All right, this thing's running
now Paul, I'm not touching that again Evidently I punched it
twice last time and went on and off Anyway if you would Please
turn to the book of Galatians And I want to read the first
five verses of chapter 1 Galatians chapter 1 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 the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. 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 Paul's introduction here His
greetings, the technical word is salutation at the beginning
of a letter, is succinct, it's quick, and it's beautiful. The Apostle Paul wrote with apostolic
authority. Well, that's because he was an
apostle. I like the word apostolic. However,
I must admit, I don't like to see it on the side of church
buildings nowadays. Because generally if they use
the word apostolic on there, they mean gibbering with tongues.
And not the apostolic doctrine. Because these first five verses
here are chock full of apostolic doctrine. And that's the part
most people leave out. He says plainly, he is an apostle
not of men. He is an apostle not by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the
Father who raised him from the dead. Now there are those who
still, in this day, try to identify themselves as apostles. Now, no, it ain't right. We had apostles. Now, we have
the apostles' word. The church of Christ, the body
of Christ is established now. Apostles are gone. And this is
just as plain as I can say it. Any man who tries to name himself
an apostle is a liar. And that's just as true as I
can be. There are no apostles today. We've got the apostle's word.
We have the apostolic doctrine. It's been preserved for us. It's
been translated into English for us. Yes, it's been abused. Yes, it's
been ignored. Yes, it's been denied. I spent
driving up here, listening to the radio. This is a free satellite
weekend, or week, I don't know which. So I had on the BBC. And I like the BBC, because they
don't spend all day talking about American politics. But they had
a documentary on the radio. This is, I did not know this
for certain, but I think I'd heard it, but I'd forgotten it.
This is the 500th year anniversary of the Reformation. So they're
calling it, in Germany, they're calling it Reformation 500. And
they were in Wittenberg, which was the hometown of Luther, where
he did a bunch of his writing and stuff like that. And they
talked for an hour about what Germany is doing now for this
Reformation 500. And they talked about Luther
and Luther through the ages. And they talked about how the
Nazis used Luther. And they used, actually, Ein
Festeberg as a martial hymn. The German soldiers sang it as
a military hymn. They talked about the people
during World War II, the people who were against Nazis used that
hymn. And then they talked about how,
because Wittenberg was in East Germany on the other side, how
the German communists tried to adopt Luther. They spent an hour
talking about Luther. They never said one thing about
what he really said. They never spent one word on
what he taught. And they sure didn't mention
the bondage of the will. You know? I mean, bless his heart,
Luther was a wonderful man. He could be a sarcastic son of
a gun. In a good cause. There is actually scripture for
making fun of people who don't believe God. And anyhow, but
they can spend all this time celebrating this and working
on all this stuff and never even come close to looking for the
truth of God. And Luther spoke the truth of
God. Anyhow, there are no apostles
now. There's a lot of liars, but there's
no apostles. Then Paul says, and all the brethren which are
with me unto the churches of Galatia. All the brethren? All the brethren, what, that
are with me. This is Paul's letter to them.
This is Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia. But the
brethren with Paul agreed with Paul. You understand, that's
what makes brethren. Paul preached Christ. Paul taught Christ. Paul wrote
of Christ. And if you are one of the brethren,
you will agree with the Apostle Paul about Jesus Christ. That's just the long and short
of it. In Acts 2, in verse 42, it says
this. This is talking about the 3,000
souls that gladly received the word preached by Peter, Pentecost. They were filled with the Holy
Ghost, they were baptized, and they continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and
in prayers. You know who that is? That's
the brethren. That's the brethren. That's Paul's
brethren, which are with me. You couldn't be with Paul and
not be with Christ. Not in this case, not in this
way. This is what he's talking about.
He is writing a letter to the churches in Galatia, to the people
of Galatia, who believe Christ. That makes them his brethren. We really have no words, no message,
and to be honest, no truth for the unregenerate. Every one of
these letters in this book are addressed to the brethren. They're
addressed to the saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus. These
are addressed to the churches in Galatia. It's not addressed
to the unregenerate in Galatia. It won't do the unregenerate
any good. Now we preach publicly, we preach to the regenerate and
the unregenerate alike, but the message is only to those who
believe it. That's the way it is. I can't
change it. Paul wasn't trying to change
it. Man's trying to change it all the time. Oh, if you just come forward,
God will give you life. You believe God will give you grace. They
got the cart before the horse. It takes the grace of God to
understand this letter. It takes the grace of God to
understand anything of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord Jesus Christ. We not only claim him, we proclaim
him. And these are the words he starts
with, grace be to you and peace. From God the Father and from
our Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you, not to the
world, to you, to the churches in Galatia. Grace is where everything
starts. It's where it all starts. And
peace is who God gave. Our peace is a person. He's our
peace. We have peace because we have
him. If you don't have him, you have
no peace. There's no peace without grace. And with grace, he is our peace. You can't have one without the
other. That's what that little conjunction is. Grace be to you
and peace. You can't separate grace and
peace. There is no peace in this world. What? This present evil world. But there is peace in every one
of his people because he is in every one of his people. Now to the subject, 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. There are three things I want
to point out here, three things listed plainly in this one verse. Substitution and deliverance. Why not? By purpose. By purpose. That's the title, Paul. Substitution
and deliverance by purpose. First, let's start with the substitution.
Who gave himself for our sins? Our substitution is a who. It's not a what. It's a who. Our substitution is a person
who gave himself. Now, the antecedent of this is
from the end of the verse above where it says, oh, wait a minute,
that's our Lord Jesus Christ. Who? That's the who. Our substitution, our redemption,
our justification, our righteousness, our salvation, is a person. It's a who, it's not a what.
There's a lot of what that goes with that who, but it all is
the who. The description of this substitution,
well, it starts in the book of Genesis. Let us make man in our
own image, in our image. It continues in Genesis 3 when
we have, are told by God, the seed of the woman is gonna bruise
the head of the serpent. It goes on to Abraham and Isaac. When God said, Abraham told Isaac,
God will provide himself a lamb. That's substitution. That's substitution. God told Abraham, take Isaac,
take thy son, a person, the father and the son, and offer him as
a burnt offering. Abraham told Isaac, God will
provide himself a lamb. Now by faith, Abraham thought
he was gonna have to offer that son up. And he believed God that
his seed was gonna be called through Isaac. And he received
him back from the dead before he was dead by faith, by believing
God. But there in the thicket caught
by his horns was a ram. And that was the substitute for
Isaac. And we are given here in this
passage to see the substitution. Substitution continues on in
the Passover lamb. I just looked at it as we were
going there, my pages were all folded up. You see a lamb, and
you read on, you'll see the lamb, and you read further, it says
your lamb. Your lamb. And that lamb was
slain, that blood was applied on the doorpost and the lentils,
And when God passed over, when I see the blood, I will pass
over you. And God passed over, and he saw
the blood, and he passed over them. But death came to every
other house. That lamb was a substitute. Without
shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Blood had
to be shed. who gave himself for our sins. The substitution, the explanation
of it, the illustrations of it continued. After their deliverance out of
Egypt, they were given the law, the sacrifices, and the tabernacle. And every offering made, every
offering described, shows some form of substitution of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Every drop of blood that was
shed at that tabernacle, and then the one that was built in
Israel, in Jerusalem, showed forth the substitution for sin. Isaiah wrote, I'm just gonna
read that, cause I don't, in Isaiah 53, And verse six, all we, like sheep,
have gone astray. And we have turned everyone to
his own way. That's the description of us. The elect sheep, the lost sheep,
we go astray. How do we go astray? We turn
what? To our own way. We turn to our own way. A sheep
has never gone astray turning to God's way. Because that's
not astray. But it says this, we have turned
everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And here we see the lamb as a
person and in the lamb as our iniquity being laid upon what? Him. Him, a person. Substitution is the way of Christ
Jesus. It's the way of God. Substitution
is the gift of Christ Jesus because substitution is a gift. Excuse me says it here plainly
who gave himself he gave himself for our sins Says it in other places the father
freely gave his son The son freely gave his life shed his blood
for our sins And he did it once, once and
once only. Just like the Passover was a
one-time event. There's a memorial for the Passover.
You're supposed to keep it every year. That's what he told them
in Exodus. You don't do the Passover every
year. No, God passed over you once, you're passed over. That's
all it took. Israel after that Passover left
Egypt and never went back again. There's no need for another Passover.
You remember it. You remember it. You remember
him that passed over you. And he gave himself, but he gave
himself once and once only. And you can put a period there,
you can put an exclamation point there. He gave himself once. It was a gift. It was a gift. We didn't deserve it. We didn't
earn it. You don't earn it now. This happened
2,000 years ago. It's not happening again. The father freely gave his son.
The son freely gave his life. But not forgetting. There was a definite reason why
he gave himself, and it says here, for our sins. I read it already. The Lord laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He gave himself for our sins. He made him to be sin. Who knew
no sin? He redeemed us, what? Having
been made a curse, what? For us. We're back to the brethren
again. We're back to the us. We're back
to the people of God. He did it for his people. He gave himself freely for his
people. and for their sins he suffered
and bled and died and was resurrected. He redeemed us. Why? By substitution. He took my place. He took your place if you know
him. You can claim that. You can claim
him if you know him. Now, then it says why? That. He gave himself for our
sins, here's that little word, that. That. There's a definite result to
the substitution. God was not a substitution in
vain. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not
die in vain. He did not die for those who
go to hell. I'm sorry. No, I'm not. I'm happy, but that's the way
it is. His substitution is effective. Who gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us now you see
that us in this verse our sins is the same people that he might
deliver us it's the same group of people yeah the Passover lamb was for the
children of Israel. For what? All the congregation
of Israel. Where that blood was shed, where
it's applied, there is no death in that house. And where this
man who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us. And that, actually the two words I looked
in the Greek, he might, it's not there. It says that he deliver
us. It's not a might or might not.
He did. Because you look a little further
into it, where it says who gave himself is in the past tense,
that he might deliver us, that's in the past tense too. There's a definite result for
his substitution. He delivered. us. Just like he gave himself, he
delivered us. We needed deliverance and he
delivered. Who is this us? Those that are
chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world.
They all have been delivered by his substitution. and we have been delivered from
this present evil world. The world is evil. Any questions
about that? Any comments? You can say amen. The world is evil. This world
is cursed. This world fell when Adam fell. Cursed is the ground. Now, his people are in the world,
but they're not of the world. And we have been delivered from
this world. You're in it, but you're not
of it. You're in it, but you're not of it. Be that way. Be that way. Don't let the world rule your
life. You're in it, but you're not
of it. I know it's a hard thing to do. It's hard for me. I get
so vexed by this world. I forget almost anything sometimes. And then I feel really disappointed
in myself when I realized what I've been doing. I let my circumstances
dictate. That's the way I am. But bless
God, not all the time. Sometimes you can let Christ
dictate. You better let Christ dictate. Just remember this one thing.
This world is not your home. You've been delivered from this
present evil world. There are those who don't know
it yet, but they've been delivered from it too. He's calling them out. But we,
those who believe, actually get to know we are delivered now. By substitution. Deliverance
has come. Our deliverance is also a person. We are delivered by his substitution. And I do want to point this out.
We are not delivered by our acceptance of it. Okay? There's a lot of that goes around.
Let's be very clear. Faith does not deliver. Jesus Christ delivers. Actually,
Jesus Christ has delivered. He's just letting you know about
it now. He's done it once and he's done it once only. By faith the just shall live. It doesn't say by faith the just
shall be delivered. By faith, that's the way I like
to say it. I know it says the just shall
live by faith. I'd rather say it, by faith the just live. Because
I don't want to put the cart before the horse. There are a
lot of people who run with that. by faith, the gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast, but just live. We're not delivered by faith,
we're delivered by Christ. The deliverance from this present
evil world is by his substitution for our sins. You may not know
you've been delivered, but if you have been delivered, He will
bring you to know it. Now is that a conundrum? No,
it's just a fact. It's just a fact. He's promised
it. The one who did the delivering
promised you're gonna believe. Because if you don't believe,
you're none of his. He that believeth is not condemned.
He that believeth not is condemned already. He that delivered is
gonna see to it that you believe. And he's gonna see to it, he's
seen to it, you are delivered from this present evil world
and you're gonna know it one day. You're gonna know it. Because if you've been delivered,
he is going to bring you in. He is bringing many sons to glory. He is bringing sons to the Father. The last thing here, purpose. We have substitution and we have
deliverance, but we have it by purpose, the purpose of God,
according to the will of God and our Father. Christ himself stated it many
times while he was here. I came to do the will of my father. He said he could do nothing,
the son can do nothing unless he's seen it of the father. This substitution and this deliverance
was according to the will of the father. It was according
to the purpose of God in Jesus Christ. Romans 8.32 put it this way,
he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up, up for
us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? He purposed the free gift. He delivered his son for us all. freely deliver us all By the
substitution of our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 2 and 23 Peter put it this
way him speaking of Christ him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and for knowledge of God Ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain Y'all make a big deal about that
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God stuff, don't you? Yes,
we do. It's called apostolic doctrine.
Deal with it. You wanna put apostolic doctrine
on your church building, and you wanna talk about Pentecost,
talk about this. Talk about the determinant counsel
and the foreknowledge of God. Our Lord gave himself for our
sins that he might deliver us according to the will of God
and our Father. It was done by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Not only the manner of it,
but also the accomplishment of it. And also the results of it. By that substitution, we have
been delivered. Yes, wicked men did crucify and
slay our Lord of Glory, but they did it ignorantly. Had they known,
they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But guess
what? They didn't know, so they did. By the determinant counsel and
foreknowledge of God, according to the purpose, according to
the will of God and our father The father purpose that the son
be given for us all that whosoever believes has everlasting life God purposed God purposed in
love love for sons but also love for his son's people, those that
he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. God
purposed in wisdom. There have been men throughout
the centuries who have tried to figure out a way to get to
God. This is the only way. It took the wisdom of God to
come up with this way. We don't have a chance coming
up with something different. Because there is nothing different
that will work. There's all kind of things being
preached around us, but they don't work. God purposed in wisdom,
God purposed in grace and in mercy. Because if not for grace,
and if not for mercy, there would be no salvation for any of us. Grace is the unmerited, undeserved,
matter of fact, we deserve exactly the opposite. The favor of God. The good thoughts of God toward
men. But only in his son. Only in
his son who gave himself for us and delivered us from this
present evil world. God purposed in grace and mercy,
but God also purposed in justice and righteousness. He is a just
God and a savior. How? Who gave himself for our
sins. Somebody's got to die. Blood
has got to be shed. Your blood won't do any good,
because your blood is just like you are, tainted, cursed, unholy. But the blood of the Son of God,
in whom the Father was well pleased, that blood can wash away every
sin and leave a man, a depraved man, in the sight of God, whiter
than snow. Whiter than snow. That's the power of God. That's
the wisdom of God. That's the righteousness of God.
That's the justice of God, satisfied. But here, the last thing I want
to say about that is God purposed in power, power. Colossians 1 verse 12 Giving
thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the Saints in light He has fit us made us
fit made us meet Made us prepared to be partakers Of his inheritance the inheritance
of the Saints in life who hath delivered us From the power of
darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son How in whom his dear son we have redemption Redemption
what how Through his blood Who gave himself for our sins he
shed his blood for in whom we have redemption through his blood,
what? Even the forgiveness of sins. How? He was made to be sin, who knew
no sin. The Lord hath laid upon him the
iniquity of us all, substitution and deliverance by purpose. And
that takes the absolute power of God. on all sides. You talk like we got nothing
to do with it. You don't. You don't. You don't. You receive
it, but you only receive it because he give it to you. I only received
it because he gave it to me. What's Paul say next? To God
be the glory. I wonder why. He did it all. I didn't do anything. I was just
in the way, Mason. I didn't even know I was in the
way. But he showed me I was in the way. He put me in the way. I received his salvation. It's
his. He purposed it. He gave himself
as a substitution for it. And by his substitution, I was
delivered. And then he told me about it.
And I believed him. Hadn't believed a word he said
for 23 years, but I believe him now. I believed him when he told
me finally. When he'd opened my eyes, opened
my ears, and opened my mind, opened my heart. Never believed
him before. And this was all done 2,000 years
ago. He's just bringing in sons now. He ain't delivering. He's
just bringing them in. The deliverance has been made,
this deliverance. Why? Because it was made by this
substitution. And why was that done? By the purpose of God. And I do like how he says that
here. According to the will of God
and our Father. If you look at verse three, it
says, grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from
our Lord Jesus Christ. But then when he gets after,
he talks about the substitution. After he talks about deliverance,
according to the will of God and what? Our father. The father and our father. He's
the father of everyone. Now he's our father. How? Because
of the substitution, because of the deliverance, because of
the salvation wrought in his son, and we are in his son now. We were chosen in him before
the foundation of the world, but he has brought us in now.
If you believe, you know now. And you can say, our father,
which art in heaven, because you know him, because you know
the son. Everything we have is through
the son. I was listening to an old message
by Henry the other day and he talked about a woman who talked
to his wife and just an old woman and she told Doris, Henry's wife,
that my son says I have a direct line to God. And Doris told her
that no, we have to go through a mediator. No one has a direct
line to God except the Son. Of course, the old woman goes,
yeah, that's right, honey, you right there. Lots of people agree without
knowing a thing of what you say. They don't get the point. And
I'm gonna tell you this right now, those people that have the
Apostolic Holiness Church don't get the point of this statement
right here from Paul. Because you know what this leads
to? This is the gospel that Paul preached. Substitution, deliverance
according to the purpose of God, according to the will of God.
What's he saying next? I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that preached you, called you under the grace
of Christ unto another gospel. Anything different than the substitution
and deliverance of Jesus Christ according to our Father is another
gospel. In one verse, Paul writes of
this substitution and deliverance and the purpose of our salvation
in Christ Jesus. And then he says, to God be the
glory. To God be the glory. Grace to
you from God and our Lord Jesus Christ, to God be the glory.
Grace and peace to you and to God be the glory. Substitution
and deliverance to you. To God be the glory. According
to the will of God in our father to God be the glory What forever and ever Amen Our
Heavenly Father. Thank you and to you be all glory Help us To lay hold of that to
lay hold of your son, our only hope and all our salvation as
we go about in this present evil world. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Amen.