The Context of the Controversy

Transcript

GR 2075
02/19/2017
The Context of the Controversy
Galatians 1; Acts 7-14
Gil Rugh

We are going to begin a study of the book of Galatians together this evening so you can turn there in your Bible even though we won’t be concentrating in Galatians but doing some of the background material but just turn there if you would, right after the letters to the Corinthians. So in our Bibles, it is the first of the smaller epistles, Acts, the history that we will be talking about then you come to the book of Romans and then the two large letters to the Corinthians and then the much smaller letter and then into these epistles which are more limited in length compared to Romans and Corinthians but of great importance.

This letter is addressed in verse 1 of Galatians 1, “Paul an apostle not sent from men nor through the agency of men but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead and all the brethren that are with me to the churches of Galatia.” So there is no question about those to whom he is writing. We will talk about this first verse in more of its detail in our next study. We just want to pick up the fact that he is writing to the church of Galatia.

As you are aware it is going to be a very harsh letter. It will begin rather abruptly and it will be firm throughout. Over in chapter 3 of this letter you will note how he begins this chapter, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” So this will be a letter where Paul has to address churches that he established, churches that he visited repeatedly and yet churches that got off track.

Maybe you could put that map up, Steve, the second missionary journey. I didn’t get the maps together but this is the second missionary journey of Paul. What I want to point out to you and you probably can’t see it on that side but that large body of water up here at the top above Bythynia and Pontus, that is the Black Sea so you get an idea. Over here we have Greece, Corinth over here and here is Ephesus and we have been talking about the seven churches and they would be in this region over here. So Galatia gets up and you see it over here. It will come down and around over here, the name of the region over time went through some changes and I wanted to note here some people talk about the northern Galatian theory and the southern Galatian theory. We are not going into all of that but basically if you read the commentary they are talking about was Paul writing to churches up in the northern part of Galatia or churches more down in the southern part of Galatia? It will be assuming we are talking about churches in the southern part of Galatia, churches that are recorded in the book of Acts that Paul established on his first missionary journey, visited again on his second missionary journey, visited again on his third missionary journey, so they become an important part.

So it is one of the churches established here. We will look a little more at those on his first missionary journey. There are a variety of churches so he doesn’t limit it to like the church at Ephesus. We have seen both in his New Testament letter and then the letter from Christ but this is the letter to the churches in these regions and there will be several different cities here in the region or province of Galatia but all the churches will be included in this letter.

I won’t say any more about the north and the south. If you are interested in that background you can go to one of the New Testament introductions or a commentary on Galatians and they will talk about it. If you go to older commentaries they will favor the northern Galatian theory just to warn you because of the later period of time this province was broken down and only the northern part was known as Galatia. That really happened around 237 A.D.

So as some of the earlier commentaries based their commentaries on some of the information in the church fathers when they talk about Galatia, they were just talking about up here but in New Testament times the province of Galatia extended down into what we would call southern Galatia. So more of the modern commentators with that clarifying understanding of the way names changed in time so if you like old writers you may have them talking about northern Galatia but the more modern commentators understanding that there was a break there. Romans changed the breakup in how the area was identified.

Paul said that he came into Galatia. If while you are still in Galatians before we go to Acts over in chapter 4, verse 13 he said that he originally came there bringing the Gospel because he had some kind of illness. Verse 13 of chapter 4: “But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached to you the Gospel the first time.”

Put up that map again, Steve and then we will go to Acts. Paul is going to come across here and into Cypress and then on his first missionary journey, he comes down to Cyprus and then he comes up in this southern region. Many of the commentators think maybe the illness he had was malaria. That would have been a difficult area and compounded in this very low region and when we would have moved up into Galatia, Pamphylia into the region known as Galatia it was getting close to 4,000 feet in elevation. It would have pulled him up out of those low lying regions so that is one of the “guesses” on what maybe one of the bodily regions. And why Paul (there is no reference of his ministry, any ministry when he comes, crossing over from Cyprus but we pick up his ministry when you get up into Galatia. You normally think Paul would have started as soon as he hit land but a bodily illness evidently, whatever it was, necessitated his moving.

What I want to do is overview the book of Acts with you and then look at Paul’s journeys so we come into the book of Galatia with some understanding of Paul’s ministry there and some of the issues that confronted him particularly with the Jews are going to become major issues as he writes to these churches and tries to straighten out issues that have corrupted the churches in this region.

So, just a survey of the book of Acts. Turn back to the book of Acts because this is the history of the early church. It is going to take us basically from the ascension of Christ in chapter 1 with the promise of the Holy Spirit’s coming in chapter 1. Chapter 2 we have the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the church and then something of how the churches developed. When we get to chapter 7 we see major opposition has built to the point that the Jews are going to bring about the martyrdom of Stephen so that is recorded in chapter 7, the first martyr. Also if you come over to chapter 7 we are introduced to the man who will become the major figure in the book of Acts particularly starting in chapter 13. But we are introduced to the apostle Paul at the end of chapter 7, verse 58 “When they had driven him out of the city” referring to Stephen after his “trial” before the governing body of the Jews, they take him out of the city and stone him. “Witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” We will come to know him as Paul. He probably had both names from birth since he was born a Roman citizen, Saul being his Jewish name and Paul would have been his Roman name. He will be more known by the name, Paul, as he carries on the ministries that we are familiar with but he is the same man.

So here you have him introduced and then chapter 8 opens up telling us he becomes a key figure in now the unfolding of intense persecution which is used by God to scatter the church, that was established in Jerusalem, out of those environs carrying it beyond. It is not intended just to be a Jewish church which will take some time to be understood by even those early believing Jews and the early leaders in the church. You know they come out of the Old Testament background, God’s choice of the nation, Israel. We have a Jewish Messiah who has died now they have come to understand as Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost about the coming of the Spirit and of the necessity of the death and resurrection of the Messiah from Old Testament Scriptures. But the Jews didn’t understand the scope and what this meant that God’s work of salvation in the world would no longer center in the nation Israel but would center in the church, no problem there.
The church begins in Acts chapter 2 but that church would not remain Jewish. So under the persecution of Saul, verse 1 of chapter 8 “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen to death” and a great persecution began on that day because the stoning of Stephen now unleashes this persecution against the church in Jerusalem. It becomes necessary for believers to move out from Jerusalem to escape the persecution. The apostles will remain.

You will note at the end of verse 1, “The apostles remain centered in Jerusalem” but believers are now sent out into other places. These are Jewish believers because they are escaping the persecution here. Saul began ravaging the church entering house after house dragging off men and women. He would put them in prison and what happens, verse 4: “Those who had been scattered went about preaching the Word.” So, a reminder, God is sovereign and even this awful intense persecution against these young believers in the early history of the church didn’t frustrate God’s purpose. Even these sinful intentions of fallen men served God’s purpose because now these believers scattered out carried what? The Gospel that they now know to other places and Philip is mentioned here and he goes to Samaria.

Now you see we are starting to move out but not totally moved out because remember the Samaritans are mixed blood Jews. Jews who with the deportations we have in the Old Testament and that of the Northern kingdom, then the Southern kingdom we have Jews who have inter-married as they have been scattered into other places but that is not acceptable to true Jews so the Samaritans are mixed blood like the woman in Samaria in the Gospel of John at the well that Christ confronts and so on. They have developed their own worship center and their own corrupted worship system but Philip brings the Gospel to them and they end up receiving the Holy Spirit and so we have the Gospel reaching out. In chapter 8 we even have someone from Ethiopia that Philip shares the Gospel with and so on.

So you have the salvation of the Samaritans as well as the persecution of Saul in chapter 8. Chapter 9 you see the sovereignty of God intervening in such a direct and dramatic way to bring salvation to Saul. Now you know there are others He could have used, Peter, any of the apostles, pick out one of those and send them out. They weren’t men that weren’t capable and used powerfully by the Lord, but He reaches down to grab hold of this leader of the Jewish persecution, Saul, and we have his conversion recorded in chapter 9. It is one of those chapters that as we move through the history of the church and just noting some of these events in chapter 9 it has to be one of the striking events in this history of the church, the conversion of the one who will be an apostle to the Gentiles. He becomes the key figure in leading the ministry of carrying the Gospel to non-Jewish areas which would include the region of Galatia. That doesn’t mean there won’t be Jews involved in these areas because Jews have been scattered in the diaspora. Remember when Jesus told the Jews in His earthly ministry, I am going to be going and where I am going, you cannot come. They said, “Will He go to the diaspora, the Jews outside the bounds of Palestine and Israel living in Gentile lands?” They will become key contact points for Paul as he carries the Gospel to these Gentile lands and then to the non-Jews.
So the conversion of Saul and what would you think? Saul is converted in chapter 9. He will be the one God has appointed to carry the Gospel to Gentiles but in chapter 10 Peter is the one who God uses first to open the door to the Gentiles.

In chapter 8 we had the salvation of the Samaritans, mixed blood Jews and now chapter 10 we move outside the bounds of the Jews, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the 12 sons of Jacob. These are not of the Jewish race.
Here we have the salvation of Cornelius and this is the first of this carrying the Gospel and Peter goes to the house of Cornelius. You are familiar with the account. After God gives him a vision you realize Peter is not ready to do this. We think, well, you want to carry the Gospel wherever but He has to give him a vision. Remember the sheet with unclean animals and Peter is in that vision told by God, “Get up and eat of these unclean animals.” Peter said, “I don’t do that. I have never eaten anything unclean under Jewish law.” And then finally he is told “What God has cleansed you don’t call unclean.”

You get the picture that the Jews had of the Gentiles. Here we are in Acts chapter 10 and as far as Peter is concerned and this would be characteristic of the other apostles as well the Gentiles are unclean. They are not even fit for potential Gospel hearers but as a result of the supernatural work of God, Peter carries the Gospel to the Gentiles. He presents the simple Gospel to them, the same thing he told the Jews in chapter 2, that results in the beginning of the church. He tells now to Cornelius his household and those that Cornelius has gathered to pack into his house to hear what Peter has to say and Peter walks through the same Gospel that he did in chapter 2 because it is the same Gospel for Jew or Gentile. It is the only Gospel. And the Gentiles believe.

Now chapter 11, the first part of this you get the idea of what is going on in chapter 11. It opens up in Acts, “Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had received the Word of God.” And you think they are celebrating and Peter comes to Jerusalem and the Jews took issue with him. “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. What were you thinking?” So you see the greatness of the change that God was bringing about.

Abraham, God’s chosen one whose descendants would be the chosen nation, these 2,000 years before Christ. In 2,000 years God’s work in the world centered in the Jewish people. There is no evangelism program in the Old Testament, no missionary program. I know Jonah went to Nineveh. But there even is in a context of God’s plan for Israel, the judgment He was going to bring on the nation and, if you will, the delaying of that judgment which Jonah fully understood and he’s not happy when those Gentiles responded to his message.

So now we come to the death and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah but even these Jewish believers who followed Christ during His earthly ministry would be key, Peter and these other leaders. The idea that you would go and be with Gentiles. They are the dirty, unclean ones and their cleansing would come through what? First converting to Judaism, God is doing a new thing. It is not centered in the nation of Israel any longer.

So this confrontation and he began we are told in verse 4 “He began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence.” So he walks them through. What happened? The vision God had given him, how clearly God told him he had to go to the Gentiles. So Peter is saying, “I wasn’t, I didn’t do this on my own initiative and then I went and I presented the Gospel to them and then the Holy Spirit came upon them like He did on us” in Acts chapter 2. It is important to see the connection that it is the same Gospel and the same coming of the Spirit with the same result so there is no question. You will note, verse 17:”Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ who was I that I could stand in God’s way? God made clear to me, I had to go, what I had to tell them, God poured out the Spirit on them as they believed in their heart. You think I can stand in God’s way’ and when they heard this they quieted down and glorified God and said, ‘Well then,’” and you ought to have this underlined in your Bible, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” I mean this is a shocking, dramatic revelation and understanding to the Jewish leaders in the new church, Peter and others. God has granted to the Gentiles repentance.

There were Gentiles saved in the Old Testament but they in effect become converts to Judaism. Now salvation is occurring outside the context of Judaism.

So at the end of chapter 11 now with that we are ready to make the transition to Paul and his ministry. We had his conversion in chapter 9, the clarity that the Gospel will now be carried to Gentiles as well as Jews so that at the end of chapter 11 we are introduced to Paul and Barnabas being together at Antioch and they heard what happened.

In verse 19 some of them who were scattered as a result of the persecution and stoning of Stephen came to these regions including Antioch and at the end of verse 19 you see they were speaking the Word to no one but Jews alone because again it takes time for these pieces to get put together.

So those who have been scattered outside of Jerusalem didn’t know necessarily what had happened with Peter at Joppa and then the understanding that came to the leaders of the church centered in Jerusalem but then they come. They are preaching, the Word is carried out. A number believe so the church when they hear in Jerusalem they send Barnabas up. Barnabas goes up. We are told he is there to confirm that these people had responded to salvation in Christ and the grace God has provided. He is identified in verse 24 as a “Good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith. He left for Tarsus to look for Saul.”

So why don’t you put that map up again Steve so we know where we are. He is over here at Tarsus and he is going from here to Antioch over to look for Saul. The Saul is the Saul of Tarsus. He knows about his conversion and that. Then we are ready for the transition. Paul and Barnabas are together here.

In chapter 12 you have recorded the death of Herod Agrippa. That helps us date what is going on. With an historical character like Herod Agrippa, the 1st, he died in 44 A.D. So we know where we are in time here. You know you have some of these events that help us know specifically where we are. That is recorded down in verses 20 and following. Remember he got all dressed up and the people declared “It is not the voice of a man. It is the voice of God.” And in verse 23 of Acts 12 “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he didn’t give God the glory. He was eaten by worms and died.” You know God doesn’t have to figure out, what should I do? Maybe I will give him a disease. It will probably take ten years but he’s gone. No, God wants him to go. He will go quickly and very, very unpleasantly. Then you see the contrast. He was eaten by worms and died but the Word of the Lord continued to grow and be multiplied. Now it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes we are tempted to pray that way but you know we are reminded – God is sovereign and even powerful men will not keep the Word of God from accomplishing the purposes.

So we have Paul and Barnabas and they have gone to Jerusalem and take money there to help. Now they return to Antioch, the last verse here of chapter 12 and John Mark is with him. Now we are ready for the first missionary journey. So where we are going is chapters 13 and 14, they will take us through the first missionary journey. Chapter 15 will have the conference at Jerusalem to settle something of the relationship of the law and the Gospel of Christ. Chapters 16-18 will have the second missionary journey of Paul. Chapters 18- 21, there is overlap in chapter 18 will end the second missionary journey and then start the third missionary journey and that will go from chapter 18-21. And then chapters 21-28 some call it the fourth missionary journey but it is Paul’s journey to Rome where he will suffer his first Roman imprisonment. There, an overview of the book of Acts.

Let’s just look at some of the highlights here. We are in chapter 13 of Acts and want to concentrate on what happens in these churches in Galatia which will prepare us. Then they are going to be among the first to be confronted as Paul, the missionary to the Gentiles, launches out, going the opposite direction from Jerusalem to Gentile parts of the world. So the first three verses: they were at Antioch, we are at Antioch down here, sometimes called Syrian Antioch but there is an Antioch over here called Pisidian Antioch. Just like we have often the same names, cities in different places so sometimes we will talk about Syrian Antioch because we are over here at Syria. You can see Damascus. This is where Paul is starting out from on his journeys and then there is an Antioch over here, Pisidian Antioch so don’t get them confused when you read.

So they are at Antioch in the church that is there. There are prophets and teachers, the Spirit of God moves them, verse 2: “Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So they set them apart, pray and fast, send them on their way. We begin the first missionary journey of the apostle Paul.

Now really the first missionary journey is going to come down here and into Galatia so this will be the first place to hear. It is fitting that they come here because Barnabas is from Cyprus. He is a Cyprian according to Acts chapter 4 so they are going back to the region where Barnabas was originally from. They will carry the Gospel there but then into the Galatian regions and they will be the ones that we will be concentrating on and get the Scripture written to them.
So they take off. They sail to here. They will go across the island and we note some of the events that happened here as they preach. They have an effective ministry here. We are not passing over because it is an ineffective ministry. It is effective but we don’t have the emphasis on establishing churches and the letters that will be written there.

In Acts chapter 4, verse 36 where Barnabas is identified as being from Cyprus and they are going to work their way across the island here and then they will take off by ship and come up here, Perga and we will mention that in just a moment. They are going to embark from ship after their ministry here at Perga and an event takes place here that will become significant and John Mark decides “I think I am going home.” So he decides not to continue the trip and that is going to cause some difficulty as they later will come up, it is in chapter 13, verse 13 “Paul and his companions put out to see from Paphos and that is over here on this side of the island to come up to Perga” which is up here. You have some of this that is on the map in your newsletter. You get the island of Cyprus there, you don’t have Perga. You don’t have all of it because this was for the seven churches but you can see where Perga is and then you can see up above that where Antioch is on that map as you have in the newsletter. John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. This was not a happy parting and it will cause problems later.

Turn over to chapter 15. When it comes time for the second missionary journey there is a disagreement with Paul and Barnabas which will result in them parting ways and we are told why, verse 38: Paul kept insisting (Barnabas wanted to take John called Mark along with them). “Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had” (strong statement here) “deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with t hem to the work.” And you will see it is Perga here but it is in the province or region of Pamphylia. Paul says we can’t take him. He can’t be trusted. He bailed out on us. You can see the difficulty. We are told that it was an illness that caused Paul to move on up into the region of Galatia and it may have been a combination of circumstances of the difficulties and some of the opposition and that they had already experienced and then Paul is sick. This is a good time to catch a ship back home because if we are going up here and there are no ships up here so I can get a ship and head back home. So that is what he does. This is going to be such a strong disagreement Barnabas will take Mark, who is his cousin, and go a different way. Paul then will take a new travelling companion. You are familiar with that.

So back in chapter 13 here you have Paul’s ministry. Verse 14, 15 will talk about his ministry in Pisidian Antioch. It is on the very close proximity to Pisidia. That is where we have recorded his ministry that takes place in verse 14 of Acts 13. “But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue.”

Now Paul is going to be the apostle to the Gentiles but you remember how he begins. He begins with a place of contact and at the synagogue he will find Jews. At the synagogue he will also find Gentiles who had converted to Judaism. So there is a point of contact here because he can present to them the Old Testament Scriptures concerning Christ and show Him to be the prophesied Messiah. So it is a, if you will, a logical starting place and it is not that he is going to carry the Gospel to Gentiles but it is, he comes into a new city. Where to start? Well, I am a Jew, saturated with Jewish Scriptures. I will go to the synagogue where there are Jews and Gentiles that converted to Judaism and there as a Jewish teacher I will have opportunity to open the discussion. So that becomes his pattern. We will see a break as you move along.
As I noted there is no record of ministry down here in Perga. So he travels all the way up here from Perga you would think maybe he would have concentrated his ministry. Maybe it was his illness that kept him from doing that as we noted.

So you have his sermon preached here. It is great to read through these sermons because they tell you how Paul presented the Gospel. We find it is the same way that we present the Gospel. Here he is in this new area. He presents them the truth of the Gospel down in verse 26. He has shown how Christ fulfills Old Testament Scripture and He is the descendant down through David and he references Old Testament Scriptures and then verse 23: “From the descendants of this man David, according to promise God has brought forth to Israel a Savior, Jesus” and John proclaimed His coming, referring to John the Baptist in who was recognized among the Jews as a prophet you remember even though his message was rejected by the nation and down he keeps going. You come to verse 26: “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God.” Who he is addressing, the God fearers who are Gentile converts as well as the physical descendants of Abraham. “To us the message of this salvation has been sent.” Again what happened in Jerusalem? The leaders who should have received Him rejected Him.
Verse 28, they didn’t find any ground to have Him executed but they requested Pilate to do it. Now you note they went ahead and stoned Stephen to death. In certain cases the Romans allowed the Jews because the Romans didn’t care about these religious conflicts. If it keeps peace, and they stone a fellow Jew they didn’t like, well we are not going to make an issue of that but here with Christ in the part of God’s plan He is not going to be stoned. He has to die the death of a criminal under Roman law, crucifixion.

So they ask Pilate that He be executed, verse 29: “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him.” Note how he is telling them, “All that was written concerning Him.” Reminding him that Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture. “They took Him down from the cross, laid Him in a tomb. God raised Him from the dead,” the simple Gospel truth. Now he knows the Old Testament Scriptures. He can tell these Jews and Gentiles who had converted, He is the One who fulfills the Scripture and He appeared for many days. So we have eye witnesses and thus what? Verse 32: “We preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers” and on he goes with this message. He warns them at the end of this message that there are consequences for not believing it. Verse 41 he quotes the Old Testament: “Behold you scoffers and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.” He just warned them in verse 40. That is why he quotes that verse from the prophets. You be careful. The things from the prophets, your prophets warned you would come upon you if you don’t believe. Some of the people wanted them to continue this ministry. On the next Sabbath day and on the next Sabbath day when they met together the Jews you know are stirring up opposition. They have time now. They have a week to work. It doesn’t mean Paul wasn’t doing personal things but as far as the formal crowd at the Synagogue now there is opposition stirred up and you’ve got the whole city on the Sabbath day ready because word spreads, the Spirit of God is working. “The Jews saw the crowds, they are filled with jealousy, and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.” Note verse 46: “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, ‘It was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you first,’” to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. “Since you repudiate it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” That doesn’t mean Paul won’t go to Jewish synagogues. Now he understands. You don’t have to and he is making clear to these people so they understand. We don’t have to come. It was important that you get to hear it first but things have changed. Salvation now doesn’t come through the Jews. It comes through a Jewish Messiah but it is not like it was. We can go to the Gentiles and bypass you. You have judged yourselves unworthy.

So he quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures: “I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the end of the earth.” So now we are going beyond the bounds of Judaism. The Gentiles are excited who heard this. Look at the end of verse 48: “As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” Here you have a connection of the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God. In verse 46, the end of the verse: “Since you repudiate the Word of God and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life,” it is their responsibility but it is the sovereignty of God that He has appointed some to eternal life and they are the ones who believed. But the Jews incite the devote women, nothing changed. Get the women upset, there is trouble. We are not going anywhere with that. I am just reading verse 50. “The Jews incited the devout women and the leading men of the city.” They are driven out so they go to the next city. They are going over to Iconium. I can’t see from this angle, is this Iconium down there? And you can see he is going down and he is going to present the Gospel. These are the churches he will be writing to later so he has ministry then. You come into chapter 14. “In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews, a number believed, both Jews and Greeks.” Again, often they would be proselytes to Judaism, Gentiles who now are hearing and they are especially perceptive because they are always second class in Israel because you know, you are not a full Jew. We are glad to have you converted to Judaism but you are not Jewish in the sense but here they become ready. Immediately the Jews stir up opposition so Paul’s ministry is to the Gentiles as well.

Then he goes to Lystra down in verse 8 and he heals a lame man. This man had been born with this deformity, an inability to walk and he is miraculously healed and the fickle people they like miracles so everybody is ready to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods but then before we are done Paul is stoned and left for dead. The crowds are swayed.

So you have this conflict going on. What happens then when Paul is done on the first missionary journey here coming down. He will go back and he will retrace his steps. So he goes back, verse 21: “After they had preached the Gospel to that city and had made many disciples they returned to Lystra at Iconium to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith saying, ‘through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom.’ They appointed elders for them in all the churches.” So then they come down through Pisidia and into Pamphylia. They spoke the word in Perga. They come down and then they are going to come back to Antioch.

Then in chapter 15 you will have the conference because you see what happens. You have many Jews that get saved on this first missionary journey. They are in churches in these regions. That is key because we are going to have a major problem in the letter to the churches at Galatia was, “how does the law relate to the message of the Gospel?” You see the issue it is because as Gentiles are getting saved this confusion is there because the Jews, even Jews who have professed faith, are hanging on to the Mosaic Law. Well that is the Word of God. Do we just discard it? What do we do? So you have the Jerusalem conference to resolve this issue in chapter 15 and then Paul is going to do his second missionary journey. This is the second missionary journey I believe we have up here isn’t it Steve? So you see what Paul does here. Before he came this way and up into Galatia now he is going to go over and travel through the region of Galatia again but he won’t be allowed to go into Ephesus and thus Asia Minor. Remember the Holy Spirit directs him so he comes over and crosses in and comes up to Philippi, the man from Macedonia, “Come over and help us” while the Spirit was preventing him from coming here not that God was not going to minister here. Paul will, but on this occasion so he comes down and comes around like this. So you see on the second missionary journey they have got it laid out here however he goes. He is going back through this region of Galatia and the churches.

You have the third map there just to give us an overview. You can see on the third missionary journey he does basically the same thing although he will be going to Ephesus here then and ministering. The Spirit doesn’t hold him back, directing the timing. The timing wasn’t for Ephesus at that time. But you see now these churches here get a third visit, a fourth visit really because on the first missionary journey Paul went through then visited them on the way back through, then visited them on the second missionary journey, then visited them on the third missionary journey and then he returns back.

So that is a little bit of the background here and he strengthens, he encourages these churches. He appoints elders. He reminds them that it is through many tribulations we will enter the kingdom. They are not in the kingdom. The kingdom hasn’t begun. We are not in the kingdom yet so a good reminder. It is going to be a time of conflict, difficulty. You know what happens? When God chose Israel as the nations for Himself the devil marshalls his forces what, to attack Israel, from within and from without.

God establishes the churches as the center of His work of salvation in the world today. Where do you think Satan is attacking, the churches. He has to destroy them from within and without and that is what is going to happen in these churches in Galatia. The opposition that arose to the preaching of the Gospel doesn’t go away so when we start now looking into the letter that Paul wrote to these churches you know what? Satan is going to be attacking them from within, more destructive. He has successfully infiltrated among these churches to the point now that the Gospel that Paul preached there has been corrupted, distorted and now their whole issue not only of salvation by grace but the work of sanctification and how the Christian life is to be led. We think well now, we have to give up. Those people got saved, they have a church. Well we will move on to other places. He is not moving because he already has the world. The battle is with the people of God. So as we come to a situation at the churches in Ephesus we will see that this conflict we see here, the Gospel is presented. There will be Jews who oppose it and they are the best disposers because they are the ones who know the Old Testament that can bring a veneer of added knowledge and understanding and something that will seem reasonable and logical and when Paul writes to the Galatians it is not a nice letter in the sense of being warm. He is going to start right off by declaring “cursed to hell is everyone who has made a change in the Gospel that I preach and I don’t care if it is an angel from heaven.” So serious things even as the churches were started at the beginning of this outreach to the Gentiles.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the riches of Your Word and it is Your grace, Your sovereign power that has brought the purity of the Gospel down over these 2,000 years so that we would be able to hear and believe that Gospel. Lord, even though there are many tribulations for your people, troubles and battles and tribulations for the churches yet You are the all-powerful God and You cannot be defeated. Heaven and earth will pass away but Your Word will not pass away. Lord, even as we embark on a study of this letter to these churches, so important, so precious but so confused, Lord, we want to see ourselves in light of Your truth to make sure we are faithful and the Gospel is maintained in its purity. Thank You for the testimonies we have heard this evening as a reminder that faith in the Gospel cleanses from all sin, makes new and provides for a life of a relationship with You. Bless our ministry for You in the days ahead we pray in Christ’s name, amen.