One of the interesting and challenging
things about traveling amongst believers in other countries
is that you do actually get once again a different view. It's the same view as you have
here, so you don't need to go overseas to get it. But it just
is interesting mixing amongst other people professing believers
and just seeing what's going on in the rest of the world. And of course what we see is
the scriptures, the scriptures we have before us, just fulfilled
and lived out. God's Word is true and you go,
as I do, and you go in a sense as hopefully a servant of the
Lord and you're anxiously looking for opportunities. You're looking
for opportunities to talk about the Lord Jesus with people and
you want the conversations steered in that way and you And then you hear what people
are saying, and they're hearing and they're saying what they're
being taught in the churches there, and particularly amongst
the kids that I had taught at school. I believe I faithfully
proclaimed the Gospel to them in the last couple of years I
was there and taught them and taught them the same truths over
and over again. But we are continually reminded
that God's children need the Gospel continually and need continually
to be reminded because our flesh is just so prone to falsehood
and to following deceiving lies. So often I've left conversations
just agonizing over where these people were at and who really
was teaching them. and agonizing over whether really
the Spirit of God had come upon them and was guiding them and
teaching them. And one of the things that I
was continually sort of struck with was people making extraordinary
bold statements as Christian leaders which were the direct
opposite of the Word of God. And just, it really shocked me
often to hear people saying things which just are completely unsupported
by scripture. I had one young man who was a
pastor in a church telling me that, he'd asked me about, I'd
asked him what happened at the fall, what happened in the Garden
of Eden. And I explained, and he asked
me, he said, well what happened? And I explained, as succinctly
and as clearly as I could, the absolute total depravity of man
and the absolute captivity of man to Satan. And then a matter
of a minute or so later he said, one of the blessings of the fall
is that now we have the knowledge of good and evil. We're actually
better off now after the fall. And we have the knowledge of
good and evil and we have this mighty wonderful thing called
our free will. I was often caused to think in
these conversations of the parable of the soils. Three quarters of the soils are
unproductive. you preach in the gospel you
are in a sense sowing this seed and it falls on pathways and
is taken straight away and then it's choked by cares and choked
by weeds and it looks, half the seeds sown look really wonderful
as they first come up. The ones on the shallow soil
look really good and they look fantastic and they look as if
they're growing well. and then tough times come and
they disappear and the other ones look as if they're going
well and they're choked by the weeds. Where the seed falls on
the good soil, there is this remarkable harvest. We just read
about it in Acts chapter 13. But here in Galatians we have
those people who once were full of joy at the gospel, now being
harassed by these false teachers, false teachers who come with
subtlety, come with deceptive subtlety. We've got to keep remembering
that these people must have looked like Paul. They must have had
a morality that was like Paul. They must have had a knowledge
of the scriptures that allowed them to move into those places
where Paul had faithfully preached. and yet they were false teachers.
And here in Galatians, at the beginning of Galatians, we have
Paul defining his gospel with great clarity, but having to
defend himself. Let's just read the first ten
verses of Galatians chapter 1. an apostle, not of man, 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 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 according to the will of God and our Father. To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. I marvel that you are so
soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another, but there are some
that trouble you and would pervert, would poison the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed. And as we said before, so say
I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that you have received, let him be accursed. There is a preaching
and there is a receiving of that preaching. And those who come
preaching another gospel, even if it was an angel from heaven,
they are accursed. It means literally cut off from
God. They go to hell. And the verse I want to look
at today is in Galatians 1.10. For do I now persuade men, or
God, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. Now that verse doesn't send a
chill down the spine of the person preaching at times. I am troubled
for their souls and I'm troubled for the souls of them that they
lead. For do I now persuade men of
God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should
not be the servant of God." And here I am, standing here as a
servant of God. And if I seek to please men,
If I have a gospel and a doctrine that pleases men, I'm not a servant
of Christ, which means that I'm pretending to be something before
men, which I'm actually not in the eyes of God. The reality
is that the deepest, darkest pits of hell are reserved for
people standing in pulpits, claiming to be servants of God, claiming
to bring a message directly from God, essential for the glory
of God, essential for the salvation of people. And yet they're not
only lost, But their condemnation is most, most severe. We live in a present evil world.
God's purpose in the gospel is delivery, isn't it? Because our sins have been taken
away, delivered us, verse 4, from this present evil world.
This world is under the condemnation of God. We are born into a world
under the condemnation of God. We are born into a world which
is depraved. depraved in its actions and depraved
in its understanding and depraved in its religion. We need delivery. We need delivery from the condemnation
of this world. We need delivery from the depravity
of this world. We need, as God's children, to
be delivered from the customs and the conformities and the
fashions of this world. We need to be other-minded, don't
we? God's children are people from
another place. They belong, they have their
home, they have their rest, they have their assurance in another
place. In this world, we live in a world
in dark, dark times and there's no way of assessing it other
than to say that this world And the depravity of this world and
where man is going in his morality and in his religion is a world
that is so clearly and evidently under the judgment of God that
nothing could be clearer. We see signs of it on the outside,
don't we? The acceptance of abortion, the
acceptance of divorce, the acceptance of homosexuality, the denial
of the sanctity of marriage, the denial of so many things
that are just so intimately linked to us being the children of God. He gave himself to deliver us
from this present evil world. This present evil world lies
in the arm of the wicked one. And he comes into this world
and he operates in many ways, doesn't he? He operates in just
downright open enmity against humanity. And we see that in
the depravity we see in the Middle East. And he comes more dangerously,
and he did to these Galatians, he comes far more dangerously
as a wolf in sheep's clothing. a wolf who looked so much like
Paul that these people accepted him and accepted him and his
messengers as leaders of them. What a sad sight, what a sad
sight to think that the Apostle Paul has to defend himself. What a fearful thing that Paul
had to defend himself in this letter and in many other letters.
He had to defend himself from the attacks of a professing Christian
community. It was so-called Christians who
were causing Paul's consternation and causing him, under the leadership
of the Holy Spirit, to write these strong, strong words. Strong
words about false teachers and strong words about himself. Strong words about us. Paul has
been attacked, and Paul continues to be attacked. It's a common
thing, isn't it, to hear people say, well that's Pauline theology. That's Paul's understanding. There's a show on television,
a discussion show, a debate thing called Q&A. I don't know if you
ever watch it. I'm not encouraging anyone to watch it. It's too
late at night. But I can watch it on the iview thing so I can
sort of follow it a few days later when I've got some time.
But they often have Christians on there. Last week they had
a a smart, smooth-talking American so-called Christian theologian. And he was doing the standard
thing. He was actually talking about
another Jesus and he was talking about Paul. Paul was the one
who was opposed to women. Paul hated women. And Paul was
the one that wrote about homosexuality. And then they made that statement,
and you'll probably hear it a lot more as time goes on, that Jesus
never spoke against homosexuality. It was just Paul. It was just
Paul who hated women, and Paul who had all of these other problems. He was repressed. To attack our brother Paul is
to attack the Lord Jesus. And they are lies. The Lord Jesus
did speak against sexual immorality. The word he used several times
in the Gospel, it's in Mark 7.21 and Matthew 15.19, the word is
the word pornea, which is the word we get our word pornography
from. And it includes all sorts of
sexual immorality, including homosexual immorality. The Lord
Jesus clearly spoke. He and Paul spoke exactly the
same thing. Paul was attacked in his day,
he's attacked in our day. We need deliverance. We need
deliverance from this present evil world. We need deliverance
from this present evil world's master. And God, if he's delivered
his people, his people can't expect the smiles of this world. Satan is not going to give up
his goods. without a fight. We shouldn't
expect the world and the religious world to smile upon us, nor should
we be surprised by its frowning upon us. Nothing has changed. But in this attack on Paul, as
all things God works to do, there's a blessing. There's a blessing
for us here and now in the fact that our brother Paul, under
the sovereignty of God, in his divine purposes for our good
and for his glory, has caused this servant of his to come under
such attack. In his defence, Paul does several
things, doesn't he? He gives a clear definition of
the Gospel. We read it there in those verses.
He gives a definition of the source of this gospel. It's a
supernatural gospel. It's not preached. by someone
who's been raised up by men or trained by men. It's come from
God. It's a supernatural gospel. It's a gospel that has affirmed
and sure supernatural effects. Verse five, to whom be glory
forever and ever. It's a gospel that glorifies
the triune God, and he will have the glory forever and ever. and
it has a power. The Gospel is the power of God
under salvation. Its power comes from God's working. He's according, verse 4, according
to the will of God and our Father. We declare with delightfulness
a sovereign God. What He wills, He achieves. Always. Perfectly. Always perfectly
on time. Always perfectly for the good
of his people. And also Paul not only defends
the Gospel, he shows us what the force looks like, but he
also defines what it is to be a faithful preacher. God's servants
speak God's words and no more. They speak God's words faithfully. They speak God's words fearlessly
before men. They speak God's words with the
one intention that God would be glorified. They have one master. They have one person they wish
to please. What did the Lord Jesus say in
the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6.24? No man can serve two masters. It's impossible to serve two
masters, for, because, either he will hate the one and love
the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. God's servants trust the power
of the Gospel. They trust what God has said.
They trust the promises of God. And the fruit they seek is spiritual
fruit wrought by God. That's their confidence. In Philippians,
there's only a couple of books over, Philippians 1-6, this is
Paul's confidence. This is what he's resting in.
This is his confidence, isn't it? He's being confident. He's thanking God for them. He's
thanking God for their fellowship in the Gospel, that they were
fellows together with him in the one ship. And this is his
confidence, being confident of this very thing. that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. That he, if he has begun a good
work, how does he begin his good work? He begins his good work
by sending the Gospel to people. begun that good work. And that's
Paul's confidence, isn't it? And that was his great declaration,
isn't it, over in chapter 3, that we worship God. We are. We are the circumcision. We are
the true Jews. We are the true circumcised in
heart. We are the true ones born again
and born from above. And what's this great description
in 3 verse 3? Which worship God. Worship God
in spirit. Three great characteristics of
Christians. They worship God in spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus. And as a result of that, 3 verse
3, they have no confidence, no confidence in the flesh. God's servants. reverence God
and fear God. They revere Him and they fear
Him. So let's go to our verse. For
now do I persuade men. Do I try and convince or teach
or bring people to trust or try and conciliate men or God. Am I, by what I'm teaching, says
Paul, am I trying to teach you to listen to men or to listen
to God? Am I persuading you to trust
men or to trust God implicitly? Am I teaching you to obey men
or God? Am I teaching you, encouraging
you to find assurance in men or God? Am I seeking honour from men
or am I seeking honour that comes from God? That's the question
that Paul puts before these people and puts before us and puts before
me. Am I trying to conciliate men? Am I trying to bring men alongside,
or am I trying to please God? Or do I seek to please men? Every one of God's preachers
stands before people with the same weakness in flesh that you
have. I hardly ever finish a sermon
thinking, wouldn't it be nice if someone came and told me what
a good job I did. What ridiculous nonsense. What ridiculous nonsense. I love
what I think it might have been John Bunyan said when someone
came up to him after a message and said, Brother John, that's
one of the greatest messages I've ever heard. And Bunyan said,
don't you worry, Satan told me that just before I finished preaching. gives the depravity of the hearts
of men. But this is serious business,
isn't it? We are dealing with eternal matters. You are like me, bound for eternity. You are destined in the not too
distant future, all of us, we are destined to meet the Lord
Jesus. And we'll meet Him as He really
is. We will meet Him as a sovereign God. We'll meet Him as one who
knows us better than we know ourselves. This is eternal life. I keep reminding you, isn't it?
This is eternal life that you know Him. To know Him is to know
Him in His true character. To know Him is to know something
of yourself in your true character. But it's more than just a knowledge,
isn't it? It's to be in relationship with
Him. And one of the things that is
comforting about the Gospel and causes us to go before God with
humility and with prayer again and again is that none of this
is going to happen. Nothing is going to happen. The
Lord Jesus teaches us again and again, without me you can do
nothing. No man, says Don Faulkner, ever
really understands, believes, lives under the influence of
the remarkably simple, perfectly rational, most clearly attested
principles of Christian revelation until he becomes a subject of
the supernatural operation of God the Holy Spirit. Total depravity
remains in our Adam flesh. We are quickly liable to fall
away. We are prone to looking to works,
to looking to please men, to make some effort to please God. We are prone to fear in men. It's one of the reasons in this
book we have the great example of an apostle, Peter. who fell. He fell and was restored. But why did he fall? Why did
he fall? 2 verse 6 in Galatians says, he
feared, 2 verse 12, he feared them, fearing them which were
of the circumcision. It's a reminder, Peter's fall
is a great reminder that the Lord preserves his own. It's a great reminder that we
are saved by grace and we are sustained by sovereign grace. And we need, constantly need,
the powerful operations of God the Holy Spirit in gracious love
and mercy to save us again and again from ourselves, from the
pit of looking to human merit and to human works, from the
pit of fearing what men might think or say of us. The Gospel is a simple, simple
Gospel. We proclaim it with a simplicity
and, I hope, a clarity. It can be defined, as Paul does,
he says, we preach Him. He says in Colossians, he says,
Christ is all. For all of you young people here,
that's the great message of the Gospel. Christ is all. as we have on our church bulletin,
Colossians 1.30, Christ is all of our wisdom. Christ is all
of our righteousness. Christ is all of our sanctification. He's all of our redemption. Christ is all God. The fullness of the deity dwells
in Him. He is the Word who was with God
and is God. Christ is all in our salvation. He was all in our salvation in
eternity with His Father as our covenant surety, as the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Christ is all in salvation
in time. He works all things in time to
reveal His glory. He's all in salvation at the
cross. We were crucified. with Him,
brothers and sisters. We were with Him in the tomb,
buried with Him. We were with Him in His resurrection. He was risen and we have risen. We are with Him in His enthronement. He and us exalted together. Christ is all. Christ is all
of God. Christ is all in salvation. Christ
is all in heaven. At the centre of the throne in
heaven is our crucified Saviour. Christ is all in the new creation. Christ is all. I love what Colossians
2.10 says about the simplicity that's in Christ, the singleness
that's in Christ. It's interesting, isn't it? In
the Scriptures, it's just doctrine, the doctrine of God. Every time
there is a mention of doctrines, plural in the scriptures, it's
always the doctrine of devils. There is just one doctrine. There is just one simple doctrine. I trust it's impossible to be
mistaken. And under divine teaching, it
shows us our great gods providing for the recovery of this church
from the ruins of the fall. The Father's everlasting love
for the church in Christ. Paul preached it. talked about
this chosen generation, the Son's everlasting love for the Church
in Christ. He loved the Church and gave
himself for the Church, the Holy Spirit's everlasting love for
the Church. We're saved, aren't we? Not by
works of righteousness that we have done. We haven't got any.
We've never done any and we can never aspire to do any. Not by
works of righteousness we have done, but according to His mercy
He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Spirit. That's salvation. See, all of
our mercies flow from one united source. They have a singleness
in mind, a singleness of will, and a singleness of purpose.
See, we have a simple doctrine. It's Christ. electing God, we
were chosen in Him. Our justification, we're justified
by His righteousness. Our redemption, we are redeemed
by His blood alone. We are called by His Spirit. It's all about Him. It's simple, isn't it? The longer
I go on in Christianity, I trust that it gets simpler. I want
it to be simpler and I want it to be clearer. God's children
have a simple, a single, a one reason for the forgiveness of
their sins. God forgave you for Christ's
sake, Ephesians 4.32. We have a simple, single reason
for not being condemned. It's Christ that died. We have one simple, single reason
for all that God gives us. in time, spiritually and materially. With Him, with Him, Romans 8.32,
with Him will He not also freely, I love that word freely, not
on the basis of any merits, not on the basis of any words, with
Him also freely give us all things. A simple reason for all that
God gives me. A simple reason for being saved. Through grace are you saved. Through faith. And that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God. A simple ground of assurance. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Are you a sinner? A simple place, a single place
of faith. Hebrews 12.2, looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of faith. A simple, single motive
for service, His glory. A simple, single desire to win
Christ and be found in Him. A simple and single objective. I love how the psalmist put it.
As for me, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. In his righteousness and only
in his righteousness are we as righteous as him and we can behold
his face. The psalmist goes on, I shall
be satisfied when I awake in His likeness, in His likeness. I have a simple hope for the
day of judgement. Christ died, died for our sins,
and they're taken away and they're gone forever. And as 1 John 4,
17 says, as he is, so are we in this world. We have confidence
on the day of judgment because of who he is. So what provoked Now, Brother
Paul, what an extraordinary thing it is to turn from that Gospel,
that Gospel that declares the glory of a triune God, the simplicity,
the singleness of His works. What stirred these people to
turn from that and turn to another Gospel? These people that came,
these people that came were people who came with great sincerity
and they came with great zeal. But they came with a purpose,
didn't they? They came with a purpose of pleasing
men. They came with a purpose of appealing
to the flesh of men. They came with a righteousness,
a righteousness which was evident and attractive and appealing. They came with works that come
all the way from Jerusalem to Turkey. They came with their
works, they came with their show. They came with great zeal. and
they came dreadfully, dreadfully deceived. And Paul was marvelled,
Paul was horrified that people had turned from that simple gospel
that I've just declared, turned to that Jesus plus something
of their own works. Pleasing men. What is religion that pleases
men? What does it look like? The place to go always is to
Genesis, isn't it? We want to lay the foundations
of understanding, lay the foundations of who we are and what's going
on in this world. We need to go to the foundation
that God lays. What is religion that pleases
men? In that day, said the serpent, when your eyes shall be opened,
you shall be as gods. Genesis 3.5. You shall be as
gods. You shall be on a throne, a throne
of man's sovereignty. You shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. It is quite simply to be someone
who comes to men in an appealing way, with an open Bible and a
lot of good works, and says to men that he still has some autonomy. He still has his will. He still has some power. He still has his wisdom. and his knowledge. He still has
his good works, his ability to perform. He still has something
of his worth, something of his dignity, something that appears
to men They come and preach Jesus, a
Jesus who is less than the Jesus that we talked about. A Jesus
that needs something from man for his work to be achieved. That man can determine his destiny. that man can put by his activities,
put God under some obligation to bless him because of something
he can do. The inroad into these Galatians
wasn't the fact that they were slack, lukewarm Christians. The inroad of the false teachers
was that these people were zealous. The false teachers come along
and say, well, we'll show you. It's all very well what Paul
said, but we'll show you how you can really live the Christian
life and live it in a way which is honouring to God. You can
come back and do some things under the law. We'll show you. Look at us. They must have been
shiny and polished. to please men is to raise man
up and let him have some little tiny seat on a throne. And to raise him up is to redefine
what he is and to redefine who God is. See, sin is what we are. Sin is what we do, but sin is
what we are, and therefore sin is what we do. You see, what
these people are wanting to do is to bring about a moral reformation. And Paul is talking about a spiritual
regeneration. So to please man, is to make
it as if man can be pleasing by what he does. It's amazing
how often people redefine what sin is. They redefine what good
is. And the definitions always come
from the wisdom of man. We've heard people say that their
sin is just the occasional slip-up. heard another person say that
they've got to the stage where they really just only have one
or two sins in their life to deal with. They've actually got
rid of the rest of them. A moral reformation. Religion
teaches a moral reformation. Whether it be Buddhism or Islam
or all sorts of other isms, it's always teaching a moral reformation. What pleases man. It changes
what sin is. It causes man to think, to look
at those two places that we can't look to for assurance. We look to the past. Look what
I have done. Look what I've experienced. Look
what I have felt. It causes people to look to the
future. I can get better. I can work
harder to please God. I will, I will, I will. It gives man a wrong sense of
sin. It gives man a wrong sense of
who God is in his true character, as holy and righteous and just. What pleases men is compromise. It's to hold on to the truth
in some way, to affirm the truth. These people wouldn't deny the
fundamental things that Paul said about the nature and character
of God. but they would have denied the
fundamentals of the Gospel, the fundamentals of saving grace. We have so many people who claim
that they honour and hold to the doctrines that we hold dear,
the doctrines I've just simply explained about the total depravity
of man, about the total and absolute sovereignty of God, about salvation
being by free and sovereign grace. that about the particular, effective,
real redemption of the Lord Jesus. the perseverance of the saints,
the simple fundamental doctrines which are called the doctrines
of grace is really just one doctrine. It's just the grace of God in
Christ Jesus. And they claim to hold those
things and then they compromise and associate and join with those
who oppose them and deny them. It's the love of the truth. It's the love of the truth. that God brings into the hearts
of His people. Why did Paul write this passionate,
passionate letter? Because he loved these people.
He loved them so much. He loved and he loved and he
loved and he loved in such a way that, as he says in Romans 9,
he's prepared to be cut off himself for the sake of his brothers
in Israel. And he wasn't going to compromise.
He wasn't going to compromise the glory of God. He wasn't going
to compromise with who the Lord Jesus was and what he has done. He wasn't going to compromise
with another Jesus. See, the Gospel is a declaration,
a definition of a person. It's Him. So to have another
Gospel and to join with those who have another Gospel is to
have another Jesus altogether. And the Jesus of this age is
a tolerant, loving Jesus. who must respond to our doing. Someone wrote a great short article
about the five contrasts between real religion, real spiritual
religion, the real work of God, and idolatry. The Lord God, the
Lord our God, makes his worshippers He makes them. And He makes us,
in His sovereign grace, to be a new creation. Idolatry is people
making their gods, making a god of their own creation. The Lord,
our God, is known by self-revelation. He reveals the truth and grace
in the Lord Jesus. The idols are dependent upon
human teachers of lies. See, our great God, He prompts
and brings about the work of His servants. He has good works
that He's prepared beforehand from eternity, that you'll walk
in them. Will you walk in them? You must
walk in them. He's prepared them for you. He
prompts the work of His servants. The idols are prompted by their
worshippers. He commands his position by his
power and grace according to the will of our God and Father. Idols are manipulated by men. He performs his own mighty deeds
and commands his worshippers to be still, to rest, that place
of rest for their souls. The idols are still and the worshippers
busy themselves with their religion and their religious commotion. Paul was not a man pleaser. Paul was someone who pleased
God. It's to be a servant, isn't it?
There are so many dangers in pleasing men. It means that you
are just no longer a servant of Christ at all. There's not
a compromise in this declaration. People who please men, please
the will of men, please the worth of men, please the works of men
and the wisdom of men, and honour their works. You've been in religion,
you have seen it again and again. Religion is very good at getting
us to be busy and then applauding the busyness and encouraging
people to do more and more and more and more. God's worshippers,
wait on Him. Saul was a man put in the place
of kingship of Israel, an extraordinary privilege. Saul was someone who pleased
men. Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. This is after he had just openly
and clearly disobeyed the clear command of God. For I have sinned,
for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, because
I feared the people and obeyed their voice. God's servants are
like Micaiah in the midst of hundreds who spoke like Elijah,
who spoke against God in the midst of hundreds and in the
midst of danger. He says, as the Lord lives, what the Lord
says to me, that will I speak. As Elihu said in Job 32, for
I know not to give flattering titles. In doing so, my Maker
would soon take me away. The Lord Jesus was renowned,
even by his enemies, as a man. that was true, and care us for
no man, for thou regardest not the person of man, but teachest
the way of God in truth." They came flattering to him, they
were telling the truth, and in their hearts was hypocrisy, they
were trying to deceive him over that coin. But his apostles,
were turned from cowardly, cowering men into men who stood in Jerusalem. And they said in Acts 4.20, For
we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when threatened with persecution,
they said, We must obey God rather than men. Herod was a man-pleasing
leader. He pleased, it was pleased, he
beheaded John's brother James. And he saw that it pleased the
Jews, and so his next activity was to arrest Peter. And then
at the end of that Chapter 12 of Acts, Herod marches into this
great stadium dressed in this shining garment and makes this
speech. And they think, oh, this is the
God speaking to us. The people gave a great shout.
They were pleased. And the Lord smote him and worms
ate his body. See, we speak, God's servants
speak. Not as pleasing men, not as pleasing
men, but God who tries our heart. God is trying our hearts. He tries our hearts by bringing
the gospel to us. He tests the hearts of his people. He exposes the truth. He exposes what we really are
in the light of the Gospel. allow, and Paul would not allow
for one moment, for any aspect of salvation to be taken from
the hands of his sovereign God and left in the hands of men. See, man now says to fallen sinners,
doesn't he? Again and again in evangelism
all over the place, it says that you can do all of these things. You can pray and you can preach
and you can remove sin. You can shut the gates of hell
and you can turn the mind of God and you can take heaven by
storm. You can now determine your destiny. Man loves to You shall be as
God. You shall be as God, said Satan. it can only be rooted out of
us by a sovereign hand of God who, like Paul, allowed him to
go to a place where in his religion, in his man-made religion, in
that religion of the Jews, he was exposed to what he really
was. He had all that religion and
he had all that zeal and yet All that religion, when exposed
before the Lord God, was nothing but hatred of God. A great knowledge
of the scriptures, a great knowledge of doctrine, a great knowledge
of church history, and hatred of God in his heart. What a blessing. What a blessing it is for us
that God allowed this servant of His to go to those extraordinary
lengths. Under the law, blameless. What a remarkable statement.
It wasn't hyperbole. That's what he says of himself.
Under the law, the righteousness of the law, you could hold up
all the Pharisees and there was Paul. And he could say to that
religious world, I am righteous. What must he have looked like,
brothers and sisters, in that righteousness? You see, it's
only by exposure to the Gospel, only by exposure to God Himself
in the person of the Lord Jesus, is man ever seen as man really
is. It's possible for you and it's
possible for me to polish up our lives like Paul polished
his life and Nicodemus polished his life and all those others
polished their lives and for all the world to say, What a
great servant of God. Until, until we meet God. So that's why the Gospel is so
precious. Because the Gospel exposes us, me and you, again
and again, to the real God. The real God in His true character. May He continue to have mercy
on us. Why don't you turn as we finish the Galatians chapter
6. Three wonderful descriptions. A wonderful description of man
in verse 3. For if man thinketh himself to
be something, don't we love that? A man thinketh himself to be
something, when in reality what is he? What does God say of us?
He is nothing. Isn't that lovely? He is nothing. He deceives himself. He doesn't
deceive God. He'll deceive men, but he'll
deceive himself. Nothing. Over in verse 12 of
the same chapter is a great description of the religion of this world. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. Isn't that religion? Isn't that
a great description of religion? Those who want to please men
want them to go away making a fair show in the flesh. I want to live for God. I want
Him to be honoured by everything in my life, and all of God's
children do. All of God's children hate the
sin that's in them. They hate the sin that dishonours
their Saviour. But they're made to be honest,
aren't they? They're not going to make a fair show in the flesh. They make a fair show in the
flesh and they constrain. They constrain others. and they do it for a reason,
lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. It's the real center, isn't it?
The real center of idolatry, the real center of all false
religion, is what happened at the cross. What happened? Who was crucified? Why was he
crucified? Who crushed him? What was the
result of it? Just those simple questions about
what happened at the cross. You see, that's right, isn't
it? Rather than dealing with the reality of who the Lord Jesus
is and what happened as He was crucified, as He bore the wrath
of God and took away the sins of His people perfectly and completely
forever and made a righteousness perfectly suited for them in
heaven by His own blood and by His own work entirely, when you
please man, You please men to constrain men that they might
make a fair show of the flesh and they should not suffer persecution
for the cross of Christ. Ultimately, man-pleasers are
ashamed of what happened at the cross and they join with others
in that hypocrisy. I proclaim it loudly and then
associate with those who deny it passionately. And verse 15
is a great way for us to finish. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything. All of Paul's circumcision, all
of what he did as a Jew, it doesn't avail anything. Nor uncircumcision. Nor all of what the Gentiles
did. There's one thing that matters.
A new creature. A new creature. Man-pleasing preachers are interested
in people making a fair show on the flesh. God's preachers
are looking to the Lord for new creatures. Let's pray.