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Galatians 1:1-5 ESV
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I.THE BACKGROUND
A.The author is Paul, an apostle, who saw and heard the Gospel from the risen Jesus.
B.The churches that Paul started as a spiritual father are the audience.
C.The content of the letter is that Jesus and Jesus alone are our only hope before God. Everything else is a lie.
D.The false teaching in Galatia was destroying the pure Gospel of grace by adding obedience to the Gospel.

II.LEGALISM DEFINED AND DESTROYED
A.Galatians was written to combat the error of legalism.
B.3 Contemporary Forms of Legalism:
1.Grace gets you in; You keep yourself there.
2.God forgot to mention that…
3.God loves us all but He loves some of us more.
C.God’s pleasure in us is not tied to our performance and His delight in us is not because of what we do.

III.GRACE DOES NOT MAKE SENSE (1-2)
A.The Gospel is not invented by men so it makes no sense to men.
B.The Gospel is revealed by God because God is the Gospel.

IV.THE TRUTH ABOUT GRACE (3-5)
A.We can’t earn grace.
B.We can’t improve on grace.
C.We don’t cheapen grace because grace is not cheap.
D.The point of grace is the glory of God.

NEXT STEPS:
1.Don’t allow Gospel familiarity to breed complacency in your heart.
2.Embrace your utter dependence on the Gospel for both salvation & sanctification.
3.Live as people set free by the Gospel of Grace.

NEXT WEEK: THE GOSPEL IN REVERSE
GALATIANS 1:6-10