Galatians Chapter 1:11-12
Sermon #6 ~ Origin of the Gospel
Introduction
- On November 24, 1859 a British
Naturalist named Charles Darwin published a book entitled “Origin of the
Species”
- This book was to become a
landmark that has changed the way scientist have viewed nature now for
almost 150 years
- As I imagine most of you
are aware the notion of evolution (or more precisely macro evolution)
within a single species was brought to the forefront of modern thought
with the advent of this book
- As a result of this one
book over the next few decades the entire scientific landscape changed
from believing in a creator that created distinct species to a belief that
animals and even humans evolved from much simpler organisms over a great
deal of time
- For those of you that are
in the scientific community you are aware of the far reaching implications
of Darwin’s work and how his theory for the origins of the species gave
rise to other scientists also attempting to apply similar logic to other
disciplines such as astronomy, hydrology and other physical sciences
- For those of you in the
business community you are probably aware that most business people
rationalize their predatory business practices by citing the thesis from
chapter 4 of Darwin’s work, namely the expression “Survival of the
Fittest”
- Darwin’s theory or theories have permeated ever facet
of our lives
- His theory is still being
debated today in courtrooms as challenges arise about its place in the
classroom and should it be taught alone or taught side-by-side with other
theories to explain the origins of the universe and all that we find
within it
- The logical outcome of his
theories are at the heart of numerous political debates ranging from
population growth to drilling for oil, to cutting logging in the Pacific
North West
- Here is the point; Realize
that in order for Darwin’s theory to catch on and to be accepted he
couldn’t start 2,000, 3,000 or 5,000 years ago; in order to succeed he
needed to contend vigorously that this was the origin of life on this
planet
- You see once you control
the origin of something you really can control everything that comes after
it; however if you don’t go back to the origin you always will play a back
and forth game with your skeptics of “…but such and such came before that”
- The Apostle Paul also
understood this and in order to cement the gospel he had previously
delivered he had to establish its divine origin
- And in even greater measure
than the impact on western civilization Charles Darwin’s book is the
impact of the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the impact it has on debates
in classrooms, courtrooms, capital buildings, libraries, offices, hospitals,
churches as well as homes and any number of other places
- If you have been with us
for the last several weeks as we work through the book of Galatians you
probably recall that Paul spoke in some very strong language a few weeks
back when we looked at verses 8 & 9
- I recall sharing with you
that Paul’s choice of words and phrasing were designed for maximum the impact
with his listeners
- Today as we look at verses
11 & 12 from chapter 1 of Galatians we will see that Paul begins to
vindicate the language he used a few verses back by citing the origin of
his message
- In previous weeks we saw
important points about Paul’s credentials as an apostle being made in the
introduction to Galatians
- With these two verses,
verses 11 & 12, we come to the first important thesis that Paul is
putting forward
- Paul has spoken of the
gospel in verses 6-9 stating emphatically that
there is only one gospel
- But there are
certain questions which could be raised and Paul is now ready to address
them; the questions could be asked:
- Why should
your gospel be the accepted one Paul?
- Why not some
other gospel?
- If it is true
that there can be only one gospel, why should not some entirely other
teaching be the accepted gospel?"
- Paul's
addresses this and he addresses it much like Darwin did by pointing to the
origin of his teaching and calling attention to the fact that it had its
origin not in man but in Christ Jesus
- Throughout the
remainder of this chapter and all of chapter 2 Paul defends this thesis by
an appeal to his own experiences
- If God permits, over the
next few weeks we will finish up chapter one and continue into chapter 2
which is really the same though in the apostles mind and all part of the
same thesis
#1 Brothers
- 11For I would have you know, brothers, that the
gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12For
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it
through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
- The first thing Paul does
before he begins to defend the origin of his message is by referring to
his audience as brothers or brethren
- Paul makes clear that this
group of Churches in Galatia is not made up of apostates from Christ
- An apostate of course is
one who has forsaken or rejected the faith & principles they once
adhered to; in short a renegade
- Paul is not saying that the
Galatians have rejected the gospel of the grace of God but they are
however in danger of doing this, for they are looking in the wrong
direction, giving ear to dangerous error and involved in a movement which,
if continued, will separate them from God
- Keep in mind the entire purpose
of this letter is to bring attention to and arrest their current behavior
so they can again look to Christ as their sole sufficiency for salvation
once again
- Paul is proving to them (and
to us) that any time you tamper with the gospel you are headed down a
slippery slope towards apostasy
- So as we always do on
Sunday mornings here; we place our lives on the microscope and allow the
Holy Spirit to look at our lives
- All of us at various levels
have embraced false teaching of some sort, most of us have done this out
of ignorance of the truth and when that happens the Holy Spirit is
faithful to lead us into all truth and correct the errors in our belief
and practice
- However sometimes our own
stubborn will and desires cause us to reject sound truth because it goes
against our natural mind or in some way is contradictory to what we would
want to believe about God, his nature and his ways
- When we are in a stubborn
and rebellious state against the Father and the truth revealed in the Word
of God that is when we are likely to be moving in the direction of or
already arrived at apostasy
- So today I speak to you the
same way Paul did, by calling you brothers and sisters in the Lord, and I
ask you to commit to the Lord, as you sit in your seat, that you will
allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and if that means things have to
change you will allow the Author of truth to teach you today through his
word.
#2 Man’s Gospel
- The second point Paul makes
is also in verse 11 when Paul declares that what he preaches is not man’s
gospel at all
- The fact is brother and
sisters that the great truths of the gospel are such that no man could
have ever invented them for they are as Paul said in I Corinthians 2:9 “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of
man imagined…”
- For you see there is
nothing man sees around him, or hears in the course of his life nor anything
to prompt his heart to conjure up the glorious concepts of gospel as
revealed to us by God
- If you doubt what I say look at what else Paul writes
just two verses down in 1 Corinthians 2:11 “For who knows a person's thoughts except the
spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the
thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”
- The gospel is in no way in
harmony with any of man’s preconceived notions for the gospel of Jesus
Christ is directly opposed to the wisdom of this world
- That is why 1 Corinthians 3:19 reads “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.”
- Earlier in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20 Paul
said “Where is the one who is
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
- Man’s gospel will always
find its origin in the wisdom of the world which God has made clear he
will make foolish
- Man’s gospel has many
hallmarks; lets look at the chief one briefly
- In man’s gospel there will
always be an exalted view of man, this most often will be presented as a
perversion of the true sinful state of man apart from the completed work
of Christ on the cross
- Man when operating from the
flesh instead of from the Spirit will always have an exalted view of
himself, a view in which he believes he is mostly righteous
- Have any of you ever heard
of someone who characterized themselves as a pretty good person?
- They say things like they
don’t cheat their employer, they don’t cheat on their income taxes and
they don’t cheat on their wife so they must be a pretty good person
- We hear that kind of talk
almost every day don’t we; we would all do well to remember Isaiah’s words
in Isaiah 64:6 where he writes: “We have all
become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a
polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the
wind, take us away.”
- On the contrary how many
people do you hear that characterize themselves as dirty, filthy, rotten
sinners that deserve hell had it not been for the grace of God?
- Even one of the two thieves
on the crosses next to Jesus was too proud to admit he needed a savior as
he taunted Christ in his final hours
- Yet the other one was
humble and broken and contrite over his sin and asked the savior to
remember him as he entered his kingdom
- He did this after he
rebuked the other thief for his unbelief and pointed out that this was
just punishment for their sin
- One thief grasped his
position before a holy God and one did not
- Man’s gospel will always
focus on the goodness of man; regardless of how vile a sinner we are, in
our sinful state we are always able to justify and rationalize in our own
mind our sinfulness
- Man’s gospel is able to
brush aside the need of a savior to pay 100% of our debt; Man’s gospel is
not indebted to Christ for imputing his righteousness to us
- One thief understood the
gospel, the other didn’t; my message for each and everyone one of you here
today is please take time to understand the gospel
- We use the word gospel a lot,
it is just a word that simply means good news; who wouldn’t want to
understand good news?
- Imagine I knew where a
treasure was, and suppose I gave you direction of how to get to this
treasure but you didn’t completely understand my directions
- Would you go your way
following only the directions you understood and skipping over the parts
you didn’t understand yet still declaring to those around you that you
were going to be in possession of a great treasure?
- I would hope that you would
make sure you understood perfectly the directions to the treasure; that in
painstaking detail you would seek to know exactly how to get there so that
when you set out you would not become confused
- Brothers and sisters seek
to understand the gospel in the same way
- Jesus told a parable about
a pearl of great price; and in the parable Jesus says the man sold all he
had to buy the pearl of great price
- My charge to you today is
do what it takes to make sure you understand the gospel, the good news of
Jesus Christ.
- The gospel is simple enough
that a child can accept it in child like faith yet at the same time well
educated people can spend a lifetime looking at it and just like the pearl
of great value the more you look at it the more nuances of radiance and
beauty you find
God’s Gospel
- Paul has drawn attention to
the fact that the gospel he taught was not man’s gospel at all; this
implies there is another gospel, God’s gospel and he has mentioned that in
verses 6-9
- We have already examined
how God’s thoughts and man’s thoughts are not the same; therefore it couldn’t
possibly be man’s gospel that Paul taught
- Men in that age and in our
age continue to deride the gospel as being the far flung notion of a bunch
of uneducated men, fisherman, tax collectors and the like
- But look, there is but a
small remnant of those that call themselves Christian who maintain a
profession to the doctrine laid forth by the apostle here
- But isn’t all the derision
of the real gospel is consistent with what the Savior promised?
- Didn’t he tell us in
Matthew 7:13, 14 that “the gate is wide and the
way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those
who find it are few.”
- Let me present this truth
another way. Did you realize that according to John 6:44, 45 That so much
of the gospel of God is opposed to men’s natural inclinations that if it
were not for the drawing power of God and the fact that he chooses to
teach us we too would be lost?
- Our natural minds would
cause us to continue to chafe at God’s plan for our lives were it not for
the power of regeneration in our lives that is brought about by the Holy
Spirit
- You see the plan of
salvation that God has set forth is in every way and every facet
regardless of what angle it is viewed from is a God-honoring, man-abasing
gospel
- I often think of this truth
like an old-fashioned scale; you have all seen these right, Lady Liberty
holds one in her hand with her blindfold on symbolizing the ideal of blind
justice/weighing facts
- Well as you visualize these
scales in your mind what happens if you begin to add weigh to the left
side of the scale? The left side goes down and the right side goes up,
right?
- And like wise if I take
weight off the left side it causes the right side to go down and the left
side to come up
- It is similar in the area
of our relationship to God; when we preach man’s gospel we begin to
elevate man we are thus forced to lower God; likewise when we begin to
elevate God we lower man
- When we preach, teach,
listen to, learn and accept God’s gospel it will always cause us to
elevate God and lower our perception of ourselves
- God’s gospel will never
drive you to a position of pride; you will never think to yourself “Look
how clever I am; I’m sure glad I had the good sense to get in on this
deal.”
- Rather the true gospel will
drive you to your knees where you will say “God I am sinner, wretched and
poor but I am so thankful that even when I didn’t have the sense to desire
you chose me, and taught me, and drew me unto yourself, you loved me and
cared for me long before I ever conceived of attempting to reciprocate love
back to you in my feeble way.”
- That is the nature of God’s
gospel; God’s gospel will always highlight the work of God and the
sinfulness of man
- God’s gospel will always point us to verses like 2
Corinthians 5:21 which reads: “For
our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.”
- How is it we become
righteous according to this verse? Through Christ who for our sake was
made to bear the penalty of sin on the cross
- That is at the heart of
God’s gospel
Received from Christ
- Paul closes verse 12 by
saying that this gospel he received he received by revelation from God the
Son a.k.a. Jesus Christ
- We demonstrated at the
beginning that there are number of questions that skeptics of Paul’s
ministry might be asking
- Now let me do some probing;
let’s examine together whether it is likely Paul received the gospel as he
said from Jesus
- Let us ask a series of
questions starting with:
- Who other than God could
have conceived a gospel where a God who could not even spare even the
angels who sinned but cast them down to Hell could at the same time
predestinate an innumerable multitude of the race of Adam to be holy and
blameless before him in love?
- Who other than God himself
would have fashioned a gospel where God Almighty was both just and also at
the same time the justifier of the ungodly – forgiving iniquity,
transgressions and sins yet by no means simply clearing the guilty?
- Who other than God himself
would have put forth a gospel whereby the means to make sinful man
righteous was to have his only begotten Son come into the world, born of a
virgin, live a life of obedience to God the Father and so fulfill the law
and then to turn around and become a willing sacrifice, an atonement for
our sins?
- Who other than God could
have dreamed of a gospel where the Author of Life submits to death?
- Who other than God could
conceive of a gospel where God the Son bears in his body the sins of his
people while hanging on a tree he made but in so doing be becomes
righteousness, sanctification and redemption in order that all of his
blood-bought sheep are complete in him; that they are created anew; and
with this union they share with him they will presented faultless before
him in his glory?
- Who other than our God of
love would have ever gone to the trouble of even offering us gospel (good
news)?
Conclusion
- Have you been taught by God
as John 6 states?
- Received the gospel from
Christ? I am standing here externally calling you to the gospel but is
Christ striving with your heart?
- Does the gospel message
sound new and fresh today?