Galatians chapter one. That's a fitting song to sing
each time we come together. How merciful. When we go home
after this service, we sit down to eat. Oh, how merciful thou
art to me. When we get up in the morning
and go to work, oh, how merciful thou art to me. We go through
the day, oh, how merciful thou art to me. His mercy, his mercy
is on us continually. It's like a shield. It surrounds
us. It engulfs us. We are engulfed
in the mercy of God. And that's true. Galatians chapter
1, I'm going to pick up in verse 11, and I'm going to try to do
the rest of this chapter. Title of the lesson, all of grace,
all of grace. Salvation is all of grace from
beginning to end. Now to the end of chapter 2,
Paul continues to defend his apostleship. And the more I read
this, and as I was reading it this week, I realized how important
this is, not to the Galatian churches only, but even to us
to this day. This is how important this is.
If Paul is not an apostle, you can take one half, at least one
half of the New Testament and throw it in the trash because
it's written by him. And to this day, you and I read
those epistles and we are instructed out of those epistles. This is
how important what Paul is saying in these first two chapters are. He is an apostle. And the gospel
that he received, he received directly from the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is so important to us. Now
he says in verses 11 and 12, but I certify, I say to you,
brethren, and notice how he calls them brethren. He's so tender. He's so tender. How would the
God I could learn, that I could learn from Paul, how to be tender. Remember the letter he wrote
to the Corinthians. He said, I didn't come to you.
And the reason I didn't come to you was I didn't want to discipline
you. I'm paraphrasing, but I didn't want to have to discipline you.
I want to give you space to repent and correct. So I don't have
to deal with it in a harsh manner because he could do it. And he
says here, 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 gospel is
not a man's gospel. And what does Paul mean by this?
Well, he's saying man did not devise his way back to God. This is not something that man's
devising. Adam, when he was kicked out
of the garden, was not allowed to work his way back. He was
kicked out. And he was not allowed to work
his way back. And the gospel is not a man-made gospel. Man
didn't devise it. And Paul's saying that I did
not receive the gospel from any man. And listen, as you and I
did. As you and I did. God has given
us His Spirit. We are taught by the Spirit of
God. But now, God teaches us by His Spirit through pastors
and teachers. That's what they're given for.
It's what I'm doing right now. I'm instructing you. You're sitting
there with the Bible open and you're listening to me. And by
God's grace, the spirit of God is teaching you, but he's also
teaching you through me, instructing you. We learned the gospel that
way. God sent Henry Mahan along and
taught me the gospel. I learned the gospel by the spirit
of God sitting under my pastor, Henry. Paul did not learn that
way. Paul did not learn the gospel
from any human being. The Lord revealed the gospel
to him directly. He got it directly from the Lord
Jesus Christ, just as Peter and John and the other apostles.
That's what he's saying. You see, Paul learned Phariseeism. He did learn Phariseeism. He
said it to Phaeda Gamaliel. He said, I sat at his feet, but
I'll tell you whose feet he sat at when he learned grace. He
sat at the feet of Christ. That's where he sat, at the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul received the gospel by direct
revelation from the Lord. And it's very important in reference
to him being an apostle, because that was required in order to
be an apostle. Now Paul's life, he gives here,
he gives a brief, A brief history of his life. And it's very important. It's very important there in
verse 13, 14, because Paul, Paul was wrapped up in Judaism. He's
wrapped, he was wrapped up in what those men had, who had come
in and troubled the church. He says, I was wrapped up in
that. I know what I'm talking about. This is not, I'm not confronting
something here that I don't know anything about. I know what I'm
talking about. He was wrapped up in the law before Christ saved
him, and that's what he says over in Philippians chapter three.
He says, I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee. He gives
his history there just like he does here. And he says in verse
13, for you have heard of my conversation in time past in
the Jews' religion, in Judaism. How that beyond measure, This
is how it came across to Paul. Paul said there was no measure
to what I was doing. I hated God so much. I hated
Christ so much you couldn't measure it. How that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it. and profited in the Jews'
religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more
exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father," which he's talking
about the law, the law that was given to these fathers. Paul
reminds them that they heard of his past. The Galatians were aware of Paul's
past life in Judaism, in Jewish religion. And they were aware
how he hated the Lord Jesus Christ, how he persecuted the church,
and how he wasted it. He was very religious, very religious. He said, I was exceedingly zealous,
exceedingly zealous. And you know about that, he said,
you've heard about it. If anyone could be saved by the
law, this is what Paul's saying, if anyone could be saved by the
law, it would be me. He said, it would be me. If you
could be saved by circumcision, if you could be saved by adding
circumcision and the law and I would be saved by that, that
would be me. This is the point he's driving
across here. This very fact that I am not saved, that I've never
preached that I was saved by any works, by any law keeping,
that ought to put you on guard because I've never preached it
to you. I've never brought this to you. And I was exceedingly
zealous and more educated than any of my equals, my age group,
my peers. Paul said, they couldn't even
compare to me. Now you say, well, that's boasting. Actually, he
needs to right here because of what's at stake. He needs to.
So he's telling them here that if anybody can be saved by the
law, it would be me. It would be me. But he's saying
here, I was a self-righteous hypocrite. I wasn't saved by
any of those things that I formerly did in my law keeping. I didn't
do it. There was no reason for God to
save me. It was all of grace. Paul was
an apostle to the Gentiles, and Paul's message to the Gentiles
was always, always grace. Grace upon grace. But when he pleased God, while I was keeping the law,
while I was going along being this zealous, overzealous, exceedingly
zealous Pharisee, And I was on that road to Damascus and I was
gonna waste the church. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, there in verse 15, 17,
and called me by the law, by grace. You see, he sets the law
aside. The law had nothing to do with
my salvation. It's all of grace. It's all of
grace. To reveal his son in me, that
I might preach him among the heathen, that's me and you. You
know, we are the seed of that ministry. You know that? I was
thinking of that this morning. This church right here in Spring
Lake, Bethel Baptist Church is the seed of that ministry. It's
still bearing fruit. It's still bearing fruit to this
day. Among the heathens, I tell you what, if God makes you to
know yourself, he makes us to know ourselves. We know this,
we are heathens, aren't we? We're a bunch of heathens. Might
be educated, might be a little better educated, but we're just
educated heathens. We're still heathens. Gentiles. Immediately, immediately when
this happened, I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither
went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me,
but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. You know,
Henry has a message on when is a man saved. And he's coming
from this portion of scripture. And the first point of it is
this, when it pleases God. Paul said, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb. Now in saying this, when
he separated me from my mother's womb, I'm gonna read to you what
Martin Luther said. Martin Luther said this, this
is a Hebrew expression meaning to sanctify, ordain, and prepare. Paul was saying, when I was not
yet born, God ordained me to be an apostle, and in due time
confirmed my apostleship before the world. Every gift, be it
small or great, spiritual or temporal, and every good thing
I should ever do, God has ordained while I was yet in my mother's
womb, where I could neither think nor perform any good thing. After
I was born, God supported me, heaping mercy upon mercy. He
freely forgave my sins, replenishing me with his grace to enable me
to learn what great things are ours in Christ. To crown it all,
he called me to preach the gospel to others. God predestinated. He ordained. First of all, that I should be
a child of God, just like me and you. And then he predestinated
my office as an apostle for Paul, Paul as an apostle. And I tell
you, God predetermined and predestinated and ordered and ordained our
position in life right now. We didn't just happen to be born
in America. and born to the family we were
born to, and work where we work, God ordained all that. Our God
is a God of order. Our God is a God of order. He
has ordered all things. David said that He has ordered
all things in our shore. He's made a covenant with me,
ordered in all things in shore. Now he says here, Paul says this,
he called me by his grace. He didn't call me by any law,
any commandment, he called me by grace, unmerited favor. I did not, as a law keeper, as
a Pharisee, as a moralist, I did not earn God's favor. I need
God's grace as much as a harlot needs God's grace. As much as
a demon-possessed man needs God's grace, I needed it even more
because I tell you what, one of the worst sins of all, if
we can catalog sin, is self-righteousness. Self-righteousness robs God of
his chief glory, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who is God in
the flesh. Oh, he called me by his grace,
not according to my law keeping or holy life, but by grace. Grace
upon grace. Paul does not mention anything
about the law in reference to God saving him. You notice that? You'll notice that all through
here. He never mentions anything in reference to the law when
it comes to God saving him. It's always by grace. And then
he says here in verse 16, God called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. That's not a play on words, that's
so. Here's what happens. God called
me by His grace. One day God called you by His
grace. And God revealed His Son in you and to you. When God revealed his son in
you, the spirit of Christ is in you. And the spirit of Christ
being in you reveals himself to you because he's the light
and the light's in you. You know, it's not like I'm just
like you and I, we see the light of the sun. We see it with these
eyes and it's all outward. But this heavenly light that's
revealed to us is put in us. The light is in you. It's coming
from within. It's a new creation. Let there
be light, God said in the beginning. And when God saves a sinner,
that's the first thing he commands is light. Light. And here's the message Paul is
to preach to the Gentiles. It's a revelation of the Son
of God. And listen, that revelation When
God reveals Christ in you, when that's revealed in you, you know
what it brings? It doesn't bring, listen, it
doesn't bring guilt. It doesn't bring fear, not a
slavish fear. It brings peace. It brings joy. The law reveals and makes you...
Makes you feel guilty. It's what makes you to understand
and feel guilty when the law comes and condemns you. You know,
when the law condemns you, you're standing guilty before God. The
law is condemning you before God. But when Christ comes, when
Christ is revealed, peace is given. My peace I give unto you. I give unto you. You get peace
from a revelation of Jesus Christ. And Paul's also saying here that
when he was called by God's grace to reveal his son in him, he's
saying this, I know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm
talking, this is not something I learned in school, it's something
I learned from God himself. I know what I, this is something
I experienced. You can tell, you can tell when somebody's
talking about something, whether they have experienced it or not,
you can tell. You know, when they have experienced
it, their heart is in it. I mean, they're engaged in it.
But if it's just something they've learned, they're just transferring
knowledge to the listener. That's all they're doing. Paul
was doing more than transferring knowledge. He was preaching Christ. He was communicating the gospel,
and that's different. And he's telling us also here
that salvation is a revelation of a person, and it's a revelation
of that person in you. Christ is in you. He is salvation,
and he's in you. You don't need to keep the law.
You don't need to do anything to be saved. You don't need to
add to Christ. In him, the scripture says, Paul
writes in Colossians, in him you are complete. You're complete. And then Paul says that Christ
was revealed in him that he might preach him among the heathen.
Everyone whom God saves, first of all, he saves on purpose,
and he saves for a purpose. And Paul's purpose was to preach
Christ to Gentiles, not the law. He didn't carry the Ten Commandments
around with him. He didn't carry the Levitical law around with
him. He didn't carry them around with him. He carried around with
him the gospel that was revealed to him. Immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood when I was called by God's grace and
his son was revealed in me. I didn't ask Ananias to explain
the gospel to me. I didn't ask anyone in Damascus.
I didn't go to anyone in Damascus, sit down and say, tell me about
the gospel. Tell me about the gospel. like
Philip did to the eunuch. Paul said, I didn't do that.
Remember that eunuch said, who's this man talking about, himself
or another? And then Philip took Isaiah 53
and preached unto him Jesus. That didn't happen with Paul.
Paul said, I didn't go to any man. He's establishing his apostleship
here. Immediately, I conferred not
with flesh and blood. Paul, what he says he did here,
look in verse, let me get back over to Acts. Well, I don't mean
Acts, but Galatians. I'm thinking of Acts. In verse
17, in chapter 1, neither went I up to Jerusalem. I didn't confer
with flesh and blood in Damascus. I did not go up to Jerusalem
to find the other apostles and sit down at their feet and learn
the gospel and get their approval. I didn't go to get their approval.
I have God's approval. You know, when you have God's
approval, you don't need anybody else's. Let me say it this way. We need
God's approval first. We need his approval first. He
says, so neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that which
were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned
again to Damascus. Nobody knows, from my readings
anyway, nobody knows how long he was in Arabia. I don't know. But you know what he did whenever
Ananias came and put his hands on him and recognized him as
an apostle, as the Lord's apostle and set apart for that purpose.
When Ananias recognized him, you know, it says he immediately
went out and in Acts chapter nine, I think it's verse 20.
He immediately went out and preached Christ. He immediately went out
in Damascus and started preaching the gospel. You know, I sat under Henry for
years. I went to the preacher school
for two years. I sat under him, and I sat there under Henry for
probably at least two years before I ever preached the first thing.
Before I ever said the first thing, I sat and I listened.
I listened. And every young man, I'd have
sat and listened. But Paul, immediately. That's how clear God revealed,
or yeah, Christ revealed himself to Paul and the gospel of Paul. And Paul was able with his education
that God had given him. See, this is the providence of
God. God did not call Paul because he was a very educated man. He didn't do that. God educated
him. God educated him at the feet
of Gamaliel. He learned the law. I mean, he learned it to the
strictest, to jot and tittle. He learned it and then Christ
revealed himself to him and enabled Paul to apply the gospel to all
those ceremonies, all those types and all those pictures. Paul
put it together. He was able to go out into the
streets and start preaching Christ immediately because he saw in
Christ the Messiah. He saw in Christ the atonement.
He saw in Christ the Passover lamb. He saw it immediately. That's why he's saying, I didn't
confer with flesh and blood. I went to Arabia and I don't
know how long he spent there, how many years he spent there.
Then he came back and he preached the gospel of Damascus again.
And then after that, verse 18, after that, he did go up to Jerusalem
to visit Peter and he saw James, the Lord's brother. But he went
up there to be acquainted with him, not to learn from them.
He didn't go to learn from Peter. He went to visit Peter and to
be acquainted with Peter. That's why he went there. And
Paul in verse 20, in verse 20, he gives an oath that what he
is saying is the truth. He said, what I'm saying is truth.
He said, now the things which I write unto you before God,
I lie not, I swear the truth. This is, I'm telling you, I'm
telling you the truth. Now, let me tell you something. If you and I are gonna swear
before God, we better be right. You and I, we better be dead
right, because God'll hold us to it. He'll hold us to it. And Paul, with absolute confidence,
he said, I swear before God, I'm telling you the truth. God revealed the gospel to me,
the gospel I preached to you. I learned it from Jesus Christ
himself. And I'm an apostle. And afterwards, he said there
in verse 21, and afterwards, I came into the regions of Syria
and Cilicia. These were adjacent countries. What Paul is doing here, listen,
Paul is tracing his movements carefully in order to convince
the Galatians that he never learned or sat at the feet of any of
the apostles. That's what he's doing. He's
tracing his steps and he's showing them, I didn't visit any of the
apostles. Here's my ministry. It's with the Gentiles, it's
with the Gentiles. And he said, in fact, in fact,
and I'm gonna close here. In fact, in verse 22 and 24,
he said, that was unknown by face to the churches in Judea,
that countryside there around Jerusalem. He said, they didn't
know me by face. They couldn't recognize me. If
I walked into town, they wouldn't say, well, there's Paul. None
of the apostles would have recognized me. They wouldn't have said,
hello Paul, how you doing? He said, none of the churches
recognized me. But they had heard only that
he which persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith or
the gospel which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me.
They gave me their approval that I preach the same gospel that
the others preach, the other apostles. I preach the same God,
no different gospel, none at all. They have endorsed my ministry. They've endorsed it. These churches
glorify God in me, not because I taught that circumcision and
the law of Moses should be observed, but because I preach the same
gospel, the same faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they gave
me, so to speak, the right hand of fellowship, what they did.
Boston, I'm an apostle. I'm an apostle. And what he has
recounted here and in chapter two is very important. Because
he wrote at least half the New Testament that you and I read
and we stand on. The gospel he preached is the
gospel. And it's all of grace. Not one ounce, not one speck
of work. You know, if it's like this,
in our day, in our day, they say Christ has done all he can
do, now the rest is up to you, that's works. That's works. If that's left up to me. That's
works. Salvation is God saving me from
beginning to end, all by grace, all by Christ, all by blood,
his blood, all by his righteousness. That's my hope when I die. When
I die, Jesus Christ is all my hope.