Let's turn back to Galatians
chapter 1 this week. Galatians chapter 1, we looked
a few weeks ago, a couple of months ago now, we looked at
that salutation that Paul gives here in these first few verses
of Galatians. He begins this whole letter of
a correction, to correct that error that the Galatians are
having, and he establishes authority to be able to speak to them on
behalf of the Lord. to admonish him for what was
taking place. But he approached him in grace
and peace. That's how he came to him. He did it in the grace
and peace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And in
verse 4 and 5 he briefly lays out the gospel again to him to
start. It says, "...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." That's a good way to correct
someone. You come in with the authority
to correct them, but you come in patiently, kindly, and through
the gospel to them. But after Paul greets his brethren,
he plainly and he boldly describes the reasons he was writing this
epistle. He cuts to the chase immediately, and he gets their
attention. So there in verse 6, Galatians 1.6, he says, I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another,
that there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. This morning, I'd like us to
look at the turning from the simplicity that is Christ is
to perish. Christ is all. Christ and Him
crucified. We say that a lot here. We've
heard a lot of people say that. We preach Christ and Him crucified.
But what does that mean? What does that short phrase mean?
When we preach Christ, we preach His person, His character, who
He is, the Holy God, what He accomplished in and for His people. His life, His death, His resurrection,
and the completion of that work. But that's what is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. It's who He is
and what He did. Now Paul, what he's writing here,
is this the only time that he's had to correct someone that was
turning away? Were the Galatians the only one
to do something so bad they had to write a whole book to them?
Now he wrote to the Corinthians, he said, but I fear lest by any
means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. Through
his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is Christ. So the Corinthians need to hear
it, the Galatians need to hear it. Who else needs to hear this?
Who else needs to be turned to Christ and that simplicity? I
need to hear it. We all need to hear it if we
have any hope, don't we? We need to be told that old, old story,
like the hymn says. Tell me the story often, for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning has
passed away by noon. I was speaking of this all weekend,
and about every time we get together, I get a fellowship of people.
Oh, if I could just half believe these truths, What joy I'd have
in my life all day if I could just lean on the Lord. No, the
Lord controls these things and He loves me. There's reconciliation. I have no fears. What a wonderful
day I would have and how fast I'd turn. Turn right back to
myself and this world. I need to hear this constantly.
But how does that happen? How do I hear these things? How
do you hear these things? How men and women turn from their
works and their minds and their concerns and then making a salvation
for themselves, how do they turn from that to grace and mercy? How do they turn to Christ Jesus? And that's through the preaching
of the Gospel. This book here is written to the saints in Galatia,
but it's also written to us. That's why it's been preserved.
It's written to this church here in Hamul. It's written to you. But what the prophets preached
in the Old Testament, the Bible is saying this, what the prophets
preached in the Old Testament, what the apostles preached in
the New Testament, what's preached here, what's preached in New
and New Jersey, what's preached in Danville, Kentucky, and Mexico,
and Papua, New Guinea, and all over the world, it's exactly
the same. Hasn't changed. Hasn't changed
one bit from when Adam taught his sons Christ and Him crucified. Paul writes here in verse 6,
Galatians 1.6, I marveled that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ. Paul marveled. He was amazed
that his brothers and sisters were so soon removed from him
that called them. Now what's he speaking of? Is
he speaking of the man himself? Is he shocked that they were
removed from Paul? It could be. We could understand that. We've
experienced this in our church. Our pastor gets up and preaches,
and he gives that general call. And people hear it, and they
attend, sometimes faithfully, for many, many years. And then
they turn away. But they turn from him, and they
would marvel at that, because he's sacrificed his life and
his family, moved halfway across the country, sacrificed his health. It ain't healthy to sit in a
chair for 10 hours a day and study and read and your head
bent over and have neck problems. It's hard on you. But for them
to up and walk away from everything that He's given for them, that
would be painful and hurtful and it would shock Him. He would
marvel at that. That's not what Paul's speaking
of here. He's speaking of turning from Him. He's marveling at the
church to be so soon removed from the Almighty God that called
them. that from Christ, removed from Christ. That general call
goes out when we preach and it doesn't return void. But most
people turn from it. If you hear the truth preached,
you can say, yes, amen, that's what I need. I'm in need and
he can give it to me. Or you can be indifferent, or
you can say, no, absolutely, I hate that. But you're either
for it or against it. There's no picking a middle ground
and not choosing sides. When the gospel's preached and
you hear of Christ, you're either against him or for him. That's
what Paul's amazed here. He wasn't surprised that they
turned from the The general call that people do that. But he was
speaking here not to everyone. He's speaking to those saints.
He's speaking to those believers. That's who he's talking to. Those
people that were quickened, that were made alive. In my life,
I've seen this happen many times. And I'm hurt as a fellow member
in that local assembly. I'm astonished. that they could sit underneath
the gospel that's consistently preached, agree with it, show
up consistently, give their time and their money, and then turn
away from it. Just walk away as if it was nothing. But what
do I do when I do that? Do I excommunicate them? Do I
write them off? Block their number on my phone?
Delete their emails and stuff? No, we don't write them off.
Why wouldn't I write someone off that walked away? Because
how soon would I run away? How soon have I run away to something
else or just neglect the gathering of the saints? I know that I'm
capable of that if the Lord took His hand off of me. So why would
I neglect a brother? How would we be shocked if a
sinner sins? We always are, aren't we? Oh, I can't believe he did
that. Did you expect something different?
That's what we are. That's what I am. So don't be
surprised if I hurt your feelings. I hope I don't, but someday I
will and forgive me. And I hope the Lord gives me
grace to forgive you. Those that are preserved by Christ,
they're not preserved by themselves, but those that are preserved
by Christ, the ones Christ died for, they return to the One that
called them. They don't go away. We were speaking
yesterday of the sin unto death. That's a scary and frightening
thing to think I've committed. I knew the Gospel and I thought
I could do it by myself and walked away. And then the magnitude
of the Lord gets a hold of you and you think that's it. Like
that prodigal son, you come home like, If you let me sweep floors
in your house, I'll be tickled to death. But how do we know
if that sin's unto death? Those brethren that turn away
from the gospel to either something drastically different or something
that seems close but is different. How do we know if that's unto
death? You don't know until they're dead. As long as they're air
in someone's lungs and they're breathing, the Lord's able to
save anybody. If He can save me, He can save
anybody. Anyway, I'll get off my nose. So he says there that
they're removed. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from Him that called you. They turn to something else. You can't turn away from something
unless you turn to something. I can't look at that wall and
turn away from it without being faced toward something else.
Let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens,
at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, saith the
Lord, for my people have committed two evils. One, they have forsaken
me, the fountain of living water. They forsake the Lord. And not
only did they forsake Him, they turned from Him. What did they
turn to? They hewed out, dim out cisterns, broken cisterns
that can hold no water. They went from that fountain
that always gave water, that was the fountain of life, and
they turn to something they'll catch their own, but they see
that those pots are cracked, they can't hold water. The Galatians
turned from Christ to themselves. I've turned from that fountain.
I thought I could hold water in my own pots, but how thankful
I am, thankful to God that the Lord showed me my pots were cracked.
They didn't hold water. It wouldn't work. But what gospel
did these Galatians turn from? What is the gospel? Is the gospel
known a doctrine? Is it the five points Calvinism?
Five points of grace, tulip? No, those are truths about the
gospel, but that's not the gospel. Doctrine is not the good news.
It's an easy way to digest something that's bigger than ourselves,
to understand it a little bit, but it's not what it did. It
helps us understand who and how the Lord did what he did. I tell
my children all the time, I say, they have a big task in front
of them. I say, Daddy, I can't do that. And I say, you know
how to eat an elephant? Eat it one bite at a time, don't
you? That's what we need. My simple brain, I need little
tiny chunks of clarity. But doctrine in and of itself
is not the gospel. Is the gospel our fruit? Is it
your faith? Is that the good news? Do I have
good news because I have faith? No, that's evidence of good news,
but faith in itself is not the gospel. Is it love in your brethren? No, there again, that's evidence
of The truth, that's evidence of a quickened spirit, but that
in itself isn't the gospel. Is it performing the ordinances?
I was baptized, I know the gospel. No. To the Lord's table, I took
the bread and wine, so now I have the gospel. No. The gospel of
the Bible is a person. It's not something I did, see,
do, smell, act, anything. It's a person. It's Jesus Christ.
That's the good news. He is the good news. But what
is the good news to a sinner that's facing eternal damnation? The Lord made you see what you
are and you know what you deserve. You violated the Lord's holy
law. We've offended Him. But the God
we offended is completely and totally satisfied with us because
of the person and the accomplishments of our substitute. That's why
we preach Christ and Him crucified. The character of Christ, His
holiness, His sovereignty, who He is, the work of Christ, His
birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, and all that was
according to the Old Testament, just as it was prophesied. He
did that in our room instead. When he was baptized just before,
whenever Christ was baptized, John said, I don't need to do
this. You need to baptize me. Christ said, it benefits us to
fulfill all righteousness. Us. That was me and you, brethren.
He did it for us. The fact that all that work is
accomplished, it's finished. Our Savior was successful in
the task He was given for this believing church in this world
for every one of His elect. And since it's His character,
His work, and it's accomplished, that's good news. All of my requirements
are met already. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter
40. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. What do you tell them? And cry
unto her that her warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity is
pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins." Double. That's the water
and the blood. "...From his wounded side which
flowed be of sin the double cure, safe from wrath and make me pure."
The Lord bought us with his blood. I'm owned by him. And then that
water made me holy, made me righteous, gave me his righteousness. The
gospel, the good news, is that the Holy God Almighty, He has
justified His elect, but He remains just. He's the just and the justifier. And through Christ, we're reconciled.
We've broken that, we had no communion with Him, we weren't
allowed in His presence, and everything's fine. If the Lord
loves you, everything's fine. That's what I hope I remember
every day. If the Lord loves me, everything's going to be alright.
He's able, right? Alright, back to our text there
in Galatians 1. Look up in verse 4. "...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." It was the Father's
will. We saw it last time we were here
in this chapter, but you'll notice all these texts, they always
speak in the past tense. It's something that's already
come to pass. It's already happened. Second Corinthians, it says,
all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Crosstead,
be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. Why? That we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter
15 with me. 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are
saved, if ye keep in memory that which I preached unto you, unless
ye have believed in vain. For I deliver unto you first
of all that which I also received. what was delivered to Him and
that now He's given to these Corinthians. How? That Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was
buried and then rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Christ willingly and truly took
our place. It wasn't as if He took our burden. It was real. He really did it.
Real enough that it reconciled us to God the Father. We are
made justified. When I was growing up, I was
always told justification means just as if I did not sin. And
that's not complete. It's not as if. It's not pretend. We are fully justified. So I always think of that. New
Jersey, I don't believe they have it. California may. Some
states have castle laws. So if I'm in my home and you
break into my home, I have the right to shoot you. So if someone
breaks into my home and they're going to harm my children or
try to kill me or something like that, and I'll shoot them and
they die, I have to go to court. And that judge looks through
everything and say, well, that's a criminal and they broke into your home.
You're justified. There's no murder committed.
I have no guilt. What I did was right. It was
just. It was justified. That's how
we are justified. What we do is right. We can't
do wrong. If we understood holiness and
righteousness, oh, what peace that'd be. Every time the Lord
sees me, I'm perfect. I'm already holy because of what
Christ did. He sees Him, not me, not my fleshly works, but
Christ in me. But if everything I do in the
eyes of the Lord is perfect, does that mean I could sin more?
We were speaking of this yesterday. Should I go out and commit more
sin and that would give Christ more glory? Romans 6 said, what
shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound, that grace may grow? God forbid. That's
foolishness, isn't it? Some people have told me that
if you tell folks these things, they'll go out and rob banks.
shoot people and do whatever they want. Commit adultery? No,
they won't. Unless they want to, they wouldn't
do that. If I told young people here,
my young people, my children, that no matter what they did,
I love them. I'm your dad, and I'll always be here for you,
and I love you no matter what you do. Would they purposely
set my house on fire? Would they purposely go knock
some holes, bust out windows? No, of course not. I'm their
father. I love them. I sacrifice for them. And they
honor me. They respect me for that. They
don't want to bring reproach on me, and we don't want to bring
reproach on the Lord. The cross, the living God, He
bore my sins on that cross. He saved me from myself, and
He quenched that wrath of holy judgment. He satisfies that,
brought reconciliation to us. Why would anybody in their right
mind want to offend Him? The Lord died for you and went
through all that. We just have a glimpse of the magnitude of
God turning from God. God forsaken Christ. He bore that for me. I can't
even enter into that. Why would I be mean and try to
offend Him more? Anyway, it says there in our
text, Galatians 1, It's a marvel that you are so
soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another. The Jews here in
Galatia, they were pushing on these believers, these saints
in Christ there. They said, I believe everything
that you believe. This is right. But these Gentile
brethren we have, they need to be circumcised, don't they? I lost myself. Give me a second.
I'm sorry. Paul tells them their turn unto another gospel, which
is not a gospel. Now these, the things that they
were telling them, it says gospel twice or another twice there.
These are two different words in the Greek. Paul said here,
unto another gospel. That means drastically different.
Completely different. Which is not another, which means
slightly different. There's two different in others.
So what he's telling them there is you went from a hammer to
a coffee cup, not from a green coffee cup to a blue coffee cup.
What you think is a different one, you think it's slightly
different, it's not. It's drastically different. They think there's
only a small difference, but any deviation from the truth
is a lie. We learned that growing up. We
learned all we need to know in kindergarten, didn't we? If you don't tell
the whole truth, you didn't tell the truth. But a little leaven leaveneth
the whole lump. And it said there that Christ did the calling.
He said, I'm marvelous. You're so soon removed from Him that
called you. And that's offensive to the natural man. In my flesh,
I want to do something. I want to be able to contribute.
I want that recognition. I want an identity. It's big
nowadays. I need my own identity. But I
want that apart from Christ that I did something. Why? I want
the glory. I want to steal His glory. In
worldly religion now, man's asked to serve the Lord, witnessing
and giving. That's what they tell everybody
back home. That's how they grow. Go out and get your friends and
give more money. They don't need that. A child of God that the
Spirit has regenerated, they beg for mercy. They don't beg
for money, they beg for mercy. But that's the difference. It's
the difference in those two Gospels. It's what man needs to do for
God versus what God must do for man. Do you need to do something
for Him or does He have to do everything for you? But it's
not just being saved, being saved from our sins. I don't know anybody in their
logical right mind that wants to go to hell. Everybody wants
to go to heaven, they don't know what heaven is or what's there.
But they want to be saved, but they don't see a need to be saved
from their sins. But why? Why don't they see that
they're totally and fully wicked? Salvation's of the Lord, because
it's not of man. The Lord hasn't showed them something
yet. 1 Samuel 12, 10 says, And they cried unto the Lord, and
said, We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord, and
have served Balaam and Ashtoreth. But now deliver us out of the
hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee. It didn't say that
they committed some bad acts, that they started smoking and
cussing and drinking again. They gave it up for a while and
went back to gambling or nothing. No, it said they have sinned
because they have forsaken the Lord. They turned from the Lord.
They turned from that one that called Him. But that's what Christ
bore for us. We turned to ourselves. That
was the sin that He took from us. He said, My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? Christ was forsaken because we
first forsaken God. Thankfully, we love Him because
He first loved us. How thankful are He does it.
But some pervert the Gospel. And anything apart from the simplicity
in Christ is a perversion of the good news. I almost titled this message,
Who Are My Brethren? Matthew 12, while he yet talked
to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without
desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, behold,
thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with
thee. But he answered and said unto
him that told him, who is my mother and who are my brethren?
And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples and said,
Behold, my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will
of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister
and mother. That's his family. But I've felt
compelled in the past to call a lot of people brothers and
sisters that believe very close to the truth. I pray they are
the Lord's and a solid argument sometimes could be made that
they are. However, Paul here has been moved
to write this entire epistle for these saints because they
were troubled by agreeing, by people that were agreeing with
them on every point. They believed everything they
believed there in Christ. But the Gentiles had to be circumcised. They added one tiny thing to
it that was conditional. Everything else was dead on. You couldn't tell a difference.
Now is that important in our day? Is that important then?
The whole book of Galatians was written because of it. So that's
not me dreaming it up. That's what Paul was writing
this letter for. The Holy Spirit moved him to write it. And they're
clear. Christ plus something is a heresy. It's a perversion.
You can add to, but you can't take away. They always told us
in the army. There's all these rules and regulations. You can't take anything away.
We've given you this, but you put extra on it. In the Gospel, you
can't add anything to it and you can't take anything away
from it. Simplicity. Easy, right? We read earlier
there in Jeremiah 2, Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be
horribly afraid. That's frightening to me. There
in our text in Galatians 1.8, Paul writes, but though we or
an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. And he says
it again in verse 9, and as we said before, so say I now again,
if any man preach any other gospel unto you than you have received,
let him be accursed. How easy would it be for me to
be swooned into something more convenient. I heard a good message on marriage,
and I thought, boy, that's just so beneficial. And then they
turned me and showed me a cross there at the end. Wouldn't that
be nice? That would get more people in the church. We started preaching,
we've got a message on marriage. And then it hits me, the Lord
shows me. That's how quick and wicked, and it's subtle. Just
like with Eve, right? It's slight. It's not another,
I think it's just a little. That's a drastic difference.
But my nature looks for something I can do to keep my salvation.
And there begins a vicious cycle, one after another, doesn't it?
I don't have... somebody asked me that. They
said, well, you grew up in the gospel. You grew up underneath the sound
of the gospel. You don't have grave clothes. And I said, I don't
have grave clothes. I've got a grave tuxedo. My nature, my
flesh is no different. No one's different. There's nothing
new underneath the sun, right? So what keeps that sinner bound
to Christ alone? What's our assurance that we
won't be pulled and turned so easily from our Savior? Why won't
we commit that sin unto death? Turn from that simplicity that's
to another gospel that's not another. Let's look in Hebrews
8. I'll wrap this up for you. Hebrews
chapter 8. There in verse 10. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them
in their hearts. And I will be to them a God,
and they shall be a people to me. And they shall not teach
every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord. For all shall know Me, for the least to the greatest. That's the resurrection, that's
the end of glory. Every one of our neighbors, when we leave
this world and after the Lord returns, we die before He returns,
we'll be in glory. And we won't be teaching our
neighbors, the Lord, everyone will know. They'll all know,
we'll be there in glory, that's what glory is. For I will be
merciful unto their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. How thankful I am that the Lord
is the one that made the covenant. A covenant is a promise. A promise
is only good as the one that can keep it. I can promise I'll
be here tomorrow. I may be here tomorrow. I may
not. I may have a car break down. I may leave my keys in the wrong
place. I may not be able to make it.
He's able. He's able to keep those promises.
He's the one that made the promise. What a blessing that is to me.
He's the one that's that nail in a sure place, they speak of.
You can hang your hat on that if He tells you. So if the Lord's
shown you your frailty and your need, your inability, and He's
turning you from yourself to Him, He'll keep you. That's where
our assurance is. It's not something we do to keep
it. We don't have to be circumcised. We don't have to keep the Sabbath.
We don't have to be baptized to do this, making a work out
of not working. No, we do those things out of love. We'd be glad
to. You don't have to give, but you will. The Lord turns you
from yourself to Him. You'll have a giving heart and
a willing mind. What can I do? And we'll be thankful
for it. We'll be thankful to death. You
know, at the Cure's talk this morning, I've told you all this
multiple times, every member of Christ's body in a church,
they compliment each other, but they're all unnecessary. preach
Christ and Him crucified. It's not just me standing here.
I can talk to that wall and that ain't preaching. And I can speak
to people that aren't the Lord's. And if they're not receptive,
the general call's going out. That's not preaching the gospel.
It's required just as much as a person that sits in the back,
listens, gets up and leaves, it is for me to stand here. But
we're made happy to do those things. Tickled to death when
the Lord does. I get a cup of grass. You know
what the Lord let me do today? He let me cut grass at the church.
Or I get to pick up leaves. Oh, just thrilled. And no matter
what part it is, every peg in that wheel is required. Every
spoke in the wheel is necessary. And it's just one happens to
be in a place that's another. There's no difference in this.
But we're happy. Why? Because we know He's able.
It's for His namesake that He keeps us. And that's surety for
me. Nothing on me. It tells us there
in 1 Chronicles, Be ye mindful always of His covenant. I don't know about ours, not
promises I made. Be mindful of His covenant. The
word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Boy, I just pray
that I'm one of those in that generation. And I pray you are. I hope the Lord shows you that
if you've never heard Him. He's able. He's the one that
does it. And He'll do it for you because He's able to keep
it. That's peace. That's the good news. To me,
I'm not able. He is. I hope it's a blessing
to you. Let's pray together. Oh, Heavenly Father, we're thankful
that You've gathered two or three together. Oh, we're thankful
that You gather us, Lord. We ain't got enough sense to
come to You. We don't understand how weak we are and how needful
we are. What a blessing it is that You've
chose to save us and You've chose to keep us. Thank You, Lord.
Show us Christ and all we can see how low we are is when You
show us how high He is. We're thankful for everything
that He's done for us and how thankful we are that when you
see us, you look at Him and His work and His accomplishments.
what He finished. Keep us always, Lord. Don't let
us turn to ourselves. Don't let us turn to another
that's not another. Don't let us turn to anything
slightly different. Keep us to Christ, the simplicity that's
Him, looking to Him only. We're thankful for this time
together. Lord, it's a privilege. It's a miracle that You preach
to the poor, the poor in spirit. Thank You for letting us have
this place, Lord, and our brethren, and make us Make us love one
another. Make us see Christ in one another.
Thank You for this time of fellowship after. Lord, let us eat. Eat
and be merry. What a blessing it is to have
our conversations of You. Be with our brethren everywhere,
Lord, as they do the same today. Open their ears and their hearts
to hear that Christ does the saving and He's able to do it.
It's in His name that we ask it. Amen.