Today we'll be in Galatians Chapter
1. Galatians Chapter 1. The name of the message is The
Gospel Proclaimed. The Gospel Proclaimed. Galatians Chapter 1. And we know
from our studies in Colossians and our studies in the Scriptures
just how absolutely vital it is that we preach Christ and
Him crucified, that we don't get caught up in all the other
things that people get caught up in, how to live a successful
Christian life, how to do all these things. Christ crucified
must be the message that we proclaim in Him alone, because He alone
is the one who can save us from our sins. And so let's look at
the Gospel proclaimed, Galatians chapter 1, verses 1 to 5. Paul,
an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and
God the Father, who raised him from the dead. And all the brethren
which are with me unto the churches of Galatia,
grace be to you in peace from God the Father and from our Lord
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, for our sins, that
he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Now, Paul was sent by our
Lord to preach the gospel. He was sent to preach the gospel
to the Gentile world, and God blessed the preaching of the
gospel. He blessed Paul's preaching of the gospel, and he used Paul
to call a multitude of sinners, guilty sinners, to himself. But
the one theme of Paul's message was Christ and him crucified. He never wavered from that. He
preached Christ wherever he went. And think of this, without Christ,
there's no gospel. If you take Christ out of the
gospel, and there's churches out there who won't preach on
the blood of Christ, there's churches who don't even preach
on Christ. You take Christ out, there's absolutely no gospel
at all. It's just empty words, just empty words. And there's
no good news without Christ, is there? Because what's the
good news? Look at verse four. Who gave
himself for our sins? The sinless one gives himself
for the sins of his people. Why? That he might deliver us
from this present evil world. According to, I love this, the
will of God and our Father. So the message we proclaim is
the same message, the same message that Paul proclaimed. We proclaim
that salvation is only through the free grace of God in Christ
and him alone. Now, after Paul had been imprisoned
in Rome for the gospel sake, many false teachers came among
the different churches. They came among the different
churches. We've been looking at that in our Colossians study,
right? They come in, they come in. And they start teaching Christ
plus tradition, or Christ plus ceremonies, or Christ plus the
rudiments of the world. They add things to Christ. And
we've seen in our studies in Colossians that we're complete
in Christ. We're complete in Him. Nothing
needs to be added, nothing at all. Everything that a sinner
needs, everything that a sinner needs is in Christ. It's nowhere
else. It's nowhere else. And that's
why the scripture proclaims and cautions to 10. You're completing
him. And notice the verbiage, you're
completed him. It's present. It's present. It's well, we're here on Earth.
It's what we're going to. We're not now we're not what
we're going to be, but we're complete. The believers complete
in Christ right now. And this is the message that
we proclaim. Now, perverters of the gospel, of God's grace
had added works, thus making it another gospel, another gospel. They declared a message of Christ
plus your efforts or Christ plus circumcision, that's what was
going on here in Galatia. Or as I said, in our study in
Colossians, Christ plus traditions or ceremonies or supposed secret
knowledge that the Gnostics had that they only could impart.
And in doing so, they pervert the gospel. It's not a gospel.
It's not a gospel. Look at Galatians 1, 15 to 17.
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb. Oh, actually, hold on one second. I went one page too fast,
I'm sorry. Paul called it another gospel.
He called it another gospel, a perverted gospel. And he pronounced
a strong curse upon those who proclaim any message of salvation
in Christ plus something you do. And as I said many times,
we have this all around us today. Look at Galatians 1, 6 to 14. We'll look at that. Actually,
6 to 17. Look at this. I marvel that ye
are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. There's
only one gospel. There's only one. That's the
gospel of God's free grace in Christ plus nothing. plus nothing
you or I do. Salvation's in Christ and Him
alone. Which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you, now look at that, but
though we, if an angel come down from heaven and started to preach
Christ plus something else, it's a perverted gospel. That's what Paul is saying here.
But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel,
anything that adds to the finished work of Christ, anything, even
just a pinprick, remember? Just a pinprick of your works. If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than you have received, let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade man or God? Do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please man, I should not be the servant of Christ.
But 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 revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now, we looked at that before in our Sunday night study a few
Sundays back about the revelation of Christ. Who must reveal this
gospel to us? God must, right? The Holy Spirit
must reveal the gospel to us or we will never ever see it. Never. The only reason that you
and I who believe are made to differ is by the grace of God
in Christ, by the Holy Spirit revealing the gospel to us, teaching
us, regenerating us. We're born again to the Holy
Spirit of God. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. For ye have heard of my conversations in times past
in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the
church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews' religion
above many mine equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous of the traditions of my father. So Paul was all caught
up in tradition. But when it pleased God, there
it is. When is a person saved? When
is one of God's elect saved? When it pleases God. When it
pleases God. The day you were saved, if you're
a believer, was the day that it pleased God to save you. And
we're gonna look at who that God is in our Sunday service.
My goodness. But when it pleased God, He separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. We are
called by an effectual, invincible grace of God, the Holy Spirit. to reveal his son in me. Again,
it's a revelation. It's a revelation. We are given
eyes to see Christ that we never had before. We're given ears
to hear the gospel that we never had before. And what do we do?
We flee to Christ. We run to him. We run to him
to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the
heathen. Matt and I were talking about this this week. You can't,
and I'm gonna bring this up on Sunday morning, or Sunday evening,
tonight's message. We can't, I can't tell you about
somewhere that I've never been. And I can't tell you about someone
that I don't know. And I proclaim what Christ has
done for me. He saved me from all my sins. See, preachers are
just telling what God's done for us. You tell them the great
things that God has done for us. 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. Now the best way, the best way
to expose error is by plainly declaring the truth. Plainly
declaring the truth. And this is what gospel preachers
do. We plainly declare the truth. And this is why it's absolutely
vital to have our children in church and our family members
sitting under the gospel. First, that God might be pleased
to reveal Christ to them, that he might be pleased to reveal
Christ to them. And second, that he would teach us, after he saves
us, that he would teach us more and more about our Savior, more
and more. And what happens? What happens?
The more we learn about Christ, and of course, it's revealed
to us, we don't, Everything I know has been revealed to me. Everything
I teach has been revealed to me. I didn't know anything about
the Lord. I still don't hardly know anything. I'm just scratching
the surface. I remember Donnie telling me that. He said, 40
years, Wayne, I'm just scratching the surface. 40 years of preaching,
I just made a little scratch. And it's true. It's absolutely true. Oh, that
we might grow in Christ. Oh, that He might reveal Himself
more to us. That we might grow in His love.
So the way to combat error is to measure it by truth. To reveal
a crooked stick, all you do is lay down the straight stick beside
it. And this is what Paul's doing here in the Epistle to the Galatians.
He's laying down the straight stick. The straight stick of
the Gospel. And you see how crooked all that
workspace stuff is. And this, beloved, is what every
grace preacher does when he steps into a pulpit. He lays down a
straight stick so that we might look and say, oh, that other
stuff's crooked. That's a false gospel they're
preaching over there. An old preacher was once asked
what was the success of his ministry, and he replied this, and is it
not so? Every time we sit and hear the
gospel, is this not so? His reply was this, repetition,
repetition, repetition. That was Brother Henry Mayhem.
Someone asked him, and he said, repetition, meaning he proclaimed
Christ week after week after week after week. The preacher's message does not
entertain people. The preacher doesn't boast in
himself or his own abilities. He does not promote himself.
And he has one message. Christ and him crucified, the
gospel proclaimed Christ and him crucified. So with this in
mind, let us consider four things from our text that Paul plainly
states about the true gospel of God's grace, and it's revealed
in Galatians one, three to five. Look at verse four here. Number
one, the reason why the Lord came in the flesh, that he might
deliver us from this present evil world. Look at this, who
gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this
present evil world. Now we know from scripture that
no man is able to deliver himself or ransom himself for sin. You
and I can't pay for our own sin, not even one. Not one. Christ pays for all
the sins of all the elect. We are born into a pit of sin
and guilt, and we cannot get out. Help must come from above. It must come from above. We are
sinners who need to be saved. We need to be purchased from
the slave balk of sin. And only a fool would say, I
need no redeemer. And this is why the Lord came
to deliver and affectionately redeem his people from their
sin. And we know Matthew says this and she shall bring forth
a son and thou shall name his or call his name Jesus for he
shall. There's one of the words you
bought out yesterday, Brother John, your mom's funeral. He
shall use the shall word shall. That's a definite that's a definite
word. He shall. It's not a maybe. He's not trying.
He's not trying to save his people. Oh, beloved, let this ring in
your ears. He shall save his people from their sin. And he did it. He did it. Turn, if you would, the Romans
chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. And also put your finger in Isaiah
42, if you could. I don't know if I'm going to
get through all this today or see. Romans 11 verses 25 to 27. For I would not, brethren, that
ye should be ignorant of this mystery, verse 25, lest ye should
be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has happened
to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. And
so all Israel shall be saved. All of God's elect shall be saved.
every one of them speaking a spiritual Israel as it is written there
there shall come out as I am the deliverer that's Christ and
shall turn away on God in this from Jacob for this is my covenant
unto them now God made a covenant in eternity past in the the father
gave the son of people the elect for this is my covenant unto
them when I shall take away their sins And then look over in Isaiah
42, Isaiah 42, the Lord, and we know that scripture say, he
shall save his people from their sins, right? Beloved, he didn't
fail. He accomplished what he set out
to do. Look at Isaiah chapter 42. Verses four to seven, he
shall not fail. We could just stop right there.
We don't have to go any further, but we will. But look at that.
He shall not fail. Why? He's the God. He's God incarnate
in the flesh. This is the one who's redeemed
me from my sins. Right here. He shall not fail
nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth and
the isles wait for his law. Thus sayeth God, the Lord, he
that created the heavens and stretched them out. So so he
who redeemed our souls is not just a man like folks like to
say, no, he's the one who stretched out the heavens. What power. Now, I was going
to use this in Sunday morning message, but I was listening
to Henry this week. Somebody sent me some old VHS
tapes. I'm trying to turn them into
DVDs now. And he made a comment on one of those those messages. He says, you ever heard people
say that God's at the door of your heart? He's just he's just
knocking to get in. You ever heard that? I hear it
all the time. It's just it's one of the most despised things
for grace people. We hate it. Think of this, the God who made the walls of
Jericho fall, the God who parted the Red Sea, you're telling me
he can't make the walls of your heart fall? My goodness, what a God we have. What a God we have. He that spread forth the earth,
in which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people
upon it, in spirit to them that walk therein, I the Lord have
called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and
will keep thee. He keeps those he saves, and
give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.
To open blind eyes, we were absolutely blind by the night. He opened
our eyes. To bring out the prisoners from
the prison, Brother Neil, we were in prison. And to them that sit in darkness,
Brother John, we were in absolute darkness out of the prison house. Praise be to God. And we see here in the Old Testament
that Christ has to open the eyes and free the prisoners. He has
to deliver us from this present evil world. He must do it and
he saves sinners. The next point for us to consider
about the true gospel of God's grace is revealed. And these
verses is how did he accomplish this deliverance? Look at this
in Galatians 1, 4 again. How did he redeem those who could
not redeem themselves? who gave himself for our sins.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory, becomes a man, condescends
and becomes a man, and gives himself for the sins of his people. He was the sinless, spotless
Lamb of God, without sin, and yet he gives himself a sacrifice.
And who did he give himself a sacrifice to? before God, right? For my sins. He was sinless. Who gave himself
for our sins. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the Church of God. So the elect is called
the Church of God. Look at this in Acts 2028. I'll
just read this. which he hath purchased with his own blood.
God purchased the church with his own blood. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ who gave himself, our text says here, who gave
himself for our sins. Our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ
must die. He must. He must. He must. He shall not fail. He must die. He must. He must die in the room
in place of his people in order for us to be redeemed. Remember,
how could those who could not redeem? How could we be redeemed
who could not redeem ourselves? Who gave himself for our sins?
Turn, if you would, the first Peter, first Peter. And notice
the text says that In Acts 20-28 it says that God Himself, Christ
Himself has purchased, redeemed the church with His own precious
blood. Look at 1 Peter verses 1, 18-21. For as much as ye know that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, you
can't buy your salvation. No matter what you offer, you can't purchase your salvation. We can't purchase our own salvation.
For as much as you know that you weren't redeemed with corruptible
things of silver and gold from your vain conversations received
by traditions from your fathers, we can't be saved by traditions. No matter what they are. No matter what they are. Look
at this. This is how we can be purchased.
This is how we can be redeemed. But with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for who? For you. Sinners, who by him do believe
in God that raised him up from the dead and give him glory,
that your faith and hope Where's our faith and hope? In God. In
Christ, who is the God-man. Oh my! We cannot buy our salvation,
we cannot earn our salvation, and those who pervert the gospel
will tell you what you can't do. They tell you it's Christ plus
something you do. But our scripture just told us
that can't even purchase our salvation, can it? They're lying. They're false prophets. The only
thing the only thing that can appease the wrath and justice
of God is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. the
God-man who died in the place of sinners, who died in the place
of his people. He came to save his people from
their sins, and he did it. Praise be to God, he did it.
He did it. And what do we do? We rest. I was listening to Brother Greg
Elmquist yesterday, and he was saying, he was saying, what is
faith? Folks get all tired, do I have
faith? You know what he said? Are you trusting Christ right
now? And you have faith. Isn't that
beautiful? Trusting Christ, resting in him,
casting all my cares upon him. All upon him. Now think of this, if Christ
had not died, none would be delivered, none would be saved. None. And think of this in light of
the false teachers, the religionist says do right. The false teachers
say do. The believer in Christ says done.
It's all done. I'm going to rest everything.
My eternal soul upon the one who finished the work and the
one who did all the work, it is finished. Christ has accomplished
the redemption of his people, but as many as received him to
them, gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor the
will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." John 1,
verses 12 and 13. The last point of this will be, what shall we say concerning
this great salvation? What shall we say concerning
this great salvation? What shall we say about this
great deliverance? And it is a great deliverance. Think of
it. It's a great deliverance. We were in a pit that we couldn't
get out of. We come into this world born dead in trespasses
and sins. We can't save ourselves. Scripture
declares we can't buy our salvation. We can't work, right, or merit
our salvation. We're in a pit, beloved, that
we can't get out of. but praise be to God, the Lord
Jesus Christ delivers his people from a pit that we can never
get out of, that we can never get out of. Look again, Paul, an apostle,
not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father,
who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are
with me unto the churches of Galatia. Grace be unto you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this
present evil world. Now, I skipped the point. I got
to bring this out here. Look at this, it says, according
to the will of God, our father. Now, the only reason you and
I are saved. Is because it pleased God and
because it was according to God's will. It was according to his
will. There's no other reason. Here
have mercy on whom here have mercy. Nothing special about
me other than being chosen by God. You look at me compared
to my brothers. They're way more successful in
earthly things than I ever have been. But the Lord hasn't saved them.
I pray he will. I don't know if they're his elect
or not. I don't know. I hope. I have hope until they
breathe their last breath. But I know this, that the only
reason I'm saved is because it was the will of God. And if you're
a believer, the only reason you're saved is because it's the will
of God. Who made you to differ? Who made you to differ? God. And what do you have that you
didn't receive? Remember I said all that I know I've received? What do you have that you didn't
receive? You have justification before God. Did you earn it? No, you received it. You're redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ. Did you earn it? No, you received
it. You're sanctified, you're made
holy in Christ. Is there any reason in us why? You received it, didn't you?
By the will of God. By the will of God. Oh, what
a great God we have. What a great God we have. What a great God. So what shall
we say of concern in this salvation? What shall we say about this
great deliverance? Look at verse five. To whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen. We praise his mighty name. We
praise his mighty name. Think of this, the grand design
and ultimate end of everything God wills and performs is his
glory. That he might receive all the
glory. And he said, I beseech you, show
me thy glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious. Oh, may we let that sit and I'll
be, he says, and will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. Has
God saved you? He's been gracious to you. He's
been gracious to you. Oh, what compassion, what love
God has for his people, and the verse in Exodus continues, if
you want to write it down for further reference, it's Exodus
33, 18 and 19. It says, and I will be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious and will show mercy. I love this.
I need mercy. I desperately need mercy to you.
I desperately need mercy. And scripture declares, and will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. So what's the result of
that for God's people? We praise his name, don't we?
We give him all the glory. That's why we're constantly saying,
Lord, we want you to receive all the glory and all the honor
and all the praise. We don't want any of it. Now,
there was a time in religion when we wanted the glory. I know,
I was there. I know several of the other grace
preachers were there. We were glory hounds, but not anymore. We want Christ to receive all
the glory, all the honor, all the praise. Turn, if you would, the Galatians
chapter six. Galatians chapter six. The ultimate And in grand design
is that God would receive all the glory. And we saw that in
Exodus 33 and 18 and 19 as I read that. And look at this in Galatians
6, 14 and 16. But God forbid that I should
glory. Now here's Paul. Paul was a religionist right
before the Lord saved him. Paul was a proud man, a self-righteous
man. But God had taught him. God had
revealed to him the gospel. God had shown him his desperate
need. Look at this. But God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have no room to glory as believers. Now we're proud by nature. But
the gospel humbles us. Humbles us. But God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why
do we glory in the cross? Because we who could never deliver
ourselves from our own sins have been delivered. Bought and paid
for, purchased by the precious blood of Christ. By whom the
world is crucified unto me. I remember a grace preacher in
California telling me, we're room to the world now. It's true. By whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be unto them and mercy
and upon the Israel of God. That's God's elect, the Israel
of God, spiritual Israel. The believer is a new creature
in Christ, born again by the Holy Spirit. We're born again,
we're a new creature. And what is the result of that?
Exactly what Brother Greg said. We rest in Christ. We trust,
we have faith in him. We rest and trust in him. And
beloved, it's not a one-time thing. We have faith and we continue
to have faith, don't we? And we will till the day we die.
And God will give us dying grace. He does. He gives dying grace
to his people. And we repent. There was a time
when we repented and we continue to repent, don't we? We continue
to repent. We continue to come to Christ
continuously. It's not a one time thing like
religion says. It's a continuous resting, relying,
reposing, upon Christ. Notice in Galatians 615, it says,
for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. That's a direct attack
upon the Galatian, the false teachers that were coming in
and saying, you have to be circumcised. You have to believe on Christ
and be circumcised. That's a direct attack that Paul's writing right
there. Upon the false teachers. Your works cannot save you. It
must be born again. It must be born again. We cannot save ourselves, we
can't make ourselves born again either. It's a work of God. It's a work of God. And as a
result of that, we give God all the glory and all the honor and
all the praise. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 1, verses
30 and 31, and we're close with this. And think of this, any
preaching that does not give God all the glory and the salvation
of sinners is another gospel. It's another gospel. And our
prayer, if you're here and you don't know Him, is that, oh,
that God might give you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just trust in Him. Look at 1 Corinthians 1, 30 and
31. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness. He is all our righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. All that a sinner needs is in
Christ. And God's people say, praise
His mighty name. Heavenly Father, we come before
thee once more. Pray that you'd bless this message
to you for your glory and for your honor that that. Oh, you'd
be magnified. Be with us in the in the preaching
of the gospel as we continue through this day. Be with us,
Lord, know that the Holy Spirit might be with us and might move
amongst the lost sheep who don't know you. And if it's your will,
draw, draw them to you, Jesus, and may the Holy Spirit, teach
we who believe and illuminate the scriptures that we might
grow in the grace and knowledge and truth of our wonderful, merciful
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we give you all the glory
in Jesus' name. Amen.