Sovereign Salvation
Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek
January 18, 2015
If you have a Bible, please turn to the book of Galatians. This morning we are going to continue the series through the book that Jason began last week.Before I read the passage, I’ll tell you up front that there might be a strangeness for you as we read this passage together. There was for me at first. Here’s why: It can seem like in these verses that Paul is just giving us random travel details: I went “here” and did “this”; then I went “there” and did “that.”But what I hope we’ll see is that Paul is not giving us random details. He is arguing for something; he is making a case; he’s explaining his alibi. And when we see that, it’s my hope that the strangeness will details faded away and the beauty and importance of this passage will shine. So let’s read this passage, then I’ll pray and explain more of what I’m talking about.
Galatians 1:10-24
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant1 of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.1 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God because of me.
Let’s pray…
Introduction
This week I was reminded of a story, and I’ll tell you upfront that it’s a tragic story in many ways. It’s the story of a man who gave his life for Jesus. And when I was reminded of it this week, I went and re-looked up all of the details. The way the story is told it focuses in on two men in particular, two very different men, but they had one thing in common: they were both new leaders in their respective religions.The story took place in the Middle East, roughly. There was a man that became a follower of Jesus and he lived his life with diligence and grace. And other Christian leaders (there weren’t many of them), but they began to notice this young man. And over time, he was asked him to lead a very significant ministry. And he was good at it. Helped a lot of people. The ministry distributed food daily to those who were needy in the community.But this caught the attention of the other religious leaders, that is, those religious leaders in the community that were not Christians. And they didn’t like this young, Christian man. So they challenged him, informally at first, but then the formally. They assembled other leaders in the community and put this Christian believer on trial. It didn’t go well. I mean it did go well in the sense that this Christian did a great job of explaining his faith and why he believed what he believed about Jesus and what Jesus’ death meant. He did that well; he spoke with grace and humility. (Much of what he said was recorded.)But it didn’t go well in the sense these leaders from another religion listen to what he said. In fact, the council was furious. And when the man was finished speaking, they took him outside and killed him. Maybe you’ve heard stories like this recently too.What’s interesting about this story though, is the way it was told. The way this story was told it intentionally contrasted two different young men, two different young leaders. The story followed closely this young believer that I’ve been talking about, but it also in a small way, but very intentional way, focused on another young and zealous leader, but this leader was of the other religion.In fact, the story mentioned how when this mob killed the Christian man, everyone took of their coasts and formal attire (not to get it dirty, I suppose), and they laid all their stuff in a pile right in front of this other young leader, while this leader stood there giving his approval, cheering them on.And then after the Christian was killed, as it’s told, the story followed this other guy and how right afterwards he began to travel the area hunting down other Christians and throwing them in jail.Like I said, in many ways it’s a tragic story. And again, probably recently you have heard stories like this too. In fact, maybe you’ve heard this exact story before. Because what if I told you that the name of this young Christian man was Stephen. And the name of the other leader, the one violently persecuting Christians, his name was named Saul. Although you might know Saul better the name that Jesus gave him after he became a believer. You might know him as Paul, the very same Paul that wrote this letter we call Galatians. You can read about this story in the book of Acts 6-9.It is in many ways a tragic story, but in the grace and sovereignty and wisdom of God, it’s not the end of the story. It’s the beginning. Saul became Paul when God sovereignly saved him.But not everyone liked Paul.These early years of Christianity were full of great transition and flux. It was hard for many people to grapple with just what had changed from Old Testament to the New Testament, and what was still very much the same.And there were these people on the fringe, some perhaps were believers but they were just confused and had very poor doctrine, and there were others that were on that same fringe who were not Christians at all, and they were very much trying to destroy the church and the gospel, and they were trying to destroy it from the inside. And one of the main controversies, particularly one of the main controversies in the area near Galatia had to do with the gospel and salvation, especially for non-Jewish people.And these “false brothers” (2:4) – in most of the literature on this they are called Judaizers, so that’s what I’ll call them – these Judaizers, these false brothers were teaching that if a Gentile, that is a non-Jewish person, was to become a Christian then what they needed to do, what they had to do, was also convert to Judaism as well. They were saying, Yeah, Jesus is good and there is a “Gospel,” but what the “Gospel” means is that if you truly want to be right with God then you have to do this other stuff, things like become circumcised and follow certain dietary rules and follow the feasts and festivals. If you want to be a Christian, then yes, follow Jesus, but you have to do all of this other stuff as well.That may seem strange to us because for most of us there is probably no one telling you that if you want to become a Christian then you have to do a bunch of Jewish stuff. But if we thought more deeply about what the principle that was at work in these Judaizers, then I bet we could see our own sinful tendency at work. At their core, the Judaizers wanted to contribute to their salvation. They don’t want a fully sovereign salvation. They wanted to believe deep-down that they, not God, were responsible for their salvation.They might have said, Yeah, God saved me, but I really investigated the Bible and figured it out. Yeah, God saved me, sure, but I really cried out to him though; I really sought him. And now, I really try really hard and I’m really devoted, that’s why God continues to love me.Does that sound more familiar now?And in comes Paul saying, No you didn’t. You didn’t seek him. You’re not smart enough to figure it out. You’re not better than other people. And no you don’t have to do special things to become a “Varsity Christian.”That didn’t sit will then, and often it doesn’t sit well today.Friends, let me tell you something, no matter how long you have been a Christian, there is this magnetic force within us that draws us to want to take credit for our own salvation. We desperately want to justify ourselves—in some way, some form. Deep down we want to contribute to our salvation. We don’t want a sovereign salvation. And some of the most intense and disgusting sin in this world comes from religious people that think they deserve the grace God gives them.And what does all of that have to do with Paul and Galatian churches? Everything. Because these Judaizers in Galatia were slandering Paul. And what I just read in Galatians1:10-24 is Paul’s answer to them, at least part of his answer to them. All of those travel details that might have seemed strange are part of an argument, part of an alibi.So, let’s go back to this passage and talk about it in more detail. I really only have one question that I hope to answer, and it’s this: What is it that Paul is arguing for?
1. What is Paul arguing for?
First, let me give you the answer to this question, and then I’ll show you where I see this. What is Paul arguing for? Paul is arguing that his Gospel is not man’s gospel. Another way to say that: Paul is arguing that our salvation is a sovereign salvation from God. He is saying that the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ alone is not a gospel that came to him from men. It comes from God.That’s the answer, but let me show you this by going back through theses verses again. Paul says this in vv. 11-12,
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Notice what he says. He is saying, I didn’t hear this from a person. When I learned the gospel, I heard it straight from the top – I heard it from God.But Paul anticipates an objection. The objections comes, Yeah, Paul you say you heard this from God, but come on, Paul, really you heard it from man and you are just claiming it is from God.So in vv.13ff we get, what I called at the start, all of these random travel details. I said at the start they will probably feel random, but let me read them again with all of this background in mind and hopefully they won’t feel so random. These random details are Paul’s alibi, as it were, for why his gospel is not from man. This is his alibi that his gospel is a sovereign salvation.Look at vv. 13-14 first,
13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
Paul is saying, You heard about my former life, right? If there ever was someone that could become right with God by practicing his faith with zeal and devotion, than it was me. He’s saying, I was at the top of my class in Harvard Law. I was the most recruited sought after academic because I was the best.In another letter written by Paul to a church in Philippi, he wrote this (Philippians 3:4-6),
4 If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law1 blameless.
But is Paul is saying, this is not how I got saved. I was saved by the sovereign hand of God.In the book of Acts, shortly after Paul helped in the murder of Stephen, he was on his way to traveling to another city to persecute more Christians, when God met him.Here’s what happened: God stopped him on the way to Damascus, as the story goes, and knocked Paul off his horse (literally); Jesus appeared to him; told him to stop persecuting him; then God blinded Paul for three days; and after three days, God sent another Christian to come tell Paul that God loved him and he would become a great missionary to people that are far from God; he got his sight back; and then he started preaching about Jesus.It’s an amazing story. The existence of Paul as a Christian is an amazing testimony of to the sovereign grace of God. The great persecutor of the church, now becomes a follower. And how and why did he become a follower? Because he was smarter? Because he worked harder? Because he was more holy? Yes, he was all those things, but he goes on to say, it was about being “pleased to call” him that saved him.Let me read vv. 15-24
15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God because of me.
These are most certainly not random travel details. Paul is making a case for something. He is arguing for something.This is not intuitively the way I might expect to him argue. I might expect Paul to say, Yes, after God saved me, I went to the best and the brightest Christian teachers and studied under them.If you were a Christian in the middle of the 1st-century AD, and wanted to show people that the gospel you were preaching was legit, then what would you do? I suppose you would begin to name drop profusely. You’d use names like Peter (or Cephas), and James the Lord’s brother. You’d talk about how much time you have spent together—like a long time. And you would talk about how long you spent in Jerusalem, and you’d mention the Christian churches in Judea and how they all know you in person. And you’d talk about other apostles and say that they know you as well. If you were trying to show you were legit, that’s what you might do.And Paul does none of that. Well, he does mention all of those, but at every point, he distances himself from these gatekeepers. He says, Yeah I met Peter once—for just 15 days. And, yeah, eventually, I went to Jerusalem—after several years. But you know what I was doing for in the meantime? I was in Arabia for three years reading my Bible and praying and God was teaching me the gospel.Paul is saying arguing back to the Judaizers, You think I went to the epicenter and learned everything from the (so-called) “gatekeepers,” but I didn’t. I went to God. Or better, God came to me. Sovereignly. That’s my story, that’s my alibi, and you can check out all of those details, just send them an email (well, maybe not an email, but you know what I mean).[Transition]So, the question we were asking is, What is Paul arguing for? My answer to that is this: Paul is arguing that his Gospel is not man’s gospel. He is saying that the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ alone (to the glory of God alone) is not a gospel that came to him from men. The gospel is the sovereign work of God.If that’s what he is arguing for, which I strongly believe he is, then very briefly, let me just share a few things we learn from this?
2. What should we learn from this?
Paul is claiming that his gospel is not man’s gospel, but God’s sovereign salvation, God’s sovereign gospel. Two things we should learn from this.First, the main application for the Galatian churches was this: listen to Paul. He is making a case that he couldn’t have learned his gospel another way. And he is pleading with the churches to take him seriously.I would say that this (taking Paul seriously) is a very reasonable application for us as well. All of you might not be aware, but some of you will know, that historically for many people Paul’s witness to the gospel as a commissioned apostle of Jesus Christ is in question. The line of thinking goes like this: Jesus, he’s pretty good, and he said a lot of helpful things, but we just are not sure about Paul; he might have been alright, given his cultural limitations, but if you want pure scripture (if there is such a thing), then you go to Jesus.That’s not true. There is no wedge between Paul and Jesus. In this passage, we see that you can’t hold him and his ministry at arm’s length.Now, maybe you don’t feel what I just said, and maybe what you were not aware that people drive a wedge between Jesus and Paul. That’s okay. Maybe for you, and this is many of us, the simple application is that we listen up to the words in the rest of this letter with a little more interest, and not simply an academic, theoretical interest, but with an interest to learn and obey and follow. I think that’s the most direct takeaway from the passage.The second thing we should learn (and I’ll close with this), is about salvation. This salvation, this gospel that Paul is talking about is a sovereign salvation. And this, church, is the only type of salvation you can be secure in. Paul’s gospel, a gospel of free, unmerited grace, is a sovereign, blessed salvation. While Paul was an enemy of God, God saved him. And while Paul’s salvation may seem perhaps more outwardly extreme to you and I, the Bible teaches that we are all enemies of God, but when we trust that Christ died for you and rose again, and you place your faith in that, then you become one of God’s children. And that, that is a sovereign salvation. And it is the only salvation you can be secure in. We can rest in this salvation.If salvation depends on you, at the beginning or the middle or in the end, then guess what, you can’t ever, ever be sure that you have done enough.
Conclusion
Before the sermon we sang a song called “Sovereign” by Chris Tomlin. And we are going to sing it again now. The lyrics in that song go like this:
Sovereign in my greatest joySovereign in my deepest cryWith me in the darkWith me in the dawnIn your everlasting armsAll the pieces of my lifeFrom beginning to the endI can trust youIn your never failing loveYou work everything for goodGod whatever comes my wayI will trust you
Growing up, my father, often when he would put me to bed he would ask me a question. He would say, “Benjamin, do you know why I love you?”And I would say, “No, Dad. Why?”And he would look back at me and say, “Son, I love you because you are my son.” And there was something beautiful about that circular logic—Son, I love you because you are my son. But in that, there is gospel. The only type of love we can be secure in.The Judaizers got it wrong, but we can relate. There is this magnetic force, as it were, within us that draws us to want to take credit for our own salvation. We desperately want to justify ourselves—in some way, some form, deep-down we want to contribute to our salvation.But that’s not how it works. Saul became Paul when God sovereignly saved him. And that’s how he saved you.
