Good morning. Open your Bibles with me to Galatians
chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. I bring
you greetings from Hurricane Road, Grace Church, and Frank
Tate, our pastor. He had texted me this morning
and asked me to be sure and tell everyone. He said, hey, I'm traveling
alone. Abby, our youngest one, he's
returning from college and he got back a day early. And neither
Abby and I, either one wanted him coming home to an empty house.
So she's home with him. Galatians 1. And we'll look at
the first nine verses. The title of the message is One
Gospel. One Gospel. Let's look beginning
with verse one. Paul, an apostle, not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who
raised him from the dead." Now, Paul had no problem attaching
his name to this letter to the Galatians. There was no shame
in that. In fact, in the book of Romans,
Paul wrote this. He said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. Paul, an apostle, not
of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father,
who raised him from the dead. Paul didn't take this office
upon himself. Writing to Timothy over in 1
Timothy 1, he said, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled
me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. No man takes this office upon
himself. If he does so, he does so foolishly. God puts men in the ministry.
He gives them the message. He reveals it to them. 1 John
verse 1-3 says, that which we have seen and heard declare we
unto you. And God again calls men. He puts
them in the ministry. Paul didn't thrust himself into
the office, nor did, and this is so important, and he didn't
run before he was sent. Over in 2nd Samuel, turn there
with me, 2nd Samuel chapter 18. 2nd Samuel 18. Now here in 2 Samuel, David's
son Absalom had been slain by Joab. Look beginning with verse
19. Then said Ahimaz, the son of
Zadok, let me now run and bear the king's tidings, how that
the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. And Joab said unto
him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day. Thou shalt bear tidings
another day. But this day thou shalt bear
no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Then said Joab to
Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed
himself unto Joab, and he ran. Then said Ahimaz, the son of
Zadok, yet again to Joab, but howsoever let me, I pray thee
also, run after Cushi. And Joab said, wherefore wilt
thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings? You don't have
anything to say. But howsoever said he, let me
run. He just continued to say, let
me go, let me go. And he said unto him, run. And
Ahimaz ran the way of the plane, and he overran Kushai. Now, there are two men here.
One has the message, and he is sent with it. And another does
not. Kushai was sent. Kushai had the
message. And Ahimaz, he said, let me go. Send me. He just kept, let me
go. Send me. And he was warned. You don't
have the message. You don't have anything to say.
But he persisted, and Joab eventually said, just go. Just go. And Ahimaz go, and when he gets
to the king, he passes Cushah. He's the first one to the king.
In verse 29, he says this. The king says, what happened? And he says, I saw a great tumult. but I don't know what it was. As a messenger, that's one of
our greatest fears, to stand before God's people and not have
a message, to run. What a warning to run before
we're sent. And we must be careful. We must
be careful that we do not run before we're sent. But then we
see here that Cushi, he came bearing the message. I find it
interesting, verse 21, Joab told Cushi, he said, you go and tell
the king what you've seen. He was sent, wasn't he? Isn't
that what we read? How shall they preach except
they be sin. Well, let's read on here in our
text in Galatians 1. Look at verse 2. All the brethren
which are with me unto the churches of Galatia. And he says in verse
3, grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from
our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace Don't we love those words,
grace and peace? Grace, unmerited favor, acceptance
from God, and peace. Peace with God. How can that
be that a man, that a dead sinful man can have peace with God? That God would receive a sinner. Here's the source of it. Here's
the source of grace and peace. God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, do you have verse 4? Let's
read on. Jesus Christ, who gave himself
for our sins. He gave himself. He gave himself. This one gospel, it concerns
Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins. Peter wrote over
in 1 Peter 1 in verse 18, for as much as you know, You were
not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversations received by tradition of your fathers.
How were we redeemed? With the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He gave Himself for our sins. He gave Himself for the sins
of His people. In the book of Hebrews, turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Look at verse 24. Hebrews 9,
verse 24. For Christ is not entered into the
holy place made with hands, which are figures of the true, but
into heaven itself now, now to appear in the presence of God
for us. nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others. Remember that the high priest
would go in year after year and offer that sacrifice. But look
at verse 26. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation were, but now once in the end of the world
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The Lord Jesus Christ, He offered,
He gave Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of His people. Turn
over a page to Hebrews 10, verse 12. This man, after He had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, what did He do? He sat down. The work's complete. You ever
put in just a hard day's work, a hard day's labor, and at the
end of the day, we sit down, right? That project you've been
working on, you feel that way, don't you? We sit down. Doesn't
that rest feel good? But for us, It's not over, is
it? The next day it's right back
at it, right back at it again. But the Lord Jesus Christ, when
He sat down, my friends, the work was complete. Salvation
accomplished. When He had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, He sat down on the right hand of God from
henceforth, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering, He hath
perfected forever, forever them that are sanctified. One offering
He gave Himself. Scripture says He gave His back
to the smiters. How awful, how awful sin must
be. One of the old writers said that
that thing of scourging, when the Lord was scourged, they would
take that whip and on the end of it there would be pieces of
glass and metal and stone and whatever they could gather up.
take that out and they'd lash that against his back. Those
that did it, they say, were just masterful at it. They would rip
out chunks of flesh. Many men did not even survive
that act of scourging. How awful. How awful. And then, but that was just the
first of it, wasn't it? He was scourged. Chunks of his
beard were plucked out. Huh? It says he hid not his face
from shame and spitting. He suffered at the hands of men.
Brethren, he suffered at the hand of God. Justice. Justice demands death. The wages of sin is death. And
the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died in the place of His
people. He cried out, He cried out, my God, my God. He suffered and died. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There on the cross, He suffered
and died in the room instead of His people. He took what I
deserved. He paid a debt that I could not
pay. He gave His body. He made His
very soul an offering for sin, a sacrifice for sin. He gave
Himself. In John 10, 18, this is our Lord
speaking. He said, no man taketh it from
me. He wasn't taken by force. He said, I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received
of my Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, He was a willing sacrifice,
willing and obedient, obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. He gave himself for our sins,
a sacrifice for sin. He made reconciliation for our
sin, remission of our sin. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And listen, not for any sin of
his own. You know, we can't even comprehend
this, but he did no sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin. That's all we do. That's all
we do is sin. And yet, Scripture says he was
made sin. He was made sin. He was made
what He could never be. Aren't we thankful for that though? Because in being made what He
could never be, we're made what we could never be. He was made
sin. We're made the very righteousness
of God in him. He gave himself for our sins. Turn back to Galatians 1. Why? That he might deliver us
from this present evil world. that he might deliver us, that
he might deliver his church. We read this, that Christ loved
the church and he gave himself for it, that he might deliver
us, his elect. Paul wrote, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies, that He might deliver us, His
sheep. Our Lord said this, He said,
why did He lay down His life? He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep, that He might deliver us. his church, his elect, his
sheep from this present evil world. You know, back in the
garden, Adam disobeyed God. He sinned against God. Scripture
said, by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. And listen, that's the world
we live in here, this present evil world. In Genesis 6, 5,
scriptures declare that God saw the wickedness of man, it was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of man, the thoughts of his heart, what was it? Only evil continually. The evil of this world, and listen,
it's not just this world, It's right here, isn't it? The evil
that dwells in me. In Romans chapter 7 verse 18,
I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Yet, yet, we can say, The believer
has this assurance. He has delivered us. Over and over in Scriptures we
read of deliverance. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
3. Daniel chapter 3. Here we read of the deliverance
of of three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. King Nebuchadnezzar
had made an image of gold. And that image of gold, it was
an idol, and it was 90 feet tall. Boy, he wanted everybody to see
that, didn't he? I don't really see King Nebuchadnezzar
as being a very humble man. He builds this great big gold
statue, and he puts it out there for everybody to see. But you
know, I was thinking about this. It don't matter if it's 90 feet
tall and made of gold or 2 or 3 inches tall and carved out
of wood. It cannot save. It cannot, it cannot save. Look at verse, see there in verse
1 of Daniel 3. Nebuchadnezzar the king made
an image of gold whose height was three score cubits and the
breadth thereof six cubits and he set it up in the plain of
Dura in the province of Babylon And then he brought together
his rulers. He brought together the princes, and the governors,
and the captains, and the judges, and the treasurers, and the sheriffs,
and all the rulers. He brought all the important
people together. And he made this decree. He said, when the
music starts to play, look at verse 5. When the music starts,
everyone is to fall down and worship this golden image, this
idol that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And he said, if you
don't, if you don't do this, Those who don't will be placed
in that burning, fiery furnace. Now, that's not deliverance,
right? That's just fear. That's just
using fear. So again, the king made this
decree. And from what we read here in
the rest of these scriptures, everybody bowed down. Everyone
feared the king. Everyone was afraid to not bow
down. They were afraid of being cast
into that furnace with the exception of three men. Three men. Look at verse 12 and 13. There are certain Jews whom thou
hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king," some folks
went to the king and they told him, they said, O king, they've
not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods nor worship
the golden image which you've set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar,
in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. And they brought these men before
the king. And the king spoke again. And
he said, he said, fellas, I'm going to give you another shot
at this. He said, when the music starts
to play, he said, you bow down. And he said, if you do that,
it'll be good for you. But he said, if you don't, I'll
cast you into the oven. And when the king said this,
he also said this, who is that God that shall deliver
you out of my hands? You know, Pharaoh asked that
same question. Isn't that what he asked? He
asked Moses, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? Do you still have Daniel 3? Look
at verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
they answered and they said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're
not careful to answer thee in this matter." I imagine that
when the king had made his comment, they didn't have to even think
about it. They didn't say, give us a few minutes and we'll get
back with you on this. No, they said, we're not careful to answer
thee in this matter. If it be so, Our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and
he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. But if not, if he doesn't, it's not because
he's not able. Be it known unto thee, O King,
that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image
which you've set up. Our God, Our God, whom we serve,
is able to deliver us. And you know, when the king heard
these words, he just flew into a rage. It says his visage was
changed. He was furious. And he said,
turn that furnace up seven times hotter than it was meant to be. And he had Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego bound and cast into the oven. And the fire was so
hot that the men that were carrying them over to throw them in that
furnace, it consumed them. And I don't know how much time
passed or how the king was able to see this, but there was a
time when the king said, didn't we cast three men? Didn't we
just cast three men into this furnace? He said, I see four. I see a fourth man. And they're
loose. They're no longer bound. They're
walking around in the furnace. There's no harm upon them. And
he said, that fourth man, that king saw something, didn't he?
He shortly, just shortly before that, he said, who's this God
that can deliver you out of my hand? And he said, this fourth
one. He looks like the Son of God."
And the king spoke and he said, come forth out of the fire. And
they came forth. The fire had no power over them.
Their hair wasn't singed. Their clothes weren't burnt.
Listen, there wasn't even a smell of smoke upon them. Back home,
we'll have a little bonfire every now and then. You all know that.
It's impossible to be around a fire and not have smoke on
you, right? Not even the smell of smoke. That's deliverance, isn't it?
King Nebuchadnezzar said this in verse 29. What did he learn? He said there is no other God
that can deliver after this sort. And that goes on and on in scripture.
He delivered Daniel out of the den of the lions. Remember Rahab,
there she is in Jericho. Everything in Jericho is accursed.
Everything in Jericho is going to be destroyed, except for Rahab
the harlot and her family. Isaac, there he is. He's laying
there. Dad's about to quarter him, offer
him up as a sacrifice. There's that ram in the thicket.
Take it and offer it in the place of Isaac. Delivered, delivered. The children of Israel, there
they are in Egypt. God delivers His people. Turn to John 18. John chapter
18. When those men came with their
lanterns and torches and weapons after the Lord, Judas had betrayed
Him. Look at John 18 verse 4. Jesus therefore knowing all things
that should come upon Him went forth and He said unto them,
Whom seek ye? And they answered him, and they
said, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said unto them, I am
he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. And as
soon as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward.
He spoke in power. They went backward and fell to
the ground. But then they asked him again, Whom seek ye? And they said,
Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus answered, he said,
I've told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. That the same might be fulfilled
which he spake of them which thou gavest me. I've lost none. The Lord Jesus Christ was bound
and taken away. but His people delivered. They went free. He said that. He said, if you
seek Me, let these My people, let them go. And they took Him,
but His people were delivered. They went free. Well, back to
our text, back here in Galatians 1. Grace and peace from God the
Father. and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us. He has delivered
his people according to the will of God. He who does all things
by the counsel of his own will. Turn with me to John 6. John chapter 6. Here we read of the will of the
Father. What is the will of the Father? These are the words of our Lord
Himself. Listen to these words. Verse
37, all that the Father hath given me shall come to me. and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." All that the Father
hath given the Son, what's he saying? They're going
to come to me. They're going to come to me.
He'll never forget them. He'll never forsake them. He will never cast them out.
Verse 38, I came not to do mine own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. He came. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to do the Father's will, what the Father would have Him
do. Me and my boys sometimes, we
get our, maybe this happens with your children, you get your wires
crossed, like one's thinking one thing and the other one's
thinking something else. That doesn't happen with Almighty
God and the Lord Jesus Christ. They're one. They are one. Verse 39, this is the Father's
will which hath sent me. Can I take comfort in this? Can
we find hope in this? Christ declares this, this is
the Father's will which hath sent me. Is there anything that He's determined
to do that He will not do? Foolish question, right? All which He hath given me, I
should lose nothing. I not lose one thing." But raise
it up again at the last day. Our text reads, according to
the will of God the Father, and here we read in John 6, this
is the Father's will. This is the will of the Father. All that are elected by God the
Father, all that have been redeemed by the Son, all that are called
by the Spirit of God, they shall be raised to eternal glory. And not one, not one shall be
lost. Listen, our salvation does not
rest upon anything that we have or have not done. Salvation is
of the Lord. Look at verse 40 of John 6. This
is the will of Him who sent me. Everyone that seeth the Son and
believeth on Him may have everlasting life and I'll raise Him up at
the last day. His sheep, His elect. His church, they're going to
hear His gospel. They're going to see Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification and redemption. And by faith, we'll believe. We'll believe and rest in Him. Well, back to our text, Galatians
1 verse 5. To whom? be glory forever and
ever. Amen. The glory of God. Eternal glory. Let me ask you
this question. In the salvation of a sinner,
who gets the glory? Who gets the glory in that? Scripture
says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. Look what I did. Look what I
accomplished. It's not the case, is it? Look
what he did. Look what he was pleased to do.
Who gets the glory? God gets the glory. Paul writing
to the Corinthians, he said, who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou
didn't receive? And why do you glory as if you
didn't receive it? In just a few verses here from
Galatians 1, we've read this grace and peace. from God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We read of the 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, the will
of God himself, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. You know, Yeah, looking at this,
all that I can see with, if any man would think, well, what do
I contribute? What do I bring to the table? Well, I'd say this. I'd say we bring one thing. We
bring sin. That's it. That's it. We bring
sin. That's our only contribution,
but thank God He saves His people from their sin. The work of salvation. from beginning to end. It's all
of Him. It says, to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen. And listen quickly. Let's
look at a few more verses here. Verse 6 through 9 of Galatians
1. Listen, Paul ends this lesson with a warning. A little bit
of a warning here. He says, verse 6, I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
and to another gospel." How soon removed, how soon turned. That means to depart from one
person or thing to another, to another gospel. Which verse 7,
it's not another. There is no other gospel. Okay,
there's only one gospel. But he said, there'd be some
that trouble you, and they would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Paul says here in verse 8, though we... Paul was a minister of a gospel.
Huh? Think about that. And he says,
though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel than
that which we've preached. What was the gospel he preached
just right here? Again, grace and peace from God
the Father, from the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who gave
himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present
evil world. The gospel according to the will
of God, the sovereign will of God, to whom be glory forever and
ever. If we preach any other gospel, He says, let them be
accursed. Listen, let's not be taken up
with men. Let's not be taken up with angels. Let us be taken up with the Lord
Jesus Christ. In verse 9, in case we didn't
hear it the first time, because typically we don't, right? Is
that just me? He said, as we said before, so
say I again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that which you've received, let him be accursed. All right, may
God be pleased to bless his word.