Galatians 1, this morning we'll
be looking at verses 10 through 12. Galatians 1, verse 10 through
12. The title of the message this
morning is, Do We Please God or Man? Do We Please God or Man? Last week we looked at this. Let's go ahead and read these
few verses here. Verse 10, starting verse 10.
Paul says, 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. 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 taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. If you'll remember last week,
we saw how that Paul comes out with an iron fist and begins
to abolish, begins to destroy this false gospel that had come
in unawares in this church of Galatia. He came in proclaiming
that there is not but one gospel. There's only one. There are not
many Gospels, but one Gospel and not another, Paul says. And
we saw that this Gospel is that the Word of God is the infallible,
inerrant Word of God. That's where we receive our Gospel. This one Gospel comes from the
one Word of God, the Scriptures. that the God of this Gospel is
sovereign in all things, in time, eternity, among all peoples and
nations, that every atom is controlled by the Father, controlled by
God, and He rules all things after the counsel of His own
will. We know that this Gospel tells us that man is absolutely
depraved and dead in sins, and has no ability or will to come
to God. We know that God has elected
some of Adam's race. This is the gospel we preach,
that God has chosen a people of His own sovereign mercy and
not according to their works. The gospel we preach is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, who effectually, powerfully, accurately
accomplished salvation for all of His elect. That's the gospel
we preach. We preach a successful Savior.
We preach that the Holy Spirit's calling is irresistible. That there are two callings,
a general calling. And yes, men may reject a general
calling. But when the Spirit of God comes
in power, they cannot refuse this call. We know that this Gospel we preach,
that God's people are called to faith in Christ and are free
from the law. Absolutely, utterly free from
the law. Free from all what man would
divide the law into types, into ceremonies, governmental law,
dietary law, moral law. You can take the law and divide
it into different parts if you want to, but the law is the law
is the law. And if you're under bondage of
one thing in the law, if you are to try to keep one thing
of the law, then you're under the bondage of the whole law.
But we who are in Christ are free completely from the law. We preach a gospel that every
sinner who comes to Christ shall be saved. That everyone who believes
on Christ shall be saved. Without exception. Anyone who
comes to Christ. Election never stopped one person
from coming to Christ. If there was no election, there
would be nobody coming to Christ. But because there is, there's
hope that if sinners come to Christ, they can and shall be
forgiven of all their sins. And lastly, our gospel is a gospel
of perseverance and preservation. Our gospel, the saints shall
persevere in faith. until faith is lost in sight. That's our gospel. And if anyone
preach any other gospel than the sovereign grace of God Almighty
and salvation, it is not the gospel but some other gospel,
which is not another. And Paul now asks this question. He says, do I please men or God? Do I persuade men or God? Now this word persuade in some
other text is the word teach. The Apostle Paul in Acts chapter
18, it says he persuaded the Jews and the Gentiles. He taught the Jews and the Gentiles,
but that word does not work here. It is not the word that is intended
here because we know that you can't teach man, but you can't
teach God. He's not saying, do I teach man
or do I teach God? No. What He is saying is, do
I preach or teach the doctrines of men or the doctrines of God? That's what He's saying. You
answer this question. I preach the one true gospel.
And if I preach the one true gospel and they're preaching
a false gospel, do I preach the doctrines of men or of God? Paul here is displaying that
he is not trying to be a man-pleaser. He is not trying to appease certain
people by his gospel. The Apostle John, you remember
the Pharisees rebuked them for teaching in the name of Jesus.
And what did they say? Hey, you tell us. Is it better
to obey men or God? Well, that's a rhetorical question. You know it's better to obey
God. And so therefore, we must teach in this name because we
are in obedience to God. As all men by nature once sought
the applause of men, didn't he? He once sought this. He said,
you know that I was one that destroyed the church. You know
that I had my conversation in the Jewish religion in time past. And I persecuted the church.
Paul wanted nothing more than to kill the name of Christ. Stamp it out from the world. He said, but now I have become
a servant of God. And if I'm a servant of God and
I please men, then I'm not a servant of God. If I'm a servant of God,
I will please God and not men. I will. For yet if I please men, Paul
said, should I not be a servant of Christ?" Paul is saying, if
I do not preach the gospel of God's free grace in Christ, if
I try to blend the gospel or compromise the gospel of grace
and mix it with human will or works or law, then I should be
like these cursed men, not a servant of Christ. Paul says this in another place,
he says, woe is me if I preach not the Gospel. If I preach not
the Gospel. Why? Because he would cease to
be a servant of Christ. Anyone who preaches another Gospel,
listen to me friends, they are not the servants of Christ. Those statements that I made
earlier, they are very emphatic statements. They are very clear
statements. And if any man deviate from those
things, he is deviating from the gospel and is not a servant
of God. He's not a servant of Christ. Today, men are asking, what can
we do to please men? Isn't that the question of modern
religion? What can we do to please you?
The pastor, he has become nothing more than a circus entertainer. And He tries to please men with
all kinds of movies and plays and musicals and things like
that. And to the neglect of the preaching
of the gospel. They're always trying to appeal
to the emotions and intellect of men to draw the crowds to
their churches. This element appeals to the pride
of men. There's no doubt about it. You
cannot see that it doesn't appeal to men. Those things appeal to
man. This is why their churches are
full. Because they try to appease men. It appeals to man to have some
part in his salvation. That's just appealing to the
natural man. They say that all men need Christ
plus something. Plus the law, plus good works,
plus charity, plus moral behavior, plus baptism, plus church membership. Now let me ask you, what is wrong
with any of those things? Nothing. Those things are good,
aren't they? There's nothing wrong with those
things. The problem is, is that they use those things to merit
God's favor. See, believers in Christ, we
are saved unto good works, charity, good behavior, baptism, church
membership, all those things we do. We do good works. But we're not saved by our works,
we're saved to good works. And we do not replace the gospel
of God's sovereign grace with our works. A man said this, our good works
are furthered by the gospel and not to replace it. To please God is to serve Christ. To serve Christ is to preach
Christ. And to preach Christ is to proclaim
the gospel of grace alone in Christ. That's what it is to
serve Christ. Are you a servant of Christ?
Then you would preach His gospel. You would teach His gospel. You
would tell men of His gospel. That's what servants do. They
serve. I'm only here to please my Master.
I'm not here to please anyone else. Verse number 6, he said, To forsake
the gospel, look at this in verse 6, he says, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace
unto another gospel. Can you see how the Apostle Paul
uses the person of Christ and the gospel as one and the same?
He didn't say you were called away from the gospel, he said
you were called away from Christ who called you to His gospel.
You see, the gospel and Christ are one and the same. And if
you move away from His gospel, you move away from Him. You move
away from Him. God's men are not called in service
to Christ to put their finger in the air and see what popular
opinion is. We are to preach Christ in season
and out of season, when churches are full or when they're empty.
when men will hear it or when men will not hear it. We are
never to change the message of God's free grace in Christ to
please men. Believers, may we always please
God. May we always proclaim His gospel
to sinners, because some will hear it. This is why I preach,
some will hear it. I know that. How do I know that?
God said they would. God says He has His people. And
God says His people shall hear His gospel. And He says, don't
worry about who they are. Just say it. Declare it. And
they'll hear it. They'll hear it. Some will hear
it. And let us not be discouraged
or compromise it when others will not. Don't be discouraged
and don't compromise when they won't. Number two, the gospel of God
is revealed from heaven. We're not to please men because
this gospel is not a revelation of men, but it is a revelation
of God. This is why we should not change
it. This is why we should not please men. The false gospel
is designed to please men. It appeals to pride of man and
it gives man a share in God's glory. But their gospel is one
of their own imagination, one of the making of the wisdom of
men. And their Jesus is a failure, their God is unable to save whom
He will save and is not to be trusted. A God like that is no
God. A God who cannot do what He desires
to do or what He wills to do is no God. Make no mistake about it, we're
not talking about two different versions of the Gospel. We're
talking about two different Gospels. We're not talking about a higher
form of the gospel. And some men are just talking
about a lower form of the gospel. No! We preach THE gospel. THE gospel. The only one there
is. There is no other. Our gospel may be trusted. Because
it was revealed by the risen Christ who is now seated on the
throne of heaven. That's why we can trust this
gospel. That's why we don't have to please men. Because our King
is on the throne. He's on the throne. Look at this
in verse 11 and 12. Paul says, But I certify, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for neither
I received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. The gospel Paul preached in his
letters and he wrote in his letters was from heaven itself, from
the one who sat on the throne himself. And friends, this gives
way to the apostles' message, doesn't it? Y'all ever heard rumors? You
ever gossip? People often take that as law. When they hear something, they
say, oh, well, that's got to be so. I heard it from so-and-so.
And he's just an honest man. And then you come to find out
it's not true. You see, it reflects then on
the character of the one who told it. If our gospel is not
the gospel, then Jesus Christ Himself is a liar. And we know
that ain't so. Why? The Scriptures tell us that
God cannot lie. He cannot lie. Our Gospel was
given by Christ to the Apostle Paul and that gives it weight
and measure so that it is equal in authority to the Old Testament
Scripture. What the Apostle Paul penned
and the other apostles penned is equal to the testimonies of
Moses and all the prophets. Why? Because the Old Testament
spoke of Christ, didn't it? He said, you search the Scriptures,
in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they that
testify of Me. This Old Testament testified
of Christ. And when He had come and fulfilled
it, what He did then was shine the complete light onto this
on the Old Testament by the new. The Old Testament Scriptures,
they are equal with the New Testament. The New Testament is the light
that shines on the old. And these Old Testament prophets,
they looked forward to Christ, didn't they? Scripture says,
by faith, Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker
was God. He was promised. He was promised
that He would have a heavenly city, and He believed. And Scripture says that they
embraced these things by faith. not having received the promise.
Believer, we have received the promise. Jesus Christ has come. All of the shadows now are fled
away and there is no more shadows of the gospel. And Paul says,
it was made known unto me the mysteries that had been hidden
from the foundation of the world. The mysteries of the gospel.
And so when we preach the message that the Apostle Paul preached,
we preach the Word of God as it was revealed of God, God the
Son. And this message that we preach,
it is a unique message, isn't it? Unique, it's one of a kind. It's one of a kind. And that
speaks to me of value. This message has great value. I was reading a Coca-Cola museum
down here was going out of business, and he had some rare items of
Coca-Cola. Now, I mean, you know, people
pay thousands of dollars for an old Coke machine. Why? Because it was one-of-a-kind.
And they can say, wow, look at this, I've got one-of-a-kind.
Friends, you've got a one-of-a-kind gospel. Now, in this world, there
are many gospels, aren't there? There's the gospel of free will. There's a gospel of psychology.
There's a gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity. There's a gospel
of baptismal regeneration. There's a gospel called the social
gospel. Oh, there are many gospels in
this world, but our gospel is separate from all of them. Our gospel is unique and one
of a kind. Why? Because there's really only
two religions, works and grace. That's it. Works and grace. Friends, you don't have to learn
anything about the other religions. You don't have to know anything
about them. Only thing you have to know is are they trying to
merit God's favor in some way. That's all you got to know. And
if you know that, you can scrap them. You can just put it all
in one lump. Worthless. Worthless. Remember how the Lord described
the Scriptures as a man that found a treasure hidden in the
field. He sold everything he had for
that treasure. Friends, you have this treasure
in earthen vessels. Preached to you. It's unique. It's special. It's one of a kind.
It is the message of grace. And woe unto them, Jude said,
who have gone the way of Cain. What is the way of Cain? The
way of works. Woe unto them who have ran greedily
after the heir of Balaam for reward. Those who seek profit
by the gospel. Those who seek the physical things
of this life by the gospel. and perish in the gainsaying
of glory, those who would exalt themselves above the gospel."
Woe unto them. Woe unto them who preach another
gospel. Grace is one of a kind, while works religions are many. We seek not to please men, but
God. Number three, the one true gospel
is made known through the revelation of Jesus Christ. This gospel
of God was spoken to us by His Son. God in sundry times and
in divers manners has spake in times past to the prophets through
visions and dreams. Now He has spoken unto them by
His Son. By His Son, whom He made heir
of all things. By whom all things were created,
the express image of God, And yet He purged our sins. Him that
came purged our sins. That's who gave us this gospel. Friends, Jesus Christ is the
center and sum of the gospel. He is the gospel. He not only revealed it, He is
the gospel. We believe in Christ Jesus alone. That's the gospel. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. What is that? Jesus Christ, His
person, He's God and man. Jesus Christ, His person, the
righteousness of God, He merited by His favor. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, His work on the cross to die for my sins. and save my soul and make me
righteous before God." That's the gospel. He did it. He's the
gospel. Look at Him. Don't come to me.
I can't save you. Look to Christ. He can save you.
That's the gospel, isn't it? And this gospel of sovereign
grace is perfect. It's perfect. It's unique. It's
given to us by Christ, it's equal with the Old Testament, and it
is perfect. Perfect. Why? Because it was
purposed by a perfect God. It's because God alone has done
all that is necessary for our salvation. You remember Moses was commanded
to build an altar of stones, and he would just take the stones
and pile them up. And if he put one little chisel
mark on that stone, if he tried to make those stones pretty,
he said, you've defiled the sacrifice. Why? You touched it. If you touch
this Gospel in any way, adding to it or taking from it, you
have defiled the sacrifice. And that's what these Galatians
were doing with these Judaizers. They were adding to the work
of Christ and they defiled the sacrifice. They defiled it. This sacrifice was perfect. Why? I had nothing to do with it. Friends, if I have something
to do with it, it's defiled. That's it. I am full of sin. And if I touch anything, it's
sin. Scripture says the plowing of
the wicked is sin. Plowing is good, but if a wicked
man put his hands on it, it's defiled. Everything I do is defiled. So nothing I do Do I add to this
gospel? It's perfect. Why would I want
to touch it? I don't want to touch it. It's
perfect. Because God who did it is perfect. Number five, the
gospel therefore is unchangeable. Man's gospel is evolving, isn't
it? Constantly. If you can read the books from
the late 1800s up into the first half of the 1900s, you can see
this evolution of change that was going on among the churches.
They were changing their gospel. Therefore, it's not the gospel. Today, preaching is out. Unpopular. Discussion is in. Now, if I got
up here and I had a discussion with you and I let you answer
some questions and you raise your hand and you get filled
with some religious pride, that would be in. Everybody would
like that. But one man standing and doing all the talking? I've
got a lot to say, preacher. I'm really good. I'm smarter
than you are. Probably so. The only difference
is God called me and He didn't call you. That's the only difference. I didn't call me. I didn't call
me to be a pastor, to be a preacher. God did. And this is the only
means God uses to save sinners, is by the preaching of the gospel.
Well, that's arrogant, pastor. No, it's not, because it's not
the pastor. It's God using this clay pot
to pour out His gospel to you. Clay pot gets no glory. Clay
pot gets no glory. This gospel message is unchangeable
because it comes from an unchangeable God. Why then would you compromise
this gospel? It's perfect, unchangeable, unique,
equal with the Old Testament revealed of Jesus Christ. The
gospel itself is Jesus Christ. Why would you change it? We won't. We won't. If everybody will hear
and nobody will hear, We cannot compromise the gospel. We must
continue to give a clear, distinct sound. Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
the gospel of God's sovereign grace. I pray that God blesses
to you.