Good evening, brothers and sisters, and it's so good to have you with me again with another installment of A Grain of Encouragement. And we are looking at Paul as he writes this letter to these churches in Galatia. And we find straight away that Paul is telling these people that there's a big problem. If you look at the letter of Galatia and you look at all the other letters that Paul wrote, he had a very soft and gentle approach to them, salutation to them. He comes to them and he writes how he prays for them and how he heard about their faith and all of these things. But when it comes to Galatia, he just gives his credentials and he rips right into it because there was a big problem there. You see, there were these men coming in and amongst them. After Paul left there, they coming in amongst them and they said to them, you need to, you need to follow the Torah. You need to follow the law of Moses, the Mosaic law, the first five, the first five books in our Bible. You need to follow them like the Pharisees. And that will add to your faith. You will have better faith. You will feel your faith. You will feel good. And this is what we see so often these days. People want to have a feel-good relationship or a feel-good church. The feel-good church draws the crowds. And this is the problem. He says there is this Torah that these Judaizers brings in amongst them. And we've saw this before in verse six. He says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you into the grace of Christ, from him. He says, you are turning away from Christ himself who called you into the grace of Christ. Grace is free, but you are turning away. And then he says, which is to another gospel, which is not another gospel. But there are some, there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. My friend, he is so serious, Paul, that he picks up the pen himself. All his other letters that he wrote, he had somebody who was writing it for him. He would say the words and they would write the words. He had a problem with his eyes. They called him old droopy eyes. He couldn't see properly. And I don't know, they didn't have glasses those days. So he said this himself at the end of this letter, the only letter that I believe that he wrote with his own hands. So serious and so urgent was this matter for him that he says in Galatians 6, verse 11, he says, see with what large letters I've written to you with my own hand. So serious is this matter. It's not a small thing. He wrote big letters so that he can see most probably what he's writing and that it makes sense. And then he says it's with my own. He couldn't wait for the man to come and he said the words and the man writes it down. And he writes this whole letter. Because there was this problem and it is so serious. And let me just say right now, if you have anything where it's grace plus anything else, this is a serious matter. And how did these men do this? These certain men, how did they do it? Well, they came in and tried to discredit Paul. And that's what they do. That's the strategy of the enemy. Comes in as wolves with sheep clothing, spend time with the flock, make acquaintances with the flock, be very pious, you know, godly, because they uphold the law. And then all of a sudden, when he's not there, when the pastor is away, Paul is away from them, what happens in this particular case? They discredit Paul. If they can discredit the man, the message of the man is discredited. That's the old trick, the old way that Satan works. Now, it made me think, you know, have you ever been in a situation where you had to prove yourself, where you had to defend your credentials? And I can say I have. You know, they sent to me at one stage where somebody questioned me as being a pastor, you know, my my credentials. Are you one of those people who just woke up one morning and said, well, I'm going to be a pastor and started something and, you know, you're bringing in worldly things to try to build something? No. I too had to tell these people that, yes, I've been through a Bible school. I've been through studying how, you know, the life that you need to live. I studied the scriptures. And I certainly has got the diploma to show you. I've got the paperwork. But, you know, why do I have to show it to everybody? It means nothing. if we can't share and preach the gospel and concentrate on the doctrine of the apostles. But here we find it now where Paul had to give some kind of credential to this people. He had to tell them again who he was. And let me just say, I can feel with Paul. Then he was, you know, working amongst them and people got saved and he could see the joy. He could see the chains of sin fall off their lives. He can see the bondages of unforgiveness broken. He can see all of these yokes. You know, these people are free because that's what the gospel do. It makes you free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And it is joy. I mean, I can testify to you that when I see this happening in people's life, and I have seen it so many times, it gives me joy, unendless joy to see how people are freed from the bondage of sin. And now he hears that there are people coming in and amongst them, and they are bounding them again with the chain of religion, of law, of the Mosaic Law, and he's got to give his credential. Now he starts in verse 10, he says, for do I now persuade men or God? Do I try to 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. Let it be known that if you try to please any man, that you are that man's bondservant. You are giving yourself to that man. This is what he's saying here. He says, I'm a bond servant of God, of Christ. And that's why I'm pleasing Christ. A servant pleases his master. This is so critical. Let me tell you, as a pastor, I've got no authority over your life. I'm only the one pointing you towards Christ, because I don't want you to become my bondservant. I don't want you to serve me. I want you to serve Him. It's so clear. Paul says, I'm not serving man. I'm not giving account to man. I'm giving account to God. Otherwise, whose bondservant are you, by the way? You need to taste that. Are you there to please your pastor? Are you there to please your elder? Who are you pleasing? That's the one whose servant you are. And he says, I'm by far not any man's bondservant. I'm God's bondservant. And now he unpacks it a little bit more. Look at verse 11. 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 it taught, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. There is so much in these verses. When he says, I make known, he says, I want to remind you what I've said in the very first verses when he said, I am an apostle of God, not by the will of man, but it was by God. God appointed me as an apostle. Let me remind you. He says, and then this gospel which was preached by me. is not a gospel of philosophy. It's not a gospel which I read in books. It's not something. It's something that was revealed to me. And the word that he used there through the revelation of Jesus Christ, the word that he uses there is the word Apocalypse. It's where we get our English word Apocalypse from. And that's what the whole Revelation is, the book of Revelation. It is an apocalypse. It means it's like a curtain is there and slowly but surely the curtain is lifted and we can see beyond the curtain and it starts to make sense to us. Paul says that Christ appeared to him. And he revealed the gospel to him. The gospel was always there. It's not something new. Let me warn you, if these people come to you and they want to teach you something new, you know, they come, oh, this is something. It's a revelation from God. Where is it in the Bible? No, no. It's above and beyond the Bible. Don't believe them. No, no. The gospel is revealed to us like it was revealed here to him. The curtain has been lifted to Paul. He studied the law. He studied the Torah. The very same thing that these men tried to bring in and give grace plus the Torah. He studied that and he goes, the Torah is not the one who saved me. I got the revelation from Jesus himself. No philosophy. Now look at verse 13. He says, 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. There he goes. He goes, these Judaizers who's amongst you, I was one of them. And you know what? I actually advanced in it. He was not a beginner. He's an advanced student. A Pharisee. He was a good Pharisee. He says, in traditions of my fathers, you want to lay the chain and the heavy weight of tradition on these people? I've had it. I know exactly what it is. And then I love it when he goes into verse 15 because he says, but when he pleased God, but God, I want to say, you see, we, we build out your own religions. We follow these laws. We makes us feel good. Makes us as if we growing in faith. If we uphold these Old Testament laws, but God. This is in verse 15, 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. Oh, this is so wonderful, that I might preach Him amongst the Gentiles. I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were the apostles before me, but I went to Arabia, which is a desert. wilderness, and I returned again to Damascus." You know what Paul is saying here? He says, I advanced in Judaism. I was a Jew who was pushing forward in the traditions of my fathers. But when he preached God, he called me through. Now look now carefully there. He called me through his grace. Paul is telling us here, that Judaism had nothing to do with him being called into salvation. Nothing. He was called into this through grace. And this is so wonderful. The grace of God is a free gift. You can be a very good Pharisee, but it helps you nothing. I said to you before, I can show you the diploma that I've done it, but it means nothing. No, no, I've been called by grace and I got the burden of souls to share to you that grace through the gospel of Christ. That is the biggest credential that you can have. He experienced the grace of Christ. And this is what he was called into. You see, he was saved from Judaism. Not because or by Judaism. The Law won't save you. The Torah won't save you. It is a tutor. It brings you to Christ and to His grace. Man, I hope and I pray that you get that. Because it could be so revealing and refreshing to you. It could free you. Now, I want you to pick up what he says here. in verse 16 he says he called me to by he threw his grace to reveal his son in me oh there's a beautiful verse that that we just finished in in church on sunday and that is in one john chapter 5 verse 12 and it says he who has the son has life it is so powerful but if you don't have the son you don't have life You see, and then we go to John chapter 10 and we see where Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me and I know them. And this is the same. He said, he called me through his grace and then he revealed his son in me. How powerful is those words? It's not the law in me. It is the son in me. And it comes via grace. But then he goes on to say, he says, why did he do all of these things? God has always got a purpose and a plan. And why did he do this with Paul? That I might preach him amongst the Gentiles. I want to tell you that Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. Yes, I'm reading Peter. Yes, he's an apostle. but he was an apostle to the Jews as well. And Paul also preached to the Jews, I get it, but he claims in all of his letters that he's writing, in Golossa, in Ephesians, he mentions that he's the apostle to the Gentiles. He's the apostle to you and me. And he writes the most in the New Testament is the Pauline letters, the gospel that Christ revealed to Paul. So I think it is very profound, and we need to understand that. In Romans, chapter 11, and by the way, Romans and Galatians is two books which sits next to each other. And the other one is Hebrews. Romans, and then you find Galatians, and you find Hebrews. And all three of those books claims the following, the just shall live by faith. All of those. Romans talks about the just, Galatians talks are live, and then Hebrews talks by faith. And here we find in Romans 11, verse 13, he says, for I speak to you Gentiles. Paul, he says, I speak to you Gentiles, in as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, so that I may magnify my ministry. He calls it himself. He says, I am the apostle to the Gentiles. We need to read the gospel according to Paul, because he got the revelation from Christ. Ephesians chapter three, verse eight. To me, who am less than the least of the saints, this grace was given that I should preach amongst the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. Then I hear so many people, even preachers today, and teachers, who discredit him. Oh no, you know, we need to go to the Gospels, we need to read more about the Gospels, Christ's own words. We need to read about Peter, he was there. And they discredit Paul, even to this day, comes from pulpits. Yet he is the apostle to the Gentiles. You believe whom you want to believe. But I believe that every single word that Paul wrote down is by the inspiration of God, breathed by God, and it is the word of God. So he said, when this happened to me, I didn't go to flesh and blood. I didn't go and check with them. No, no, where did he go? He went to Arabia, and it's well known that he went there for three years. And what happened in the wilderness? In the wilderness, I believe he was taught the gospel, he was revealed the gospel. The same time that he took Christ to walk with the other apostles. Look at verse 18, he says, then after three years, I went to Jerusalem and see Peter. That's very good. And remained with him 15 days. But I saw no one of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Verse 20, he says, now concerning the things which I write to you indeed before God, I do not lie. And the way that he structured this verse is he's actually making an oath before God. He makes an oath before, he calls God as his witness. He says, God is my witness that I do not lie. Why would he say this? Well, because there are those who try to discredit him. And they make him out to be a liar. And this is the big thing. If God knows every single word. Friend, God knows even what you think. Now you may discuss somebody behind closed doors. It's only two or three of you discuss somebody. God knows about it. Paul comes here and says, this is my credentials. This is what happened. I received the gospel from Christ himself. And I call God as a witness that I do not lie. Now, he's got God as his witness. Who do you have with this clarity? I wonder. He says then in verse 21, he says, afterward, I went to the regions of Syria and Sicilia, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ. Why? Because he persecuted them. But he came as a novice in there according to them. But they were hearing only he who formerly persecuted has now preached the faith, which he once tried. What a wonderful testimony. The one who's against Christ, the one who's trying to destroy it. He is the one who's now proclaiming the gospel and they glorify God in me. That's where it needs to go. So there's one conclusion here. Where did your gospel came from? What you believe in? Where did you hear that? You see, I find so many times people who just come to church because they're invited to come to church, or they come because of their partners, or as you say, their wives or husbands. They come because of friends and so on, hang out, chill out. And then, you know, the messages come and they are taught, they are learned what to say. But did he really touch your heart? You see, Paul here in his credential, the biggest thing that stand out for me is he had an encounter with Christ. He had a living encounter with Christ. He wasn't taught this thing by man. He makes that proclamation. He met him in a revelation. Have you met Christ in that personal revelation? Now, I'm not saying that, you know, he appeared to you physically and you see a lot of people make those claims, but you certainly know when he touched your heart. I want to end today, and I'm going to take a few minutes more, but I want to read to you from 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6. In fact, I want to challenge you to read the whole first chapter, because this is such a great, great passage. in the letter of 1 Peter. But just to save time, I want to read to you from verse six, because this will encapsulate what I'm asking you. Where did you receive your gospel from? Have you had the revelation of Christ who saved your soul? Listen to Peter when he writes, he says, 1 Peter 1.6, he says, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while if you need be, you'll be grieved by various trials. that the genuineness of your faith, the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though we test it by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now he's not talking about now the revelation of him. He talks about the revelation in your life, the same kind of revelation that Paul is talking about. He says that you find praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ in this life now, whom having not seen, you love. You see, that makes the point. The revelation of Christ. You haven't seen him, but I have. I've got his revelation in my heart. I know what he's done. I've experienced him. Though I don't see him, I still love him. Though now you do not see him, yet believing you rejoice with a joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Brothers and sisters, dear friend, there is a joy that comes which surpasses all understanding by the revelation of Christ. This is what Peter says there. Now, though you do not see him, yet you believe. It's a matter of faith. He gave me that faith. That faith is growing day by day. Look at verse 10. He says, of this salvation, because he ends in verse 9, he says, receiving the end of your faith. What is the end of your faith? The salvation of our souls. Of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully. The prophets, the prophets that the Judaizers want to bring, the people under enslavement again, they've searched it. All of their writings, let it be known, all of these writings in the Old Testament, all of them, is a shadow of Christ. They were searching for Christ. All of the Torah, upholding the traditions, upholding the law, is a shadow, searching for Christ. This is what Peter's saying. Of this salvation, which we receive by faith, by grace, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you. searching of what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified before the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. Now notice, verse 12, to them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us, they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached what? the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. We are living in such a wonderful times in the dispensation of grace. Things which not only the prophets look into, but the angels desire to look into. The angels are looking at your life and they look at how this grace day by day grows in your life. I'm going to stop there today and I pray that God has given you something of encouragement today and we will continue in chapter two next week, but may the Lord bless you and keep you until we see each other again. Amen.