 last semester and also some good subjects also there okay okay we'll we'll pray and get started okay let's let's pray father we we just want to thank you lord for this day we thank you for this beginning of this semester god lord we we thank you for what's in store for us lord what you have in store for each one of us lord i especially come at this class to your mighty hands father god we thank you for being with them for leading them lord all these years lord these three years father god and you and as they come to the end of this third year lord which is pray that god that you'll continue to pour out your spirit upon them lord i pray that you'll continue to write your word on their hearts father god i pray pray lord the plans and purposes that you have for each of them lord in the next season master i pray for we pray for clarity we pray for your leading oh god or even as they immerse themselves lord in your word and lord even as they give themselves lord totally to the work of your spirit to the leading of your spirit oh god i pray that you would empower them greatly i pray that lord that you would not draw them to your to yourself lord and i pray lord even as your word says that when we call on call unto you lord that you will show us great and wonderful things that we do not know so god this morning we call upon your name we call unto you god i pray that this semester that will be a lord a season of lord revelation it'll be a season of lord opening our eyes and opening our spiritual years and and receiving from you lord and i just pray father god that uh you will also grow as lord as ministers of the gospel that we will even as we receive father god that we will also give out lord that i pray that each one of us god that you will raise us up and you are in the places where you placed us and and that you will use us as dispensers lord of the aroma of christ in every place we thank you we give you all the praise and give you all the glory of this time in jesus matchless name we pray amen amen okay so um so this semester we are going to be looking at a g e p c t um so that's galatians ephesians philippines colotians and thecelonians right first and second thecelonians so um it's actually um six books now six episodes um of course we're going to look at the uh thecelonians as as one episode and um yeah we're going to be looking at i mean as as one um module but of course it's two episodes right so we'll start with galatians and the notes i have uploaded uh so you can you can download that you can take a look at it and you can keep it open even as we go through the class okay um so let's uh let's begin let me um let's start off with um yeah so when we look at the book of galatians um you know what comes to our mind is paul's strong words right strong words for the church in galatia and um he he has a very strong things very stern words right he uses words like you foolish galatians like who has bewitched you and uh you know like that uh so uh that comes to our mind immediately right but also we see that um you know and some strong um um uh strong instructions like he he also um rebukes them he says he says things like you know you ran well who hindered you from obeying the truth obey the truth and also some very strong words like um uh you know if anyone preaches another gospel you know let let them be let them be accursed right so so we see that uh it um uh he addresses some very strong issues here some um some problems that were there in the church in galatia so um so he and it and it was a serious thing so he addresses that okay so let's uh let's look at some the background of um uh if you look at the background of the the place the the people right we when we when we read ax chapter 16 um we we see um mention of um galatia right ax chapter 16 and verse 6 um yeah so it says uh ax chapter 16 and verse 6 now when they had gone through frigia and the region of galatia they were forbidden by the holy spirit to preach the word in asia right so so this happens after paul goes to uh in his uh second miss near journey right he goes to derby listra and that's where he um meets timothy right and so paul and sylas they're traveling and they meet and timothy is also taken as part of the team and he gets timothy's gets him circumcised because of the jews and because he's going to be meeting a lot of jews or going into synagogues and so on so and then you know he uh goes on with this journey and then he comes to this region so um so they he would have preached he would have ministered around this time in the region of galatia okay so um so that is something that we see and also uh in chapter 18 verse 23 you know ax chapter 18 and verse 23 uh here also we see um uh galatia being mentioned so it says after he had spent some time there he departed uh that is from antioch he departed from antioch and went over to the region of galatia and frigia in order strengthening all the uh disciples okay so um so this this is something that we see mentioned uh about paul's ministry in this region uh of galatia okay so um so when we look at the background of the people okay um let me just uh let me just project the notes here just one second right you hope you can see that okay so when you see the uh background of the people we see that um they um they were actually known as the Celts or the Gauls they invaded Macedonia and uh and they came to be known as Galagracians okay um so from which the word Galatians originates and also uh we see that this region okay Antioch in Presidia uh there are two Antiochs right one in Syria the one in Presidia uh so the Antioch in Presidia Lystra Iconium Derby so this uh region we see um as uh mentioned as uh Galatia okay so that's um that's what we see here okay right so what when was it written okay it's uh maybe after AD 49 and sometimes historians also say that it could be AD 50 um so around this time AD 49 50 and uh he writes um this particular episode to this region right to the churches in this region and uh the the the thing is this that it could probably be um before the Jerusalem Council you know if you remember remember in Acts chapter 15 we read about the Jerusalem Council where the apostles the other the disciples also meet there in Jerusalem to address an issue of uh there's a issue of uh this teaching which was prevalent what was this teaching teaching was that okay one has to become circumcised in order to um and also follow the law of Moses the customs of Moses um in order to be saved right so this was something that was doing the rounds and so people meet and then they share their experiences um and uh and then uh Paul and Barnabas are there they they talk to them they talk to the people about how God has worked in all these Gentile churches and so on and how they've received Christ so and then the council actually decides okay they say that fine you know we need not we should not actually put this burden of people following the law it's actually false you know like we we should not in order to be saved that people need not actually follow the law and because it's salvation is by grace through faith so they talk about that and they also talk about you know certain things you know like food offered idols and all those things that people should avoid and and then they write a letter so so probably it was before this that Paul writes this letter to the Galatians because he you know if you look at Galatians the first couple of chapters he talks about how many times he went to Jerusalem and what he actually um accomplished or whom he met in great detail okay so uh we see that here uh he does not actually mention about this Jerusalem council so probably it this this council happened after that okay um or uh you know oh sorry he wrote the letter to the Galatians before that anyway so we we're not very sure right so um so so that is something that we see here okay and from where did he write the episode to the Galatians well he probably um you know wrote it either from the Antioch of Syria or Ephesus or maybe on his way to Jerusalem so that also is not very very conclusive okay so that is what we see here okay so let's look into um um um the first chapter let's read through the first chapter and and then go verse by verse okay okay so let's um let's read the first few verses of Galatians first chapter right okay 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 do 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 okay verse six 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 accursed as we have said before so I 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 born servant of Christ okay so verse one Paul very clearly says an apostle not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the father who raised him from the dead so Paul is talking about his apostleship and how he became an apostle so he says it's not through men it's not through somebody's not through you know some it was not through natural means it's not because somebody invited him somebody spoke to him and told him yes you know this is who we were and it's it's definitely not from any of that but he says the call was from the Lord Jesus right but through Jesus Christ and God the father who raised him from the dead okay so here also is declaring that about the risen Lord the reality of the risen Lord the risen Lord is the one so it's not some historical Jesus it's not a Jesus who was you know it's not talking about the Jesus who was spent some time who was a good man and he died and is no more you know he's not talking about that but he's saying that this risen Lord and he's the one who called right and and God the father through Jesus Christ and God the father who raised him from the dead so the reality of resurrection and the reality of the call to be the apostle which came from the risen Lord okay so and and then he says and all the brethren who are with me so then he goes on he's talking about his team and then verse two you see and all brethren who are with me to the churches of Galatia so this this region that we saw in the map you know to these churches he's writing this this letter right to all the churches in Galatia it's not just you know one body one or one place but several places and several places where people are where the churches are gathered okay verse three grace to you and peace from God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ this is we've seen before in the in Corinthians that you know is a typical way by which Paul greeted the church and and several places right in all the other epistles also we see while using this familiar greeting grace to you and peace from God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ so so Paul was very much aware and where he is and also had experienced the grace of God and he wanted others also to experience the same right he wanted others to experience the grace of God and if you look at Paul's life he really experienced the grace of God in a very rich manner right and of course what is the grace of God you know the grace of God you know we can look at it as several aspects one is that it is something that we do not deserve right grace something that we do not deserve it's unmerited favor grace is also you know the gifts it's a it's a gift that is given it is something that is given freely so that is the second aspect of it the thing is also that grace is also divine enablement or empowerment right it's it's it's some divine enablement which means that it comes from God comes from him and it grace enables us right empowers us to live the way he wants us to live and also grace we see is is a divine virtue right we divine character so we see all this so he's saying you know may you experience this grace and walk in this grace grace to you and peace from God the father so here just one second please and peace from God I'm just looking at the word so literally it means quietness and also it means a rest it also means prosperity or something that you thrive in prosperity that you prosper in right so Paul mentions all that and says okay may you need to you know I'm just declaring this over you grace and peace from God the father and from the Lord Jesus Christ and verse four we see Paul mentioning about the Lord 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 okay so the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself he directly you know immediately goes on to to talk about the purpose he's talked about the you know the the purpose of the coming of Christ right so immediately goes into that and this is what he did he who delivered that he gave himself for our sins so that was a big problem the problem of sin sin separating us from God sin taking us to a destiny away from God and sin preventing us from living a life that God wants here on earth so so he says you know who gave himself for our sins the Lord Jesus gave himself for our sins the reason he gave himself for our sins is this that he might deliver us that he might actually free us and set us free liberate us from this present evil age and and that also is the will of God okay that he might deliver us from the present evil age and the word used there eon okay from which it means a time period right it means an age a time period and so God the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself to deliver us from this evil time period or evil season that he might set us free from that okay from the bonds of that right and according to the will of God the Father to whom be glory forever and ever okay so excuse me sorry then from verse six that he he actually goes on from verse six that is going to be the you know the is actual topic and he's going to address it you know in the rest of the chapters also right so this is this was the main thing this was the main problem okay so that is what we see here verse six I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ okay so he's saying I'm I marvel I'm surprised that you are turning away okay and the word use there marvel it means that you know I wonder you know almost like in admiration I'm I'm wondering you know how did this happen okay so saying I marvel that you are turning away so soon from this gospel of grace that you're that from him you know turning away so soon sorry he says from him from the Lord Jesus who called you in the grace of Christ you are in fact so what he's saying is that when you're turning away from what was the the truth that was preached they are actually turning away from Christ from the person of Christ himself right so let's look at you know the following verses will will will actually show us what they are turning away from in what way what did they do in their believing what did they you know what did they actually do that all says that you're turning away from Christ you're actually turning away from the person of Christ okay so to saying you're turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ now this call this invitation is is from a place of again from a place of grace it called you in the grace of Christ so it is not about you your performance it's not about you meeting certain conditions and therefore you are invited it is not because you have achieved certain things that you are invited to this you know you have been called and you are invited it's it's from a place of grace and it's not because of anything you have your achievements or your performance or keeping certain things and not keeping certain things you know it's not that it is who called you in the grace of Christ okay so you say you turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel you're turning away to a different gospel and you know the word gospel use the you angle you on which means good news so you're turning away from this good news it is I mean turning away from the person and it's a it's a different gospel okay verse seven which is not another but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ okay so his point is that it is not actually another gospel you know you can't even put it in the same category as the gospel of Christ okay so which is it is not another it is it is in fact it is it is not good news at all okay so gospel means good news and so he's saying you know you're turning away to a different gospel in the previous verse but then he says in fact it is not it is not another gospel it is not another because it is not good news at all it is nowhere in comparison to the gospel of Christ okay so saying there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ now this is this is why they have come and preach this and but you have actually you are so quickly turning away and receiving the other so-called gospel or so-called good news right so and this is this comes from those who want to trouble you and those who want to pervert the gospel of Christ okay which means corrupt the gospel of Christ okay so so he's saying that so this comes from a people who want to trouble you okay and whose reason is that they want to you know they want to agitate you know they want to trouble you you know it does not come from a good motive right so it has been given to you it has been shared to you from those who do not who have not shared with a good motive you know if they want to trouble you they want to agitate you and they have brought this to you and it is not another gospel it is nowhere good news and it comes from those who want to trouble you it comes from those who want to whose objective is to pervert or corrupt the gospel of Christ okay so so which brings us to that question so what is the gospel of Christ right so we know that the gospel of the Lord Jesus the good news is it's the power of God for salvation right it is it is something that is to be received it is given in grace which is to be received by faith right it is the like in Romans chapter one we see Paul saying that it is the power of God for salvation right it is the power of God for salvation and let's look at that verse Romans chapter one and verse 16 when he says that he's not ashamed of this gospel of Christ the good news of the cry of Jesus Christ and good news of this messiah right it is the power of God first of all it is the power of God to salvation it is the power of God to save someone for everyone who believes and it's for all for the Jews and for the Greeks it is the power of God power of God to break the power of sin power of God to save to bring a person from the clutches of sin into life right it into which brings that person into salvation it is the power of God this gospel of Christ so he says you know this what has been shared is in no way that it is no way compared to that you can't even compare as so it is it is first of all it is not the good news secondly it is it has been given to you with the wrong motive which means that they don't they just want to trouble you and they want to corrupt the gospel of Christ okay then verse eight okay so and then this is you know this is a very powerful verse because he says but even if we okay so call or anyone from the team okay even if we or an angel from heaven okay so we know that angels are you know ministering spirits and they are messengers you know we read in Hebrews and they are given to minister to those who inherit salvation which is you know us believers they they do minister but he's saying you know that even if we you know who have been ministering suddenly if you come with a different gospel okay even if we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you okay if there's any other gospel apart from this gospel of Christ that we have preached okay now he says the second part of it let him be accursed or let him be brought to ruin okay and that word occurs that you know the Greek word is anathema okay let him be separated from God let him you know so it's a very strong thing that he's actually wishing the other person right let him whoever does this letter anathema which means that let them be you know let him be separated excommunicated let them be you know let them be brought to ruin so it's a broad you know in the sense brought to destruction so it's not it's not a very nice thing but the reason Paul says is that that news or a corrupted gospel will corrupt a person right the corrupted gospel is is able to when a person receives that and lives by that it is not the power of God it is not the truth therefore you know it is not the power of God in operation in their lives so they miss out on the grace of God it is it becomes something else right so if a person is doing that let them be brought to destruction let them be doomed to destruction let them be separated let them be excommunicated you know let them be accursed okay and we know that a curse is a reverse blessing right a blessing from God all the good things and a curse is all the negative things so he's saying you know let them let those negative things be in their life and let them be separated let them be brought to destruction because they've you know they are troubling and they are corrupting the gospel okay so very strong words so the reason again is this because he believes he has experience he believes in the gospel of Christ he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ he has shared the gospel of Christ because of which you know the people who are the churches at Galesh have received Christ and experienced the power of God right they've experienced salvation and therefore they should not turn away he's warning them very strictly in you know he's so in very blatant of he's warning them saying you cannot turn away from this because when you turn away from this gospel you are actually turning away from Christ and you're turning away from the person of Christ and and and this is this is this is a serious matter okay it is because maybe the people did not realize it was such a serious matter okay maybe the church maybe the believers did not realize that oh here's something that we have heard something new that we have heard okay let's let's move into this or you know something and so so he's saying you know it's it's a it's a very serious thing okay verse 9 again 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 occurs so the person the messenger of the gospel let them be let them be brought to ruin brought to this destruction so you mentioned that twice verse 10 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 bond servant of Christ so say saying now you know in this ministry whom do I persuade who am I persuading you know with this preaching with all this with all these you know persecutions with all these trials who am I persuading right I I endure this I go through this and everywhere when this gospel is preached you know there is there is persecution there is you know ridicule and everything hatred so you know I'm not seeking the favor of or I'm not seeking to please men and I'm not saying some things just to please people it is the truth and it and because I'm preaching the truth you know there is so much of persecution there is so much of attack there is so much of difficulties that I'm going through okay so you you must you must understand that I'm still continuing to do this despite all this because it is the truth okay the thing is this that you know I mean when we he goes on to you know talk about the car the gospel that he is preaching the nature of the gospel that he's preaching he's going to talk about that but you know but the thing is this now we know from the from the later chapters that is chapters like chapter 3 and so on that it was a call to return to the law the other message that the other other the Jewish people were Judea people who were following you know Judaism what they had preached to these churches where it was actually an invitation to go back to the law to go back to the customs traditions of the law to go back to be circumcised to go back to you know keeping the traditions in the law so it was an invitation to go back to that right now the thing is when the gospel was preached there was a lot of attack from the from the Jewish people right wherever he went in priests there was attack of course they were they were attacked from the non-Jewish people you know from the Gentiles who were who were actually you know like we read about them they they felt that okay they are their profit to us being cut off because people were people would stop going to the other places to worship but they would come to you know to the to the living god to worship so their means of profit was actually going you know they're going off so there was attacks they were attacks from from them also they were also attacks from the Jewish people who who felt that their importance their prominence was slowly diminishing or would diminish if people left the synagogues if people or if people you know went on to follow the Lord Jesus so so there was a lot of attack from them so Paul is saying you know am I pleasing men right if I still please men then I would not be a born servant of Christ born servant of the Lord Jesus so the thing is that the message that he preached was not inviting people to go back to the law right in fact it is to tell them that salvation does not come by keeping all these laws but salvation okay the law had a purpose but salvation comes when you receive this message of grace and it is the power of God okay so that brought a lot of attack on Paul so he's saying you know when when the others came and preached this new message saying you need to keep that as well you need to keep all the law then definitely you know the Jewish community or the Pharisees they they would have been pleased okay for for the such a message over here is someone who's inviting people to get back to the law get back to be circumcised keep the law and so on so he's saying you know am I pleasing men so that kind of a message would please man which is what you know these people are doing they are bringing this message and you know that would please them there they won't be any persecution because of that message they would not be persecuted they would not be hunted down like I am so he says if I'm preaching something to please man then I would not be a bond servant of Christ in other words he's saying you know they are actually not bond servants of Christ okay okay so then he's goes on to say I would not be a bond okay let's read from verse 11 onwards okay verse 11 and up to 17 okay 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 father'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 and now from 11 onwards to the end of the chapter and even the second chapter the so Paul goes on to say what kind of gospel he received and and how he received it and and also he goes on to talk about what happened after he received what he did after received so we we actually get some you know very valuable information about what happened in Paul's life after he became a believer and then and the gospel right and the gospel that he received okay so this is what he said was 11 I make known to you brethren that the gospel which was preached to me preached by me is not according to man so we know how Paul what happened and we read in the book of Acts what happened and how he became a believer okay we and accept a accept a nine right accept a nine we see we see that encounter that he has with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus right so and he has this encounter he with the Lord he has this he meets with Ananias and he experiences the supernatural touch of God where his blind eyes are opened he is filled with the Holy Spirit and all that happens soon after around this time so it says in verse 20 of Acts chapter 9 immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God he began to preach immediately he began to preach this is what it is he has heard the Lord Jesus speak to him interact with him he experienced the power of the risen Lord you know in his body his eyes were opened physical eyes were opened spiritually now understand receive things he was filled with the Spirit of God he was baptized and so all these things have happened and so verse 20 we see immediately he started preaching the Christ he preached the Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God okay verse 22 says Paul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus proving that this Jesus is the Christ now we know that he was a follows an educated man learned man in the scriptures and he's going to talk about that also you know how he in Judaism he he went far far more advanced that means he did very well he was he learned the things he and he advanced more than his contemporaries many people who were of his who were being trained along with the he excelled right in his understanding and all that so with all that now you know something else happened right he was the spark of the Holy Spirit the revelation of the brought to him by the Lord now he was he began to preach that Jesus is the Christ that Jesus is the Son of God so he began to preach that he began to preach the gospel so he's saying here verse 11 that the gospel that he started preaching okay among the Jews is you know the acts talks about how he confounded confounded meaning they could not say anything in return like they could not argue here they were totally in other words they were they were totally you know dumbfounded they could not say anything his arguments were so powerful what he was teaching you know probably from the Old Testament texts right what he was showing them and relating that to the life of Christ probably the Old Testament prophecies and and you know about the birth of Christ and everything the teaching of Christ they could not say anything in return right they're confounded okay and this message Paul says is not according to man verse 12 for I neither received it from man nor was I taught it but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ now he spent several years training to be a Pharisee okay that was going through the you know the texts and going through the ancient you know going through the Old Testament scriptures and being trained by under Gamaliel and and so on right so so he was trained now this training or this understanding revelation and this training did was not through man this came by the revelation of the Lord Jesus so this was a divine revelation this was God putting that revelation in his spirit so Paul just received that in his spirit and he so convinced he went ahead and preached it right okay so he says I neither received it from man nor was I taught it you know there was nobody to teach me sit down and say okay this is what the Lord Jesus it was a download it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ this is how I received it and and then he goes on to say in verse 13 you know you heard of my former conduct or my lifestyle my behavior in Judaism I'm sure you must have heard of it right because you know in Acts chapter 9 also talks about how all the churches were saying hey this Saul who became Paul this Paul who persecuted the church is now preaching the Christ the very Christ whom he persecuted or the very message that he was against he's preaching that message right so everybody knew by reputation what kind of a person he was so he's saying you heard of my former conduct in Judaism how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure okay it was a you know beyond a certain limit beyond all limits say I persecuted the church you know I arrested the people I troubled them I put them in prison right we read about all that in Acts chapter 8 how he persecuted so I persecuted the church being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers that was the kind of man I was exceedingly zealous very zealous for Judaism very zealous as a Pharisee very zealous for the Old Old Testament teachings very zealous right okay so we'll stop here and then we'll continue with verse 14 verse 14 and verse 15 right okay we'll stop here we'll take a break