Sermon Notes

“Galatia--Revisit the Blessing”

By Brother Parrish Lee

September 22^nd, 2013

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            Amen and amen.  It’s good to see the saints.  Giving honor to God, Who is the Head of my life; without Him would nothing be that is.  Giving honor to those who have gone before me:  our founding pastor, our bishop, their families, Pastor Wilson, Brother Kenneth, all those who have paved the way.  Giving honor to all of you, having a wonderful heart to come before the Lord. 

            As you know, we have had three services and they have been on Galatians 1, 2, and 3.  Brother Tom Hanson, he talked about Galatians chapter 1.  Brother Bob Heirtzler, he preached from Galatians chapter 2.  Brother Chris Ulrich preached from Galatians chapter 3.  This being, as we’ve heard several times in service, a time of sanctification, but our Scripture for the month is in 1 Thessalonians:

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly… 

            Our earnest prayer is that there has been great benefit to all who have any petition, sacrifice, or offering to our God, for He is not blind, He is not deaf, and He is not weak.  He is able to do abundantly over all that we ask or pray.  Amen? amen.  That’s the God that we serve.

            If we could bow our heads for just a moment.  Lord, we thank you so much for Your goodness, Your kindness, Your mercy…  For giving us everything that You have done.  Lord, we just want to come before You, in a spirit of servitude and holiness and just say thank You, and God, You have Your way.  Do unto us as You see fit, Lord, because we know that Your ways are so much better and so much higher than our own.  Give us understanding and grace and longsuffering with us, God, with Your mercy and Your fortuitousness, God, that we could always come before You in holiness.  We thank You today, in Jesus’ name.  Amen. 

Galatians 1:1-5           …all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia… 

            I’m not going to repreach their messages, okay?  This is what you call a revisit the blessing, of sorts.  In verse 1, Paul started greeting the church  he started greeting the Galatians.  Now, this area is Galatia.

This land (around it) is present-day Turkey.

            He’s talking about greeting the church, because that’s what’s important.  The first thing was the greeting.  He talked about this wasn’t something that he does for fun, this wasn’t something that just came his way; this isn’t something that he gets credit for.  He gives all the credit to God.

            Let’s look at verse 2.  Verse 2, right off the bat, this is something that’s missing from a lot of places:  “…all the brethren…”  He let everybody know, “You my call me ‘Apostle’ Paul, but I got some people, some brothers, people that are working with me.  I’m not doing this thing alone, and I don’t act like I’m doing this alone.  We salute you.”  I would be in gravest error if I did not thank the brothers who worked with me on this message.  The last several weeks we’ve been going over the Book of Galatians.  We’ve pulled out maps, we’ve done research…  All the brothers that have helped me, I got to tell you, “Thank you.”  That is such a glory to God that people can bring their hearts together; study and learn together.  I love that. 

            He let everybody know that he wasn’t doing this on his own, and then he went on… This is what this is about: that extra special savor of God, not just grace, but that special savor of God and with God.  That’s what this whole message thing is about.  That’s what this whole book is about, and he starts off, “I want you to know that this is the spirit that I come to you in.”  He says, “The Lord gave Himself for us, and He died for our sins.”

Galatians 1:6-10         I marvel that ye are so soon removed… 

The disciples began to branch out, and the Bible, it hadn’t been written yet.  The Old Testament was, but the Gospels weren’t out.  The Acts of the Apostles were being written!  As Apostle Paul is travelling, he’s part of the Acts!  So, they were going off of what they felt was right, or what they had heard, or what somebody told them was right.  So, Apostle Paul is over in this area; he’s going to be travelling to these churches:  There’s Antioch, there’s Lystra, there’s Derbe, there’s Perga, there’s Myra, there’s Lycia…

I marvel that you are so soon removed from the Gospel; so soon removed from Him that called you into grace of Christ into another Gospel; I marvel.  Now, if we were to go back…  It wasn’t like it is today, saints.  We’ve had hundreds of years of hearing about this thing.  We’ve had so much time that our ancestors, and grandfathers, and great-grandfathers… We’ve heard about preachers, and we’ve had the reformation, and we’ve had all this stuff… we’ve had the Crusades; we’ve had religious wars!  But, at that time, the Lord had preached, and the disciples had gone out, and they preached, and now Apostle Paul is on the scene.  This Gospel, it started off over in Jerusalem.

And, just like he said, this is modern-day Turkey.  If you look in the Book of Revelation, you’ll see these areas right here (the ones in red), Laodicea, Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Sardis, Thyatira… Sound familiar?  Those are the churches in Revelation.  These are those, right here.  But, as he was going, it wasn’t written yet, and when he got there, he saw that they had already started confusions with other things.  You’ve got to understand a lot of these people had other religions before that.  Some of them were Jews, but some of them were pagans.  Some of them didn’t have the knowledge to be able to cast them off.  There were all kinds of other things going on.  They were believing so many other things because they needed some teaching.  They thought that their past righteousness could be brought into this new thing that you’re talking about in Jesus Christ.  There were some that said, “When I was a Jew, these were the sacraments that you had to keep.”  They were called the Judaizers (they actually had a name!).  These people came in, and they said, “Well, Christ came, and He’s that new Lamb, but you’ve still got all these other things that God said was good, too.  We’ve got to keep those, too.”  One of those (Bob talked a little bit about it), was circumcision.  There were others, too.  They were bringing these sacraments in.  Apostle Paul, when he got there, as he was doing his travelling, he said, “I marvel, don’t you understand this?  You know how complete Jesus was.  I marvel that you are removed from what Christ came to bring you, and gone back into what He came to deliver you from, unto another gospel.”

Galatians 1:8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 

            Not kicked out of the house, not disassociated, he said let God answer; he said, let him be accursed, let God give him the answer for bringing something else in that is not of Christ. 

Galatians 1:11-14       …I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ…. 

            So, Apostle Paul shares with the Galatians, “I didn’t receive this message from a man; somebody didn’t just come across and drop this on me and convince me, I got this from God.”  He said, “If that weren’t the case, let me tell you something, where I was before, I had it pretty good.  I profited in that religion.  Above my fathers, above my friends, I was doing good.  If it was just a religious thing, I would have stayed there.  It had to be by revelation.”  That’s the way it is with us, saints.  It has to be something personal.  It can’t be that somebody comes along and convinces you.  You’ve got to bring it in here (motioning towards heart), and, once you bring it in here, people can’t take it away.  It comes in your heart; you don’t wear it on your sleeve where you could take a good bath and it’s gone.  That’s why the Bible talks about the faith of the operation (Colossians 2:12), not of the surgeon, not of the family, but of God; the faith of the operation of God.  He talked a bout the authenticity, so he isn’t going to be running back to a man.  If somebody asks him a hard question, he doesn’t have to say, “Oh, I never thought about that, let me run back to Jerusalem and get some answers.”  No!  “I can go to God.”  Just like I’m telling you, you can go to God.

Galatians 1:15-17       … I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me… 

            So, he says, “When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me, I didn’t run around for the top elders; I didn’t do that.”  Damascus is just off to the right of this map.

This is all Israel and Lebanon now.

He said, “I didn’t run down to Jerusalem; I needed to get grounded.  I needed to get taught and shown, and I needed to work.”  And there’s a second reason, but this is what he’s letting the Galatians know right off the bat.  Just like anybody, I didn’t get baptized, come up out of the water and run through the street.  I needed to God to teach me, to show me, to let me get humble.  Okay?  We’re going to read from the Book of Acts. Such a parallel—see, while the Book of Galatians was being written, Apostle Paul was living it in the Book of Acts.

Acts 9:18-22    …Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. 

            So, he showed that he had to dwell at Damascus.  He had to learn, and, not only did he have to get founded, he needed to get a testimony.  He had to work with people that were like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we know this one!  This one is either a spy, or it’s a trick; it’s something.”  He proved his testimony there, and then he went around to Jerusalem.

Galatians 1:18-24       Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.…

             So, here he is, he’s in Damascus, and he comes down into Jerusalem, after 3 years, and he talks with Peter for only two weeks.  After that, he goes up to Syria and Sicilia.  So he comes down to Jerusalem, and then he goes to Syria.  Now, this Apostle Paul, he used to persecute the church, but now he’s turned over, because, you see, as he was establishing his testimony, now brothers are able to be witnesses of his testimony because they have been with him for three years.  So, as much damage as he had done to the church, God has him repairing it for testimony’s sake.  Did you ever do something wrong to somebody, and then when you tried to make amends, they’re kind of shy, and hesitant about it?  They don’t want to commit, because they think, “Ah, you did it once, you’ll do I again.  You got me one time…  I know you went off on me, and you spoke evil of me…”  You come and apologize, and that person is like, “Okay, I’ll forgive you, but I ain’t never going to forget it.”  That is just the way of the flesh; it takes God’s forgiveness to completely wipe that away.  That I the way of the flesh, so you’ll notice that in establishing testimony, God will completely wipe that away, and that’s why the brothers and sisters could work with him.

            I hope that this is a decent representation of, as our brothers were sharing, coming through the places, just talking about the path.  You see, as they went through these areas, they encountered so many different things.  So, when he says, “I marvel that you are so soon removed from the Gospel to another gospel…” it could have been anything.  No matter what you’re believing outside of Christ, it’s outside of Jesus.  Now matter what somebody’s trying to convince you to do, if they’re a nice, fancy talker, no matter what it is, if it’s outside of the Gospel, it won’t get you into the Kingdom.

Acts 9:26-31    … he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him… 

            This was in that same period.  He’s there to join himself with the disciples, but Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and how He had spoken to him, and how that he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.  So, he spoke to them specifically about this man’s testimony.  Whenever people see a change in us, that’s what they talk about.  “You know what?  He or she, they used to be a party animal; they used to be mean, they used to be slothful, they used to be this, this, and this.  But, all of a sudden, something happened.  All of a sudden, it’s like they changed.  People might not have known you before, but they see the marvelousness that God has put in your life..  the other people are like, “How long is that going to last?  I don’t know if that’s real, you know?  I’m just going to wait and see, but I guarantee you, it’s not going to last.  I’ll give them a month, they’ll be closing down the bar again, they’ll be going out to the show again.  They’ll be smacking people around again, they’ll be having a filthy…  I’ll give them two months at the most!  I know it ain’t going to last six!”  That’s when they don’t know Jesus.  That’s when they don’t know.

            I’ll share this.  Before I got saved…  When God spoke to me, I was Muslim.  After God spoke to me, and I was no longer Muslim.  Now, for me, it took me two and a half years before my heart was soft enough just to receive the smallest thing from God.  I was so self-righteous, I was so hard-hearted, I was so headstrong, and the list goes on.  God knew the path that I had to go through, and I even asked Him, I said, “God, you spoke to me; you told me I was praying to a God that couldn’t save.  Show me the God that can.”  What a righteous prayer.  God listened to that prayer, and He said, “If I showed you, you wouldn’t receive it.”  I understood.  I am proud, I am self-righteous, I always want my own way…  You know, I got all this stuff going on.  So, I had to pray another prayer, “God, make me receive it.  Please.  I can’t go on without it, and I know how I am, and so do you.  If you have to break me up into pieces, make me receive Your Word.”  You know what? it was a thunderous night.  You can ask Pastor Thomas some time, “What was it like the night that Parrish Lee got saved?”  He’ll ask you, “How much time do you have?’  That is just to show you what God is able to do.

            So, here, we see that Barnabas took him, after all of these people had to be convinced.  Yes, god had to come and knock Paul off of his high horse.  Some of us have that testimony.  Yes, he had to go a ways; he couldn’t just right away receive it, no.  He was Paul.

            In verse 28, he was with them coming in and going out in Jerusalem.  The hot spot.  Where the Jews gathered.  He spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed with the Grecians, but they went about to kill him.  They went about to shut him up.  I’ll share this, saints:  Sometimes we share, and it goes okay.  Sometimes, they come knocking on your door, and they want to set you straight.  Sometimes it goes okay, but sometimes, “You don’t challenge me.  I was knowing you when you was a baby you ain’t going to teach me nothing.”  That didn’t make the Word of God of no effect!  Tore me down, and built me back up, and they couldn’t shut me up.  They might not invite me over to their house no ore, but at least the testimony of the Lord stands sure.  They were trying to kill him, which, when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and they sent him to Tarsus.  Then had the churches rest throughout all Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.  So they went from here, in this Jerusalem area, and they had to go al the way up to this area to get away, because the Greeks were going to kill him.  This wasn’t like the Jews where they deliver you up to the council, no, no, no, no; they’d just walk right up and stab you.  Sometimes, (there was this old song that says, “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run…”) sometimes you’ve got to know when to run. 

Galatians 2:1-5           Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas… 

            We notice here that parts of the Book of Acts run in parallel with the Book of Galatians.  The fact of the matter was, Luke wrote Acts as he was watching Paul do what he was doing with the Galatians.  So, as Paul is going through and being specific in the Book of Galatians, Luke is recording the overview, while Paul is getting specific on these things. 

            He says here that he went up to Jerusalem, he took Barnabas, and he went up by revelation.  He communicated to them that Gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, and here it is:  he went privately to them who were of reputation.  He’s telling them that you can’t minister just any old way.  You cant just walk up to somebody and say, “I got the truth of the Gospel; you need to hear it, or you’re going to Hell.”  He talks to them privately who are of reputation, let, he says, “…my work would be in vain.”  If you get the opportunity to share with the governor, or the president, and they say, “Well, I was always taught that it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe something.”  “You’re wrong, Mr. President, Mr. Governor!  You’re going to Hell!  That’s not the Gospel!”  If he’s in front of his people, that’s the last time you’re ever going to get a chance to share anything with him.  It serves that you would pull them aside privately.  It serves that you would minister in a place where their reputation isn’t at stake and they have to choose their power over the Gospel that God has delivered unto them. 

            In verse 4, just because the people were bringing their old baggage into what they were taught of the Gospel…  In verse 4, we are told that there was another danger that had entered into the church.  Because of false brethren, brought in unaware, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, to bring us into bondage.  They’re trying to wreck the church, while the church is young.  There aren’t any words written, it’s just the Old Testament.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John aren’t written yet.  It’s not published; there’s no printing presses.  It’s just word of mouth.  “We need to get in there and see where the loopholes are. Maybe we can tear this thing up.  We’ve done it before.  We know how to create mass hysteria.  We know how to threaten.  We know what pushes their buttons; we know what sinks their boats.  We know how to do this.”  In verse 5, Apostle Paul says, “To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour...”  No place at all.  When he came in and saw this false doctrine stuff… “We don’t put up with it.”  We can break out the Word and cite chapter and verse, but Paul and Barnabas had to establish that in front of all of them.  “Get out, you child of the devil!  Take these damnable heresies away!  I will tell you what Jesus came to do.  You don’t want to hear that? There’s the door.”  This is the church that he established, and, saints, you say, “That was way back then,” I beg your pardon.  Every one of us has a place to live.  We have houses.  We also have temples.  We are is the temple of the Holy Ghost—we don’t allow false doctrine in our houses, into our temples.  We don’t allow it, we don’t take it, we don’t suffer it.  We check it out with the Word; if it doesn’t stand up to the Word, it’s got to go. 

            The other thing here is, our leadership can be attacked.  If you’re a leader on your job, if you’re a leader at your house, if you’re a leader of any part of the ministry, you can be sure you’ve got a big, old target on you.  I saw this movie a long, long time ago, called, “300 Spartans.”  They’ve remade the movie, and the remake made millions and millions of dollars, but the old movie (which didn’t have a lot of special effects) they just had 300 guys who walked in and got killed.  They couldn’t beat them, so they killed the leader.  Chop off the head, and the body flops, right?  What the movie was trying to show was, always go for the strong.  If you can take the strong down, then, usually, the body flops.  It’s not that way in Christ, because Christ is the head.  They already crucified him, and he got more power than they ever dreamed. 

Galatians 2:6-10         … the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;… 

            Paul didn’t get caught up in people’s positions, what titles they had, how fancy their suits were.  He didn’t get caught up in all that.  He said, “God doesn’t care about that, He cares about your heart.”  It does go on to say that he did render honor to them, and there was two different things that God was doing at this time:  Apostle Peter was sent to those of the circumcision, and Apostle Paul to those who were uncircumcised.  That’s just God.  God sends the guy who was indoctrinated in all the things of Judaism to them who don’t know anything about it, and he sends the ignorant, unlearned fisherman to the Jews.  Ain’t that God? God does that.  It just shows that, even though we do so many different things around the ministry, God has the order on how it all works out. 

            The biggest thing is that they all agreed to remember the poor.  If you think of the poor as just the people that don’t have any money, then I beg to quite differ.  The poor is the people that, as we were reading, when we put our petitions and our requests in the basket, and we put them before God, and we ask a brother, that person is poor in spirit.  They need somebody who is richer in spirit to pour more grace in.  You know what?  Friday I was poor in spirit, but a lot of brothers came and poured grace in.  Saturday, I was little bit more rich.  It’s my turn to pour what I have received in Christ, to others.

            There is absolutely no way to finish this.  I’m looking at the clock, and, wow!  I think I’ll take a couple of minutes next week and finish up.  What we wanted to do was to give an overview of the Book of Galatians, chapters 1, 2, and 3—we just got to 1 and halfway through 2.

                           Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd