Paul’s Letter to the Gauls (Galatians) – Intro

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John should all be combined into one book, a synoptic, so you don’t have to reread the story over and over with all the verses; not a word left out. That’s the first thing we should do. When you get through that, then Acts should be hooked right on to it, right up to the point where the book of Galatians is written. Then we ought to have the book of Galatians, followed by the rest of Acts, up to 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Thessalonians, and so on. I’ll come back to that later, but anyway, that’s the way we should be able to read our book. We’d get a lot more out of it. Now, if you got a couple of hundred thousand dollars, produce us a New Testament that way, would you? Shouldn’t take over 10 or 15 years of hard work.

Why am I doing this? Because their problem is your problem. What they were being told is absolutely astounding. What you’re going to hear is absolutely astounding. It’s an incredible gospel they were being exposed to. That’s one thing. The second one is, I would like for you, because there are a few little peaks, I’d like for you to see church life as it is first revealed to us. There are only two or three verses in Galatians that tell us what the church was like and what it did, but we should look at that.

Alright, now then, I’m going to give you a little background tonight on this book as to what brought it into existence, but at any time you want to ask me a question, please do so. I am very informal, and I would like for you to be very informal. If you need to ask a question, please do so. I want to repeat myself. This is the last time I’m ever going to speak on the book of Galatians. I’ve done it once. This is my second time, but I want to tell you something else before I start: that Galatians has been a hobby of mine ever since I got converted. It’s because it was the oldest or the newest – the first book ever written to Christians, and it’s always fascinated me. I guess I’ve rarely, if ever, gone into a bookstore, but I’ve gone over to the section on books of the Bible to see if there was a book on Galatians I’d never seen before. I used to collect them; I still have four or five of them. In fact, I’ve got them with me. I’ve had a lot more.

Every time I ever read about what’s a good book to read on Galatians, somebody always starts with Lightfoot. I want to save you $20. Lightfoot is an excellent book for somebody who can read Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Arabic, Latin, Sanskrit, and hieroglyphics. The entire book is just covered from one end to the other with little foreign letters, and his sentences are about that long. Actually, you’d get a lot more nourishment out of eating sand than reading that book. I have been really disappointed with commentaries. Theologians get taught a certain way in seminary, and they kind of go that way the rest of their lives, and you get very little from most, if not all, commentaries on books of the Bible. Does anybody want to agree with those who have had some experience with it? You do? Have you purchased the right to…or have you gone to Bible school? You’ve been a seminary; gee, my deepest sympathy, dear.

We’re going to learn about the book of Galatians this week. It’s going to be pretty thorough, pretty complete. It’ll be the best thing that’s ever been done in the book of Galatians. In fact, after this week, there will never be another book published on it, forever. No more sermons preached on it. Everybody, from henceforth and forever more, will say, “Just read what Gene said about it.” Except for Lightfoot. I’m a little concerned that more people didn’t laugh when I said that. Seriously. That’s Edwardian humor, not to be taken seriously.

There was a tragedy that brought forth this book. I’m going to tell you the story, and I’m dead serious. I worked for years on trying to put this story together in such a way that it could clearly and easily be seen and heard. So, what I’m going to tell you in the background here is a story that’s very rarely understood. Are you ready? Are you comfortable? Won’t you stand up for 10 seconds? I don’t want you to get tired, and I don’t want you to get sleepy.

They leave Antioch, called by God to go to the gentile heathen. They go across Cyprus; they’re there for about a month. This is an island in the Mediterranean, and they’re very disappointed. They catch a boat bound due north for what’s going to end up for them in Galatia. You’ll find out in the book, not in the Bible, but in the book, they have a shipwreck. They’re involved in a shipwreck. Now, I can’t prove it happened, but I’m sure it did. They get off a rescue ship that rescued them. They get off in Pamphylia in a town called Attalia. They’re very ill; Paul, especially, is extremely sick. He’s been out in the water for a day and a night. Mark is very sick because he’s been out in the water for a day and a night. Barnabas fared much better.

Anyway, they go north. John Mark thinks he’s dying. He’s spitting up blood. He goes back home to Jerusalem; we won’t see him for many years. Barnabas and Paul head north. They come to a town called Antioch. They left the town called Antioch; they go to another town called Antioch, but it’s many, many miles away in the land of the Gauls. This is called Antioch of the Pisidians. They preach the gospel there for four months before they’re chased out of town. You got converted while he was there. Then they went on up to Lystra, raised up another church, not quite as big as this one, went on up to Derbe, Iconium, and probably even a smaller church. They were about four months in each of these places. Finally, they go to Derbe, which had to be a little church because the town was nothing much more than a village. This has taken them two years. Two years, four churches, approximately four months a piece, the rest of the time is lost in traveling. Okay? You can’t raise a church up in four months. Ask any missionary who’s ever gone to Africa; it can’t be done. Ask any Christian who has been preaching as a minister…who’s been preaching in the same pulpit for 30 years, and he’s getting nowhere. You can’t raise up a church in four months, especially among heathens who have never even heard the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who can’t read, who can’t write, and are so immoral. Now, I want you to get really clear. You are a very immoral people. Are you clear? Your morals are loose; your concepts of good and bad are loose. It would seem that if anyone needed some straightening up on morality, it would be you. You are a pain when it comes to morals.

Then, after four months, Paul and Barnabas leave you. So that means for 18 months, they are gone. You do pretty well for 18 months, considering what a lousy bunch of people you are. This group has no sense of humor, Gene. Let’s stop right here, right now. This is never going to work. I want you to say hello to me, will you? Just say hello. Let me hear you say, “Praise the Lord.” Let me hear you say, “Amen.” Alright, now, can you say hallelujah? A little better. Praise the Lord. That’s good. You can talk. Good. I want you to talk to me. If you can’t do anything else, say amen. Laugh when I say something ridiculous. It will help me understand that you are not taking me seriously. It will terrify me if otherwise. You’re a lousy bunch of people. Alright, good. That’s better. No, your moral fiber is very poor. You’re illiterate…you have come…you’ve been a rural people throughout generations and centuries.

Now, at the end of 18 months, Paul and Barnabas sneak back through. They’ve been outlawed in your particular town, and they ordain some elders. Now, those elders are not going to run your life, and they’re not going to be the ones who preach all the time; that was all settled in your early birth. You are a functioning body of people. You don’t have pastors; those kinds of concepts don’t exist. The meetings are carried on by you. The meetings are totally in your charge. That happened long before the elders came into your meeting, 18 months afterward, and these elders are there to take care of other matters. They’re not there to preach you to death. Barnabas and Paul leave. They go home for about a year, and they rest. You, in turn, are hanging on for dear life. Are you with me? You have got this little church, and I don’t mean a building. I mean, you’re an ekklesia. You’re a fellowship. You’re a gathering. Paul and Barnabas go home. They’ve been home for about a year.

It’s been 20 years since Pentecost. Simon Peter finally does what the Lord told him to do 20 years ago: get out of Israel and go preach to the ends of the earth. He makes it; he makes it 200 miles up to Antioch. Well, the Antioch church…now this is a big church. This is down in Syria. This is not Antioch Pisidia. This is not you. This is a different part of the world altogether. The other Antioch, where they came from. Big church, several thousand people. They’re really excited that Simon Peter’s coming. So, Simon Peter comes, and everybody gathers out in the big garden, out on the edge of the city. Peter preaches to them and asks everyone who wants to, who’s sick, to come forward to be healed. Well, they’re heathen. There are all kinds of people. They’re Romans, Jews, everything. Peter, I don’t know what Peter’s doing, and I don’t know if he’s doing it the way the Pentecostals do it or what he does, but lots of people are getting healed, and a lot of people are getting saved, and a lot of miracles, all sorts of things. And boy, everybody’s revved up about Peter because Peter has power.

I don’t know how Paul is taking this. Barnabas and he raised that church up, but I think if there’s an ounce of humanity in Paul, he’s a little…something…I don’t know what…we won’t use any derogatory words. Well, later, when Paul writes the letter to the Galatians, his first chapter is spent straightening out two stories. He’s setting the record straight in chapter one. So, I don’t want to tell you a whole lot at this point about what happened in Antioch. I’ll tell you when we open the book, but something happened in Antioch that the people in Pisidia will hear about later. They’re going to get a very twisted view of it. I will tell you this: some Jewish Christians from Jerusalem came in while Peter was there. My strongest impression is that, for some reason, Paul left town or missed some meetings there for about a week. In the book that you’re going to read, I have him leaving town for a week. Simon Peter has been preaching. These Jews have come up. Paul and Barnabas have met them. They’re all Christians. Everything’s going fine. It’s some wonderful meetings; it’s sort of like a revival…dinner on the grounds, those kinds of things.