Let us turn to God's Word again. In the portion we read, Galatians
chapter 1, and I'll read verses 15, 16, and 17. These three verses in our authorised
version stand as a single sentence. We'll read the verses through. Galatians 1, 15, 16, and seventeen, but when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me
by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him
among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before
me, but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. Paul is speaking then of his
experience of the grace of God and though evidently it was so
personal nothing to do with any of the other apostles but it
was this man and the Lord himself and the Lord's sovereign dealings
with his soul It was very much a revelation. One of the old
American primitive Baptists, a man called Gilbert Beebe, says
the religion of Jesus is not a science but purely a revelation. And this is very much what we
see here with regards to the verses that we've just read.
how He speaks of that sovereign will of God revealing His Son
in Mary. It must be a revelation because
all of it, of course, is full of mystery. First of all, there
is the mystery of God, the mystery of the Trinity. As we read in
Colossians 2 and verse 2, the mystery of God and of the Father
and Christ what a mystery is that that God is one there is
but one God here of Israel the Lord our God is one Lord and
yet the one Lord is three distinct persons but then also in the
mystery of the Trinity there is that mystery of the eternal
generation of the Son who shall declare his generation is the
question that's put back in Isaiah 53 and verse 8 he is the only
begotten of the father he's full of grace and truth when there
were no depths he says I was brought forth when there were
no fountains abounding with water before the mountains who was
settled before the hills was I brought forth. He is that one
then who is eternally begotten, the eternal generation, the only
begotten Son of the Father. What a mystery is that relationship
between the persons in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The Son begotten of the Father
and the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and from the
sun. But then there's also that great
mystery of the incarnation. Without controversy Paul says
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh
that while he was the eternal son of God in the fullness of
time we see him as the son of man. He is made of a woman, He
is made under the law. But then also there is this mystery
of Christ revealed in the soul. And that's really what I want
us to consider for a while this morning as we look at this portion,
these verses that I've read. But when He pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen. Immediately
I conferred, not with flesh and blood, neither went up to Jerusalem
to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and
returned again unto Damascus." Here is the mystery then of Christ
revealed in the soul and strangely it takes us back really to that
first and that greatest of the mysteries, which is of course
the doctrine of God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, because in
this revelation we see the three persons. It is a revelation that
comes from the Father, it is a revelation that comes by the
Holy Spirit, and it is the revelation of the Son of God in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we look at these three aspects
of this mystery that concludes with Christ revealed in the soul
of the sinner. First of all it is from the Father
and he says here in verse 15 how it pleased God when it pleased
God. It is the good pleasure of God. And that good pleasure of God
surely is to be seen in the doctrine of predestination. As we see
in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 5. Remember the opening chapter
of that epistle. The great truth that the apostle
sets forth to the Ephesians verse 5. in that first chapter, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will. The good pleasure of his will,
it pleased God, says Paul here. And what does God do? Well, God
is the one, of course, who gave him his natural birth. he separated
me from my mother's womb he says all the natural birth the fact
that he ever was born a man into this world and the wonder of
course of the conception of a child in the womb what a mystery is
that we see how the apostle speaks of it there in the in the psalm,
psalm 139 that Psalm that speaks to us of the omniscience of God, the omnipresence
of God, and how in the language that we have there in verses
15 and 16 of the Psalm, he speaks of the wonder of the formation
of the fetus in the womb of the mother. Psalm 139 verse 15 David says my substance was not
hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth thine eyes did see my substance
yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written
which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of
them. He's speaking of what Paul is
also referring to here. He was conceived in his mother's
womb, he was separated from his mother when he came to the birth. But as there is the mystery of
the natural birth, so there is also that mystery of the new
birth. there are those whom God has
separated to himself from all eternity. There's the doctrine
of eternal election and again we see so much of that in that
opening chapter to the Ephesians, we have it again in the familiar
words of Romans chapter 9 where the Apostle speaks of the twin
sons born to Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. But Jacob am I love? and Esau, have I hated, there's
a separation there even before the children are born but then
what God purposed in eternity must be accomplished in time
and so eternal election leads on to effectual calling and Paul
says it here he separated me from my mother's womb but more
than that he called me by his grace as he had known a natural
birth and the mystery of that so he also experienced that great
mystery of the effectual call of God the appointed time rolls
on in time you think of the language that
we have there in the hymn of John Kent The appointed time
rolls on apace, not to propose, but called by grace to change
the heart, renew the will, and turn the feet to Zion's hill. Paul then speaks here of that
that proceeds from the sovereign good pleasure of the Father.
There was something revealed to him and it all comes from
God and it's not just the matter of his He's called by grace,
but he goes on to speak also of his call to the ministry. He's called to be an apostle.
The opening words of the chapter, Paul an apostle, not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who
raised him from the dead. And then he says later concerning
the gospel that he had been preaching, Verse 11 I certify you brethren
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man for I
neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. The remarkable thing with this
man Paul is that his call by grace is altogether bound up
with his call to the ministry and yet They are distinctive
calls really. And it has been well said that
the call to the ministry is as sovereign as the call by grace.
But there's a mystery in all of these things. We're told aren't
we concerning that man when he's there at the very gate of Damascus
in Acts chapter 9. Suddenly there shined round about
him a light from heaven. And it's the Lord, and he realizes
that. Who art thou? And the Lord answers,
I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the bricks. You can read the account there
in Acts 9, his call, and he is blinded by the light, and he's
led by the hand as a blind man into Damascus and then that disciple
of Jesus and Annihilation sent to him and he is to tell him
that he is one who is called now called to preach that same
Jesus whom he had been persecuted as he was seeking to slay those
who were the followers of Jesus or the the light that shines
in heaven, it's the sovereignty of God again, is it not? A man
can receive nothing except it's given him from heaven and that's
where Paul's call by grace, Paul's call to the ministry proceeds
from. It is a revelation that comes from God and it wasn't
only the case with Paul, it was the same with with Peter, with
Cephas remember when he makes his great confession there in
Caesarea Philippi thou art the Christ the Son of the Living
God blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah flesh and blood have not revealed
it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven what was true with
Peter was true with Paul was true with all the apostles is
true with all those who are called by the grace of God no man can
come to me except the father which hath sent me draw him says
Christ it is written in the prophets they shall be all taught of God
it pleased God he says who separated me from my mother's womb and
call me by His grace to reveal His Son in me that I might preach
Him among the heathen." And then we have those words that follow
at the end of verse 16, verse 17 which make it quite plain
that men were not involved in this. It was the sovereign good
pleasure of the Father. That is the revelation, it is
from God, the Father. In the second place, we see that
it is a revelation that comes by the Spirit of God. Why it
is an inward revelation? It is a spiritual revelation,
as it says here. What was it? It was to reveal
His Son, Paul says, in me, in me. It is something inward, it
is something in the soul of the man. Now of course there is a
revelation to men that revelation to men is contained
here in holy scripture or scripture that's given by
inspiration of God and the Lord Jesus himself says search the
scriptures in them you think that you have life and these
are they that testify of mercy all the revelation from Genesis
through into the New Testament centers in the Lord Jesus that
one who is to come in the fullness of the time that one who is the
image of the invisible God that one who says no man knoweth the
son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save the son
and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him if we would know
God we must come to scripture and we must ask that God would
open our eyes to see the wonder of this revelation that he has
given that comes finally in the incarnation and the life and
the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and
you think of the opening words of John's Gospel He is the Word
made flesh in the beginning was the Word and the word was with
God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with
God you know the passage and the words was made flesh and
we beheld his glory the glories of the only begotten of the father
full of grace and truth no man has seen God at any time the
only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father he hath
declared it all there is a revelation to men and it's It's here in
Holy Scripture and that Scripture that is really the product of
God the Holy Ghost. Those holy men, how did they
speak? They speak as they were moved by the Spirit of God. A
revelation to me in the Word of Truth, in the Word incarnate. But here, there is surely an
emphasis upon the inward aspect of that revelation. And it must
be so, when it comes to that mystery of God revealed in the
person of Christ in the soul of any sinner. It must be so,
because what are we by nature? Our mind is darkened. by nature. Our mind is darkened. Our affections
are perverted. Our wills are all enslaved. We're
dead in trespasses and sins. That's our condition by nature.
The carnal mind, the natural mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God. Neither indeed can be. and we are told again aren't
we there in 1 Corinthians 2.14 the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God that foolishness to him neither
can he know them because they are spiritually discerned how
plain is the teaching of scripture with regards to what our state
is as we are born into this foreign world the offspring of parents who, like us, were born
dead in trespasses and sins. And we trace the line right back
to the beginning, to Adam and Eve there in the Garden of Eden. And that willful act of disobedience,
that awful unbelief, that rejection of God's truth, that embracing
of the devil's lie, And they, each of them, Adam and Eve, die
spiritually. In the day that thou eatest hereof
thou shalt surely die. And Eve partakes of the forbidden
fruit, and she eats, and she gives to her husband, and Eve,
with open eyes, knowing the commandment of God, partakes of the forbidden
fruit. Oh, this is our condition by nature. We're the offspring
of Adam and Eve. having the understanding darkened,
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is
in us, because of the blindness, because of the hardness of our
hearts. And we need then that gracious
ministry of the Holy Spirit. And how Paul reminds us of what
that ministry is. He already referred to words
that we have there in that second chapter of 1 Corinthians. Look
at what he says at verse 10 following there. Concerning those things that
God has prepared for His people. He says in verse 10, God has
revealed them unto us by His Spirit For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, sayeth the Spirit of man which is in him.
Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Ne'er we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. This is a revelation then by
God the Holy Spirit. And how Paul in his various epistles
so emphasizes that truth. Real religion is spiritual. We
might have a wonderful intellectual understanding of the truths that
are contained here in Holy Scripture. But ultimately It must be more
than an intellectual awareness. Saving faith is not just notional
in the head. True religions, something that's
known and felt in the soul. And Paul recognizes that. He prays for the Ephesians. Look at the prayer that we have
there in Ephesians in chapter 1 and verses 17 and
18 He prays that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the
hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us who do believe according to the working of his
mighty power." Why is Paul praying like this? Because he recognizes
that saving faith, the inward revealing of Jesus Christ, is
nothing less than a mighty work of God. and it's that same power
that God put forth in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that
comes into the souls of those who are dead in trespasses and
sins. That's what he's saying there
in Ephesians chapter 1. He doesn't just address the epistle
to them, he's praying for them that God would accomplish in
them His good will and pleasure. by granting that inward working
of the Holy Spirit. And what is he doing is simply
echoing the teachings of Christ. Now Christ speaks so clearly
of the importance of the coming of the Spirit. You know the chapters
there in John's Gospel. It is expedient for you that
I go away, he says. If I go not away, the comforter
will not come but if I depart I will send him unto you and
then when the comforter comes what will he do? he will testify
of me says Christ oh yes he will work conviction in the soul that's
his initial work when he is come he will reprove or convince the
world of sin of righteousness and of judgment as a work of
conviction, but he comes ultimately as that one who is the blessed
comforter. He does not come to speak of
himself. Says Christ, He will take of mine, He will show it
unto you. He comes very much as the Spirit
of Christ. to reveal the things of Christ
in the soul of that sinner who is brought to understand something
of what his natural condition is. Isn't this the way the Lord
deals with all his people? He brings them to that point
where they are at the end of self. He turns the man to destruction. He convinces the sinner of his
total depravity, his spiritual impotence. He can do nothing.
he turneth man to destruction and he says return ye children
of men or he draws the sinner unto himself and you know it's a work as great as the work
of creation God created all things out of nothing And yet there's
a work as great as that that is accomplished in the soul of
every sinner who is brought to real saving faith. God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus
Christ. That's what Paul says there,
2 Corinthians 4.6, he likens this inward revelation by the
Spirit there and he likens that to what God did when He simply
spake and it was done. He said let there be light and
there was light. All the inward shining then of
the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a revelation. It is that that has come from
God It is that that God accomplishes, that He's got the Holy Ghost,
it's by the Spirit of God. And then, ultimately, we see
here it's a revelation of the Son of God. Mark the words, His
Son. Two little words, and yet, so
much contained in those words. but when he pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood neither went I up to Jerusalem
to them which were apostles before me but I went into Arabia and
returned again unto Damascus his son unto us says the prophet
unto us a child is born unto us a son is given the government
shall be upon his shoulder his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince
of Peace that's the one that's being spoken of here Oh, it's
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God manifest in
the flesh. What a comfort it is. When we
think of God and all that God is, how
terrifying it is, an absolute God. A God outside the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is a revelation of God,
isn't there, in the law. All of scripture is a revelation
of God, as we said. And it's all the work of God
the Holy Spirit. And in the law we see something
of all that God is. Remember how in Hebrews 12 the
apostle draws a contrast between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. It was a contrast between law
and gospel. And there in Hebrews 12 we have
a fearful description of God revealing himself in terms of
his holy law. Verse 18 he says, You are not
come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with
fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the
sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voiced they that
heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them
any more. For they could not endure that
which was commanded, and if so much as a beast touched a mountain,
it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible
was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. We have the description there
in Exodus 19 and then God speaking those 10
words, those 10 commandments at the beginning of Exodus chapter
20. Our God is seen here to be a consuming fire, it's fearful,
a commanding God, a threatening God, a wrathful God. That's what
we see when we consider God's revelation of himself in the
law. The law worketh wrath, Paul says
to the Romans. That's what the law does. it
works wrath, it shows God in all his justice and all his righteousness and it's a revelation to people
who are sinners and so he comes as that ministration of condemnation,
that ministration of death and this man Paul, he knew it
why he was schooled in all the Torah, wasn't it? He'd sat at
the feet of Gamaliel, he was a Pharisee. We read in the Gospel
of one of the Pharisees who was a lawyer. That means he was such
an expert in the Lord of God, and that was Saul of Tarsus in
many ways. And yet, when he writes there
in Romans chapter 7, He appears to indicate that really he had
no proper understanding at all of the law in his days as a pharisee. What does he say there? Romans
7 verse 12 he says, Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment
holy and just and good. He would have realized that as
a pharisee, the holy law of God. the just Lord of God, the good
Lord of God. But he says now, was then that
which is good made death unto me? God forbid. Oh, there's nothing
wrong with the Lord of God. The trouble was me. Was that which is good made death
unto me? God forbid, but sin. that it
might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that
sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful for we
know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal soul under sin
and so he was brought to see what the ministration of the
law was all about whatsoever things the law says it says to
them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped His
mouth was stopped. All the world stands guilty before
God. Oh, what a ministration. What
a ministration is that. That great Scots divine Ralph
Erskine says, in law God is revealed as a commanding God. In the Gospel,
He's revealed as a promising God. There's a difference. He's
a commanding God. Do. Do this and live. That's the law. It speaks of
doing. But in the Gospel, we see God
as a promising God. All the promises of God. In the
Lord Jesus Christ, they are yea and they are amen. all that's
the truth of the gospel all the promises of God and all those promises of course
they speak of the grace of God the law was given by Moses grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ now where we need to be careful
we must distinguish these two we're not to mix law and gospel. We're not to mix law and gospel.
And you know there's a lot of evangelical, so-called evangelical
preaching that does that all the time. They like to speak
of duty faith. They like to speak of duty repentance. There is something to be done. That's the impression that is
continually given. There's something for you to
do. And of course when sinners are awakened, we see it even
in the gospel. even on the day of Pentecost. That glorious outpouring of the
Spirit. What must I do? What must we
do? That's what they say. Isn't there something to be done?
What must we do to be saved? Oh, there's nothing to be done.
Salvation is by grace. If by grace, then is it no more
of work. Otherwise grace is no more grace.
If it be of works it's no more of grace, otherwise work is no
more work. There in Romans 11.6 Paul makes
it quite clear how the grace and works are mutually exclusive
one of the other. We're not to mix these. And how Paul addresses these
Galatians here in chapter 3, O foolish Galatians who have
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose
eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth crucified among you
this only would I learn of you receive ye the Spirit by the
works of the law or by the healing of faith are you so foolish having
begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh." It must be grace throughout.
It must be grace at the beginning. It must be grace in the middle.
It must be grace at the very end. It's all of grace. That's salvation. All of grace.
It's nothing to do with any of the works of man. Where does faith come from? Well faith's the gift of God. How can we obtain saving faith?
You have to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, looking onto Jesus. And you know the force of the
verb to look there, I've said it many a time, it literally
means to take your eye off every other object. looking away on
to Jesus. It's a looking only on to Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith. Where do we obtain repentance? Why? He is the one who has exalted
a prince and decided to give repentance to Israel and the
forgiveness of sins. this is the way of God, this
is the way of salvation, this is the gospel that was revealed
to this man Paul that he was preaching and that he is contending
for in this epistle to the Galatians remember the words of Zechariah
4 verse 7 he shall bring forth a headstone thereof with shoutings
crying rise, rise unto It's a rebuilding of the temple, isn't it, historically? It's the days of the return from
captivity. It's the work of Zerubbabel,
engaged in the rebuilding of the temple. But there's a greater than Zerubbabel
there. There's a Lord Jesus Christ there in Zechariah chapter 4,
and it's Christ's church. and he brings forth the headstone
thereof with shoutings crying grace, grace unto it, grace all
the work shall crown through everlasting days it lays in heaven
the topmost stone and well deserves the praise. Oh when it pleased God says Paul
when it pleased God the good pleasure of God the Father who
separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace,
the gracious call that comes by the Spirit, that effectual
work of the Spirit in the soul of the sinner, to reveal His
Son in me, the revelation of Jesus Christ, God the Son manifest
in the flesh, the Saviour of sinners, to reveal His Son in
me, that I might preach Him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred
night with flesh and blood. Neither went I up to Jerusalem
to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and
returned again unto Damascus. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to bless this word to us today, for our souls' good and for His
glory. Amen.