The title of the lesson today,
the message, is The Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Revelation
of Jesus Christ. We're going to begin at verse
11 of Galatians chapter 1. The Apostle Paul, speaking of
the gospel, and you know I've been thinking a lot about this
because in preparing messages, books, and pamphlets, and things
that One of the things, you know, if we would, if we would say,
what does our, if we would ask this question, what does our
country need more than anything else? We could have all kinds
of answers, and they'd all probably be good answers. You know, people
say, well, we need, we need a better economy, we need a better morality,
all of those things we needed. But if we were to really think
about it from the viewpoint that God has set our minds and hearts,
The greatest need of our nation and of this world is a rediscovering
or recovery of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
grace in Christ. And that's what Paul's doing
in the book of Galatians. He's re-emphasizing the issue
of the gospel that false preachers had tried to come in and corrupt.
And he begins here, he says in verse 11, he says, but I certify
or I assure you, that's what that means. I'm giving you the
assurance of this, brethren, that the gospel, the good news,
which was preached of me is not after man. He says that this
gospel is not of human origin. But this gospel is of God, he
says in verse 12, I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
it, that is taught by man, and we'll talk about that in just
a moment, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. You see, sinful
man is so deceived by his own ignorance and by Satan's deceptions,
and Satan encourages man to speak only that which is natural to
him. That's why false religion is so infiltrated and encumbered
by the works and the wills of man. Everything is based on man's
will and man's work in religion today. And that's what comes
natural to man. But Paul's saying this gospel's
not natural to man. It's of God. God is the source
of it. God is the author of it. And
that's why the natural man won't receive it. The Bible teaches
us the natural man will not receive the things of the Spirit of God,
1 Corinthians 2.14. Neither can he know them. They're
spiritually discerned. They're spiritually valued. They're
spiritually understood. And I always like when I think
about that 1 Corinthians 2.14 passage, you know, when it says,
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
I always like to jump back up to verse 12 of that chapter because
it talks about how we who are saved by the grace of God, we
who've been born again, we've received the things of the Spirit
and we know the things that he says are freely given. And that's
all of salvation based on the blood and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's freely given to his people.
We didn't earn it. We don't deserve it. It's not
by our works. It's not by our will. It's a
free gift. And people say, well, you have
to receive it. Well, you do, but man by nature
won't receive it. Man by nature wants salvation.
He wants blessing. He wants eternal life, but he
doesn't want it God's way. And that's one of the proofs
that what Paul's talking about here and what he's teaching in
the gospel is not of man. It gives no glory to man. It
gives man no room to boast. It's totally of God. So it's
opposed to man's message. Now here comes these false preachers
in and they begin to interject the works and the wills of men
in the scheme of salvation as to attaining it or maintaining
it. or bringing it about, or giving it power. In other words,
what gives the power? You know, we sing that song,
there's power in the blood. Well, what gives power to that
blood? It's not what you do, or I do, or what I decide, or
you decide. The power of the blood is the
power of God. It's the righteousness of God. It's the power of Christ
that demands and secures eternal life for all his people. So Paul
says, I got this, it's of God, I got it by revelation of Christ.
In other words, Paul's saying here that this gospel was revealed
directly to me by the Lord Jesus Christ, and we know the story
of that, and we'll talk about that in just a moment. But Paul's
message is of God. Now how can we know this for
sure? We'll put it to the test. Does it glorify, honor God as
both a just God and a savior? The one who justifies the ungodly
based on the righteousness of God imputed in Christ, imputed
and received by faith. Does it honor him? And secondly,
does it exalt Jesus Christ in his person? One who is God and
man in one person, does it exalt him in his finished work? Not
to make salvation possible for you if you'll do your part because
that's not, that gives glory to you. but as the one who secured
salvation by what he accomplished and finished on Calvary in establishing
righteousness for his people. And thirdly, does it exclude
all grounds of boasting and sinners? Now, you know, if salvation is
based or conditioned on what I do or what I decide, then that
gives me room to boast if that's how it's done. But this gospel
gives men no room to boast. Paul, he'll write later in Galatians
6, 14, God forbid that I should glory, boast, save in the cross. We know that the only reason
we're saved and the only reason we desire salvation God's way
is the sovereign grace and mercy of God in Christ. And then fourthly,
does it promote obedience and worship and love motivated by
grace and gratitude and love? You see, that's the whole issue.
You know, preachers want to motivate people, motivate themselves and
motivate people to do right, to be dedicated, to be sincere,
to be followers. Well, how are you going to do
that? Well, give them a set of rules and say, now you do this
and you'll earn this and you don't do this, you'll avoid that.
That's not the way, that's legalism. So what Paul is saying here is
that if I preach what they preach, then you'd know it wasn't of
God. But since I preach salvation totally by grace, it's of God. And I'll tell you right now,
he says, I received it by revelation of Jesus Christ, revealed personally,
and it's a revelation of Christ. Now, there's a sense in which
all of us who are saved can say that we received the gospel of
God by revelation of Jesus Christ. Christ revealed it to us, that
Christ himself revealed it to us by his Holy Spirit drawing
us unto him. You remember he said, if I be
lifted up, I'll draw all unto me. How does he draw us? In the
power of the Holy Spirit under the preaching of the gospel.
But it's the revelation of Jesus Christ, the truth of his person
and his work for us. But Paul, what he's saying here
is this, he received it directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. as
a message. He didn't receive it by any human
means, and that's a defense of his apostleship, which had been
challenged continually throughout his ministry. Both letters to
the church at Corinth dealt with it. Galatians deals with it.
But the issue here is this, that if any sinner receives Jesus
Christ, then he must be revealed to you. And how is he revealed? He's revealed under the preaching
of the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit who imparts life
to the dead so that we might receive him. And that's the new
birth. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. 2 Corinthians 4, 6, the glory
of God revealed to us in the face of Jesus Christ. Because
no sinner by nature will receive it. So that's one of the evidences
of spiritual life, new birth, that we're one of God's elect,
one of the redeemed, one who truly believes that the gospel
came to us in power. And look at verse 13. Paul writes,
for you've heard of my conversation. That's his lifestyle. That's
his conduct, his character, his walk in this world. You've heard
of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion. And that's
so significant here because it was false prophets who were Jewish
who were coming into Galatia to corrupt the gospel. And Paul
says, well, now you've heard about me in the past in the Jews
religion and how that beyond measure I persecuted the church
of God and wasted it. And of course, you know, Paul's
conversion is one of the most remarkable stories in the whole
Bible, you think about it. And we won't go back to all these
scriptures, but go back to Acts chapter, let me just show you
Acts chapter eight, we won't go into all of them. But you
know, right after Stephen preached the gospel in Acts chapter seven,
it says that they stoned Stephen in Acts 7.59. They cast him out
of the city, they stoned him. And we know what happened there.
You know, Stephen, uh, he, uh, he prayed to Christ, receive
my spirit. But look at verse one of chapter
eight, it says, and Saul, now that's Paul, you know, that,
that was his name, the given to him before he was converted.
And Saul was consenting unto his death. He was full agreement
to the stoning of Stephen over what Stephen preached. And he
says, at that time there was great persecution against the
church which is at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles,
they stayed. He says in verse two, and devout
men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over
him. And verse three, as for Saul, now as for Saul, he's mentioned
specifically, he made havoc of the church. I mean he was set
totally in hatred and in opposition to the gospel. He says, entering
into every house and hailing men and women committed them
to prison. He bound them and took them to
prison over the gospel. Now in Acts chapter nine, we
read about his conversion on the Damascus road and he was
He was on his way to do the same thing that is described in Acts
chapter 8. He was on his way to Damascus
to seek out Christians and hail them, that is take them by force
and bind them and put them in jail. And, of course, we know
why Saul hated the gospel. It's why all men and women by
nature hate it. Now, in John 3, 19, the light
is coming to the world and men love darkness and hate the light
because their deeds were evil. It exposes us for who we are
and what we are. And the fact that we have no
righteousness before God, that we're totally depraved, even
at our best, even the best of us cannot work out a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's justice. even in our religion. And we, by nature, hate that.
And that hatred comes in different forms, in different degrees.
Not everybody is like Saul. Not everybody jumps up and pulls
out a knife or a gun and says, well, I'm going to kill you because
what you preach exposes me. But some are. Some are. But even in our ignorance and
our apathy towards it, The Lord sees that as a hatred of the
gospel. Christ said, if you're not for
me, you're what? You're against me. There's no neutral here.
So this gospel, you're either for it or against it. By nature,
we're all against it. But look what happened to Paul.
Now look back at Galatians 1. He said, I wasted the church,
verse 14. He says, I'm profited in the
Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being
more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. Now,
Paul's not bragging here. He's simply just stating a fact
that he excelled in human, self-righteous, works religion above his companions. And that's true. You know, there's
a lot of times people in traditions and history, they go a little
bit too far in trying to explain things that aren't just totally
revealed in scripture, but Saul probably was a shining star in
the pharisaical religion, in the Jewish religion, and he describes
it in Philippians chapter three when he talks about the works
of the flesh. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a
Pharisee, circumcised the eighth day as touching the law of Pharisee,
outwardly righteous before men, could not be blamed, blameless
he said. And so he says, you all know about that. You know
about my past. I wasn't out here like the woman
at the well, you know, in adultery and the sins of the flesh that
people recognize. I wasn't out here like the thief
on the cross stealing from people and all of that. I wasn't out
here in the bars and in the brothels and in the drug dens. He said,
no, I excelled in human morality. in religion, sincerity, if you
want to talk about sincerity, why did Paul, you know, when
you think about his hatred for Christians, his hatred for Christians
sprung from the fact that he was so convinced that he could
work out a righteousness of his own before God. That's what he was. Remember
he said in Romans chapter 10, they're ignorant of God's right
for they going about to establish their own righteousness. That's
what Saul was doing. He was like Nicodemus in John
three. Nicodemus wasn't out here trying to rob people and, and,
uh, uh, get drunk and all the things that people today see
as sin, which are sinful. But he was trying to establish
a righteousness of his own, and the gospel that Stephen preached,
and that Peter preached, and that all of God's preachers preach,
simply says to Saul that all your efforts to establish your
own righteousness are nothing, even less than nothing. But what
happened? Well, look at verse 15. He says,
but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me, that
I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood." Now this is proof of all of this
in Paul's case, when it pleased God, when will a sinner be born
again? Well, when it pleases the Lord.
Somebody says, you know that book that Billy Graham wrote,
How to Be Born Again? Basically, the whole testimony
of that kind of thinking is, well, you'll be born again when
it pleases you. The problem is, is that it'll
never please you until you're born again. Because man, by nature,
is not going to be pleased with anything of the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace, which preaches forth and reveals forth
the Lord Jesus Christ, not only as God in human flesh, but as
the Lord, our righteousness, which makes our righteousnesses
by our works no good. In fact, less than no good. So
the whole idea that you're going to be born again when it pleases
you is totally unscriptural. And Paul says, well, when it
pleased the Lord to reveal his son in me. This whole issue,
he said, who separated me from my mother's womb. Well, what
he's talking about here is God chose him for salvation and to
be an apostle before the foundation of the world. Because when Paul
came into existence, when Saul came into existence, he was already
separated. That is, he was already marked
out and sanctified. by God for this purpose. And
he didn't have anything to do with it. First of all, in the
womb, he didn't have any thoughts or mind to understand any of
this, to choose anything. And then as he was born and grew,
he grew up in false religion, a sinner, a religious sinner,
a sincere religious sinner, a moral religious sinner. but he didn't
have anything to do with it, in fact we've read about it in
Acts chapter eight, he made havoc of the church he was so hateful
towards it and so when he talks about who separated me from my
mother's womb he's talking about God's sovereign electing grace
before the foundation of the world he's talking about a salvation
which was given him in Christ before the world began but he
didn't know anything about it, didn't have any desire for it Until this time. And he says
to reveal his son, he called me by his grace because that's
the only way God calls his people. He never calls them by works.
They're never saved and converted under a false gospel of works
because God doesn't call centers that way. He calls centers by
the preaching of Christ in him, crucified the one who established
righteousness for us. He doesn't call centers. into
the fold, into, that's what the church is, the fold of God, the
sheepfold, and he doesn't call sinners into the fold by the
preaching of salvation conditioned on man. He calls sinners by the
preaching of the righteousness of God, Romans 16 and 17, the
preaching of Christ. And Paul says here, he called
me by his grace to reveal his son in me. Now what exactly was
revealed to Paul? Well, he doesn't say it right
here, he doesn't spell it out right here, but here's the thing
you've got to understand. As we interpret scripture with
scripture, first of all, we know what Paul heard. I heard a preacher one time say
that, well, Paul didn't hear the gospel on the Damascus road,
he just saw Christ and Christ, Paul heard Stephen preach the
gospel. And I'll guarantee he heard Peter and others preach
the gospel. Why did he hate it so much? What
was it about it that he hated? Well, we talked about that. So
he heard what they were saying. Secondly, he's going to explain
exactly what he heard throughout the book of Galatians. And thirdly,
we have it clear in Philippians chapter three, what he heard. Look over there just for a second.
This is Paul himself by inspiration of the Holy Spirit describing
this event that he's talking about in Galatians chapter 1
and verses 15 and 16. You see when he said, it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace to reveal his son in me. That's a powerful, sovereign
work of the Holy Spirit, but it is not mysticism. It is not
just some kind of a ecstatic experience that Paul had, even
though it was dramatic now, it was emotional. I mean, Paul was
brought down on the Damascus Road, he was struck blind, all
of that. And he readily shows that. But
what was it that was revealed in him? Now, somebody, I've heard
preachers say, well, see there, it wasn't revealed to him, it
was revealed in him. It's both. It pleased the Lord by the preaching,
the preaching, the foolishness of preaching, what that says,
and to me, preaching foolishness, but that's what men call it,
to save them that believe. And Paul shows it in Philippians
three here, verse seven. We'll read the whole thing, but
he says, but what things were gained to me. Now, what was gained
to him by everything he lists there, everything he described
in Galatians one that he excelled in, in the Jews religion that
was gained to him that gained him favor with God that gained
him blessings from God that gained him a salvation. and justification
before God. But he says, but what things
were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. What I thought
was gain now I see as loss. Verse eight, yea, doubtless,
I count all things, but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord. In other words, he, he, he was,
Christ was revealed in, in Paul by knowledge. Knowledge that
was empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring Paul from a hatred of
Jesus Christ to a love and a faith in, love for and faith in Jesus
Christ. And he says, for whom I've suffered the loss of all
things. What all things is he talking about? All those things
he thought was gain. They're in the loss column now.
And do count them but dung. It's kind of like Paul says,
I can't describe to you enough of how worthless those things
are in making a sinner righteous before God. And so he says, I
count them but dumb, that I may win Christ. That word win there
is gain, that I may gain Christ. And he says, and be found in
him, not having what? This is what was revealed in
Paul now. Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the faithfulness
of Christ to do his great work. And what is that? The righteousness,
which is of God by faith. Now that's what was revealed
in him right there. Christ crucified the Lord, his
righteousness to the point that it brought him to repentance
from dead works and idolatry. And so what he was so proud of
before, now he's ashamed of. what he thought was so valuable
in his relationship with God before, now he sees, he counts
it but dumb, and he sees now that the only thing that will
justify a sinner before God, the only thing that will bring
a sinner into communion with God and blessings from God is
the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what was revealed in him. Look back at Galatians 1. He says that Christ was revealed
in him, that he might preach him among the heathen. That was
a common way the Jews referred to the Gentiles. This is Paul's
commission as an evangelist, you see. And he says that I might
preach him among the heathen. Now, in the last part of verse
16, down to verse 19, what he's going to show is the gospel is
not by human authority. In other words, the gospel's
not of human origin, that's what he starts with there. It's of
God, and that's proof of what was revealed in him, or what
was revealed in him proves that. Secondly, the gospel's not by
human authority. It's not by man's power, it's
not by man's will, it's not even subject to man's approval, and
it's certainly not by man's authority. It's all of God. You know, so
many times people will come and hear this gospel, and they'll
become somewhat interested, maybe even concerned, and what do they
do? Well, they find some preacher
or some family member they respect, and they get a second opinion. And a lot of times, what happens?
That blows it right out of their minds. You know, well, don't
have to worry about it anymore. Now, let me tell you this. You
know, there's nothing wrong with getting a second opinion. There's
nothing wrong if you hear something in the gospel and maybe you've
never heard it before. I'm talking about people who
come in for the first time now. And they hear this and they say,
well, you know, I've never heard that before. I've had people
say, you've had people say, well, I've never heard of imputed righteousness.
And that's a very telling thing about our generation, isn't it?
But then what do they do? Well, they go get a second opinion.
Somebody says, well, they just think they're the only one saved.
You know how people are. You've seen it. Well, there's
nothing wrong with getting a second opinion, going and talking to
people. What do you think? What the problem is, is you've got
to be willing to put that second opinion to the test of the scriptures,
just like you do the first opinion. You might find that one of them
is not an opinion. One of them is authority from
God. What does the scripture say?
You know, when I first heard it, I got second, third, fourth
opinions. And it kept coming to my mind
when I'd hear these second, third, and fourth opinions that would
try to refute what I first heard in the true gospel. It kept coming
to my mind, but that's not what the Bible says. What you're telling
me is not what the Bible says. And that's what kept me in front
of it, you see. So you can't go by man's authority. You can't even go by my authority
as far as a human being. I mean, what I mean by that is
don't believe it just because I say it or because one of the
men here say, one of the elders say, Randy or Mark or Jim, Jason
preaches. Don't believe it just because
they say it or we say it. It has nothing to do with it.
And Winston, what does God's word say? And
so here's what Paul's saying, look at it. Verse 16, Christ
revealed his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen.
Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. I didn't have
to discuss it with them. Neither went I up to Jerusalem
to them which were apostles before me. I didn't even need the apostles
authority here. Christ revealed it to him directly.
But I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. And he says,
then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter
and abode with him 15 days. He was seeking fellowship now,
seeking the unity of the faith. He says in verse 19, but other
of the apostles saw I none save James, the Lord's brother. So
it's not by human authority, but it's of God. And then lastly
here, he brings out how the gospel is not for man's glory, but for
God's glory. Look at verse 20. He says, now
the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie
not. Afterwards, I came into the regions
of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by face unto the churches
of Judea, which were in Christ. They didn't know who he was.
And he says, but they had heard only that he which persecuted
us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. What a testimony. Now, what did
they do? I mean, you think about this.
I grew up in religion where people would stand up and give their
testimonies. And a lot of times, most of the,
and listen, I'm not just saying this to be critical, but a lot
of times it was just bragging sessions. And especially when
somebody went from the gutter to the pew. That was, we really
loved those. And listen, I mean, I pray that
God will bring people from the gutter to the pew, but I want
the pew to be where the gospel is preached. It's just like a
lady up in Ashland told me about, it was talking about the movies
that's produced here by this church, talking about how, well,
at least it's good family entertainment, and she enjoyed that. And I said,
well, I said, I want good family entertainment. But I want it
to send the right message. Listen, the Muslims can produce
good family entertainment, but they send the wrong message.
Buddhists can present good family entertainment, but it's the wrong
message. I don't want people to believe a false gospel. Whether they're watching good
family entertainment or some smut somewhere. I don't want
them to believe a false gospel. No, they shouldn't be watching
the smut. No, and I'm not promoting that. But the issue here is eternal
life or eternal death. That's the issue. And so here
Paul stands up and he gives his testimony. And boy, we really
loved the ones where they went from the gutter to the pulpit.
Didn't you remember any of those? And that's okay if they preach
from that pulpit the true gospel. Well, here's an amazing episode
of God's grace. Here's what they heard. And he
who persecuted the church now preacheth the faith that he once
destroyed. Now, what did they do? Look at verse 24. And they
glorified God in me. They didn't glorify Paul. They
didn't exalt Him, they worshiped and praised God because of His
power and His grace and mercy. And that's the way it is. It's
kind of like going back to Matthew 5, 16, you know, let your light
shine before men that they may see your good works and do what?
Applaud you, look at you, draw attention, no, glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Because you see, anything that's
happened to us or anything that God works through us or in us,
It doesn't redound to our glory. It's not for our attention. It's for God's. It's to show
forth the power of God unto salvation in the revelation of the righteousness
of God in Christ. And that's what Paul himself
said, and he described that in Philippians 3.