Galatians Chapter 1:13-16b

Galatians Chapter 1:13-16b

Sermon #7 ~ Does the Past Really Matter?

Introduction

Paul has written, and we have looked at, that the gospel he taught did not come from men
We saw this first in verse 1 of chapter 1 and also in verses 10-12 which we looked at the previous two times we came together
Now what Paul needs to do is prove this to the Galatian churches; the way in which he sets out to prove the origin is by an appeal to his personal history
So for the remainder of the chapter Paul relates about his pre-conversion state, at the moment of conversion, and then what happened in the period shortly after his conversion
He makes it clear that he could not have received the gospel from men, least of all the apostles in Jerusalem
Rather we will see in the coming weeks that his very isolation at this period of his life (this is the critical period being attacked by the legalizers) indicates that the gospel must have come to him directly from God, as he has stated

However today we will have to begin where Paul begins, and that is in his former life, i.e. his life before Christ
Out of this we will see how God can take that which seems the least likely person and make them his very own
Who have you known in your life that you have mentally almost written off? Who is in your life that you believe that it would be nearly impossible for that person to be saved by God’s grace?
As I ask the question two things come to mind, right? One is that person’s face whom you can’t imagine as a believer and the second is the words of Matthew 19:26 “that with God all things are possible.”
As Christians we know we should never think that God can’t do something but at the same time don’t we often behave as if that is what we believe?
Today we are going to look at the life of Paul as he tells his own story and we will examine the question of “Does the Past Really Matter?”
I trust that today you will be encouraged by this as we look at the truth of God’s word
I know that there are those within the sound of my voice that have children that have wandered far away from God and their parents are sitting here wondering what God can do with them after they have wasted their youth
I know there are others of you here who have unbelieving spouses at home; some of those spouses are content to let you be here and just dismiss that church isn’t for them others are very outspoken against Christ and his church
Perhaps you are in a different group, maybe it is a grandchild, a sister or brother, an aunt or an uncle that you would like to see saved, perhaps a friend or a co-worker
The difference in all these situations is God not the persons current manner of life; don’t allow yourself to focus on the current behavior but rather take comfort that God is sovereign over all
Proverbs 21 tells us “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.”
Allow God to change the heart of your loved one just as he does the heart of a King

Permitted by God

¹³For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, ¹⁶was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,
Paul’s past performance was no indication of his future was it?
I think of that disclaimer you get when they advertise an investment opportunity
They go through all the good stuff about this investment, they tell you all about how well it has done over the last 5 years
Then at the very end an announcer with a really, really fast voice says “Past performance is no guarantee of future results, read prospectus carefully before investing, investments are not FDIC insured blah, blah, blah”
That is sort of how I feel it is with God, God looks at our lives and his message to all of us is: “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.”
Of course when stock brokers tell you that they mean instead of making lots of money you may lose money on the deal
When God adds that postscript to someone’s life he means just the opposite doesn’t he?
Look at the life of Paul, by his own confession he was persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it
I think most of us recall the violence with which Paul (then called Saul) persecuted the church, Acts 7:58 tells how he was overseeing the stoning of Steven
At the time he rationalized it in his mind by finding an Old Testament law to allow him to do it but when your goal is to rationalize anything your mind can always find a way to do that
Acts 8:3 Tells how Saul continued to persecute the church in Jerusalem, if you read the account it sounds like Saul might have been the first member of the KGB
It speaks of him going into houses and removing men and women, fathers and mothers and having them committed to prison
Acts 9 continues and verse one of chapter 9 says that Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord
What does he do, he has almost cleaned up the problem in Jerusalem because in reality many of the people have fled to other areas but Saul is not content to see them go but chases them down
9:2 tells us he got permission to go to Damascus to find people of The Way and bring them back to prison in Jerusalem
Throwing parents in jail, killing Christians, Saul was not a nice guy
But through all of this he was advancing in Judaism, I notice he went directly to the High Priest for his request, clearly he had a reputation with the High Priest and had access to him to make this request
He didn’t even have to throw stones at the stoning of Steven he just oversaw it
Saul was what we might call a bad dude
Yet in spite of all the evil he did he was able to do it in such away that before men he appeared blameless
He had men fooled that what he was doing he was doing for God and not for himself, however that was in his former way of life
In this passage Paul gets honest with his readers and tells the truth about his motivation, it was to please men, it was to advance in Judaism
As for pleasing God, his testimony is Paul did not try and confuse traditions of the fathers with jealousy for God, he knew his own heart in the matter
He says that his goal was the traditions of the fathers, he had been more concerned with preserving history and tradition than pleasing God
I hope there is no one here today that is more concerned with history and tradition than pleasing God, may it never be so

Set apart by God

¹³For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, ¹⁶was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,
Notice the contrast here, at first it was I persecuted, I was advancing, I was zealous then we have the connector of “but” next Paul speaks of him who set him apart, had called him, revealed the Son to him all with the goal that Paul would preach
Do you see the contrast from I, I, I to when he; the focus shifts to what God did not what Paul did
I have said before that the gospel is a man abasing God exalting truth; Paul not only taught this but lived it as well; his testimony gives glory to what God did not what he did
You see Paul as he gives his testimony talks about what he did as he walked in the flesh and then how God began to do and even had begun to do before he was born
Now you may be wondering about the expression Paul uses here where he mentions that he was set apart before he was born
We have seen numerous examples throughout the Old and New Testaments of children being set apart before they were born
For example in 1 Samuel we see that Samuel’s mother committed him to the Lord before he was even conceived, in Judges 13 we see that Samson was set apart before he was conceived, and of course there are others, Jeremiah and so on
In the New Testament we have the story of John the Baptist in Luke 1 and how he was promised to his father Zechariah as he went into the temple to burn incense he encountered an angel who made the promise of the birth of John
Of course let us not forget how Jesus was set apart before birth so much so that even the nature of his conception was set apart to illustrate the call on his life and to point to his true identity
But let me tell you that when Paul wrote that he was set apart before he was born he is not merely referring to an angel visiting one of his parents and making a promise, as unique as that would be it is actually so much better what happened
Turn with me to Titus 1; I want you to all see this because when Paul says he was set apart before he was born it wasn’t just Paul but also me and many of you here today, it is all of God’s elect whom he has set apart.
¹Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, ²in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began ³and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;
Did anyone catch what Paul just said there? Let me tell you he said a whole lot
For those of you who think I may be moving too slowly through Galatians be glad we are not in Titus because I think there is more to deal with in Titus’ opening words than in Galatians
Paul mentions a bunch of things in these opening 3 verses but notice the expression “which God…promised before time began”
Now let me ask you something, to whom did God make this promise if it was before time began?
Some might guess angels but I think a correct theology would place the creation of angels somewhere in the 6 days of creation that God records for us in Genesis 1 and 2.
Keep in mind we see time created in Genesis 1 and this was before time began, so to who did God make this promise?
The answer is, it was an inner-Trinitarian promise; God the Father promised God the Son a redeemed humanity
Look again at this verse and what Paul is saying.
Paul a servant and an apostle for the sake of the faith of the elect; Paul is saying God called him to be a preacher that preaches faith so the elect can hear and be saved
And their knowledge of truth which leads to godliness; what is he saying here, after they have accepted in faith I keep preaching in order that they hear truth and are led by the Spirit into all godliness
In hope of eternal life; that is a major part of the motivation of the Christian life isn’t it? The fact that are names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and that when we die we have assurance of going to heaven and being with our Savior, Paul preaches that too
Which God who never lies promised before time began; you see what Paul is saying, God promised election, faith, sanctification and glorification to the Son in eternity past before there was ever a sun, a moon, an earth, let alone sinful people that would need to be redeemed
Everyone who is a blood-bought child of God was promised by God the Father to God the Son before time even began; do see now why I said that was better than an angel promising something to your parents?
God’s election and foreknowledge of people extends far beyond just merely who will be saved but even to the specific details of their individual conversion
God decided that I should be converted as a 5 year old boy in a school chapel, he decided that Paul should be converted as an adult man walking on the road to Damascus
Take a moment to reflect on your moment of conversion; as you reflect on that take another moment to thank God for ordering the events of your life so that you were saved at exactly the right time in exactly the right way according to his sovereign will

At one with God

¹⁶was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,
The first half of verse 16 reveals something new in Paul’s character as we go through his testimony
He went from being permitted by God for a time to wreak havoc in the church, but then in time God who had set him apart called him unto himself and now Paul is at one with God
It is as 2 Corinthians 5:17 teaches us: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Paul genuinely is a new creation, he is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy
Remember at the beginning of the message we talked about the one person who we couldn’t see changing; Paul was that guy in the 1^st century
People Magazine just published their Top 100 most beautiful people list; and all the Hollywood stars that are considered to be the best looking are in there
Well I don’t know if the early church had a publication called 100 worst people for Christians to hang out with but I am certain if they did Paul would have been in the top 10
His name would have been listed right in between Caesars and the High Priest’s name
But now he is at one with God, saved by faith through grace; so what is it natural to assume Paul is now doing? He is doing what he was predestined to do, in his case preach
What are you called to do and are you doing it?
Not everyone is called to go to Africa as missionary for the rest of their lives but if God called you to do that then you better go
Not everyone is called to preach but those who have been called better be busy about the task they were called to do
Maybe God is calling you to teach Sunday School, perhaps God has called you to be a servant here in this church, perhaps folding bulletins and putting the inserts in them is your God assigned calling, then do it with joy knowing you have been faithful to the master
1 Corinthians 4:2 “It is required of stewards that they be found faithful or trustworthy”
But allow me to also say if God has called you to preach the Gospel say in a foreign land and you have opted to teach Sunday School here you are not fulfilling your God appointed task
Remember Jesus’ words in Luke 12:48 “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”
My father had an uncle that served as a deacon in a Baptist church all his life; from the outside he was blameless, but after his death my father found out something about him that he hadn’t known.
His uncle had been called to preach and instead of obeying the call he did everything he could to appease God but not what he was told to do, he disobeyed
I know a man who had been a preacher for most of his life, then one day he stopped preaching; his wife never knew why he stopped but just that he had and he wouldn’t do it again
I ask you, was he faithful to his call? Did he execute his assigned task to the glory of God?
We must do what we are called to do; once we are at one with God it should naturally flow from our lives Spirit lead, Spirit filled good works.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us: ”¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
This is one of the most exciting and most invigorating verses in the Bible; this verse tells us that we have been created anew in Christ for the purpose of good works
But not just any good works, specifically we were chosen for good works which God has already planned out for us
Do you realize you can wake up every morning and as you do your morning routine you can be invigorated by the thought that God has prepared good works for you to do that day?
Again don’t try and do someone else’s good works; that won’t work out
Can you imagine me trying to do Eydie’s job, Jim’s job, Noah’s job? It would be a disaster but there are tasks that God has given me and also he has equipped me with the skills, the abilities, the interest the zeal, everything I need to succeed in the power of the Spirit
Look at Paul, he was ambitious at whatever he did; we see that in his life before faith in Christ and after he became a believer in Christ
At first his zeal was un-sanctified and led to disastrous ends, later once his zeal had been purified by the blood of Christ he was able to say in 2 Corinthians 4:8-11
⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
That is Christian zeal given as a gift from the Father, to say that we are afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair can all of you say that?

Conclusion

Does the past really matter?
It doesn’t if you are a blood-bought child of the king; everything in your former manner of life was washed away by his blood
If that is what you think of when you think of the past and whether it matters then no, it doesn’t
If on the other hand when I ask if the past really matters and you are a believer but you have sinned against someone, perhaps someone in this room today then you need to do what James 5:16 says and confess your sins to one another and pray for one another
Don’t leave with that burden still on your heart
If you are here today asking if that Past really matters and you can’t look back on your life and pinpoint a time when God changed your life, when he came into your life and took control, when you accepted what Christ did on the cross for you then the message of the Gospel for you today is you are still living in the past
All things haven’t become new to you, but perhaps today is the day that is appointed for salvation, if you would like to come forward I would love to talk to you about your relationship with Jesus Christ
Nothing scary just ask you some questions and lead you through a very simple prayer
The scary thing is to not know, there is great peace in knowing that God has bought you with his blood and you are his forever child