved on my way to murder Christians and Jesus didn't

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show up in a resurrected body and save me.

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How does, how, the normative means by which Christians are converted are actually through

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the words of Jesus through the pins of men like Paul and the other apostles and the prophets.

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As we hear the gospel proclaimed or told to us by a friend, maybe we meditate on it and

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stir on it for a little while, but something happens in our heart and we turn to Jesus

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by faith.

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So there's a distinguishment between Paul and us.

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He's an apostle.

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But where did he get his gospel?

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He says it.

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There are revelation from Jesus Christ.

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It's clear.

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That word revelation means something once hidden, now revealed.

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Something once that was unknown to Paul, he actually thought he knew it, but he knew wrong.

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He would say, I acted ignorantly.

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Jesus one day showed up to Paul.

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We know what he's referring to.

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Acts chapter nine, that's your homework.

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I've given you homework every week, go read Acts nine this week.

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We're going to actually go to bits and pieces of Acts nine today.

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Jesus shows up to this man who's on his way to murder Christians and he converts him.

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He makes him a Christian and he, I would say he gives him the gospel.

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Now you can go to Acts nine and you're going to look at it and say, Jesus nowhere gives

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gives Paul the gospel on Acts nine.

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You need to understand something.

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Acts was written by Luke.

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Luke's purpose for writing Acts was not to tell us every detail of the apostle Paul's

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conversion or life.

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The purpose of Acts is really to tell the story of how the church was birthed.

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After Jesus resurrected and poured out his spirit, he was faithful to his promise that

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the gospel would go out from Jerusalem to Judea to the ends of the earth.

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The purpose statements found in Acts one eight, everything that Acts records is a fulfillment

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of that.

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So you're going to go to Acts nine and you're going to say, I don't know, Jesus never teaches

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him the gospel.

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We don't know everything that Jesus said to Paul that day.

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We have no idea how this flushed itself out, but we do know Paul says, I got my gospel

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directly from the lips of Jesus.

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He pulled back the covers.

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Hence why Paul was blinded on the road to Damascus and the scales later fell off.

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He opened his eyes to see.

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Okay.

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Now Paul's very clear.

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My gospel is not man's gospel.

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Paul's gospel is the same as Jesus's gospel.

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We've talked about that in all of the apostles gospel and the gospel that the prophets predicted

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in the Old Testament, the gospel.

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And here's what we need to know.

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That gospel man could have never come up with.

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Think about it.

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Every other world religion is what I would call man's gospel.

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Man's gospel says if you do enough stuff, good, you try to make yourself righteous enough,

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make your good outweigh the bad.

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Maybe you can work yourself up this ladder and somehow be righteous enough for this God,

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if there is a God, to perhaps accept you.

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Or if you don't believe there's a God, in reality what you're saying is you are God.

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But at the end of the day, it boils down to human work and human effort.

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Every other gospel, Islam, Mormonism, we can go on and on and on.

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It's about what you can do at the end of the day to earn a favor with this God.

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But none of those can deal with the reality of sin.

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So the gospel that was not a man created gospel but has been revealed to us through the pages

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00:19:03,020 --> 00:19:09,320
of scripture, praise God that he's done that to us, says actually that's flipped.

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We can never work ourselves up to God because that doesn't take into consideration the sin

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that has separated us from the holy God.

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So you know what God does?

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He comes all the way down to us.

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No other religion says that.

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He meets us where we're at.

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He takes our place.

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He trades places with people.

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He becomes a man.

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He lives perfectly where we fail.

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So he lives for us.

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And then instead of us, he dies the death we deserve to die and then rises victorious

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to prove to everyone, I am who I said I am.

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Believe me, this is the way to have eternal life.

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That's the gospel.

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No man ever thought that up.

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00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:46,200
You guys do know that, right?

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00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,000
No man ever came up with that gospel.

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00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:49,160
And that's what's at stake.

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00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:53,640
So Paul is now going to shift and he's going to say, here's my proof.

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00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:58,000
My wife and I lately have been into courtroom dramas.

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00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,880
And here's what's consistent about courtroom dramas.

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00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:08,520
If ever there is a defendant that is innocent and they take the stand, they are pretty confident

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to answer the questions of the prosecuting attorney.

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00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:12,880
You know why?

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00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,560
Because they've got nothing to hide.

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00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:16,560
They've got nothing to hide.

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They have what I would say an airtight alibi.

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00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:22,880
Paul gives an airtight alibi.

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00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,240
He's being accused of something that is not true.

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00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,200
So what is he going to do?

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Here it is.

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00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:29,200
Here's the truth.

354
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,600
Here's the defense that my gospel is not a man created gospel.

355
00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:33,800
I didn't taint it.

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00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,600
I didn't get it from the apostles and shift it and manipulate it to please man.

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I got it straight from Jesus himself.

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Look at what happened to me.

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00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:43,640
And he begins by telling us of his past.

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00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,120
So here's what I want us to do.

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I want us to look at grace in the apostle Paul, God's grace that transformed this murder

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00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:54,400
and made him a missionary.

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00:20:54,400 --> 00:21:01,040
Because though we're not Paul, God's grace works the same way in our life too.

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Number one, grace covers our sinful past.

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00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,840
Paul says, for I would have you.

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All right, for you have heard, I'm sorry, for you have heard of my underlying former

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life and Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and I tried to destroy it.

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00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,120
Turn to Acts 8.

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00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:26,280
Turn to Acts 8.

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00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,160
So Paul says, listen, here's the deal.

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00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:35,520
If you know anything about me, you know that before I was converted, I was never an inquisitor

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00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,120
seeker of the Christian faith.

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00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:44,240
Paul wasn't sneaking into churches and leaving before the sermon was over just to get some

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00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,720
information on the gospel.

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00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,800
Paul wasn't finding Christians at the coffee shop trying to have a discussion just to see

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00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,120
if what he believes lines up with what they believe.

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00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:55,040
He wanted nothing to do with the gospel.

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00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:59,120
He hated the gospel and wanted to kill anybody that had anything to do with the gospel.

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00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:01,040
You guys with me?

380
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:07,680
You first meet this man named Saul or Paul in Acts chapter 7 and into Acts 8.

381
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:09,600
Okay, let me go ahead and tackle this.

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00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,560
Is it Saul or is it Paul?

383
00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:14,480
It's both.

384
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:20,040
There is a theory that perhaps on the road to Damascus, Saul got a new name and his name

385
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:21,440
was changed to Paul.

386
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:23,160
I love the theory.

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00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,640
I love the implications of the gospel that he saves us and he gives us a new identity

388
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,720
and a new name adopts us into the family.

389
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,800
I love that but I don't think that's what's happened.

390
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,920
Linguistically we're working with a Hebrew name and a Gentile name.

391
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:40,000
Saul is his name in Hebrew.

392
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:41,000
He was a Jew.

393
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,480
Go read Philippians 3, a Jew of Jews.

394
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:45,840
From the tribe of, anybody know?

395
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,920
Benjamin, ah, he would have passed Bible trivia at Small Group Olympics last week.

396
00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:54,360
From the tribe of Benjamin, who else is from the tribe of Benjamin?

397
00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:55,880
King Saul.

398
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,240
He was named after that Saul.

399
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:02,000
But when he ministered to the Gentiles, his name wasn't Saul.

400
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,280
That was a Hebrew name.

401
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:04,840
His name was Paul.

402
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:09,480
So we have his Gentile name and his Hebrew name, often interchangeable.

403
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,920
Even after his conversion, you will see some of that in Acts.

404
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:18,560
Just to get that on the table, that's what I think happened regarding Paul's name.

405
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,800
We've got Hebrew and Greek.

406
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:26,760
So we meet him at the execution of Stephen, the very first martyr.

407
00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:30,720
I'm sorry, not a possible, a first martyr for the Christian faith, right?

408
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:31,720
He's preaching the Gospel.

409
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:32,720
The Jews hate it.

410
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:33,720
So what do they do?

411
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,160
They drag him outside and they stone him to death.

412
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:37,880
And what do they lay their coats, right?

413
00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:41,640
They lay all of their coats at the feet of Saul.

414
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:46,320
And then we read verse one of Acts 8.

415
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Saul approved of his execution.

416
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:55,800
And Saul's prominence in Judaism and amongst the Pharisees is gaining reputation.

417
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:57,240
He's gaining clout and status.

418
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,480
And we see in verse three, Saul was ravaging the house.

419
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:01,840
He entered house after house.

420
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,600
He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

421
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:06,400
Now let's just stop here and see.

422
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,360
Let's understand Paul's actions.

423
00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:13,840
Paul broke up families.

424
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,160
He pulled parents away from children.

425
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:21,800
You guys realize that he ruined innocent lives.

426
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:28,080
Not only that, he caused innocent people to be killed.

427
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,560
He murdered them.

428
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:31,560
Where do you see that in the Bible?

429
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,200
Go to Acts 9.

430
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,800
This is Paul's conversion.

431
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,160
This is the road to Damascus.

432
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:48,400
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples, went to the high priest

433
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,440
and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging

434
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:57,560
to the way, that's any Christian, anyone following Jesus, men or women, he might bring them down

435
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:02,840
to Jerusalem and prison them, wait for their execution.

436
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:07,120
So Paul was an intense persecutor of the Christian faith.

437
00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:08,120
Now why?

438
00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:10,120
Why was Paul a persecutor of the Christian faith?

439
00:25:10,120 --> 00:25:13,760
He was a Jew.

440
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,960
Because Paul thought he was doing God a favor.

441
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:25,200
Paul didn't kill Christians because he was intentionally rebelling against God.

442
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:31,960
He just didn't quite know God until Jesus showed up.

443
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:33,560
Paul actually thought he was doing God a favor.

444
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,120
I mean, you've got to put yourself in the apostle Paul's shoes.

445
00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:39,320
He's a Jew.

446
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:44,080
Anyone cursed on a tree or hung on a tree, I'm sorry, is a curse.

447
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,080
How could anything good come out of Nazareth?

448
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:51,480
So for these people to claim that this man from Nazareth, remember this wasn't long after

449
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:52,480
Jesus' resurrection.

450
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,760
We're talking just a few years, not long at all.

451
00:25:55,760 --> 00:26:00,800
This man is on equal status with God because he's receiving worship just as God received

452
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:01,800
worship.

453
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,240
This man from Nazareth, this man that was hung on a tree, I mean, could the Messiah

454
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:06,680
be hung on a tree?

455
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,560
That's a curse to a Jew.

456
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:10,880
That's blasphemous.

457
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:12,960
So he thought he was doing God a favor.

458
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:17,080
But by exterminating any competition, any rival to God, so he said, you know what, I'm

459
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:18,080
going to squash that.

460
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:22,120
I'm going to squash the gospel and I'm going to squash anybody that listens to the gospel

461
00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:23,440
or preaches the gospel.

462
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,920
And that's what he gave his life to.

463
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,360
But he did it because he actually thought he was pleasing God.

464
00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:35,800
He would say later, I acted ignorantly in unbelief in 1 Timothy chapter 2.

465
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,320
So that was his actions.

466
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,120
Now we'll see his attitude, his ambition.

467
00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:43,560
He says, look, go back to Galatians.

468
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:44,560
He was striving.

469
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,400
He had it all.

470
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:55,440
Like if you had a picture boy of what it looked like to just be a great man, a Pharisee of

471
00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:59,360
Pharisees, Paul would be the picture boy.

472
00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:01,720
He had his life together, his home together.

473
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,000
Look at her.

474
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,520
I was advancing in Judaism beyond many my own age and among my own people.

475
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:11,280
So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my father's.

476
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,960
Go read Philippians 3, a Pharisee of Pharisees as to the law righteous.

477
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:17,920
Not meaning that he had a righteousness of his own.

478
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:19,120
He would admit that.

479
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:24,840
But when it came to obeying the law, you aren't going to find bald breaking it.

480
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,200
Externally he was a good moral guy.

481
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,840
He had it all put together.

482
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,880
Internally though, Paul would say, I was rotting.

483
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,760
I was rotting.

484
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,800
Paul would say that was really just pride.

485
00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,240
Had it all put together.

486
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:48,040
And here's the deal with Paul.

487
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:54,040
So you might say, God can never love me because of my past.

488
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:56,400
You know what Paul would say?

489
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:57,400
Look at me.

490
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,160
I'm probably worse than you.

491
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,680
Some of you might say, I don't need God.

492
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:04,960
I just got this thing figured out.

493
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:06,560
I'm righteous enough.

494
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:11,640
Paul would look at you and say, I'm way better than you.

495
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:16,360
Like all women are doing a Bible study in Genesis and women bring your Bible every other Wednesday

496
00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:17,360
or Friday.

497
00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:18,360
Because you're going to need it.

498
00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:19,360
You're going to need to see the pages.

499
00:28:19,360 --> 00:28:21,360
You're going to need to see the Bible.

500
00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:23,720
We've got to have that Bible in front of us.

501
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,720
When Paul showed up to a study, Paul didn't bring a Bible.

502
00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,960
He didn't bring any paper.

503
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:31,960
You know why?

504
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,120
It was right here.

505
00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:36,120
Paul was a Pharisee.

506
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:37,760
Do you know what?

507
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:44,720
Pharisee memorized verbatim the first five books of the Bible.

508
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:51,720
And by the way, Genesis is the first book and it's one of the longest books in the Bible.

509
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:53,960
Paul had it all figured out.

510
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,680
But it was pride, he would say.

511
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,840
It was pride.

512
00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:01,120
Listen to me.

513
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:02,120
Look at Paul.

514
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:03,840
What is Paul saying?

515
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:14,040
If God could save a wretch like me and he can cover my past, he can cover yours too.

516
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:21,200
Whether it's your self-righteousness and pride or your rebellion, some of you might look

517
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,920
at Paul and you might say, you know what though?

518
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,440
I'm not as bad as Paul.

519
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:31,200
At least I have it and you would fill in the blank with your past.

520
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,720
The point is not to compare our past with Paul.

521
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:35,440
You guys do know that, right?

522
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:40,560
The problem with us is we look at others and we start comparing ourselves and we say, well,

523
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:42,200
at least I'm not like them.

524
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,080
Do you guys want to know the standard?

525
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:50,920
It's not your coworker or the other person in your small group or anyone.

526
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:51,920
It's not another person.

527
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,040
What is the standard?

528
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:58,880
God, stop looking at someone else, comparing yourself.

529
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:04,200
No, when you do that, all you're doing is trying to justify yourself and you gloss over

530
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,880
your motives and the stuff that they're eating you away.

531
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,120
If you look at God, he starts to expose those things.

532
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:15,520
So the point is not to look at Paul and say, well, at least I'm not a murder.

533
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:17,600
Maybe you were, maybe you weren't.

534
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,840
If you look at Paul, murder doesn't disqualify you from being a Christian.

535
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:25,200
Jesus's grace can cover murder.

536
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,880
So maybe you didn't murder anyone, but Jesus would say, do you have hatred in your heart

537
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,640
towards another brother or bitterness?

538
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:35,680
So maybe your past isn't riddled with adultery or maybe it is.

539
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:39,560
Grace can cover that too, but I guarantee you your past has been riddled with lustful

540
00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:44,720
thoughts about someone else and it's just as bad before a holy God.

541
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:50,100
Or maybe your past isn't one of theft and crime, but maybe it was, maybe it was coveting

542
00:30:50,100 --> 00:30:51,880
because of the idols of your heart.

543
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,880
Maybe it wasn't outright rebellion and drunkenness, but you know what?

544
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,720
Maybe it was, maybe it was prideful self-righteousness thinking that you could save yourself.

545
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:00,880
They're both just as heinous before God.

546
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:02,720
The point is not to compare ourselves.

547
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:08,480
The point is to say even the worst of sins and even my prideful self-righteousness both

548
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,520
are covered in Jesus if I've looked in by faith.

549
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:13,920
Grace covers our past.

550
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,760
Paul would look at all of us and say, I'm far worse than you could imagine.

551
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:17,760
I'm far worse than you.

552
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:18,760
You want to outstend me?

553
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:19,760
I'm worse than you.

554
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:21,680
You think you're better than me?

555
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:24,720
You think you haven't, you think you've got this figured out with yourself righteousness

556
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:25,720
and pride?

557
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:26,800
I'm far better than you.

558
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:28,040
And Paul would also say, look at me.

559
00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:34,360
If you think you're sin, whatever it is, whatever it is, has disqualified you from grace or

560
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:36,720
God using you?

561
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:38,600
Look at me.

562
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:39,600
Look at me.

563
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:43,320
Secondly, grace calls us to behold Jesus immediately.

564
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:44,920
Paul didn't dwindle on his past.

565
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:50,280
Paul goes immediately into the conversion story that he had with Jesus on the Damascus

566
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:51,280
Road.

567
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:56,360
Now, what is important to note about that story in Acts 9 is that Paul was on his way to murder

568
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,280
Christians.

569
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:04,720
Paul wasn't on his way to the synagogue saying to himself, well, if I can clean myself up,

570
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,640
maybe I can make myself presentable to Jesus.

571
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:14,360
Paul didn't say, let me go to church a few times and just kind of get into this and see

572
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:15,360
me.

573
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:20,720
I think that's a problem with the modern Christian culture is we have this idea.

574
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:26,160
Yeah, I'll start having a relationship with Jesus, but I've got to clean myself up before

575
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,520
he'll want anything to do with me.

576
00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:31,440
That is not the gospel.

577
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,440
That is anti-gospel.

578
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,000
That's actually a gospel of demons.

579
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,560
No one can clean themselves up enough to approach God.

580
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:41,120
Jesus is the only one that can.

581
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:42,200
So you go to Jesus.

582
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,000
He takes you where you're at and he rescues you.

583
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:46,000
He saves you.

584
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,000
He meets you in your sin.

585
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:49,000
You know where Paul was headed.

586
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:50,000
Where was he headed?

587
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:51,000
Two murder Christians.

588
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:52,880
Jesus finds him there.

589
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,080
He rescues him on his way to kill Christians and everything changes.

590
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,920
Paul says, look at verse 15, but when he who sent me apart before I was born and called

591
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,800
me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son to me.

592
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:06,800
Stop there.

593
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:07,800
There's a lot here.

594
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,760
We see a pattern here.

595
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:12,680
Paul being called to behold Jesus.

596
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:13,680
What happened?

597
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:15,600
Paul said, I'll tell you what first happened.

598
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:21,360
What I realized is that this thing started well before Damascus.

599
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:22,360
Mind blown.

600
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:26,200
Let me read it again.

601
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:28,600
Just so you see, I'm not making this up.

602
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:38,280
But when he who had sent me apart before I was born or from my mother's womb.

603
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,120
What?

604
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:51,200
I realized, I realized like God's sovereignty can somehow cause us to be a bit contentious.

605
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:57,220
That seems to conflict with sin and human responsibility.

606
00:33:57,220 --> 00:33:58,220
You know what Paul's doing?

607
00:33:58,220 --> 00:34:01,600
He's magnifying God's grace.

608
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:08,080
He's saying that even before I had come out of the womb, God had a plan to save me and

609
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:09,080
use me.

610
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,520
And don't say, well that's just Paul.

611
00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:14,840
God doesn't operate that way with anybody else.

612
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:16,520
Logically think about that argument.

613
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,120
That's not going to hold up when it comes to Scripture.

614
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:20,760
That's what God does to everyone.

615
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,600
See there's similarities that we have with Paul and there's differences.

616
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:25,400
This is a similarity.

617
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,760
If you're in Christ, here's the good news of your salvation.

618
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:34,960
God had set his gaze on you in eternity past.

619
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,600
Before you had even come out of the womb to do good or bad.

620
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:39,520
God doesn't like pick teams.

621
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:43,440
He doesn't look at someone and say, man I know this guy is going to be really good for

622
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:44,440
my team, right?

623
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,000
So I'm going to pick him.

624
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,680
God is sovereign over all things and I realize that this is a great mystery.

625
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:58,480
That it's somehow been used to say, well if you believe in God's sovereignty then there's

626
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:02,720
no need to evangelize or pray or act out your faith.

627
00:35:02,720 --> 00:35:05,720
Do you think Paul would say that?

628
00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:12,560
This comforting doctrine to Paul, this idea of God setting apart him and his mother's

629
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:18,800
womb is actually what's fueling him to go preach the gospel as we see next.

630
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:23,080
Paul doesn't use that as an excuse to sit on his hands and feet.

631
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:27,200
Paul would say, if God predestines the end and I use that word because the Bible used

632
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,120
that word, guess what?

633
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:33,440
He also predestines the means by which the end will happen and Paul wants to be a part

634
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,480
of that.

635
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,320
And Paul's using this doctrine to magnify God's grace.

636
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:43,280
God didn't look down the corridors of time and see how we would respond until he picked

637
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:44,280
us.

638
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:45,280
You know what that would be?

639
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,680
That would be that we earned our salvation.

640
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:49,320
That's not grace.

641
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,640
Paul's saying before I could even do anything, I was a wretched sinner.

642
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:58,920
God had already chosen to save me and this is such good news.

643
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:00,280
Here's why it's good news.

644
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,760
Look at the trajectory of the apostle Paul's life.

645
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:07,080
Do you think, do you really think that there's anything in Paul that would have led him to

646
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:11,400
come to Jesus had Jesus not shown up and rescued Paul?

647
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:12,400
No.

648
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,160
Paul would have been headed for hell.

649
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:16,840
You and I too.

650
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:20,360
But Jesus graciously showed up and rescued him.

651
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:25,960
Let me read this from the London Baptist Confession of Faith, the 1689 London Baptist Confession

652
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,680
of Faith to help us make sense of this.

653
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:29,680
Listen to this.

654
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:34,160
Those of mankind that are predestined to life, God before the foundation of the world was

655
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,280
laid according to his eternal and immutable.

656
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:41,400
That word immutable means unchangeable purpose.

657
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,240
We serve a God who has had a plan and a purpose.

658
00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:46,320
It is a mystery.

659
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:47,840
It is a mystery.

660
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:51,600
If you think that I'm going to have the answer to every one of your questions, I will not.

661
00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,440
And if you meet a preacher that does, he's lying to you.

662
00:36:55,440 --> 00:37:00,880
The mystery of God's sovereignty and human responsibility and sin, that is a mystery.

663
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:02,720
I can't answer it.

664
00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:03,960
I can't.

665
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,400
And actually, here's what we need to understand.

666
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:10,920
God is sovereign and he is the Creator and we are a creature.

667
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:15,400
His mind is far beyond ours, infinitely higher than ours.

668
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,720
We may never, even when we're saved and we're like around the table with Jesus, feasting

669
00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:21,480
with him and we're asking him these questions.

670
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:22,480
He might try to explain it.

671
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:26,760
I don't know, but guess what? we might not ever make sense of it.

672
00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:29,440
But this is what the scripture teaches.

673
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:33,200
God is sovereign, but yet I understand we're responsible.

674
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,320
But that's actually supposed to be comforting for a Christian.

675
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:39,560
Let me keep going.

676
00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:43,400
So according to his eternal and immutable purpose in the secret counsel and the pleasure of

677
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,360
his will, have chosen in Christ into everlasting glory.

678
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:50,400
Notice this, out of his mere free grace and love, without any other thing in the creature

679
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:54,280
as a condition or cause moving him there unto.

680
00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:58,320
In other words, there isn't anything in us that God saw and said, I'm going to save you

681
00:37:58,320 --> 00:37:59,320
because of that.

682
00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:03,360
Do you guys understand that would be man's gospel?

683
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:07,960
God's gospel says there's actually nothing that merits grace.

684
00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:09,840
It wouldn't be grace.

685
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:17,360
The only answer we can give to why God saved us is he saved us because he loved us, not

686
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,880
because I feel in the blink.

687
00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:22,120
That's the wrong answer.

688
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:24,200
Now don't miss this.

689
00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:31,920
Notice the next thing is, Paul says he called God, was pleased to call him to reveal his

690
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:33,840
son to him.

691
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:38,240
Anything that brings God pleasure is something we need to take note of.

692
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:46,400
What pleases God to reveal Jesus to sinners, to murders?

693
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:50,720
And he shows up and he reveals Jesus to him on the Damascus road.

694
00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:52,920
And Paul was changed.

695
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:57,400
But think about it, he wanted to murder Christians and now what does Paul go do?

696
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,200
He makes Christians.

697
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,240
He wanted nothing to do with Jesus and now what does Paul do?

698
00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:06,040
He gives his entire life to Jesus.

699
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:11,120
I'm going to give you an illustration and I know it's going to be somewhat, somewhat

700
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:17,040
difficult to compare what I'm about to say to Jesus.

701
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:22,640
But before I was married to my wife Emily who loves coffee, I did not like coffee.

702
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:24,560
I didn't understand why my parents drink it.

703
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,240
I didn't understand why anybody would drink that bitter stuff.

704
00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:29,520
I met my wife.

705
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:31,840
She has a love for coffee.

706
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:32,960
So guess what?

707
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:35,120
It didn't take long.

708
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:36,880
I had a love for coffee.

709
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:41,280
I had a love for cream at first, creamer, flavored creamer, which is a little bit of

710
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:42,280
coffee.

711
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:43,280
Now it's all coffee.

712
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:49,040
In fact, if you know me, you know, if it's before noon, probably the only drink that

713
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,160
I'm going to drink is probably coffee.

714
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:55,400
Two, three cups, I don't know, after the second or third cup I lose count.

715
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:56,400
It doesn't matter.

716
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:57,400
There's no shame in that.

717
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:58,400
I need it.

718
00:39:58,400 --> 00:39:59,400
I see it.

719
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,040
It was once disgusting and now I've embraced it.

720
00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:02,160
Now here's where it falls flat.

721
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:06,400
Jesus is so much better than coffee, isn't he?

722
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:10,080
For what the gospel does, what grace does is not only does it cover your past.

723
00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:14,280
Something in you changes where you look at Jesus and he didn't seem beautiful.

724
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:15,680
You didn't really understand him.

725
00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:17,520
You didn't get it.

726
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:19,440
And all of a sudden you get it.

727
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:20,440
Right?

728
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:21,440
You behold him.

729
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:23,160
Now you weren't called like Paul.

730
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:26,840
Jesus didn't show up on the Damascus road and put scales over your eyes.

731
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:29,080
Spiritually though, the fog's been lifted.

732
00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:33,960
Spiritually your eyes have been open and he's called you to himself to see Jesus and

733
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:34,960
behold him.

734
00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:37,400
In a way you never did before.

735
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,280
So now as a Christian we see his love for sinners.

736
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:42,480
We see his mercy.

737
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:46,800
We didn't understand that before but we see it and we grasp it now.

738
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:48,840
We see his tenderness and his kindness.

739
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,400
We see his long suffering with us and his patience.

740
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:55,200
We see his forgiveness that is new for us every morning.

741
00:40:55,200 --> 00:41:01,680
We see his head crowned and not with a golden crown, not with a silver crown, but with

742
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:06,240
what a crown of thorns pressed down to his brow, blood dripping out.

743
00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:10,600
We see his hands and we realize those hands and those feet could have been propped up

744
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:15,680
on his royal golden throne in the conference of the throne room with the angels giving

745
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:19,880
him praise and him basking in the praise of angels.

746
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:21,800
He could have just sat there for all eternity.

747
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:23,120
You guys do know that, right?

748
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:26,560
And Jesus would have been just to sit there.

749
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:27,560
But no, no, no, no.

750
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:28,560
What do we see?

751
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:35,240
He would have his hands and his feet soiled in blood with nails driven into them.

752
00:41:35,240 --> 00:41:39,560
And we behold him like, you would do that for me?

753
00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:44,840
We see his body that's not covered with a royal robe of splendor beyond our imagination.

754
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:46,440
No, no, no, no, no.

755
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,440
What is his body covered with?

756
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:49,560
The robe was off.

757
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:50,560
What happened on the cross?

758
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:56,880
He hung and his body was beaten and disfigured and broken and bloodied and marred beyond

759
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:57,880
the cross.

760
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:02,840
This figure the Bible says as he took upon himself the judgment for sin instead of you

761
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:03,840
and I.

762
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:08,800
If we beheld Jesus, we look at Jesus what was once something that was obscure, maybe even

763
00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:10,840
disgusting to some of y'all.

764
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:13,960
Everything has changed and we now see him as beautiful.

765
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:16,240
That's what grace does.

766
00:42:16,240 --> 00:42:17,760
So we can look at Paul and see that.

767
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:19,120
Now we've got to keep moving.

768
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:20,800
We've got a lot of ground to cover.

769
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,640
So Paul gives a timeline, right?

770
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:26,480
Paul gives a timeline next of what happened after his conversion.

771
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:31,440
So remember, his point is to prove that no time before I came to know Jesus, when I came

772
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:36,560
to know Jesus, or after I came to know Jesus was my gospel touched or tainted by any other

773
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:40,240
man the whole time my gospel came from Jesus.

774
00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:41,240
Here's the evidence.

775
00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:43,560
Look at what he says next.

776
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:45,840
Notice Paul says Jesus did this.

777
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:47,320
He revealed his son to me in order.

778
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:52,960
There's a purpose clause that's important in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.

779
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:56,080
Paul the apostle to the Gentiles.

780
00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:57,160
Notice what he says.

781
00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:02,000
I didn't immediately consult with anyone and I didn't go to Jerusalem to find the other

782
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:06,680
apostles and have them prove for you my gospel.

783
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:07,680
That's important.

784
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:10,080
That's an important statement in interpreting this passage.

785
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:11,480
Why?

786
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:16,640
Because Paul's saying I was so confident in the gospel that Jesus revealed to me, I didn't

787
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:18,800
need to go ask anyone else.

788
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,000
I know what I saw.

789
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,000
I know what he gave me.

790
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,240
I didn't need to go down to the other apostles.

791
00:43:23,240 --> 00:43:25,680
It came straight from Jesus.

792
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:26,680
It came straight from me.

793
00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:28,800
Now what he's going to do is he's given his timeline.

794
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,640
What happened immediately after Saul was converted?

795
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:33,160
Go to Acts 9.

796
00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:34,400
Go to Acts 9.

797
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,680
Let me read the text first then we'll go to Acts 9.

798
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:42,240
He says, but I went away into Arabia and returned again to Damascus.

799
00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:43,720
That's kind of confusing.

800
00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:45,240
Was it Arabia then Damascus?

801
00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:48,520
Because it says I returned again to Damascus.

802
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:53,000
That word, the way that's worded actually means he went to Damascus, Arabia, and then

803
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:55,000
back to Damascus.

804
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:56,000
Okay?

805
00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:00,000
Where was Paul headed when Jesus showed up to him?

806
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,920
To Damascus.

807
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:08,040
As a murder, Jesus changes everything.

808
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:09,040
Now what is he?

809
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:10,040
Not a murder.

810
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:11,040
Let's see what he is.

811
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:13,800
Go to Acts 9.

812
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:14,800
Verse 19.

813
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:15,800
Okay?

814
00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:18,800
He goes to this guy Annias' house.

815
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:21,280
Annias clarifies some things that happened on the road that day.

816
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:23,280
Scales fall off of his eyes.

817
00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:27,240
He's strengthened, he starts to eat again, he's baptized.

818
00:44:27,240 --> 00:44:33,760
For some days, this is verse 19, he was with the disciples at Damascus and immediately

819
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:39,280
he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues saying he is the Son of God.

820
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:44,040
All who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem

821
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:46,000
of those who called upon his name?

822
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:51,240
And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them down before the chief priest?

823
00:44:51,240 --> 00:44:54,360
What did Saul do as soon as he was converted?

824
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:58,000
He preached the gospel.

825
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,000
Again something unique to Saul.

826
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,960
We probably need a season of preparation, but we're not apostles.

827
00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:06,280
We didn't have that encounter with Jesus.

828
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:08,280
Not Saul.

829
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:15,120
Immediately he wasted no time and what's important to see is Jesus did not change his destination.

830
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:17,080
He didn't change his trajectory.

831
00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:18,560
What did he change?

832
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:20,480
He changed his mission.

833
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:21,480
He wasn't going to murder.

834
00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:23,920
What was he going to do?

835
00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:25,320
Preach.

836
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:27,320
We can take something from this here.

837
00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:32,480
Now listen, sometimes you're converted and Jesus does change your job.

838
00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:33,560
He might need to.

839
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:39,120
There's certain industries and certain fields and if you have questions, come ask me that

840
00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:41,200
would lead someone to sin or you to sin.

841
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:42,480
You probably don't need to be in.

842
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:44,920
But oftentimes he doesn't change your job, does he?

843
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,600
He changes you though.

844
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:48,880
He changes you.

845
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:50,560
He changes the way you see things.

846
00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:53,360
He changes the ambition of your heart, doesn't he?

847
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:55,120
He might not change your circumstances.

848
00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:59,520
He might not change your finances, but what he does change is you, just like Saul.

849
00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:03,400
So Saul continues on his journey, but now he's a missionary.

850
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:04,680
He goes to Damascus.

851
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:07,080
We can read about this in Acts 9.

852
00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:09,040
Then he goes to Arabia.

853
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:13,960
Now that's mysterious because Luke doesn't record anything about Arabia in Acts.

854
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:15,600
That doesn't mean it didn't happen.

855
00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:18,080
That just means that wasn't Luke's purpose.

856
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:20,720
Remember, that's not his purpose.

857
00:46:20,720 --> 00:46:24,200
His purpose wasn't to fill in the gaps of everything that happened with Paul.

858
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:26,840
It was to tell the story of the birth of the church.

859
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:28,760
Paul fills in the gaps.

860
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:29,760
So he went to Damascus.

861
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:30,760
Now where is Arabia?

862
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:32,440
I don't have a map for you this week.

863
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:34,040
I apologize.

864
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:37,520
That might have been helpful, but it's right beside Damascus.

865
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:39,320
It's not far.

866
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:44,600
The kingdom of Arabia in Paul's day was actually encompassed Damascus.

867
00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:46,000
That was the northernmost city.

868
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:47,960
So Paul really didn't go that far.

869
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:52,240
Now some people have said, well, some people have asked, and we also need to ask, what

870
00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:53,840
was Paul doing in Arabia?

871
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:56,080
What was he doing in Arabia?

872
00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:57,080
Well there's two theories.

873
00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:04,240
Either Paul was getting more revelation from Jesus, perhaps meditating on the scriptures,

874
00:47:04,240 --> 00:47:07,320
deepening his understanding of the gospel.

875
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:10,880
I don't know if that's the case because remember what was he just doing when he first arrived

876
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:13,880
to Damascus preaching the gospel.

877
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:16,920
So I don't think that he was getting more education.

878
00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:19,160
I think he had enough.

879
00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:22,280
In a moment, remember he's unique.

880
00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:23,680
He was converted.

881
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:26,680
I think he was preaching the gospel.

882
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:30,120
Right down 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 32 and 33.

883
00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:31,920
I don't have time to take you there.

884
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:37,840
There are hints in that passage that Saul went back to Damascus because we know he did.

885
00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:42,760
And he was fleeing from people that wanted to persecute him, which is ironic.

886
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:46,880
Paul goes from one persecuting to one being persecuted.

887
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:51,760
And the people that wanted to persecute him were actually of the Arabian government.

888
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:56,280
He mentions a king in 2nd Corinthians 11 who would have been the king of Arabia during

889
00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:57,280
that time.

890
00:47:57,280 --> 00:48:01,480
Why were the king of Arabia confined Saul in Damascus because he was stirring up trouble

891
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:03,040
in Arabia?

892
00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:06,600
So I lean towards Paul.

893
00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:09,400
Now was he strengthening himself in the scriptures?

894
00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:10,400
Of course.

895
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:12,240
We should always do that.

896
00:48:12,240 --> 00:48:14,760
But he wasn't trying to improve his gospel.

897
00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:15,760
That's his point.

898
00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:17,480
I already knew it.

899
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:18,480
Jesus gave it to me.

900
00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:20,800
He was preaching the gospel.

901
00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:21,800
Then what does he do?

902
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:23,920
He goes back to Damascus.

903
00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:27,240
He says he goes back to Damascus verse 18.

904
00:48:27,240 --> 00:48:30,080
Then after three years he goes to Jerusalem.

905
00:48:30,080 --> 00:48:32,680
Now why is Jerusalem so important?

906
00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:36,160
Where is the very first church in the New Testament?

907
00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:38,400
Jerusalem.

908
00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:41,800
It was where the apostles first ministered apart from Paul.

909
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:45,960
So Paul has been independent of the Jerusalem church this entire time.

910
00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:46,960
Keep that in mind.

911
00:48:46,960 --> 00:48:49,960
He wasn't sent out by that church.

912
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,360
He was the apostle to the Gentiles.

913
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:57,160
The Jerusalem church is kind of the mother church for all of the churches in Judea.

914
00:48:57,160 --> 00:48:59,880
Where the church was birthed.

915
00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:03,080
Where the other apostles ministered at least to start.

916
00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:06,560
So that's why there's so many references there to Jerusalem.

917
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:10,920
What is being communicated here is Paul was independent of the Jerusalem church.

918
00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:14,680
But yet the Jerusalem church actually validated his message.

919
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:19,400
In fact he's going to say later that he actually had to correct Peter, one of the apostles

920
00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:23,560
from the Jerusalem church because he wasn't living in step with the gospel.

921
00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:27,840
It's not like they were preaching a different gospel.

922
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:29,560
That's the mystery here.

923
00:49:29,560 --> 00:49:30,840
So he goes back to Jerusalem.

924
00:49:30,840 --> 00:49:33,640
We can corroborate this with Acts 9.

925
00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:34,720
Barnabas takes him in.

926
00:49:34,720 --> 00:49:36,560
He introduces him to...

927
00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:37,920
Acts 9 says the apostles.

928
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:39,940
Here it seems like he introduces him to Peter.

929
00:49:39,940 --> 00:49:41,920
He meets James, the brother of Jesus.

930
00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:44,440
They hang out for 15 days but that's not all they're doing.

931
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:46,880
Paul's not checking his gospel against Peter's gospel.

932
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:49,200
Again, he's only there for 15 days.

933
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:50,480
He's not having him proofread it.

934
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:53,120
And he's not just kicking back telling stories with Peter.

935
00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:55,960
Cephas is Peter by the way.

936
00:49:55,960 --> 00:49:57,360
It's for the right hand of fellowship.

937
00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:01,720
It's for unity and the faith to say, hey, I'm the gospel.

938
00:50:01,720 --> 00:50:05,040
The gospel I'm preaching, Peter's the same as your gospel.

939
00:50:05,040 --> 00:50:07,120
Will you support me and I'll support you?

940
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:08,200
We see that.

941
00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:10,560
What's just happening there?

942
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:14,600
So he's there for 15 days and then he says, what I'm saying?

943
00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:15,600
I'm not lying to you.

944
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:16,600
Verse 20.

945
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:20,040
And then he says I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

946
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:21,880
Verse 21.

947
00:50:21,880 --> 00:50:22,880
He was preaching there.

948
00:50:22,880 --> 00:50:25,600
Cilicia is where his hometown was.

949
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:26,600
Saul of Tarsus.

950
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:28,560
Tarsus is in Cilicia.

951
00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:33,120
So he went back to his hometown and he preached the gospel for a season.

952
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:38,160
I know we like to think of Paul's missionary journeys beginning in Acts 13 and 14 at Antioch.

953
00:50:38,160 --> 00:50:41,560
But I would argue they began as soon as he was converted really.

954
00:50:41,560 --> 00:50:46,560
He was a missionary because the gospel or grace commissions us for God's glory.

955
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:47,960
Did I give you the third point?

956
00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:48,960
That's it.

957
00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:51,760
Grace commissions us for God's glory.

958
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,440
As soon as Paul was converted, what did he do?

959
00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:57,720
He preached the gospel wherever he went.

960
00:50:57,720 --> 00:50:59,080
Wherever he went.

961
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:00,080
And he's proving that.

962
00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:02,520
I never had my gospel tainted.

963
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:05,120
I never had it proofread.

964
00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:07,920
The gospel I got was from God.

965
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:10,640
And everywhere I went, I took it.

966
00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:16,120
Actually later we read in Acts 15 that there are churches that existed in Syria and Cilicia,

967
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:20,680
probably from Paul's journey there soon after he was converted.

968
00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:25,960
And then he says, I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.

969
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:29,520
They were only hearing it said, he who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith

970
00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:32,000
he wants trying to destroy.

971
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:33,800
So I didn't come back to Jerusalem just yet.

972
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:37,880
Now he will go back to Jerusalem, but not just yet.

973
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:43,680
But he's known in Jerusalem, his reputation.

974
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:46,360
The murder is now a missionary.

975
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:52,240
The one who persecuted us is now preaching the gospel that we believe.

976
00:51:52,240 --> 00:51:56,200
And what did that lead them to do?

977
00:51:56,200 --> 00:52:01,040
Glorify God because of Paul.

978
00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:04,880
So here's where we can make a connection.

979
00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:07,720
Grace does that to you and I too.

980
00:52:07,720 --> 00:52:08,720
It commissions us.

981
00:52:08,720 --> 00:52:10,280
Now you might ask, what does it commission me for?

982
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:11,280
That means send out.

983
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:13,280
What does it send us out for?

984
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:18,640
Yeah, to make disciples, but ultimately at the end of the day to glorify God.

985
00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:26,960
Like before you came to know Jesus, I would argue the ambition at least of my life, and

986
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:29,400
I was really young, but now I see it.

987
00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:31,840
It doesn't matter what age you are.

988
00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:35,960
The ambition of your life was not to glorify God because you didn't truly know God.

989
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:36,960
What was it?

990
00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:41,640
It's to glorify yourself, isn't it?

991
00:52:41,640 --> 00:52:44,600
What can I pursue that's going to make much of me?

992
00:52:44,600 --> 00:52:45,600
Status?

993
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:46,600
Money?

994
00:52:46,600 --> 00:52:48,520
What can I send my kids to school?

995
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:50,280
And none of those things are, it's not wrong to make money.

996
00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:52,240
It's not wrong to send your kids.

997
00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:53,240
What was your ambition?

998
00:52:53,240 --> 00:52:54,320
Ask yourself that.

999
00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:59,960
But when you meet Jesus, everything changes, doesn't it?

1000
00:52:59,960 --> 00:53:04,880
Every day as a Christian, because we should be so amazed and enthralled by the grace that

1001
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:06,120
has rescued us.

1002
00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:08,880
You know what we should do every day?

1003
00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:12,280
We should pray the same prayer when we wake up, Lord, today.

1004
00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:17,960
Wherever you may have me, how can I use my life so that others would look at my life

1005
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:23,080
and give God the glory, give you the glory, just like Paul?

1006
00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:27,160
Wherever it is, wherever he may have you, that is your aim now, right?

1007
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:28,720
It is not self-glory.

1008
00:53:28,720 --> 00:53:30,560
It's not robbing God of his glory.

1009
00:53:30,560 --> 00:53:33,160
It is deflecting glory off of us and on to him.

1010
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:35,720
We're the little trophies of his glory.

1011
00:53:35,720 --> 00:53:36,720
That's who we are.

1012
00:53:36,720 --> 00:53:38,960
That's what we are now that we've been saved.

1013
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:39,960
That's what grace does.

1014
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:44,040
It changes our ambitions, our pursuits, and our desires.

1015
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:45,560
We're commissioned everywhere.

1016
00:53:45,560 --> 00:53:51,440
Yes, taking the gospel, but radiating this transformation of God's grace for his glory.

1017
00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:54,480
So you have to ask yourself right now, we're confronted with this text.

1018
00:53:54,480 --> 00:53:57,680
We have to ask ourselves a question, is that my aim?

1019
00:53:57,680 --> 00:53:58,680
I pray it is.

1020
00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:01,320
And if it's not, let the Holy Spirit change you.

1021
00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:03,360
Let the Holy Spirit change you.

1022
00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:04,360
We gotta keep going.

1023
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:05,360
We gotta close this out.

1024
00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:07,840
So what's the point here?

1025
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:09,400
What's the point?

1026
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:13,520
The point is this, Paul's apostleship is from God.

1027
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:15,320
I mean, think about it.

1028
00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:17,960
The miracle of Paul's apostleship.

1029
00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:25,440
He never walked with Jesus, like Peter, or John, or Matthew.

1030
00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:30,320
He didn't witness the resurrected Christ hours or minutes after the stone was rolled away.

1031
00:54:30,320 --> 00:54:32,640
He hated Christians.

1032
00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:39,200
But yet the same gospel he preaches, if you go to 1 Peter, or 2 Peter, or John, or Matthew,

1033
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:40,200
you can corroborate it.

1034
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:42,280
It's the same gospel that they preach.

1035
00:54:42,280 --> 00:54:43,280
What's the answer?

1036
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:44,280
How can this be?

1037
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:46,840
God's the answer.

1038
00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:48,440
And here's what Peter's saying.

1039
00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:53,080
You can corroborate my gospel because you can look at my life.

1040
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:56,520
You know what the greatest apologetic for the gospel is?

1041
00:54:56,520 --> 00:54:57,720
And I love apologetics.

1042
00:54:57,720 --> 00:54:58,720
We all do.

1043
00:54:58,720 --> 00:55:02,960
Yeah, you can have a great argument, but you know what people want to see?

1044
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:06,200
Does your life back what you preach?

1045
00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:10,440
If you're preaching this gospel of transformation and grace, do you live it?

1046
00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:11,440
Not perfectly.

1047
00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:12,440
We're not Paul.

1048
00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:15,240
It's not going to be an instantaneous shift there.

1049
00:55:15,240 --> 00:55:17,080
You guys do get, we're not apostles.

1050
00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:18,360
It's going to be slow and progressive.

1051
00:55:18,360 --> 00:55:19,600
They're going to be balanced.

1052
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:21,560
There's grace there.

1053
00:55:21,560 --> 00:55:25,960
But is your life reflective of the gospel that we declare?

1054
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:27,960
Because here's the point of the text.

1055
00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:29,840
I've waited until the end.

1056
00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:34,040
Grace doesn't just tweak our behavior.

1057
00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:38,360
Grace transforms who we are.

1058
00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:41,160
Paul goes from a murder to a missionary.

1059
00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:44,840
You might have not gone from a murder to a missionary, but some of you in the room have

1060
00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:50,720
gone from a covetor to one content in Jesus.

1061
00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:56,160
You might have went from an adultery in your heart to a lover of Jesus and therefore a

1062
00:55:56,160 --> 00:55:58,920
right lover of other people.

1063
00:55:58,920 --> 00:56:03,400
You might have went from a liar to a lover of truth.

1064
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:06,720
Maybe you did go from a murder to a missionary.

1065
00:56:06,720 --> 00:56:07,720
The point is this.

1066
00:56:07,720 --> 00:56:12,400
The gospel of God that God would condescend all the way down to us, live the life we couldn't

1067
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:18,200
die the death instead of us in our place, rise victoriously and dwell us with his spirit

1068
00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:21,360
so that we progressively start transforming into the image of Jesus.

1069
00:56:21,360 --> 00:56:26,560
One day coming back to make all things new, that message of the gospel isn't just news

1070
00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:29,040
that we store up here, it's actually news for right now.

1071
00:56:29,040 --> 00:56:34,760
It changes us and transforms us just like it did Paul.

1072
00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:36,200
Let me close with three questions.

1073
00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:43,120
Number one, are you living as if grace has transformed your life?

1074
00:56:43,120 --> 00:56:44,240
You're your best apologetic.

1075
00:56:44,240 --> 00:56:46,280
Are you?

1076
00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:48,920
Has grace transformed your life?

1077
00:56:48,920 --> 00:56:50,760
Look at Paul.

1078
00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:53,920
When people saw it, people took note of it.

1079
00:56:53,920 --> 00:57:00,400
Number two, is your aim that your life would cause others to glorify God?

1080
00:57:00,400 --> 00:57:03,800
You're not living for your own glory.

1081
00:57:03,800 --> 00:57:06,120
It's not about how many social media likes I get.

1082
00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:08,280
It's not about my status, my job.

1083
00:57:08,280 --> 00:57:11,360
I'm not working towards an income.

1084
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:12,360
All of that changes, right?

1085
00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:17,240
Our perspectives change because we've been commissioned for his glory, not ours.

1086
00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:23,080
And if the ban will come up, number three, is there anyone you view outside of the saving

1087
00:57:23,080 --> 00:57:26,440
grace of Jesus?

1088
00:57:26,440 --> 00:57:31,440
Because if Paul's not, then whoever you think is, isn't.

1089
00:57:31,440 --> 00:57:37,360
Whether that's a co-worker, a friend, a family member.

1090
00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:41,440
So this week I would challenge you to pray for them that the same grace that encountered

1091
00:57:41,440 --> 00:57:47,200
the apostle Paul would encounter them, the same grace that you've experienced, they

1092
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:48,200
would too.

1093
00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:49,200
Let's pray.

1094
00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:50,200
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

1095
00:57:50,200 --> 00:57:51,960
Transform us into the image of Jesus.

1096
00:57:51,960 --> 00:57:53,800
Be glorified through our lives.

1097
00:57:53,800 --> 00:57:58,160
Thank you for what Jesus has done, coming all the way down to sinners, taking upon himself

1098
00:57:58,160 --> 00:58:03,040
our sin, imputing his righteousness to us so that we stand in him by faith alone, because

1099
00:58:03,040 --> 00:58:05,400
of his work alone.

1100
00:58:05,400 --> 00:58:10,000
You look at us clothed and covered in righteousness, and that message changes.

1101
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:15,080
May we take that message to our neighbors, to the nations, to our neighborhood, and may

1102
00:58:15,080 --> 00:58:18,080
we glorify you with every ounce of our being in Jesus' name.

1103
00:58:18,080 --> 00:58:19,080
Amen.

1104
00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:48,080
Amen.