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Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. 
Last week we picked up the section where the Apostle is highlighting 
the divine origin of his Gospel. Remember, much of his argument 
here in the book of Galatians depends upon his place in redemptive 
history. He is not asserting these things 
to showboat or to flatter himself or to demonstrate himself as 
superior to others. but rather there were those who 
came in behind him to the various churches in southern Galatia 
and challenged his authority or at least asserted that perhaps 
Paul was being lax in some areas and that if these people in the 
southern Galatian churches really wanted to be saved, it was good 
to believe on Jesus, but they also must undergo circumcision. 
There were ceremonies of the Mosaic Law that they needed to 
fulfill. They would have said that Paul 
was doing good insofar as it went, but he wasn't giving you 
the full Gospel. That's why the Apostle spends 
chapters 1 and 2 on his place as God's steward of the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ, primarily to the Gentiles. I do want to read from Galatians 
1, beginning in verse 1, the larger context for our edification. Paul, an apostle, not from men 
nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, 
who raised Him from the dead. And all the brethren who are 
with me, to the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God 
the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for 
our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, 
according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory 
forever and ever. Amen. I marvel that you are turning 
away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to 
a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some 
who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even 
if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you 
than what we have preached to you, let him be a curse. As we 
have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any 
other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be 
accursed. For do I now persuade men, or 
God? Or do I seek to please men? For 
if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 
But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached 
by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from 
man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation 
of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former 
conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure 
and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond 
many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly 
zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased 
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through 
His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among 
the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. 
Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before 
me. But I went to Arabia and returned 
again to Damascus. Then after three years, I went 
up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him 15 days. 
But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Now concerning the things which 
I write to you, indeed before God, I do not lie. Afterward, 
I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was unknown 
by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. They were 
hearing only, he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the 
faith which he once tried to destroy. And they glorified God 
in me." Amen. Let us pray. Father, we come 
now to this wonderful epistle to the Galatians, and we pray 
for the ministry of Your Holy Spirit to be upon our hearts 
and in our minds. We pray that You would cause 
us to appreciate the argument of the apostle here, cause us 
to appreciate afresh the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
one He describes in verse 4 as Him who gave Himself for our 
sins. How we thank You for such a wonderful sacrifice. How we 
thank You for that perfect righteousness. How we thank You for that hymn 
that we just sang, that we are dressed in the righteousness, 
not our own. We thank You for that alien righteousness 
of Christ, imputed to us, received by faith alone. And God, our 
desire is that many more people would understand this truth today. 
We pray for those in this church building that perhaps do not 
know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, We pray that you would 
give them ears to hear and a heart to understand the truth that 
they are sinners. They stand justly under your 
condemnation and that there is one hope and it is in Christ 
who gave himself for sin. We pray, Father, that your word 
would be proclaimed here and throughout this earth and that 
it would run swiftly and be glorified. We thank you for that promise 
in the prophet. that your word does not return unto you void. 
And we pray that it would accomplish that purpose of saving a great 
multitude. And we ask now that you would 
forgive us and cleanse us afresh and wipe away anything or cast 
away anything that would darken our understanding of the truth 
of Holy Writ. And we pray through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. So in a unique way in this 
particular epistle of the Apostle Paul, we see that the man is 
connected to the message in this instance specifically because, 
as I said, men were coming and challenging Paul's gospel. Men were trying to supplement 
it. Those men are called Judaizers. They were those adding works 
to faith. And as we see from the New Testament 
documents, any attempt to add any merit, any work to faith 
is an attack upon the cross itself. Paul makes that very clear in 
Galatians 2 and verse 21. He says, I do not set aside the 
grace of God. For if righteousness comes through 
the law, then Christ died in vain. There is no sort of corroboration 
between our faith and words. There is no assistance. There 
is no supplementation. We are saved by grace alone, 
through faith alone, in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. And 
if we fail on this point, we die and go to hell forever and 
ever. You must understand this truth. This epistle is very important 
for the church and for the world in our generation. Remember that 
last week, verses 11-12, we saw the divine origin of Paul's Gospel. He did not receive it from men. 
It was not according to man. He says he received it specifically 
by revelation of Jesus Christ. We saw his former conduct. The 
conduct of Saul the Pharisee in verses 13-14. You see what 
he is doing there. He says, I wasn't raised in Sunday 
school. I wasn't raised in the church. 
I wasn't reared in gospel truth. The gospel that I preached was 
not something that I had been taught prior to my conversion. He had some understanding of 
it. He had some inkling of it. And it infuriated him to the 
point where he wanted to destroy those who held to it. And it 
was on that memorable day when he went to Damascus that the 
Lord Jesus came to him and converted him. Saved him by his grace and 
for his glory. And then that's what we pick 
up this morning. The early Christian career of Paul the Apostle in 
verses 15-24. the early Christian career of 
Paul the Apostle. And there's four considerations 
here as Paul is demonstrating the independence of his Gospel 
message. First, his call to apostolic 
ministry. Secondly, his ministry in Damascus 
and Arabia. Thirdly, his first post-conversion 
visit to Jerusalem. And then fourthly, his ministry 
in Syria and Cilicia. Again, his point highlighting 
that he did not receive this message from men but rather he 
received it from the Lord God Most High and that his preaching 
was consistent with all that had preceded it. Notice first 
his call to apostolic ministry in verse 15. This is a wonderful 
statement. As I've been considering this 
passage over the last little while, it's an interesting thing 
that Paul is not only the master, one of the foremost preachers 
of the gospel, but he is one of the best illustrations of 
it also. Remember last week when we considered 
his former conduct. He was a practitioner of Judaism. He was a persecutor of the church. 
He was a professor of Judaism. And he was a portrait of amazing 
grace. I mean, the contrast that is 
between verses 14 and 15 is absolutely incredible, owing only to the 
grace of our God. Notice, in verses 13 and 14, 
he says, you've heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted 
the church of God beyond measure. He was a persecutor. He hated 
it. He despised it. He loathed it. He abhorred it. Every bad thing 
you could imagine, he thought in terms of the church. Again, 
he understands certain aspects of Christianity. And it made 
him angry that this Nazarene would claim to be the Messiah. 
That this Nazarene would claim to be God Himself. God incarnate. And that He would garner a following. 
And these people would actually bow before Him and confess Him 
as Lord and Savior. And take things said of Yahweh 
in the Old Testament and apply it to this Jesus. Paul understood 
or saw the Pharisee understood those implications and it enraged 
him. So much so that he goes to the 
high priests. He gets these extradition papers so that he can go to Damascus 
and bind men and women and take them back to Jerusalem and throw 
them in jail. This man hated Christ. He hated 
the Gospel. He hated everything that Jesus 
stood for. And I want to call your attention 
to this this morning. Because if you sit here this 
morning and you're not a Christian, you need to learn something from 
this man. Better, you need to learn something 
from this man's God. This man's God doesn't save the 
upright. He doesn't save the polished. 
He doesn't save the pretty. He doesn't save the accomplished. 
He doesn't save the lawful. He doesn't save the righteous. 
But rather, He saves sinners. That is good news. Because all we, like sheep, have 
gone astray. There is none righteous, no, 
not one. There is none who seeks after 
God. There is no fear of God before 
our eyes. So, if we come into the state 
of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ 
alone, something amazing must take place. And Newton sung of 
that, and we like to sing it as well. Amazing grace, how sweet 
the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but 
now am found, was blind, but now I see. That's what Paul is 
rehearsing in this section. I wasn't brought up around these 
things. I hated the church of Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 15, he says, 
"...but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's 
womb and called me through His grace..." We need to stop there 
for just a moment. Paul mentions several things 
involved in his conversion account. The first is his separation from 
the womb. It's an interesting statement, 
isn't it? He is ascribing here to God. 
God is sovereign. God is not a reactionary. You 
know what a reactionary is? When you see something happen 
and then you have to react in accordance with it. Sometimes 
we have that idea or conception of God. He reacts to the human 
condition. God is proactive. God is predetermined. God is sovereign. God has orchestrated 
everything for His own glory. This does not mean that Paul 
was saved from his mother's womb. We already know he wasn't according 
to verses 13 and 14. But what he is highlighting here 
on the one hand is God is sovereign. Paul's salvation and subsequent 
call to apostolic ministry didn't happen by a reaction. It was 
foreordained. It was purposed. It was determined. 
Paul is God's man for God's time. And I believe as well, Paul is 
putting himself alongside of Jeremiah and the servant of the 
Lord in the prophet Isaiah. You say, why would he do that? 
Well, just first of all, look to Jeremiah 1 for a moment. Jeremiah 
chapter 1. This functions in a powerful 
way in his argument in terms of the divine origin of his Gospel 
and of his apostolic call. Notice in Jeremiah 1, verse 4, 
the prophet is rehearsing or recounting his call to the ministry. It says, "...then the word of 
the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb, 
I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified 
you. I ordained you a prophet." To 
what? To the nations. Right? The scope of Jeremiah's prophet 
was not only to Israel, the people of God, but it also looked beyond 
Israel to the inclusion of Gentiles into Israel. Look over at Isaiah 
49. One of the servant songs of the 
prophet Isaiah. We looked at this a few weeks 
ago in our evening service. It's speaking about the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Isn't it very interesting to 
notice what he says in Isaiah 49, verse 1? Listen, O coastlands, 
to me. And take heed, you peoples, from 
afar. The Lord has called me from the womb. From the matrix 
of my mother He has made mention of my name, and He has made my 
mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of His hand He 
has hidden me, and made me a polished shaft. In His quiver He has hidden 
me. See, the Apostle Paul, when he 
is highlighting that God separated from His mother's womb, yes, 
the sovereignty of the Lord in decreeing and determining all 
things, but He's also putting Himself in the same vein as these 
prophets. If you think that's a stretch, 
in Pisidian Antioch, Paul quotes from Isaiah 49 and says that 
what was true of Christ is true of His apostles. That they would 
be a light unto the Gentiles. A light to the nations. And that 
is what is specified here in Isaiah 49 concerning the servant 
of the Lord. So we go back to Galatians chapter 
1, and when he says, when it pleased God who separated me 
from my mother's womb, he is highlighting divine sovereignty. 
It pleased God. Paul's not some renegade, maverick 
preacher. Paul is not what Luther would 
call a fanatic who appoints himself to apostolic ministry. Paul doesn't 
have a God complex where he goes to visit the churches in southern 
Galatia and says, you better listen to me. It pleased God, 
he said. For as Saul of Tarsus was concerned, 
persecuting Christians, killing men and women, watching Stephen 
be stoned to death was a perfectly acceptable way for him to spend 
his latter golden years. And it pleased God. It pleased 
God who separated me, He says, from my mother's womb. And I 
think He is consciously identifying with the prophet Jeremiah, with 
the servant of the Lord Himself, in this, the grand mission of 
Christ saving Gentiles. That's what He goes on to say 
in verse 15, to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him 
among the Gentiles. As Jeremiah was separate, as 
the servant was separate, so is the Apostle Paul separate 
to call Gentiles unto faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is 
part of God's redemptive plan. Not a renegade, not a maverick, 
not a self-appointed fanatic, but God sent for a specific time 
to call sinners out of darkness into marvelous light. That is 
what he's doing here. One commentator says, Paul's 
application of these biblical expressions to himself has the 
effect of aligning himself with those Old Testament figures in 
the history of salvation. God's call to him was essentially 
the same as His call to them, a renewal of His will for the 
salvation of the Gentiles. And I think one of the undergirding 
themes in this epistle, whenever especially Paul asserts his authority 
and his place as an apostle, is to silently but very loudly 
say, I am not the one who has departed from the Old Testament. 
I am God's man to add to progressively that revelation. The Judaizers, 
those who come along and say to Gentiles, you have to be a 
Jew and then a Christian, they're the ones who have departed from 
old covenant religion. Paul the Apostle is showing his 
separation from his mother's womb in terms of his call to 
apostolic ministry. Notice what else he says. Verse 
15. who separated me from my mother's womb and did what? Called 
me through His grace." That's His message, isn't it? Paul, 
what do you want sinners to know? The grace of God. He didn't come 
to them and say, you need to get circumcised, you need to 
do this, you need to go here, you need to do that, and then 
maybe you'll be saved. I'll never come here and say, 
look, you need to join this church, you need to read your Bible, 
you need to pray, you need to be circumcised, you need this, 
and then maybe you'll be saved. You need to believe the gospel. 
You need to believe on Him who gave Himself for our sins. That is most necessary. That is the one thing needful. To see yourself before a holy 
God as a sinner and to see His Christ as the one alone who can 
take away those sins. That's what Paul emphasizes here 
in his call. It was God who called me through 
His grace. This is the effectual call. This is the hound of heaven himself. 
This is the Spirit coming through the preached word in Paul's instance, 
through Christ's testimony on the road to Damascus. This is 
the call, my brothers and sisters, that you ought to be praying 
for each Sunday morning. that you ought to be praying, 
God, call effectually sinners through that external call of 
the preaching of the Gospel. As Pastor Jim or Pastor Tam or 
Pastor whoever, wherever, preaches that external call of believe 
the Gospel and be saved, God, we pray that Your Spirit would 
attend. We pray that Your Spirit would come. Because we know it 
does not depend upon him who wills, nor upon him who runs, 
but on God who shows mercy. We know that no one can come 
to the Father. No one, because of their sin 
and depravity, because of their own folly and their wickedness, 
can just decide for Jesus. So we pray to God Most High to 
send the Spirit to effectually call sinners unto Himself. To do that work of invincible 
and irresistible and powerful grace. There is that hokey, foolish, 
ungodly picture of Jesus standing at the door of the sinner's heart, 
knocking. There's no doorknob there. The 
implication is sinner on the other side has to open the door 
and let him in. If we were going to picture this 
transaction, you would see King Jesus Christ with a battering 
ram knocking down the door of the hardened heart of the sinner 
and going in and changing his heart, changing his will, changing 
his affections and drawing him sweetly unto himself. He doesn't 
knock feebly waiting for sinners to make up their minds and open 
the door. He comes in the power of His 
Spirit by His Word and by His truth to deal graciously with 
souls. I want a God who takes me like 
that. Because I am that wicked, that 
hard, that prone to wander, that prone to leave the God that I 
love. If He doesn't break down that door, if He doesn't have 
His way with me, I will die in my sins and go to hell. And you 
will too. Praise God that He doesn't stand 
feebly knocking and hoping that we'll let Him in. Praise God 
that Revelation 3 has nothing to do with personal invitation 
to Gospel mercy. Praise God Most High for irresistible 
grace. Praise God for those five points 
of Calvinism. Praise God for that truth that 
is so vividly displayed from Genesis to Revelation that we 
are putrid, vile, helpless. But our Lord Jesus is sufficient 
and He comes to have dealings with us. Praise God for what 
Luther wrote. The rich, noble, pious, bridegroom 
Christ takes this poor, despised, wicked little whore in marriage 
redeems her of all evil and adorns her with all His goods. Praise 
God! That captures the truth of what 
Paul is telling us here. When it pleased God, he said, 
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His 
grace. Not my performance. Not my circumcision. Not what my hands have done can 
save my guilty soul. It is by grace alone. That's what makes the difference 
between verses 13 and 14 and verses 15 and following. It isn't 
that Paul learned a bit more. It isn't that he got wiser. It 
isn't that he came under the sway of the Gospel externally. 
It is that God in His grace called him unto salvation. God in His 
grace saved him. And then he mentions the revelation 
of Jesus Christ. Because this doesn't happen apart 
from Christ. The call of God in His grace 
does not happen apart from the Gospel. It's not like you're 
going to be out mowing your lawn and the sun is shining and it's 
a beautiful day and you're going to have some religious awakening 
and find yourself cleansed before a holy God. You need blood atonement. The Bible is very clear. Without 
the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. The 
Bible is equally clear. The blood of bulls and goats 
can never take away that sin. But there is one called the Lamb 
of God who takes away the sin of the world. You must hear of 
Christ. That's why children and young people, you ought not to 
roll your eyes on Sunday when it's time for church. Adult that 
does not know Jesus Christ, don't roll your eyes. Don't say, oh, 
we've got to go through this again. This is God's means. For 
since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not 
know God, it pleased God through what? Through the foolishness 
of the message preached to save those who believe. You need to 
hear about Jesus. You need to hear about your sin. 
You need the bad news because then the good news makes sense. 
It's not ranting and raving. All this guy yells and he screams 
and he tells me how wicked I am. And last week I think he told 
me I was like a trash can. That doesn't do much for my esteem. 
Your esteem needs to be cast way down. Christ's person must 
be your esteem. Christ's work must be your esteem. 
What did God make all of us say with John the Baptist? That he 
must increase, while I must decrease. Pride is a constant nemesis. Pride is a constant enemy. Michael 
Horton's absolutely right. In the church today, the bad 
news really isn't that bad. And so the good news really isn't 
that good. I believe the Bible teaches the bad news is worse 
than we can even imagine. The good news is better than 
we can even imagine. Think about it just for a moment. 
You who do not know Jesus Christ here, and I don't say that as 
one who somehow arrived. Not in light of Galatians 115. 
Called by grace. Not by performance, not by merit, 
not by law keeping, not because I'm a wiser, more accomplished 
guy. But just think about it for a 
moment. If you don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, have 
you given any thought whatsoever to how bad things really are 
for you? It's tough because in this world 
the sun is shining, it's beautiful today. We could have taken chairs 
out in that parking lot and enjoyed the sun, it's beautiful out. 
Every single day you get up, get to drink water. North America, 
you get to drink whatever you want. You get to eat. You get some sort of human contact, 
some sort of love, some sort of affirmation. So it's kind 
of difficult when the Apostle in Romans 1.18 says, the wrath 
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 
of men who suppress that truth and unrighteousness. For you 
to go, well, you know, I don't see it. I don't feel it. Life 
is pretty good. Easy come, easy go. Live and 
let live. Come in here on Sunday, I hear 
this guy ranting and raving and telling me how bad everything 
is, but I go out and my experience tells me differently. My life 
is pretty good. I'm pretty happy. I've got friends. 
I've got family. I've got all these things. Listen 
for just a moment. The wrath of God is revealed 
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Wrath 
delayed is not wrath removed. Wrath delayed is growing. Stronger, more powerful, more 
formidable. Every benefit you have, every 
mercy you reject, every gospel call you despise gets sort of 
thrown into that snowball of God's wrath. It's amazing, isn't 
it? One of the scariest passages 
to me in all of the Bible is in Luke 16. Luke 16, the parable 
of the rich man and dieties. What happens? The rich man is 
crying out from hell. What does Father Abraham tell 
him? Now again, I'm appealing very 
specifically to those in this room who have not believed the 
gospel. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen very 
carefully. Because what Abraham says to 
that rich man is terrifying to me anyway. He says, son, remember. Son, remember? I personally don't 
think hell would be as hellish if my memory stayed up here. 
Personally. But if I'm in hell with my memory, 
thinking about sermons like this, thinking about weeping parents, 
thinking about friends or relatives or sermons or gospel or message 
or whatever that I've despised, I've rejected, I've said no to, I believe the Puritans were on 
to something. That worm that dieth not is the conscience. 
Constantly stinging. Constantly bringing to memory 
all those benefits and privileges that you stiff-armed in this 
world. I realize in our workaday lives or going to school, we 
don't ever take a moment to count our many cursings. Christians 
are guilty of this. We don't count our blessings. 
We really don't. We whine, grumble, and complain 
like it's amazing. As much as the Bible tells us 
not to whine, grumble, and complain, and to be thankful to God in 
all circumstances, what do we do when we get together? We whine, 
grumble, and complain. So Christians are guilty for 
not counting their blessings, but I fear that non-Christians 
are guilty for not counting their cursings. You're living in God's 
world as a rebel. You're eating God's food and 
drinking His liquids as a rebel. You're soaking in His sun. You're 
using His rain. You're enjoying His earth. You're 
enjoying His benefits as a rebel. There will be a reckoning. There 
is a day coming. I don't care how many people 
deny a judgment day. I don't care how many people 
deny a hell to come. The Bible is crystal clear. And 
the deniers themselves know better. The deniers themselves know better. I believe God over them. Paul 
in Romans 1.32 says who? Knowing the righteous judgment 
of God. Not only practice these things, 
but encourage others to do so also. So a man will stand up 
and deny hell and deny justice. Deep down in his heart of hearts, 
he knows better. And I pray to God that the Spirit 
of God would affect you today because you know better. You're 
living in God's world as a rebel. The bad news is far worse than 
us can imagine. The bad news is far worse than 
any of us can imagine. The good news is far better than 
any of us can imagine. But suffice it to say, I believe 
Professor Horton is absolutely right with that picture. Notice Paul, the revelation of 
Christ. You must hear of Christ to reveal 
His Son in me. Now, in the text, He says that 
I may preach Him among the Gentiles. But He couldn't preach Christ 
until He knew Christ. This revelation of Christ in 
Him was first and foremost that gracious discovery of gospel 
mercy in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. It is that 
look and live. It is that believing the truth. 
It is seeing Jesus as a substitute. It is seeing Jesus as that blessed 
picture in Zechariah 3, verse 4, as that agent who strips you 
of the dirty garments and that agent who puts the clean garments 
on you. That blessed surety of a better covenant to reveal His 
Son in me means first and foremost that on that road to Damascus, 
when he saw Jesus, he passed into everlasting life. He went 
from death, sin, damnation, and wrath into joy, unspeakable and 
full of glory. And now armed with that knowledge, 
that saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, what does 
Jesus do? He says, go and preach. In fact, 
you can look at Acts 9, verse 15. It's an outline for the remainder 
of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 9, verse 15. It's 
a three-fold outline of what follows in the remainder of the 
book of Acts from chapter 10 to 28. Notice in Acts 9.15, But 
the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine 
to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. That's how the book plays out. 
He's before Gentiles in chapters 13 to 20. He's an apostle to 
the Gentiles. He goes to the southern Galatian 
churches. He goes to Macedonia. He goes all over the inhabited 
earth preaching a crucified and risen Savior, calling men to 
put down their works of sufficiency, to put down their self-righteousness, 
and to lay hold by faith of Jesus and the redemption that He gives. 
He's before kings in chapters 21-26. He's arrested. And every step of the way, He 
is before a man of significant authority. And He preaches the 
Gospel. And then, lo and behold, he's in a Roman prison. And what 
happens? Jews come to ask him what's going on. God is amazing. Jews in Judea wouldn't listen 
to Paul. They chased him out of their country. He goes to 
Rome and Jews come and say, what are you here for? Paul gets to 
preach gospel to them. That's what he's supposed to 
do. God revealed his Son in him, first and foremost, to save him 
from his sins and to send him out to preach among the Gentiles. He says as much in Galatians 
2 verse 7, But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel 
for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel 
for the circumcised was to Peter, for he who worked effectively 
in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised, also worked 
effectively in me toward the Gentiles. He had a specific role, 
just as Jeremiah did, just as the servant of the Lord did. 
Paul had a specific task in preaching to the Gentiles. He wasn't changing 
the message, he wasn't massaging the message, he wasn't manipulating 
the message, he wasn't tailoring it to his Gentile audience. He 
was preaching what God and the prophets had already declared, 
what Jesus had fulfilled, and His resurrection had sent forth 
the Apostle to do. He is not operating based on 
man. He is operating according to 
God's will for his life. That's his call to the apostolic 
ministry. And then notice, secondly, his 
ministry in Damascus and Arabia. We'll run a bit quicker through 
this. You can compare in the book of Acts here, specifically 
Acts chapter 9, verses 23 to 25. Notice in verse 16, to reveal 
his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did 
not immediately confer with flesh and blood. Again, that goes with 
his argument. I didn't go to get checked out. I didn't go 
to get fixed. I didn't go to get help. I had 
the Gospel in its clarity. I had the Gospel in its accuracy. 
I didn't need those men to substantiate that what I was preaching was 
true. He says rather that I did not go up to Jerusalem to those 
who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned 
again to Damascus. And then he spent three years 
there. Some say he went there to meditate. I don't doubt he 
meditated. This hermeneutic had been rocked. 
A missing key had now been supplied. The person and work of Jesus. 
He had to rethink, or not rethink, but make the connections and 
the implications and follow the logic. And oh, this is who Moses 
was speaking about. Oh, this is who Isaiah was speaking 
about. He did that, for sure. But he 
preached. So much so that in Damascus, 
the Jews plotted to kill him. He didn't just go sit in the 
forest and meditate. He went and he actively preached 
Jesus. Jews wanted to kill him. The governor in the city wanted 
to arrest him. What happened? They took him 
in a basket and lowered him out of the city's walls. That doesn't 
happen to a guy who quietly sits and meditates. We may not like 
you, we may think you're weird sitting there and meditating, 
but generally we're not going to arrest you. He arrests people 
that go out and preach the gospel, because it's a revolutionary 
message. It challenges the authority. It challenges religion. It challenges 
all those things that men love. So he goes and does what he does. Notice thirdly, his first post-conversion 
to Jerusalem. That's verses 18 to 20. This 
is in Acts chapter 9, verses 26 to 29. His independence does 
not mean isolation. Got to get that down. He received 
the gospel from Jesus Christ, but he doesn't just seclude himself. He doesn't just sit on his own 
and write letters and preach to anybody who will come and 
visit him. No, he rather actively goes out and campaigns. He rather 
actively goes out and propagates. And he goes specifically to sit 
with Peter. Not to receive the gospel, but 
undoubtedly to receive lessons about Jesus' earthly ministry. 
Paul was not with Jesus in those three years of his earthly ministry 
where Peter was. As the commentators say, he didn't 
spend 15 days with Peter talking about the weather. Wow, sure 
nice. Look at that. Whoa, look at the 
sun. They're not like us. We're talking about whatever 
is going on in the magistrate. Tell me about Jesus. Peter, you 
were with Jesus for three years. Tell me about when he fed the 
multitude with the fish. Tell me about when he walked 
on the water. Tell me about his resurrection. It's interesting, 
when Paul frames his argument in 1 Corinthians 15 concerning 
the resurrection of Jesus, it's to Peter and James that he appeals. 
That's what he was learning for these 15 days. Not the gospel, 
not how a man is saved, not the fact that we're sinners and that 
we need a substitute and a sacrifice. That was given him by God on 
the road to Damascus. The Son was revealed in him so 
that he could go preach to the Gentiles. He's filling in the 
blanks here. He's learning about Christ. He's 
learning about when Jesus hushed the wind. He's learning about 
when Jesus did those mighty deeds. He's learning about when Jesus 
told Lazarus, come forth. He's learning about the earthly 
ministry of Christ. So at this first post-conversion 
visit to Jerusalem, he meets with Peter. That's what he says. 
Verse 18, I remained with him 15 days. But I saw none of the 
other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. A lot of 
pages being spilled on, was he a capital A Apostle or a little 
a Apostle? James wasn't one of the original 
12. He's a little a Apostle. He was a sent one. He was a messenger. 
And this James was one of Jesus' earthly brothers. Jesus was the 
firstborn. He had other brothers and sisters. Mary and Joseph had conjugal 
relations. They did what is very natural, 
and God ordained and God sanctioned among married couples. James 
was his half-brother. James was unconverted during 
Jesus' earthly life. There's a specific instance in 
John 7 where the brothers urge him to go to Judea when the text 
has specified that people in Judea were looking to kill him. 
1 Corinthians 15 indicates that 
James was converted around the time of the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ. And the book of Acts begins to 
tell us about James and about his place in the church there. 
He rose to a position of prominence or leadership within the church 
in Jerusalem. He is the one who wrote the book 
of James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. a godly 
man, a righteous man, a man whom Paul loved, a man whom had camaraderie 
with the Apostle. There was no antagonism between 
the two, as Galatians 2 will go on to rehearse or tell us. 
Some people pit James and Paul against each other, and it's 
wicked, and it's wrong, and it's ungodly. They both preach salvation 
by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. In the argument, Paul is highlighting, 
he got his gospel independently, but he did not traffic in isolation. Verse 20, he takes an oath, now 
concerning the things which I write to you indeed before God, I do 
not lie. You will see those types of statements 
scattered through the apostles' letters. Again, he's not showboating. He's not flattering himself. 
He is writing official documentation. He is an authorized representative 
of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is an ambassador. So along the way, he highlights 
the fact that he is a credible witness, that you should listen 
to him, that his witness is good. He takes oaths before God. The Judaizers were minimizing 
Paul's authority in Gospel. Therefore, he takes an oath before 
God. And then verses 21 to 24, he's in Syria and Cilicia. This was about an 11-year ministry. This is in the book of Acts chapter 
9 at verse 30. Notice something very interesting 
here in verse 21. He said, afterward I went into 
the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was unknown by face to 
the churches of Judea which were in Christ. Now, they knew him 
as a persecutor. They did not know him as a preacher. 
Make sure you understand that. They knew who Paul was, or Saul 
of Tarsus. In fact, it was Barnabas who 
sort of graced the wheels in Jerusalem so that Paul could 
come in among them. Imagine the biggest enemy of 
the gospel that you can think of right now. And I don't mean 
somebody who says, oh, you Christians are weird. I mean somebody who 
kills Christians. A mullah. a dastardly guy, an 
unbeliever that likes to wet his sword with the blood of believers. 
Imagine if he walked in here right now, you'd be a little 
afraid. Maybe you wouldn't, because there's 
enough men in here and we might reckon we can take this one guy. But 
barring all that, just for a moment, we'll hang out with the big guys, 
sit with the big guys, so that if that guy comes in, we can 
clobber him. The idea is clear. He comes in and they're, what's 
he doing here? Is he infiltrating? Is he here 
gathering data? Has he got his goons outside 
the door? It would be akin to being in 
the former Soviet Union and a KGB agent comes in. They're immediately 
starting to make the implication, if I walk outside, I might be 
gunned down. A commie comes in. If we walk out, he might kill 
us. That's how they felt with Saul of Tarsus. Acts 9 tells 
us that. Barnabas comes in. He says, no, 
he's been converted. He's a believer. He used to persecute, 
but now he preaches. I know, it's amazing. Barnabas 
might have even told him, I wouldn't have done that, but God did. 
I would have just left him for dead. I would have sent him to 
hell. He's a big, vicious meanie. But God saved him. And God's 
using him. And God is glorified in him. We need to receive him. There's still a little bit of 
trepidation. If I want to invite this Saul over for lunch today, 
he might still have something in him to let me have it. Look 
at what he says in verse 22. I was unknown by faith to the 
churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing 
only, he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which 
he once tried to destroy. It's amazing, the churches of 
Judea understood Paul was preaching the true gospel. He was not supplementing, 
he was not taking away from, he was not augmenting, he was 
not doing anything other than what they in Judea had already 
believed and had been saved by. This is an indirect confirmation 
to give it to the Judaizers. These Judaizers have come in 
and are telling you that I'm changing the message. Interesting, 
because when I was in Judea, they didn't think that. They 
may have been initially afraid because I was an unconverted 
wretch and they didn't want to be near me. But once Barnabas 
went in and made things right, they were praising God because 
of that. You see, that is another testimony. Paul hasn't changed 
anything. Paul is not the problem. It's the Judaizers. The problem 
is when you, let's make this real practical, when you try 
to add anything to Christ's work, you are seeking to destroy it. 
And again, we get this idea like, what's the big deal? The big 
deal is that Christ, the God-man, hung and suffered on a Roman 
tree. He was spit upon. He was mocked. He was beaten. He was abused. 
That's just on the earthly level. Then he suffered the full brunt 
of God's wrath for guilty sinners. He took in himself all the punishment 
due the guilty. So if you say, well, I can add 
to it, or I can supplement it, or I can help it along, you are 
basically saying, I don't need it. I don't need it. That's the big deal. That's the 
issue. That was the problem facing southern 
Galatia that made Paul take these people to task and say, I marvel 
that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you 
in the grace of Christ. You've got to get this down. 
You are saved by grace through faith. One of the things that's 
been a blessing going through Galatians is going through Luther 
on Galatians. He has such a good understanding 
of the Gospel and justification. He says, when the devil comes 
to you and starts accusing you for your sin, when the devil 
comes to you and starts thrusting before you all your sin, he says, 
that's an encouragement. Because of verse 4 in Galatians 
1, he gave himself for our sins. When the devil comes and lays 
those accusations at you, to whom must you fly? It's another 
reason to go to Jesus. It's another reason to appreciate 
afresh blood atonement. It's another reason to bask in 
the glory of the Gospel of the Son of God, Most High. You are not saved by anything. other than grace alone through 
faith alone in Christ alone. Luther says, commenting on verse 
24, they glorified God in me. He says they glorified God because 
of me. Not because I taught that circumcision 
and the law of Moses were to be observed, but because I preached 
faith and built up the churches by my ministry of the gospel. 
You see, if I came along and said, look, believe on Jesus 
and get circumcised. When you leave here and you have 
your entitlement to heaven, to a certain degree it hinges on 
the fact that you were circumcised. Right? That's put you a cut above. Again, no pun intended. Put you 
a little step ahead of everybody else. But when I come and say, 
you who tried to destroy the church, You who persecuted, you 
who disobeyed, you who rebelled, you who were ungodly and unrighteous 
and unholy, you look to Christ and be saved. What are you going 
to do but glorify God? What can you do but praise God? 
You can't pat yourself on the back. You can't say, it's because 
of my circumcision. You're going to just say, praise 
God for so great a salvation. That's the gospel that saves. That's what Paul is fighting 
for. That's why Paul takes the tone 
that he does and he engages in what Machen calls a fighting 
epistle. Because souls are at stake. Sinners 
are at stake. You've probably heard me mention 
the new perspective on Paul. We're coming to a conclusion 
here. The new perspective on Paul is a way of reading Paul 
that differs from the Reformation reading. Now, this new perspective 
began, or at least had its forerunner, in the early 1960s. And what 
this one particular fellow said is that the Reformation and Western 
civilization as a whole are kind of caught up with this sort of 
introspection in their conscience. What he meant by that, I'll try 
to make this as easy as I can because I really do have something 
that I think is important to say, is that because of Luther 
and his struggles with his own sin, such to the point that he 
said when he was engaging in his righteousness, when he was 
engaging in his lawfulness, when he was engaging in his hypocrisy, 
he hated God. And then God opened up paradise 
as it were to him in his study of the book of Romans. Well, 
Luther was so caught up with his own private sin that he sort 
of read that back into Paul. If you've ever read John Bunyan's 
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, you've seen the same 
thing. I mean, he'd walk and think the whole created order 
was going to kill him because he was such a sinner in God's 
earth. So this man, his name is Stendhal, 
by the way. He said that the Western church is so caught up 
with this introspection that they've sort of imposed this 
on Paul. That's really not what Paul's 
concern was. Now, he didn't say, alright, 
that's wicked, horrible, and you should abandon it. No, there's 
probably a place for that. But what Paul was really concerned 
with Always put your hand over your wallet when somebody tells 
you what Paul was really concerned with when 20 centuries of Christ's 
church didn't see it. What Paul was really concerned 
with is just that Jews and Gentiles are now getting together in this 
one large covenant. The issue isn't focusing on individual 
sin. It's more on corporate solidarity. The only problem with that hypothesis 
is it doesn't fly. Consider just a couple Old Testament 
examples. I think the New Testament just 
definitely flows out of the Old Testament. What's Job say? Job 9. How do we corporate Gentiles 
and Jews all sort of relate together? How does a sinful man stand before 
a holy God? What's David say in Psalm 130? 
Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. So I really wonder 
how we Jews and we Gentiles can exist corporately in love and 
peace and harmony. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark 
iniquities, Lord, who could stand? There is forgiveness with you 
that you may be feared. What does Jesus do? He illustrates 
self-righteousness and God-righteousness. Two men went to pray. One was 
a Pharisee, and he stood and he prayed to us with himself, 
Lord, I thank you, but I'm not like other men. And this other 
tax collector, wretch, blemish on society, couldn't even look 
up into heaven, but he beat his breast and he said, God, how 
can we Jews and Gentiles live corporately together? God be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, there is a sense where we 
need to appreciate that God in Christ is reconciling the world 
to himself. But that corporate entity is 
built up of individuals. Believe and be saved and join 
the church. What this new perspective on 
Paul has done is emphasize sociology or the church and neglected or 
haven't given due to soteriology or salvation. The Bible, however, 
goes for salvation. Be saved and then relate to one 
another in community, in church, together as one another. And when we read Paul, when we 
see Paul, we have to agree with James Stocker who said, for Paul, 
his whole theology was nothing else than the explanation of 
his conversion. Isn't it? Look at what he's doing 
here. This is what the New Testament 
emphasizes. Again, don't leave here saying, 
Butler doesn't care about Jews and Gentiles living together. 
That's not the point. The point is that there's been 
a shift away from Paul the sinner, saved by grace, to Paul the social 
engineer, orchestrator of happy things in this lower world. I 
say that's a wrong shift. I say you will get the old perspective 
on Paul in this church. If you want the new perspective, 
go. No, actually don't go. Stay. Listen to the old perspective. 
The old perspective is that we're saved by grace alone, through 
faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. I want to repeat, by way 
of closing, a thing I mentioned one time before, a quote from 
Luther. And again, for those of you who 
do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I'm not on mission, 
don't have a crystal ball under here. Hey, really, you know, 
look at that guy because he... I just have to imagine that in 
a group of people, there are some saved and others aren't. 
That's it. It's not to say, we're great, you're not, none of that. 
If you listen to anything, you will know it's by grace alone, 
through faith alone, in Christ alone. No sinner should ever 
be congratulated because he's saved. Jesus should be congratulated 
because we're saved. That's what Paul says. They glorified 
God in me. When they saw Paul, they said, 
here's the guy who tried to destroy the church. Now he's saved. God's 
great. When you know certain people in this church, you go 
home and you go, wow, I heard this guy's testimony. He's actually 
a Christian now. God's great. You don't say, he's 
great. He's done a good job. He's excellent. 
He's a good performer. No. God's great. He saves sinners. So I quoted this before. You 
listen. Please listen. Here's what Luther said. You 
must learn from Paul here to believe that Christ was given 
not for sham or counterfeit sins. This isn't just a warm, fuzzy 
fable designed for your well-being here now. It's not just a little 
story to inculcate in you a desire to be better. You must learn 
from Paul here to believe that Christ was given not for sham 
or counterfeit sins, nor yet small sins, but for great and 
huge sins. I love that. I'm sure anybody 
in here that knows Jesus Christ as Lord loves that. And I invite 
you to love that as well. who gave Himself for our sins. Don't miss that. Luther didn't. He said not for one or two sins, 
but for all sins. Not for sins that have been overcome, 
for neither man nor angel is able to overcome even the tiniest 
sins, but for invincible sins. Now listen. And unless you are 
part of the company of those who say our sins, that is, who 
have this doctrine of faith and who teach, hear, love and believe 
it, there is no salvation for you. If you cannot say Galatians 1.4 
and mean it because you believed it, Luther, echoing Paul, echoing 
Isaiah, echoing God the Lord, echoing Jesus Christ says, there 
is no salvation. You need to believe that Christ 
gave himself for our sins. And then it will be as it were, 
heaven opens up. All my sins have been atoned 
for through precious, glorious blood. There is a fountain open 
for sin and uncleanness, the prophet Zechariah says. I must 
confess I'm a bit scared of taking on Zechariah 9 to 13, but not 
13. Because that's the passage where 
he says, in that day there will be a fountain open in Jerusalem 
for sins and uncleanness. We live on the other side. We 
know what filled that fountain. We know what causes that cleansing. We know it is the blood of Jesus 
Christ. If you have not believed this 
message up till now, believe. When the Bible says, you will 
be saved. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, 
we thank You for the Word of God. We thank You for the testimony 
of the Apostle Paul and for his place in redemptive history. 
And God, how we thank You most of all for Jesus who gave Himself 
for our sins. We pray that sinners today would 
believe this message. We pray that today men would 
know the joy of everlasting life and see the fact that their works, 
their righteousness, their obedience, their moral reform, even their 
sins, Lord God, cannot or will not avail them in heaven. It 
is God alone, through Christ alone. We just pray that many 
would believe and would repent and know the joy of everlasting 
life. Go with us now and watch over 
us and help us to be faithful students of Holy Scripture and 
not to be led astray, but to take heed to that word, to that 
sound doctrine that you have given for us. And we pray through 
Christ the Lord. Amen.