Monumental Occurrence

10/6/2020

Galatians 1:15-16 “When it pleased God…to reveal His Son to me”

When we yield to the Savior, it is intensely personal. We may have a lightning-bolt moment or a slow unfolding of understanding, answer an alter call or pray the sinner’s prayer (with a loved one or alone with Jesus). No matter how we come, though, it is always ultimately between the individual and God. We must never consider anyone else, just Jesus and His sacrifice for our sin. Paul held a very high position in the Jewish faith and was very zealous about Jewish traditions, yet he yielded to the call of God on his life and was, as far as we know, the most prolific preacher of the Gospel of Jesus. He gave up his high position to follow the teachings of Jesus without the approval of any man. Galatians 1:15 & 16 (NIV) “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.” He needed no one’s consent or endorsement, just the call of God.

Chambers writes, “God cannot put into me, a responsible moral being, the disposition that was in Jesus Christ unless I am conscious I need it.” Jesus is knocking at the door of everyone’s heart; we need only admit we are sinners and yield to Him. The most monumental occurrence in anyone’s life was designed to be as simple as that. There is nothing required but willingness and surrender. It is a gift of grace with the highest cost imaginable, and that price was paid by Jesus. Chambers adds, “Just as the disposition of sin entered into the human race by one man, so the Holy Spirit entered the human race by another Man; and Redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin and through Jesus Christ can receive an unsullied heredity, viz., the Holy Spirit.” Jesus died for all, loves all, has extended His grace to all, and has given all the free will to surrender to Him, or not. The option is each of ours alone; to live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the loving arms of Jesus, or to try traversing this mortal coil alone.