Galatians 1, I would like for
us to look at the first five verses of Galatians 1 this morning. And what I want us to see in
these verses is the good news of the gospel. The good news of the gospel.
Now, before we look at these, let's ask this question. What is the gospel? We're about to look at the good
news of the gospel, but before we do, this is a very important
question. What is the gospel? The gospel is the declaration
of Jesus Christ. It is the announcement of Jesus
Christ. When those angels came to those
shepherds in the field and made the announcement, they were preaching
the gospel. If a man is preaching the gospel,
that man is preaching Jesus Christ. If a man is truly declaring the
facts about Jesus Christ, not self-help things, and not how
to be better family men, and not all those things. If a man
is declaring the truth about Jesus Christ, that man is preaching
the gospel. You can't talk about the gospel
without talking about Christ. If you're not talking about Christ,
you're not talking about the gospel. There are many truths that we
can talk about. Truths. Many things that we could talk
about and be talking about the truth. But we're not talking
about the gospel until we're talking about Christ. So, let's
talk about Christ for a little while. That's the goal. We're
gonna talk about Christ for just a little while. In these five
verses, I'd like for us to see what Christ did, who Christ did it for, why Christ did it, by whose authority
Christ did it, and what is Christ owed in return. Those five things,
that's what we're going to look at. What Christ did, who Christ
did it for, why Christ did it, By whose authority Christ did
it? And what is Christ owed in return? The Apostle Paul begins
in verse one by telling us what qualifies him to declare this
to us. All right, he's verse one, he
said, Paul, an apostle. The word apostle means delegate. Ambassador. Commissioner. It means messenger. The actual
translation is one who is sent. All right. What he's saying is,
I'm going to tell you something. I'm about to tell you something.
And this is coming straight from the mouth of God himself. When
he said an apostle, that's what he was saying. This is coming
straight from the mouth of God himself. This is a first hand
declaration. This is not second hand, possibly
skewed information. This is directly from God to
you. He said in verse 11, if you look
down there, he said, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel
which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received
it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. I didn't receive it by any man.
I was taught it by the revelation of Jesus Christ Himself. Look
with me over at Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9 verse 1. It says, and Saul, who is Paul,
Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters
to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, meaning of Christ, following Christ, following His Word, believing
on Him, whether they were men or women, he might bring them
bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven." What was that light? It was Jesus Christ's face. Verse 4 says, and he fell to
the earth. and heard a voice saying unto
him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art
thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the bricks. And he, trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth,
and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days
without sight, and neither did eat nor drink." Just seeing the
Lord Jesus Christ's face blinded him for three days. And while he was blinded, God
sent this man Ananias to him to preach to him. Verse 17 says,
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting
his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that
appeared unto thee in the way, as thou camest, hath sent me,
that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the
Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from
his eyes as it had been scales. And he received sight forthwith
and arose and was baptized. And when he had received meat,
he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with
the disciples which were at Damascus. In straightway he preached Christ
in the synagogues that he is the son of God. But all that
heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he which destroyed
them which called on this name in Jerusalem? And came hither
for that intent that he might bring them bound unto the chief
priest. But Saul increased the more in
strength. and confounded the Jews which
dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. He had firsthand experience. This is the Christ. This is the Christ. Look with
me at Acts 18. This is when the Apostle Paul
was in Corinth and he realized his calling to be a preacher
to the Gentiles. Acts 18 verse 7 says, And he
departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house named
Justice, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard
to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler
of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.
And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by a vision. He spoke to him. Be not afraid,
but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man
shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this
city. And he continued there a year
and six months, teaching the word of God among them. The Lord
spoke directly to him. Look at Acts 23. Verse 11, it says, In the night following,
the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as
thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear
witness also at Rome. The Lord stood right there next
to him and spoke to him. And Paul told the Corinthians
in 1 Corinthians 15, he said, after the Lord's resurrection,
he was seen of Peter, and then of James, and then of all the
apostles. And he said, last of all, he
was seen of me as one born out of due time. And he said in 2
Corinthians 12, I was literally caught up into the third heaven. And I heard things. What did he hear? He heard the
gospel directly from the mouth of Jesus Christ. So he begins
our text back in Galatians 1 by saying, this is first-hand information
and you can believe every word of it. It's coming directly from
the mouth of Christ Himself. Verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle,
A messenger sent with a message, not of men, neither by man, but
by Jesus Christ and God, the father who raised him from the
dead. Verse two, he says, this letter's
coming from me. And all the brethren which are
with me, all who have been called into this brotherhood and sisterhood,
all who have been called to be a part of God's family. He said,
that's who this letter is coming from. That's who the letter is
to. Verse two, all the brethren which
are with me unto the churches of Galatia. He said, I'm not
writing to every soul in the region of Galatia. I'm writing
to God's churches. He was writing to the saints,
writing to the faithful brethren in Christ, those who have been
filled with the faith of Christ. God calls them his elect, his
chosen, his separated, called out people. Paul said, that's
who I'm writing to. And that's who I am. Thank God
I'm one of them. In verse 13, he said, for you
have heard of my conversation in time 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 my equals
in mine own nation, being more exceeding zealous of the traditions
of my fathers. But when it pleased God, and
this is how it works, When it pleased God who separated me
from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His
Son in me. When it pleased God to do that,
it was done. I was separated. I was called. I saw Christ. And what I saw
leads me to say with all confidence. He said in verse 3, if you look
back at verse 3, He said, grace be to you. And peace from God
the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the message
of the gospel. That is the message of the gospel.
From God our Father, through Christ our Lord, grace be to
you. That was the message of Peter.
That was the message of all the apostles. Grace. Grace. Salvation by grace. Free gift. That is the announcement of the
gospel. It's free. That's the announcement
of the gospel. It's free. People come wondering,
what must I do? What must I give? What must I give up? How much money do I need to bring?
It's free. It's free. It's grace. It's all free. not
by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ, our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Free gift
grace. That's the announcement. It's
free. Look with me at Acts chapter 15. Acts 15 verse 1. It says, certain men which came
down from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you can't be saved. A lot of men
say things like that. Well, unless you do this, you
can't be saved. Paul and Barnabas said, that's
not right. That's not so. Verse 2, when therefore Paul
and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they
determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should
go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through
Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles,
and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they
were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and
of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that
God had done with them. But there rose up certain of
the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was
needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law
of Moses. And the apostles and elders came
together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been
much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and brethren,
You know how that a good while ago God made choice among us
that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us, and put no
difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of
the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able
to bear?" They came up to him and they said, they're saying,
if you don't do this, or if you don't do that, you can't be saved.
And Peter stood up and said, our fathers who had this law, there was a yoke of bondage on
them, and they weren't able to bear it. And we're not able to
bear it either. No sinner on this earth can bear
the bondage of the law. Verse 11, he said, But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved even as they. He said that's it. That settles
it. That is the announcement of the
gospel. Salvation by grace, through faith,
that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Paul is going
to very clearly explain that gift in our text. Go back to
Galatians 1. Verse 1 says, 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 and
peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
he tells us very clearly what Christ did. Verse 4 says, Who gave Himself? Those are three simple words,
aren't they? Three simple words, but how great
is the meaning of them? He said, Who? Who did this? Our Lord Jesus Christ did this. Our Lord Jesus Christ did this,
the God-man, the spotless One, the Holy One, the Eternal One. Jesus Christ the Lord did this. What did He do? Verse 4 says,
Who gave? He gave. That's what he did. He gave.
What did Christ do? He gave. He didn't loan. There's a difference in loaning
something and giving something. He didn't offer. He gave. He willingly, voluntarily,
freely, faithfully, Completely He gave. What did He give? Verse 4 says Himself. He didn't just give His things. I'm sure there were a lot of
things He could have given. Think about all the things our
Lord could have given to people while He walked this earth. Money?
He never gave anybody money. One time He told one of the apostles,
you go fishing, there's going to be a coin in the fish's mouth.
It's the exact amount of money we need to pay our taxes. He didn't give anybody houses.
He never had one of His own. He did not give His things. He did not just give His time. He didn't just merely give a
payment. He gave Himself. Christ willingly, freely, lovingly
gave Himself. Who did He do that for? Who did Christ give Himself for? Verse 4 says, Who gave Himself
for our sins. He did that for sinners. He did that for sinners. Not
the obedient ones. What do you need to do to go
to heaven? Well, you know, you better start obeying. Not the
obedient ones. He did it for sinners. Not the
good ones. Sinners. Not the worthy or the
righteous. Sinners, those who honestly cannot
say anything about what they see in themselves, except I'm
a sinner. And that's very few people. But
some honestly, when they look at themselves, all they can say
about what they see is I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Don't turn, you
know this well, but over in Romans 5 it says that God commended
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. The Apostle Paul said, I'm telling
you from firsthand experience, this is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And he said, I'm glad he did
because I'm the chief. Are you a sinner? Just think about that for a minute.
Are you a sinner? and a sinner in the way that
the scripture calls us sinners. Filthy, rotten, no good, head
to toe, complete, total sinner. Are you a sinner? If you are
like I am, this ought to be wonderful news to us. Look with me back
at Galatians 1. It says, What did Christ do? He gave Himself. Who did Christ
do it for? He did it for sinners. Verse
4 says, who gave Himself for our sins. Now why did Christ
do that? Verse 4 says, that He might deliver
us from this present evil world. That He, not us, He didn't give Himself as a sacrifice
for our sin on that cross. to make deliverance possible,
to make salvation possible for us to secure ourselves. He didn't do that. He didn't
take the first step so we could take the second step and deliver
ourselves. He didn't show us how to deliver
ourselves, if we'll just follow that example. He delivered us. He said, for this cause came
I into the world. He came to give His life a ransom. That means a payment in full
for many. Every chosen sinner His Father
gave to Him. Verse 4 says, Who gave Himself
for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world. What does that mean, this present
evil world? It means He came to deliver us from ourselves.
We are the world. We are the world. They got that
right. Yeah, we sure are. We are the
world. He came to deliver us from our own fall. He came to
deliver us from the curse and the condemnation. Over in Galatians
3, it says in verse 10, as many as are of the works of the law
are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. If we cannot fulfill all the
law, we're going to be cursed. Verse 11 says, but that no man
is justified by the law in the sight of God. It's evident, for
the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree. He gave Himself for our sins,
that He might deliver us from this present evil world. And
back in chapter 1, By whose authority did Christ do this? The end of
verse 4 says, Christ did it according to the will of God and our Father. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. That was the will of God for
Him. Not one sinner will ever be saved
except by the will and the purpose and the authority of God Himself. Salvation is of the Lord. This
was the will of the Father who sent Christ. It was that every
soul that He had given to Christ, Christ should lose none of them,
but should give His life for them and raise them up at the
last day. Christ said to His Father, I
delight to do Thy will. Every soul You've given Me, I've
kept. None of them is lost. So what
did Christ do? He gave Himself. Who did Christ
do that for? He did it for sinners like you
and me. He gave Himself for our sins. Why did Christ do that? That He might deliver us from
this present evil world. Whose will and authority did
Christ do that on? He did it according to the will
of God and our Father. Not my will, not your will, His
will. Of His own will begat He us through
the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of
His creatures. Now here's our last question. What is Christ owed for all of
that in return? Verse 5 says, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. Not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but unto thy name give glory. All of the glory. All of the glory. Thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Amen. That's the wonderful news
of the gospel of Christ. Now may God give us faith to
believe it. All right, let's all stand together.