How the Persecutor Turned Into a Preacher [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. If God would build the church through the preaching of a man who used to hate the church, what transformations might still be in store for you and for me?

There's nothing that's too difficult for God. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Galatians as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month made to Alan Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, you can go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. My favorite story I saw this week was of a little boy who was a kindergartner and he kept telling his kindergarten teacher how excited he was that he was going to become a big brother. That he was going to have either a baby sister or a baby brother and how excited he was about all of this. One day, the boy's mother called him in and she had gotten pretty far along in the pregnancy and the baby was really active that morning.

He was kicking and moving around. She said, come over here and you put your hand on my tummy and feel the baby. He came over and he could feel the baby moving around in the air.

He had a real look of shock on his face and almost looked a little downcast but he didn't say anything about it. In fact, he quit talking about the baby altogether until his kindergarten teacher was kind of concerned that maybe something had happened. She asked him one day, she said, what's become of this baby that you were expecting to become your little brother or little sister? First he just hung his head down like this and finally he looked up and he just said, I think my mommy ate it.

Brings new meaning to how I can just eat you up, doesn't it? They were asking little children some questions about mothers. How did God make mothers? They asked some kids. One said, magic plus superpowers and a lot of stirring. Another said, he made my mom just the same as he made me.

He just used some bigger parts. They asked, why did God make mothers? One child said, think about it.

It was the best way to get more people. Another said, she's the only one who knows where to find the scotch tape. That's why. Why did God give you your mother and not somebody else's mom? One kid just said, because we're related. Another kid said, the reason that God gave you your mother and not somebody else's was God knew she likes me a lot more than other kids' moms like me. What kind of little girl was your mother? One child said, I don't know because I wasn't there but my guess would be she was pretty bossy. I like the one child who responded to what kind of little girl was your mother by just saying, they say she used to be nice.

Why is it going here? Why did your mother marry your father? One child said, she got too old to do anything else with him.

I like this answer the best though. One child said, why did your mother marry your father? One child said, my grandma says that mommy didn't have her thinking cap on.

Okay, a couple more questions. Who's the boss around your house? One child said, mom, you can tell by how she does room inspections.

She sees stuff under the bed. Another child said, I guess my mom is but only because she has a lot more to do than my dad. What makes a real woman? One child said, a real woman is that you have to be really bossy without looking bossy. Last question, what's the difference between dads and moms? One child said, moms work at work and work at home and dads just have to work at work.

I like this one though. One said, dads are stronger and taller but moms have the real power because that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends. The amazing thing is that mothers, though they can when their children grow, be the smallest and physically weakest person in the house, could still seem to have the authority over these kids.

It's an amazing thing, authority, isn't it? I was just reminded of a story of a former governor, he was campaigning at the time, not in North Carolina, I think it actually was in Massachusetts. He was campaigning, he was starving. They went to some function, a chicken lunch, and the governor got up to the line, they were going through the line, and a lady put a piece of chicken on his plate and he just was so hungry, he just said, would you mind if I had a second piece of chicken? And she said, no sir, they told us to only give one piece of chicken per customer, so you'll have to move along. And he was normally a pretty humble man, he didn't want to leverage his position, but he was just so hungry that he finally just, he said, ma'am, do you know who I am? I'm the governor of this state. And she looked at him and said, do you know who I am? And he said, no.

She said, I'm the lady in charge of the chicken, now move along. You ready for some good news today? The same gospel, the revelation of who Jesus is, that changed the primary persecutor of the early church into the primary preacher of the early church. That same gospel and that same revelation is at work right now. If God would build the church through the preaching of a man who used to hate the church, what transformations might still be in store for you and for me? There's nothing that's too difficult for God.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Imagine for 99 days in a row, someone tells you, I love you, I'll never forsake you. Wouldn't you feel cherished? But what would happen if on the 100th day that same person said, not sure you're good enough for me. If you don't measure up, I don't think I'll love you anymore.

Wouldn't that one day contaminate the meaning of the other 99 days? Wouldn't 1% of conditional love poison the other 99%? Well, just 1% of law is enough to spoil grace. The tiniest bit of law can introduce an unlimited capacity for fear. What if I don't measure up?

When might I be rejected? When the Judaizers infiltrated the Galatian church, the Apostle Paul was outraged and wrote a letter that describes the essence of the gospel of grace and why it must not be mixed with any form of law. Alan Wright's 12 message audio series trumpets the power of the gospel in order to set you free and empower you with pure grace. It's called Galatians, and that's the gospel.

Discover the purity and power of the grace of God. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. We're going to look in Galatians chapter 1. This is our third message in the first chapter of Galatians.

We're going to be unhurried and literally go through line by line or at least paragraph by paragraph, section by section, the epistle of Paul to the Galatians. If you've noticed, we do a variety of kinds of preaching. Sometimes I'll preach a series on a character of the Old or New Testament, the biblical story, and how we see that person's life pointing us to the gospel. Sometimes we'll do a series that's thematic about maybe a theme that is woven through all of Scripture, and we come to different places and look and see how that theme is at work as it builds upon itself. Then sometimes we'll just take a book of the Bible or maybe a section of the Bible and just go through and do a more expositional study of that Scripture. That's what we're doing now and for many coming weeks in the book of Galatians. This is, by way of review, one of Paul's letters in the New Testament.

He wrote, most agree, 13 of the books that you have in your New Testament, 13 such epistles. This epistle to the Galatians is written with special passion because what evidently has happened is that Paul proclaimed the gospel and people were born by the Spirit. They were born by the revelation of who the Son of God is, Jesus Christ, and their lives became filled with the Spirit and they became infused with the gospel, but in a very short period of time they were being lured away from the purity and the simplicity of the gospel by some people that we call Judaizers. They were essentially coming in and teaching that in order to be a true heir, in order to be a true heir of all the promises of Abraham, to be a child of God, that yes, you need Jesus, but you need Jesus plus something. And what they were saying was that you need the Old Testament covenantal sign of inclusion, circumcision, and so they were essentially teaching people yes, accept Jesus, but also add some Old Testament, Old Covenant rituals to assure your place. And people are so hungry to belong, people so want to know that they're included, that there is a temptation always for Christians to gravitate to Jesus plus something else in order to make sure that I really fit in. And so last time as we were looking at the earlier part of chapter one, we saw that Paul was not only adamant that no, you cannot mix the gospel with any outward works of the flesh or by any emphasis on outward conformity to old rituals as if that is somehow guaranteeing your inclusion. It was so important to him, he said if anybody preaches a gospel other than what I have preached to you, let him be anathema. Consider it a cursed thing and have nothing to do with it. And he said if I were or even an angel were to preach something other than the pure, simple gospel of what God has done in Jesus Christ, if somebody were to contaminate it, including myself, he says, let it be anathema.

Let it be something you have nothing to do with, let it be accursed. And so he is absolutely passionate. In fact, in chapter one, what you see is that he skips over some of his usual parts of his prayer of gratitude and the salutation and he just jumps right in and he says, I am astonished that you could so quickly desert the gospel. Now at verse 11, we begin this new section which we look at today, 11 through 24 in which he gives some autobiographical narrative.

And at first you wonder why is he telling us this information. I want to share today partly why Paul thinks it's important that he share some of his story, but I want to use this as an opportunity to think back on Paul's conversion story about some of the things we learn about the gospel. Because in a real sense, what he's doing by sharing some of his personal story is he's reminding the Galatians that the authority in his life is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and that he is not the one that gives authority to the gospel. The gospel is the one that has authorized him.

In other words, he is painting a portrait from his life that will help explain so much of what he's going to be talking about in Galatians. So follow along with me in Galatians 1 verse 11. Paul writes, For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it, 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, but when he who had set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him amongst the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone, 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. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, that's Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.

And what I am writing to you before God, I do not lie. Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy, and they glorified God because of me. But what's Paul talking about here? Evidently there were those amongst the Judaizers, those false teachers that were adding external rituals to say that this is what must complete the gospel.

Evidently some of these in order to try to refute Paul were claiming that Paul was not a legitimate apostle. That perhaps they were saying that since he had not been with Jesus as the other apostles, that Paul had just derived his message from other people, from other apostles, from other men. And so it's likely that part of what Paul is saying here is that I did not receive this gospel message from any man.

I received it directly from the Lord. That's part of what he's saying. And he goes through some of his own history explaining this was not because some council in Jerusalem or some group of people told me what I ought to be saying and that somehow I've modified this message. What he's saying in the first place is that the message of the gospel that I preach is the message of the gospel. The gospel is so powerful, he is saying, that it's not that I have to legitimize myself before you. Instead, I want you to know is that the gospel of the Lord Jesus is powerful and authoritative in and of itself. You get the sense, as you continue to study Galatians, that when Paul speaks of the gospel, he's not talking about mere mental assent to Christian doctrines about the death, resurrection, ascension of the Lord Jesus.

He's talking about something that is alive and powerful. Where he says elsewhere, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation. That there is something that he has experienced in the revelation of the gospel.

What God has done for us in Jesus Christ. That that gospel announcement is itself incredibly powerful. Now, if what Paul is saying is true, this is revolutionary for how we do church.

It's revolutionary for how people's lives are transformed. It is revolutionary for the way we see what Christianity is all about. And what he's saying essentially is that while you might want for me to tell you about all the reasons that I should be authorized to announce the gospel, what I'm really saying is that the gospel speaks for itself because it is God who proclaims this gospel. If the gospel is authoritative, I don't have to tell you about my legitimacy.

I just have to tell you the gospel. And the gospel is this way. This is not in any way to diminish the importance of being a good student. It is not in any way to diminish the importance of having the consent of the wise and for all that we learn and grow in to be weighed amongst the body of Christ.

It is not in any way to diminish any of those things which are important. But what you'll realize is in this text, Paul is not so much defending his own apostolic legitimacy. What he's doing is he is elevating the place of the gospel and saying that whatever authority I have is under the power of the gospel.

And in so doing, he's telling his own story. Paul's story is an amazing, amazing story of conversion. And what happens is you realize that what he's laying out here in verses 11 through 24 about his life, it is not only to say that everything I'm going to tell you about the gospel is derived from the power of the gospel which is proclaimed by God in Jesus Christ, but what he is saying also is that look at my life. It is so laden with irony that Paul, formerly called Saul, Saul of Tarsus, could become the preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles. See, Saul was by his own description a Jew of Jews. He's like, if you think you're Jewish, I'm going to tell you I'm more Jewish as if you could be. Or he said, I'm a Pharisee of Pharisees. It's like if you think you're a Pharisee and you have studied the law that you can keep the commandments, that you're zealous for the traditions of the brothers.

I was more so. In fact, what he says is that I was, verse 14, advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my father. And so what he's saying essentially is that he is the essence of Judaism. He is the essence of being a Pharisee and proud and was so proud of it.

How ironic, therefore, one of the layers of irony amongst all these ironies is that he, the Jew of Jews, would have as his primary mission to proclaim Jesus to the non Jews. Alan Wright, today's teaching how the persecutor turned into a preacher. And there's hope for me too. Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word as we continue in our series on Galatians. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. Imagine for 99 days in a row, someone tells you, I love you. I'll never forsake you. Wouldn't you feel cherished? But what would happen if on the hundredth day that same person said, I'm not sure you're good enough for me. If you don't measure up, I don't think I'll love you anymore.

Wouldn't that one day contaminate the meaning of the other 99 days? Wouldn't 1% of conditional love poison the other 99%? Well, just 1% of law is enough to spoil grace. The tiniest bit of law can introduce an unlimited capacity for fear. What if I don't measure up?

When might I be rejected? When the Judaizers infiltrated the Galatian church, the apostle Paul was outraged and wrote a letter that describes the essence of the gospel of grace and why it must not be mixed with any form of law. Alan Wright's 12 message audio series trumpets the power of the gospel in order to set you free and empower you with pure grace. It's called Galatians and that's the gospel. Discover the purity and power of the grace of God. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, pastor Alan.org.

Alan, for someone driving right now or listening and they're studying along with us and they're thinking, but you don't know my deep dark secrets. Well, listen, uh, we talk about Paul here, who was a persecutor of Christians turned into one of the greatest preachers we've ever seen. It is one of the most important things you could ever, ever, ever know about the gospel. And that is that the gospel is powerful enough to change anyone's life.

And that change doesn't come by any of our own merits. And if Paul, who was the chief persecutor of the Christians in the early church, if he could be used by God in diametrically opposite way to become the preacher of the gospel, how much more so can you be used by God, no matter your history. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastor Alan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastor alan.org. That's pastor alan.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.