WEBVTT 00:00:00.490 --> 00:00:06.349 Martin Luther was a man who knew all about religion. 00:00:07.370 --> 00:00:09.769 You've maybe heard about him in your history 00:00:09.769 --> 00:00:13.029 classes growing up or maybe in a religion class. 00:00:13.310 --> 00:00:19.989 But Martin Luther grew up in the faith. He was 00:00:19.989 --> 00:00:23.530 well studied in the faith. He knew all about 00:00:23.530 --> 00:00:29.230 religion. But Martin Luther knew nothing of freedom. 00:00:30.350 --> 00:00:33.969 As a young man, he was a monk. Luther was very 00:00:33.969 --> 00:00:39.729 zealous. He was very energetic and proud of the 00:00:39.729 --> 00:00:44.450 life that he lived in his religion. He prayed 00:00:44.450 --> 00:00:47.689 for hours. He would fast until his body grew 00:00:47.689 --> 00:00:51.450 weak. He would confess every sin that he could 00:00:51.450 --> 00:00:54.630 think of, sometimes for hours at a time. Martin 00:00:54.630 --> 00:01:01.609 Luther knew everything and practiced. Martin 00:01:01.609 --> 00:01:05.049 Luther actually once said, if ever a monk could 00:01:05.049 --> 00:01:11.109 get to heaven by monkery, it was I. But no matter 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:15.409 how hard Martin Luther tried, he never could 00:01:15.409 --> 00:01:20.329 find peace. He wasn't at peace with where he 00:01:20.329 --> 00:01:24.209 was as a follower of Christ. He was never at 00:01:24.209 --> 00:01:29.730 peace with his religion. Instead of feeling closer 00:01:29.730 --> 00:01:32.709 to God, Martin Luther felt crushed by guilt, 00:01:32.810 --> 00:01:38.549 by fear. He was always worried about, am I good 00:01:38.549 --> 00:01:42.290 enough? Am I right? Am I doing things right? 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:47.250 Am I following the truth? In his own words, he 00:01:47.250 --> 00:01:52.170 also once said, I did not love, yes, I hated 00:01:52.170 --> 00:01:56.609 the righteous God who punishes sinners. I was 00:01:56.609 --> 00:02:05.230 angry. You see, sometimes we get so focused on 00:02:05.230 --> 00:02:10.430 religion, on being right, on checking every box, 00:02:10.509 --> 00:02:13.430 dotting every I and crossing every T that we 00:02:13.430 --> 00:02:20.389 forget. And sometimes it leads us to hate God. 00:02:21.789 --> 00:02:27.460 We get so caught up in being right. that we forget 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:32.039 the peace that God wants us to know. And this 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:34.719 was the case for Martin Luther. But one day, 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:37.120 Martin Luther, while studying the book of Romans, 00:02:37.340 --> 00:02:41.300 well, it's crazy that you have to say this about 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:43.800 somebody who was already a Christ follower, but 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:49.259 he discovered the gospel. He discovered that 00:02:49.259 --> 00:02:51.560 righteousness isn't something that we can earn. 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:54.039 It's not something that we can pay for. It's 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:56.360 not something that we can work for. It's not 00:02:56.360 --> 00:02:58.500 something that we can dig up out of the ground 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:01.840 and find as a treasure for ourselves. Righteousness 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.659 is not something that we can earn. It is something 00:03:04.659 --> 00:03:13.460 freely given to us from God. And that truth transformed 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:17.069 Martin Luther. You see, Martin Luther then went 00:03:17.069 --> 00:03:20.189 from being somebody bound by these rules and 00:03:20.189 --> 00:03:22.930 these chains and bound by fear to being somebody 00:03:22.930 --> 00:03:26.889 that was set free by the grace of God. Somebody 00:03:26.889 --> 00:03:32.169 that was set free by the gospel. See, Martin 00:03:32.169 --> 00:03:34.530 Luther's discovery not only changed his life, 00:03:34.569 --> 00:03:38.889 it sparked a movement that would change the lives 00:03:38.889 --> 00:03:41.449 of millions, that would bring the good news of 00:03:41.449 --> 00:03:43.930 God, this freedom that God wants us to know. 00:03:44.050 --> 00:03:47.590 It would bring the gospel to millions. And at 00:03:47.590 --> 00:03:50.650 this point in life and in history, billions. 00:03:52.409 --> 00:03:59.139 And we, we benefit here today in 2025. From Martin 00:03:59.139 --> 00:04:02.979 Luther's discovery of the gospel. From his discovery 00:04:02.979 --> 00:04:06.500 of the freedom that God wants us to experience. 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:11.180 And I tell you this because what happened to 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:14.840 Martin Luther echoes what happened to the Apostle 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.180 Paul. You see, Paul was just as zealous. He was 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:21.339 just as religious. He was also just as misguided. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.980 The Apostle Paul was somebody that. knew everything 00:04:25.980 --> 00:04:31.019 there was to know about religion. And he was 00:04:31.019 --> 00:04:36.879 proud of it. He was confident in it. Until God 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:41.410 revealed Jesus to Paul. And that's exactly what 00:04:41.410 --> 00:04:43.910 Paul tells us in Galatians chapter one, verses 00:04:43.910 --> 00:04:47.629 11 through 24, that that true freedom doesn't 00:04:47.629 --> 00:04:50.449 come from religion. It doesn't come from rules. 00:04:50.610 --> 00:04:54.269 It will not ever come from our own effort. Freedom 00:04:54.269 --> 00:04:59.490 is found when God reveals the gospel of his son, 00:04:59.589 --> 00:05:02.889 when God reveals the good news of Christ to us. 00:05:03.209 --> 00:05:07.329 And when we allow Jesus to transform our lives. 00:05:08.269 --> 00:05:10.670 So let's start in verses 11 through 12 and we'll 00:05:10.670 --> 00:05:14.569 kind of walk through this passage together. For 00:05:14.569 --> 00:05:16.730 I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel 00:05:16.730 --> 00:05:20.009 that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 00:05:22.069 --> 00:05:25.670 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was 00:05:25.670 --> 00:05:28.870 I taught it, but I received it through a revelation 00:05:28.870 --> 00:05:32.029 of Jesus Christ. See right there. Paul emphasizes 00:05:32.029 --> 00:05:34.149 something that we need to understand, and that 00:05:34.149 --> 00:05:37.350 is that the gospel that he preaches is not of 00:05:37.350 --> 00:05:41.170 human origin. No man made this up. No man designed 00:05:41.170 --> 00:05:44.730 it. No man wrote it. It is not man's gospel. 00:05:44.810 --> 00:05:49.189 It is God's gospel revealed by Christ himself. 00:05:50.750 --> 00:05:54.750 I believe Paul is emphasizing this divine source 00:05:54.750 --> 00:05:58.189 of his message because, well, Paul realizes something 00:05:58.189 --> 00:06:01.459 important. Last week, I told you that the messenger 00:06:01.459 --> 00:06:04.360 matters, and this week I'll tell you that the 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:08.279 source matters. It matters where the gospel comes 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:10.240 from. You see, throughout history, people have 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:13.060 been claiming these new revelations or messages 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:15.540 from God, and you've heard them before. I mean, 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:18.639 we have entire religions built on people that 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:22.740 have said. I have a new message from God. You 00:06:22.740 --> 00:06:25.399 hear it every day in churches today. God revealed 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:28.500 to me. And whenever we hear these things, when 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:31.939 somebody says God told me or I discovered this, 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:34.879 we have a responsibility as Christians. Well, 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:37.399 really, as just human beings with the ability 00:06:37.399 --> 00:06:39.160 to critically think, we have a responsibility 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:42.800 to not follow blindly, but to ask ourselves, 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:49.750 is this true to test and verify? Because people 00:06:49.750 --> 00:06:52.529 really love to say, I got this message from God, 00:06:52.629 --> 00:06:55.069 but really it's a message from themselves. People 00:06:55.069 --> 00:06:57.569 really love to say, I discovered this in Scripture. 00:06:57.649 --> 00:07:00.269 I get videos sent to me all the time of people, 00:07:00.350 --> 00:07:03.290 and they're saying, I was reading and I discovered 00:07:03.290 --> 00:07:05.910 this, and I'd never seen this before, and I've 00:07:05.910 --> 00:07:07.810 never heard this before. And then they'll say 00:07:07.810 --> 00:07:10.850 the most outlandish thing about Scripture. We 00:07:10.850 --> 00:07:17.430 have a responsibility to test and verify. Paul 00:07:17.430 --> 00:07:22.069 knows. The source matters. Is it really from 00:07:22.069 --> 00:07:26.209 God? Is it really God's message or is it my message? 00:07:28.149 --> 00:07:31.250 That's exactly what the Galatian Christians were 00:07:31.250 --> 00:07:36.889 failing to do. They were failing to verify where 00:07:36.889 --> 00:07:39.930 these messages, these false gospels were coming 00:07:39.930 --> 00:07:42.730 from, where these ideas were coming from. These 00:07:42.730 --> 00:07:45.110 people were coming into the Galatian church and 00:07:45.110 --> 00:07:49.319 they're preaching these Jesus plus. And the Galatian 00:07:49.319 --> 00:07:51.199 Christians are falling victim to this because 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:54.199 they're not verifying that those messages line 00:07:54.199 --> 00:07:56.800 up with what God has been teaching them. And 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:00.079 so Paul's first offense is very simple. He says, 00:08:00.180 --> 00:08:03.339 my gospel comes directly from God. Can your false 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:08.040 teachers say the same thing? Think of it like 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:11.899 this. Two people have the same college degree. 00:08:12.899 --> 00:08:17.360 But one of those degrees is from Harvard. And 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:19.620 the other one is from a small, unknown community 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:22.620 college that you've never even heard of. And 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:25.120 you're doing a job search, and you're looking 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:27.519 for somebody to fill a role in your business. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:29.699 And you've got these two candidates, and one 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:31.899 has the degree from Harvard, and one has the 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:35.059 degree from unknown college X. Which one do you 00:08:35.059 --> 00:08:38.600 think you're going to look at more seriously? 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:44.720 The one from Harvard. The source matters. The 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:47.879 origin matters. The degree alone doesn't tell 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:51.139 the whole story. Where it comes from matters. 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:54.139 In the same way, if these false teachers cannot 00:08:54.139 --> 00:08:58.399 verify that their message is in fact from God, 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:02.960 then what Paul is saying is they are not valid. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.490 They're not good enough. And when we're talking 00:09:07.490 --> 00:09:10.289 about good news, I want the best news. I want 00:09:10.289 --> 00:09:13.690 the true news. You see things come across your 00:09:13.690 --> 00:09:16.750 timeline every day. You see things in the newspaper 00:09:16.750 --> 00:09:21.190 every day. And sometimes those things are fake 00:09:21.190 --> 00:09:26.470 news. We want the real. We want the truth. And 00:09:26.470 --> 00:09:29.149 what Paul says is, I have the truth. I've got 00:09:29.149 --> 00:09:33.669 the real good news because Paul's credentials 00:09:33.669 --> 00:09:39.860 are divine. They're not his own. He didn't get 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:43.879 these messages from other apostles. Even he didn't 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:46.100 get these messages from other men. He didn't 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:48.960 go to rabbis. He got them from God. And you might 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:50.779 be asking, well, why does that matter for us? 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:53.539 Well, it matters because if Paul's gospel really 00:09:53.539 --> 00:09:58.899 is from God, we can trust it completely. And 00:09:58.899 --> 00:10:01.620 I don't know about you, but if I'm going to build 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:05.779 my life on this, this thing. called Christianity, 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:08.259 if I'm going to build my life on this thing called 00:10:08.259 --> 00:10:10.720 the good news of Christ, I want it to be something 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:13.940 that I can trust completely. If I tell you I've 00:10:13.940 --> 00:10:16.320 got an investment opportunity for you and all 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.580 I need is just a small donation of a million 00:10:18.580 --> 00:10:20.960 dollars and you've got the million dollars and 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:23.360 I present this investment opportunity to you, 00:10:23.419 --> 00:10:27.340 you're going to ask me, well, how sure are you 00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:30.379 that I'm going to get a return on this investment? 00:10:31.419 --> 00:10:35.480 And I'm going to say, well. there's a good chance 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:37.899 you're saying, no, no, no, no. What are the chances 00:10:37.899 --> 00:10:40.840 of my return on investment? And if I say, well, 00:10:41.019 --> 00:10:47.240 20%. No deal. But if I say I've got 100 % certainty 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:49.980 that you will get what you gave me and then some 00:10:49.980 --> 00:10:54.559 back, you're all in. It is foolproof. And so 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:58.519 when I can say my gospel comes from God and God 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:04.700 alone, not man, I know it's the real. That's 00:11:04.700 --> 00:11:07.480 why it matters. It's not shifting sand. It's 00:11:07.480 --> 00:11:10.539 not a momentary thing. It's not something that 00:11:10.539 --> 00:11:18.019 might be true. It is 100 % verifiably true. And 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:21.879 it is the foundation. of our freedom in Christ. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:24.639 This is what Paul says about the power of this 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:27.000 gospel in verses 13 through 17. It's a little 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:29.580 lengthy, so we're going to read what Paul says 00:11:29.580 --> 00:11:32.279 to remind the Galatian Christians of his former 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:34.399 life. He says, For you've heard of my former 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.580 life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church 00:11:37.580 --> 00:11:42.059 of God violently and tried to destroy it. And 00:11:42.059 --> 00:11:44.580 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my 00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:48.299 own age among my people. So extremely zealous 00:11:48.299 --> 00:11:51.899 was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when 00:11:51.899 --> 00:11:54.440 he who had set me apart before I was born and 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:58.039 he who called me by his grace was pleased to 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.259 reveal his son to me in order that I might preach 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:03.700 him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:07.919 consult with anyone, nor did I go up to Jerusalem 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:12.049 to those who were apostles before me. But I went 00:12:12.049 --> 00:12:16.490 away into Arabia and returned again to Damascus. 00:12:16.649 --> 00:12:19.590 You see, Paul, he has a background so ironic 00:12:19.590 --> 00:12:21.789 for what he was called to do. Paul was called 00:12:21.789 --> 00:12:24.730 to be the apostle to the Gentiles, which if you're 00:12:24.730 --> 00:12:27.509 familiar with that Gentile Jew history, Jews 00:12:27.509 --> 00:12:30.830 didn't like Gentiles. They were enemies. But 00:12:30.830 --> 00:12:33.909 see, Paul was a Jew. And so it's kind of ironic 00:12:33.909 --> 00:12:36.450 that he's called to go and be apostle to the 00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:41.289 Gentiles. Because Paul wasn't. Just a Jew. Actually, 00:12:41.350 --> 00:12:44.590 Paul was a Pharisee. And you may not know what 00:12:44.590 --> 00:12:46.649 a Pharisee is, so I'll explain it to you. Paul 00:12:46.649 --> 00:12:49.889 was a part of a distinct set of Jewish officials 00:12:49.889 --> 00:12:53.990 whose sole purpose was to uphold strict observance 00:12:53.990 --> 00:12:58.929 of Jewish laws. Essentially, Paul was a Jewish 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:02.830 legalist. And what Paul says there in verse 14 00:13:02.830 --> 00:13:05.529 is that he was advancing in Judaism beyond many 00:13:05.529 --> 00:13:09.120 of his own age. And not just... among those of 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:11.340 his own age, but those of his own tribe. And 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:15.919 so Paul was pretty special at this whole being 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.889 a Jew thing. And not only was he... Good at it. 00:13:19.950 --> 00:13:23.409 He loved it. He was zealous. Extremely zealous 00:13:23.409 --> 00:13:26.049 is what Paul says for the traditions of his father. 00:13:26.210 --> 00:13:28.990 So Paul was not just good at it. He loved it. 00:13:29.029 --> 00:13:32.009 He loved being on the right side of things. He 00:13:32.009 --> 00:13:35.590 loved being in the group that he was in. And 00:13:35.590 --> 00:13:38.769 so Paul wasn't just religious. He was exceptionally 00:13:38.769 --> 00:13:41.610 religious. But this is what he says in verse 00:13:41.610 --> 00:13:48.830 15. God set him apart and called him by. Key 00:13:48.830 --> 00:13:53.470 word here, grace. There's that word again. It 00:13:53.470 --> 00:13:58.269 keeps popping up, doesn't it? Grace. Something 00:13:58.269 --> 00:14:03.370 we don't deserve. When we're an enemy of the 00:14:03.370 --> 00:14:08.029 gospel, even God says, I've got grace for you. 00:14:10.549 --> 00:14:16.740 Grace. God interrupted Paul's life. He revealed 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:20.559 the good news of Jesus Christ directly to Paul. 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.740 And because of that revelation that came directly 00:14:23.740 --> 00:14:28.620 from God, Paul's life was transformed completely. 00:14:31.019 --> 00:14:36.779 Imagine a sculptor. And he's got this clay in 00:14:36.779 --> 00:14:38.740 front of him, or I guess a sculptor would be 00:14:38.740 --> 00:14:41.299 stone. And he's got the stone in front of him 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:43.840 and he's trying to he has this picture in his 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.720 mind, but the stone doesn't really work for the 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:48.600 picture that he's got in his mind of the statue 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:51.259 that he wants to sculpt. And so the sculptor 00:14:51.259 --> 00:14:53.220 is is looking at the stone and he's like, it's 00:14:53.220 --> 00:14:55.559 messed up, it's jagged, it's got chipped off 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:58.179 pieces here and it's kind of broken. And it's 00:14:58.179 --> 00:15:00.460 not exactly the right marbling that I wanted 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:03.000 for my statue. And so he looks at this stone 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:07.830 and he says. I really probably shouldn't work 00:15:07.830 --> 00:15:14.470 with this. But because of who God is, he does 00:15:14.470 --> 00:15:18.389 work with it. And he sculpts this masterpiece 00:15:18.389 --> 00:15:26.690 from it. God doesn't discard the broken stone. 00:15:26.990 --> 00:15:31.259 He doesn't discard. Those that don't exactly 00:15:31.259 --> 00:15:34.919 fit this model image of what a disciple should 00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:38.399 be. He doesn't discard someone that is the model 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:40.960 image of what a minister should be or what a 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:43.600 shepherd should be or what a Christian should 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:47.820 be. God actually prefers to work with the messed 00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:53.220 up. And you've seen it. When somebody takes something 00:15:53.220 --> 00:15:56.480 that's really ugly and they turn it into something 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:00.559 that's really beautiful and you go. I'm so impressed 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:05.259 at what you've been able to do with this. Maybe 00:16:05.259 --> 00:16:08.200 you've seen, I saw there was an artist and his 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:11.820 whole thing was what he liked to do was find 00:16:11.820 --> 00:16:16.980 driftwood. Just these trash pieces of wood that 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:19.759 would float up on the gulf or on the shore from 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.360 the gulf. And he'd take these pieces of driftwood 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:25.460 and he'd make them into these beautiful sculptures. 00:16:27.149 --> 00:16:29.110 And you look at it and you're like, how in the 00:16:29.110 --> 00:16:33.029 world could he do that? I mean, he had to work 00:16:33.029 --> 00:16:35.529 around all the knots in the wood and he had to 00:16:35.529 --> 00:16:38.090 work with the dead pieces and some of it was 00:16:38.090 --> 00:16:40.870 waterlogged and all this. But he makes these 00:16:40.870 --> 00:16:48.690 beautiful pieces of art. God doesn't discard 00:16:48.690 --> 00:16:51.129 us because we're not good enough pieces to work 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:55.450 with. He doesn't discard us because we're a little 00:16:55.450 --> 00:16:58.820 too rough. Or our background's a little too messy. 00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:02.200 Our families aren't exactly perfect. He doesn't 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:04.240 discard us because we look a certain way. He 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:05.900 doesn't discard us because we live in a certain 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:07.980 place. He doesn't discard us because we have 00:17:07.980 --> 00:17:10.039 thought a certain way and we've been a certain 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:13.819 way. God looks at us and says, I can work with 00:17:13.819 --> 00:17:18.000 that. And I can transform that into a powerful 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:23.200 message for my good. And Paul's story reminds 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:27.240 us that freedom is not about erasing. It's not 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:29.759 about ignoring our mistakes. It's about letting 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:37.500 God redeem everything for his glory. That's the 00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:42.079 power of the gospel. And then in verses 18 through 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:47.140 24, Paul shows us the fruit of the gospel. Here's 00:17:47.140 --> 00:17:49.559 what Paul says. Then after three years, I went 00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:52.279 up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, which is Peter, 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:56.769 and remained with him 15 days. But I saw none 00:17:56.769 --> 00:17:58.990 of the other apostles except James, the Lord's 00:17:58.990 --> 00:18:01.269 brother. And what I'm writing to you before God, 00:18:01.410 --> 00:18:04.309 I do not lie. I love that Paul says, I do not 00:18:04.309 --> 00:18:07.470 lie. Exclamation point. Don't doubt me. I'm telling 00:18:07.470 --> 00:18:10.630 the truth. You ever tell your kids that? Just 00:18:10.630 --> 00:18:13.150 take my word for it. I promise I know better 00:18:13.150 --> 00:18:18.450 than you. Paul is emphatic. I'm telling the truth. 00:18:19.690 --> 00:18:22.430 And then I went into the regions of Syria and 00:18:22.430 --> 00:18:25.250 Cilicia, and I was still unknown in person to 00:18:25.250 --> 00:18:29.349 the churches of Judea that are in Christ. All 00:18:29.349 --> 00:18:31.589 they knew, all they were hearing was that it 00:18:31.589 --> 00:18:34.910 was said, he who used to persecute us is now 00:18:34.910 --> 00:18:37.150 preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. 00:18:38.910 --> 00:18:45.099 That's good news. Let me read that again. He 00:18:45.099 --> 00:18:48.599 who used to persecute us is now preaching the 00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:53.099 faith he once tried to destroy. And they glorified 00:18:53.099 --> 00:18:57.960 God because of it. Because of me. Because of 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:03.740 my story. See, after this radical encounter with 00:19:03.740 --> 00:19:07.339 Jesus, Paul doesn't run to Jerusalem and try 00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:10.190 to get the apostles' approval. He doesn't go 00:19:10.190 --> 00:19:13.609 to Peter and the other apostles and say, I need 00:19:13.609 --> 00:19:16.670 you to tell me exactly what I need to know. I 00:19:16.670 --> 00:19:18.509 mean, he meets with Peter and James for a little 00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:20.750 bit, but he doesn't rely on them to validate 00:19:20.750 --> 00:19:22.950 this message that's been revealed to him. He 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:25.450 doesn't rely on them to tell him, yes, that's 00:19:25.450 --> 00:19:28.029 what you're being called to do. What Paul does 00:19:28.029 --> 00:19:30.930 is he says, I've got this message and I've got 00:19:30.930 --> 00:19:35.650 this calling that is straight from God. And look 00:19:35.650 --> 00:19:38.029 at how the churches responded because of it. 00:19:38.089 --> 00:19:40.509 I was still unknown in person to the churches 00:19:40.509 --> 00:19:43.430 in Judea that are in Christ. They only heard 00:19:43.430 --> 00:19:46.890 it said, he who used to persecute us is now preaching 00:19:46.890 --> 00:19:52.349 the message that he once tried to destroy. And 00:19:52.349 --> 00:19:57.890 they glorified God because of me. Maybe you've 00:19:57.890 --> 00:20:00.789 been in the boat where maybe you weren't trying 00:20:00.789 --> 00:20:05.450 to destroy the gospel and quench. This thing 00:20:05.450 --> 00:20:08.509 that we've got going. But maybe you've been an 00:20:08.509 --> 00:20:11.569 enemy of God. And you know what I mean. You've 00:20:11.569 --> 00:20:14.259 rebelled against God. You've lived in a life 00:20:14.259 --> 00:20:16.980 of sin. You turn your back on him. Maybe you 00:20:16.980 --> 00:20:18.420 stopped coming to church for a little while. 00:20:18.619 --> 00:20:20.579 Maybe you stopped reading your Bible. You just 00:20:20.579 --> 00:20:22.579 gave up on praying because what has God ever 00:20:22.579 --> 00:20:25.099 done for me? Maybe you've decided that instead 00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:28.140 of trusting what God is trying to do, you're 00:20:28.140 --> 00:20:29.880 going to take matters into your own hands. Instead 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:31.839 of being the hands and feet of Jesus, you're 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:34.339 going to be the fist of Jesus. Maybe you've decided 00:20:34.339 --> 00:20:36.980 that I'm going to do what I want to do. And if 00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:39.240 God likes it, that's cool. If he doesn't like 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:43.519 it, so be it. That's what Paul was doing. was 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:47.539 that he's now proclaiming the same gospel that 00:20:47.539 --> 00:20:53.279 he was once an enemy of. And that is good news. 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:01.839 And they glorified God. Think about your life. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:07.500 Think about the things you've done. The ways 00:21:07.500 --> 00:21:13.009 you've made yourself an enemy of God. The people 00:21:13.009 --> 00:21:16.890 you've hurt, the things you've said, the things 00:21:16.890 --> 00:21:23.569 you've thought. Even as bad as those things may 00:21:23.569 --> 00:21:30.630 have been, God can still and will still use you 00:21:30.630 --> 00:21:36.509 for his glory. Because God is in the business 00:21:36.509 --> 00:21:42.390 of transforming garbage into greatness. And not 00:21:42.390 --> 00:21:45.690 your greatness, his greatness. He's in the business 00:21:45.690 --> 00:21:48.849 of taking tragedy and telling amazing stories 00:21:48.849 --> 00:21:56.450 of triumph. And what we see in Paul is a villain. 00:21:58.569 --> 00:22:01.569 He was a villain. And it's okay to say that. 00:22:01.609 --> 00:22:04.809 Paul says that. He was a villain. But God says, 00:22:05.109 --> 00:22:09.349 you're going to be a hero of the faith. And we 00:22:09.349 --> 00:22:14.269 told the story a few weeks ago. about John Newton, 00:22:14.450 --> 00:22:19.410 the author of the song Amazing Grace. He was 00:22:19.410 --> 00:22:24.769 a slave trader. He was a vulgar, disgusting human 00:22:24.769 --> 00:22:31.170 being. And now in churches everywhere, all over 00:22:31.170 --> 00:22:37.589 the world, Amazing Grace is sung. Somebody somewhere 00:22:37.589 --> 00:22:42.210 right now is singing that song. Written. By an 00:22:42.210 --> 00:22:47.029 awful, disgusting human being. But he didn't 00:22:47.029 --> 00:22:50.130 write that song when he was awful. He wrote that 00:22:50.130 --> 00:22:56.789 song after God transformed him. And Paul. He 00:22:56.789 --> 00:22:59.609 didn't write his letters to the churches. He 00:22:59.609 --> 00:23:01.450 didn't change people's lives. He didn't proclaim 00:23:01.450 --> 00:23:03.369 the gospel when he was still an awful person. 00:23:04.730 --> 00:23:08.869 He wrote it. After the gospel transformed him. 00:23:09.509 --> 00:23:13.269 And what we have. In Galatians is a testimony 00:23:13.269 --> 00:23:18.069 that we can take example from. A testimony that 00:23:18.069 --> 00:23:21.349 glorifies God. See, notice the churches didn't 00:23:21.349 --> 00:23:25.509 glorify Paul. They didn't say, wow, that is so 00:23:25.509 --> 00:23:28.309 awesome. Paul is so amazing. They said, look 00:23:28.309 --> 00:23:35.589 at God. They glorified God because of him. And 00:23:35.589 --> 00:23:39.359 that. That is the mark of true transformation. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:43.619 When grace takes hold, when God gets his hands 00:23:43.619 --> 00:23:47.779 on a piece of junk and makes it into something 00:23:47.779 --> 00:23:53.059 beautiful, the attention goes to God, not us. 00:23:53.700 --> 00:23:58.619 When I look at a beautiful piece of art, I don't 00:23:58.619 --> 00:24:03.960 look at it and say, man, that painting did such 00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:07.460 an incredible job painting itself. I look at 00:24:07.460 --> 00:24:10.720 it and I say, wow, that painter is really talented. 00:24:12.119 --> 00:24:16.220 When I hear a song that's just so amazingly written, 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:21.339 I don't go, man, these words just fell together 00:24:21.339 --> 00:24:26.779 and they became awesome. I think, wow, that songwriter 00:24:26.779 --> 00:24:33.279 is so talented. And when I look at my life, There 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:35.519 is no place in my life where I look at myself 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:43.119 and say, wow. Donovan is so great. Because the 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:49.559 truth is, I'm like Paul. I'm just a disgusting 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:55.500 human being. But by God's grace, I'm able to 00:24:55.500 --> 00:24:58.759 be a little bit more than that. A little bit 00:24:58.759 --> 00:25:02.960 better than that. And hopefully. When my life 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:05.099 is through and people look back on my story, 00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:12.160 they say, look at God. Let's put this together. 00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:17.000 In verses 11 through 12, Paul shows us the source 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:20.559 of the gospel because the source matters. The 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:23.160 gospel, the good news comes directly from Christ. 00:25:23.259 --> 00:25:26.779 In verses 13 through 17, Paul shows us the power 00:25:26.779 --> 00:25:29.660 of the gospel, this power to completely transform 00:25:29.660 --> 00:25:32.720 garbage into greatness, tragedy into triumph. 00:25:32.920 --> 00:25:35.579 And in verses 18 through 24, Paul shows us the 00:25:35.579 --> 00:25:38.579 fruit of the gospel. And that is that if God 00:25:38.579 --> 00:25:41.880 takes hold and if you let God transform you, 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:45.559 it'll lead people to glorify God. That's what 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:51.470 grace does. Grace. comes from God, transforms 00:25:51.470 --> 00:25:55.609 lives, and brings God glory. And here's the hope 00:25:55.609 --> 00:25:59.009 for you and me today. Because I told you, Galatians 00:25:59.009 --> 00:26:02.069 really is a hope -filled letter. The hope for 00:26:02.069 --> 00:26:05.269 us today is the same grace that transformed Paul. 00:26:06.450 --> 00:26:09.410 The same grace that could take a villain and 00:26:09.410 --> 00:26:12.849 turn him into a hero. The same grace that transformed 00:26:12.849 --> 00:26:16.890 Paul is still at work today. Earlier in the welcome, 00:26:16.970 --> 00:26:19.900 I told you, Satan is working. He's fighting. 00:26:20.019 --> 00:26:22.940 He is trying to divide us. He's trying to get 00:26:22.940 --> 00:26:25.640 us away from our mission. He's trying to keep 00:26:25.640 --> 00:26:28.539 us from understanding what our objective on this 00:26:28.539 --> 00:26:31.640 earth is. Satan is working, but guess what? So 00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:34.220 is God. And I think I know who's a little bit 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:40.599 more powerful. I think I know who wins. That 00:26:40.599 --> 00:26:44.319 same God. That was working then is working now. 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:47.200 And that same grace that was working then is 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:51.880 working still today. So maybe your past feels 00:26:51.880 --> 00:26:54.599 too broken. Maybe it feels a little too messy. 00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:57.299 Maybe it feels just too weighed down by guilt. 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:04.319 Paul's story says God's grace is bigger. God's 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:08.259 grace is stronger. Maybe you've been trying to 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:11.160 earn your way to God with effort and with rules 00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:13.859 and by checking every box, dotting every I, crossing 00:27:13.859 --> 00:27:16.799 every T. Maybe you're like Martin Luther or like 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:19.339 Paul before he came to Christ and you feel like 00:27:19.339 --> 00:27:22.519 it is by my effort and by my deeds and by my 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:24.980 good that I'm either going to be in Christ or 00:27:24.980 --> 00:27:28.720 out of Christ. One of my favorite preachers, 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:31.619 he said the other day in a sermon, he said, I 00:27:31.619 --> 00:27:36.829 used to preach a sermon about how. how to know 00:27:36.829 --> 00:27:38.970 who's in Christ and who's not in Christ because 00:27:38.970 --> 00:27:42.690 too many of us didn't know who was in Christ. 00:27:43.569 --> 00:27:46.630 But now, I need to preach that sermon again because 00:27:46.630 --> 00:27:48.430 too many of us don't know who's out of Christ. 00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:51.910 And his point was, there was a time when the 00:27:51.910 --> 00:27:54.670 church was so focused on the deeds and the rules 00:27:54.670 --> 00:27:57.410 and the efforts of man that we didn't know if 00:27:57.410 --> 00:28:00.930 any of us were saved. We would sit in a church 00:28:00.930 --> 00:28:03.250 pew and we would be really contemplative at the 00:28:03.250 --> 00:28:05.269 Lord's Supper because we didn't know if I were 00:28:05.269 --> 00:28:09.529 to die right now, am I in Christ? What Paul says 00:28:09.529 --> 00:28:13.329 is you don't have to wonder. If you've got the 00:28:13.329 --> 00:28:15.930 gospel and if you've obeyed the gospel and if 00:28:15.930 --> 00:28:18.150 you're walking in step with the Spirit, you're 00:28:18.150 --> 00:28:27.589 in. We know that our God is not looking at the 00:28:27.589 --> 00:28:31.890 boxes we check. He's looking at the Savior that 00:28:31.890 --> 00:28:36.990 we follow. Paul's story tells us to stop trying 00:28:36.990 --> 00:28:40.710 to earn what's freely given. Because if I give 00:28:40.710 --> 00:28:43.109 you a gift, I don't expect you to come work for 00:28:43.109 --> 00:28:48.890 me. It's free. Maybe you've been afraid to share 00:28:48.890 --> 00:28:51.910 your faith. Maybe you've wondered if your story 00:28:51.910 --> 00:28:55.329 is impressive enough. Well, I've never drank. 00:28:55.390 --> 00:28:57.970 I've never smoked. I've never done all the bad 00:28:57.970 --> 00:29:01.380 stuff. I don't know if I have a story. You do. 00:29:02.380 --> 00:29:10.259 You do. Because Paul's story also says it's not 00:29:10.259 --> 00:29:13.819 about impressing people. Nobody is looking at 00:29:13.819 --> 00:29:16.799 you wondering. I wonder if they've got an awesome 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:20.059 testimony. It's not about impressing people. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:23.420 It's just about pointing people to God, the God 00:29:23.420 --> 00:29:26.180 who saves, the God who transforms. And please 00:29:26.180 --> 00:29:29.420 hear this. The freedom that we have in Christ 00:29:29.420 --> 00:29:32.940 doesn't mean we live however we want. Because 00:29:32.940 --> 00:29:34.700 I know people are listening to this and they're 00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:36.220 going to say, oh, well, Donovan's just saying 00:29:36.220 --> 00:29:38.059 we don't have to follow the rules. We don't have 00:29:38.059 --> 00:29:39.640 to listen to God's commands. We can just live 00:29:39.640 --> 00:29:42.059 however we want to. Not what I'm saying. Please 00:29:42.059 --> 00:29:44.799 do not ever think that of me. Because if you 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:47.740 know me, you know I feel very strongly about 00:29:47.740 --> 00:29:49.660 the way things are supposed to be done. Just 00:29:49.660 --> 00:29:53.680 ask Eliza how I feel about certain things. I'm 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:56.759 very particular. So it is not beyond me to think 00:29:56.759 --> 00:30:00.619 that God also might be a little particular. We 00:30:00.619 --> 00:30:04.220 do have to follow. His commands. We don't get 00:30:04.220 --> 00:30:06.420 to just live however we want. Paul says, should 00:30:06.420 --> 00:30:11.500 I just go on sinning? No. But what he tells us 00:30:11.500 --> 00:30:17.900 is that grace, grace is not dependent on my deeds. 00:30:18.579 --> 00:30:24.140 It's not dependent on my efforts. Also, true 00:30:24.140 --> 00:30:28.539 grace, the gospel changes us from the inside. 00:30:29.130 --> 00:30:33.470 And if I'm living a gospel -filled life, I'm 00:30:33.470 --> 00:30:38.410 going to follow the rules. And so if I'm saved, 00:30:38.690 --> 00:30:42.910 more than likely I'm going to look like it. And 00:30:42.910 --> 00:30:44.910 what that looks like is not somebody doing whatever 00:30:44.910 --> 00:30:49.130 they want to because they feel like it. You see, 00:30:49.210 --> 00:30:54.130 when grace changes us, obedience and good works 00:30:54.130 --> 00:31:00.599 naturally flow. Not to earn salvation, but as 00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:03.839 Paul says, as the fruit of a life touched by 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.900 grace. Just as Paul's life was radically redirected 00:31:07.900 --> 00:31:11.759 and used for God's glory, our freedom in Christ 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:16.859 should lead us to live differently, to love deeply, 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:23.180 and to serve faithfully. Because grace frees 00:31:23.180 --> 00:31:26.890 us. from trying to earn God's favor. It frees 00:31:26.890 --> 00:31:30.430 us from trying to do the right things to get 00:31:30.430 --> 00:31:35.089 something. God's grace frees us from earning 00:31:35.089 --> 00:31:40.789 favor, but empowers us to live in a way that 00:31:40.789 --> 00:31:43.509 honors and glorifies him. See, at the end of 00:31:43.509 --> 00:31:45.650 the day, Paul's message to the Galatians and 00:31:45.650 --> 00:31:48.490 to us is very simple. Freedom isn't found in 00:31:48.490 --> 00:31:51.640 religion. It isn't found in rules. It isn't found 00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:55.579 in our effort. Freedom is found in Christ alone. 00:31:58.259 --> 00:32:05.099 It's just Jesus. Not Jesus plus. Not Jesus minus. 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:09.700 It is just Jesus. Martin Luther discovered that 00:32:09.700 --> 00:32:12.920 truth while reading the book of Romans. Paul 00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:15.779 discovered it on the Damascus Road, and you and 00:32:15.779 --> 00:32:18.579 I can discover it again and again when we trust 00:32:18.579 --> 00:32:21.599 not in ourselves, but in the grace of God through 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:26.420 Jesus Christ. So this morning, if you're longing 00:32:26.420 --> 00:32:30.160 for the freedom and the peace that comes only 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:34.539 from God's grace, or if you've been bound by 00:32:34.539 --> 00:32:38.220 the chains of religion and you just need to embrace 00:32:38.220 --> 00:32:42.279 the freedom found, in God's grace from the simple 00:32:42.279 --> 00:32:47.019 Jesus gospel. Wherever you're at this morning, 00:32:47.220 --> 00:32:50.339 we want you to experience the freedom that we 00:32:50.339 --> 00:32:53.839 find in Christ. Whether that's you needing to 00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:56.019 be baptized for the remission of your sins and 00:32:56.019 --> 00:32:57.940 the gift of the Holy Spirit, whether that's you 00:32:57.940 --> 00:33:00.019 needing prayers of the church to encourage you, 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:03.019 to push you on to good works, whatever it is 00:33:03.019 --> 00:33:06.480 that you need this morning to experience and 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:09.430 to live in the freedom. found in Christ alone. 00:33:09.750 --> 00:33:12.069 We're offering you an invitation to come and 00:33:12.069 --> 00:33:14.849 be prayed for, to be loved on, to be baptized 00:33:14.849 --> 00:33:18.529 here today. If you need anything, please come 00:33:18.529 --> 00:33:19.890 as we stand and as we sing.