This morning we'll continue our
study in the book of Galatians. It's been a wonderful study so
far. I've really enjoyed this study
and several of you have mentioned that you enjoy looking into the
Greek too and everything and seeing all the different tenses
that are going on in the verses and it's just been a very profitable
study for me personally. And to see Paul defend the one
true gospel, and to see how it's presented, and to know that the
writings that he writes are inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. It's
written by man, but it's authored by the Holy Spirit. He used men
to write the scriptures. But this gospel is God's gospel. It's not man-made. It's God's
gospel. It's God's gospel. And also, I've enjoyed seeing
how how Paul brings forth that the one true gospel is diametrically
opposed to the false gospels, that those false gospels are
so opposed to the truth. Because number one, they rob
God of all the glory. They rob God of all the glory,
and they put the glory on man. Number two, they rob God of his
sovereignty, because they make man the sovereign, saying that
it's dependent upon something they do. And yet, we know salvation's
all of the Lord. It's all of Him. It's all of
Him. And they rob God of His power,
don't they? Because how are we saved? We're saved by the power
of God, right? It's the power of God that comes and regenerates
us. Oh, my. So they're robbing God. And there's more ways than that.
They're robbing God. So let's read verses 6 to 12 to see the
context of our verses today. And our verse today will be in
verse 12. Scripture declares in Galatians chapter 1 verse
6, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. So Paul's
writing to the Galatian church, it's a very young church, and
he's writing to them this letter. The Judaizers have come in and
told him you must be circumcised to be saved along with the work
of Christ. And Paul's proclaiming the one true gospel which says
salvation's in Christ and him alone, nowhere else, nowhere
else, not by anything man does. So he says here, That it's not
another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that
trouble you, because the gospel is good news. Good news for sinners. The false gospel is not good
news. It's not a gospel. It's not good news. It's horrible
news. It damns the soul to hell. Which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Remember that word pervert there is to be diametrically opposed.
in the Greek, the gospel of Christ. 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 a curse. Now, Paul brings
forth something that this is theoretical because he would
never preach. By the grace of God, he'd never
preach another gospel. But he says, if I or any angel
ever did this, let him be a curse. That's anathema
in the Greek. That's cursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
you would receive, let him be accursed. So Paul wasn't particularly
friendly to people who preach false gospels, we see here. And
God's not pleased at all with people who preach false gospels,
right? I've told you before, I know people who are evangelicals,
and they say, well, Catholics are our brothers. No, they're
not. No. Catholics are opposed to the
true gospel of God's grace. Ask an ex-Catholic. Talk to an ex-Catholic and one
who's been saved by the grace of God and ask them. They're not mad at the people,
they're mad at the system. And those folks there are just
deceived like they were at one time. My. Let him be accursed. Look at that. So it's strong
language. Now look at this. He's going to bring forth that
he's not a man pleaser at all. For do I now persuade man or
God? Do I seek to please man? For if I yet please man, I'd
not be the servant of Christ. My oh my, look at that. So if men want you to do a certain
thing as a gospel preacher, preach a certain way, and the preacher does that, They're
a man pleaser. See, we gospel preachers, we
seek to please God. We don't seek to offend man,
not at all, in our preaching. But the gospel does offend. It
offends the pride of man. But we don't seek to do that,
not at all. But we also are servants of the
Most Holy One, just like you are. And we will preach, Lord
willing, by the grace of God, the one true gospel. till the
day we die. And he says, I'm not a man pleaser.
Do I seek to please men? And look what he says, for if
I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. You
know what he'd be? A hireling. Yeah, a hireling. My, oh my. And he says, but I certify you.
as he's bringing forth before them, brethren, that the gospel
which was preached to me is not after man. For I neither received
it of men, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. So we see in verse 11 that Paul,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, brings forth the fact
that the gospel of salvation in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ is not of man. It didn't originate with man.
It didn't come from the thoughts of man. It wasn't executed by
man. It was executed by the God-man,
right? But what he's bringing forth
is this isn't some invention of man. This gospel, beloved,
that we believe is God's gospel. It's his. It originated with
him. And you know when it originated with him? In eternity. It's the everlasting gospel.
It's the everlasting gospel. And Christ's blood was shed to
ratify that gospel, wasn't it? To ratify that gospel, to save
our souls. My, it's wonderful. So this gospel
that Paul preaches and that I preach didn't originate with man. No,
it's God's gospel of salvation. It's through his son. It gives
God all the glory. It puts man in the dust, beloved.
And it gives God all the glory. It exalts him to the place that
he is. on the throne, high above everything.
And it puts us right in the dirt. Like Henry used to say, we're
worms in the maggot hill. And he picks up one maggot and
says, you're mine. That was me. My, oh my. My. So this gospel gives all the
glory to God because it proclaims salvation in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ alone and by his shed blood alone that he
redeemed us from our sins. And these false teachers at Galatia
who imposed themselves upon the saints, they were there pretending
that their commission came from the apostles. That's something
I learned this week, that they proclaim that their commission
came from the apostles, from the 12. Well, who were the 12
sent out by? God, right? And Paul, we're going
to see, when we look in Acts chapter 9, is sent out by none
other than God himself. My, oh, my. So in the same deceitful
manner when they said that they learned what they proclaimed,
the false teachers, by the 12, they also asserted that Paul
was not an apostle. They made much of the fact that
he was not one of the original 12. They laid heavy emphasis on that.
And they declared that he had never been acknowledged by them.
And they declared that he didn't teach the doctrine that they
taught. Now, Paul replies to these groundless charges with
boldness, we're going to see. In the next few weeks, we're
going to see how he replies with boldness. And the other apostles had been
called by the Lord Jesus Christ during his time on this earth,
which is referred to as his humiliation when he became a man. He left
the glories of heaven. You talk about a humble man.
Left the glories of heaven. God, the word of God, left heaven
to become a man to redeem you and I, beloved. That's bringing
himself low, isn't it? My, oh my. So the 12's calling came from
when the Lord was here upon this earth. But Paul was called to
this office by the risen Savior. He's still called by Christ.
They were called by the God-man upon this earth. He was called
by the risen Savior, beloved. They're both still called by
God. All of them are still called by God. We're going to see that. Oh my, over an ax. Over an axe
there, well, my goodness. Turn there for now, just put
your finger there for a minute. And in his defense, we see certain
definite characteristics of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's object, the Holy Spirit's object in this passage is to
demonstrate clearly that the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ is not of man, but of God. And this gospel, which by the
effectual power of the Holy Spirit completely changes the heart
in life of a man or woman. And how does it do it? Just like
that. Oh, my. We're going to see here Paul. Paul, in his mind, is an enemy
of Christ. We're going to see it in just
the first few verses of chapter 9 of Acts. He's an enemy. And you know, Scripture says
that before we were saved, we were enemies in our minds by
wicked works. And it's so true. And God, He
regenerates us, doesn't He? We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. And that enemy in our minds is turned to one
who worships Him. And we're going to see it right in this passage.
It's awesome. It's wonderful. I love it. Oh
my. And keep in mind, I'm going to
read our text again in Galatians 1.12. For I neither received
it of man, neither was I taught it, but by revelation of Jesus
Christ. So he's speaking of the gospel that he received. Now
look over here and look at this in Acts chapter 9, starting in
verse 1. And Saul, that's Paul, yet breathing
out threatenings and slaughter. See this word slaughter there?
That's murder in the Greek. He's going around murdering Christians.
That's murder in the Greek. We think slaughter and just wiping
everything. That's murder. Breathing out threatenings. And
I looked at that threatening. That's a strong language. And so we can see his heart as
a natural man here. We can see how in his mind he's
an enemy of God. Yet he's one who Christ redeemed
on the cross, and he doesn't even know it. He has no clue.
that the very one that he is persecuting through persecuting
the people of God is the very one who died for him. He has
no idea. So he's just, he's enraged as a natural man. Threatenings
and slaughterings and murder in the Greek, and this also means
killing by the sword, this is a violent death. My. And who's he doing that against? Against the disciples of the
Lord, went unto the high priest. and declared of him letters to
Damascus to the synagogues that he might find any, look at this,
any of this way. There's only one way, beloved.
Notice how it's singular? This way. They used to be called
the people of the way. Our brothers and sisters were
called the people of the way. Followers of the way. I like that. Because there's only one way.
Right? There's two roads, isn't there?
There's the broad road to destruction. Oh, and then there's the smaller
road. Oh, it leads to glory through
Christ. And Christ is the way. He's that road. He's the way,
beloved. My, the way of the flesh, the
way of man is the way to destruction. But the way that leads to glory
is through Christ, who is the way. Look at this. Found any
of this way. No, look at this. He was indiscriminate,
wasn't he? Look at this. He didn't care
if they were men or women. You know, even the Romans would
spare women and children sometimes when they kill all the men and
the boys to a certain age, and then they'd let go of some of
the women and the babies. Look at this, Paul, he's just
slaughtering people. He don't care if they're men
or women. He just hates the people of the
way. Look at this. And why? That he might bring
him bound into some captive. So those that don't get killed,
he's going to bring them bound up in chains. My, oh my. And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus. Well, he's getting close to Damascus.
And suddenly, out of nowhere, suddenly, there
shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the
earth and heard a voice saying, now who's he persecuting? Who's
Paul persecuting? Well, look at this. He's persecuting
men and women, right? Who are of the way. We see that
in verse two. But look at our Lord's, you remember
he's the head and we're the body? Look at how intimately attached
to us the Lord is. Cuz look, Paul doesn't say, or
the Lord doesn't say, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou my people? He says, why persecute thou me?
Think of that as a believer. Think of how intimate our relationship
is with the Lord. Think of our arm. You know, this
arm is attached to this body. It's part of it, right? My legs
are attached to my body. My fingers do what my brain tells
them to do. They're attached. Look at this, oh, and marvel
at this relationship between us and the Lord. And he fell
to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? Not my people. Me. He's the head, beloved, we're
the body. My. And then look at Paul's and
look at look who look what Paul calls him right away. There's
not even a hesitation. And he said, who art thou, Lord? Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord
said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Is it hard for thee to kick against
the bricks? Very one, Paul, that you are
taking my people. In doing that, you're persecuting
me because they're my body. I'm the head. Oh, my. Why are you kicking against the
pricks, Paul? There was a time when we were kicking against
the pricks, wasn't there? Charlie? Yeah? Travis? There was a time we were kicking
against the pricks, weren't we? My, oh, my. I'm not having this man
rule over me. Oh, you know, our God is sovereign.
And I'll tell you this, there's none who can resist his call.
Paul didn't say, you know what, I'm going to think about it and
make a decision later, Lord. I got to pray about it. He didn't
say any of that, did he? Look at this. And he trembling
and astonished. I looked up that word, trembling,
and there he's terrified. He's terrified. And that word
astonished means to be in awe. In Greek. So he's terrified and
he's in awe. And he trembled and astonished
and 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 man which journeyed with
him stood speechless. Hearing a voice, but seeing no
men. They couldn't move. Speechless. Do you imagine that? You're hearing this voice, but
you're not seeing anybody. We'd tear her off the other way,
wouldn't we? If I was on a horse and I didn't
know the Lord, I'd be kicking that horse and say, let's get
out of here. You know what they do with their sides there. Oh
my. Oh, and Saul rose from the earth.
See, look at this. He didn't say, well, Lord, I
gotta think about this. No, God's call, beloved, is an
effectual call. I like to call it an invincible
call. You cannot resist it. I know that from experience.
You can't resist the call of God. When God calls a man or
a woman to himself through the gospel, it's incredible. You
come running. You come right, and then you
spend the rest of your day, your days on this earth just looking
to Christ. Try and keep your eyes on Christ. And not on this
world, beloved. Oh my. And Saul rose 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. So the guys
with him brought him into Damascus, and he was there three days without
sight. He neither did eat nor drink.
Three days. And there was a certain disciple
at Damascus called Aeneas. And to him the Lord said in a
vision, Aeneas. And he said, behold, I'm here,
Lord. God's people call Christ Lord, beloved. He's our Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise
and go into the street, which is called straight, and inquire
in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Taurus. For behold,
he prayeth. and hath seen in a vision a man
named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that
he might receive his sight." Now what was Ananias' response? Lord, I've heard by many of this
man. I've heard of this man, Lord.
Oh my. And look what he says. How much evil he had done to
thy sights, saints of Jerusalem. So word had spread about Paul,
murdering Christians and slaughtering them. Caption, taken abound by
word. He's afraid. Which isn't a natural response,
isn't it? Look at this. Look at this. Oh, look at this.
And here he hath authority from the cheap priest to bind all
that call upon thy name. Now he says, he's coming here,
I heard he's coming here, and he has authority by the high
priest to bind anyone who calls on your name, Lord. But the Lord said unto him, Go
thy way, for he is a chosen vessel. You know what that word chosen
means there in the Greek? It means to choose, to select. He's mine. That Paul there, who's been slaughtering
Christians, he's a vessel of mercy. Remember David? Committed adultery with Bathsheba,
right? Sent her husband to the front lines, knowing he'd be
slaughtered. He's a chosen vessel. Lord said, He's mine. Think of
us with all our sins, all the stuff we've done, all the sinfulness
that we even do. Lord says to you and I who are
believers, you're mine. You're a chosen vessel of mine. Oh my. So here we see someone,
look at this, we see someone who was an enemy in their mind
to God, murdering believers. And right away, just like that,
born again by the Holy Spirit of God, new creature in Christ. And look what the Lord says about
him. And this is true. Each one of us is chosen in Christ.
Now he was chosen just like you and I are. Spurgeon said we were
chosen the same time as Apostle Paul was chosen. That's amazing,
isn't it? In Christ, before the foundation of the world. But
he's chosen to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Here we are,
Gentiles. We're reading his word 2,000
years later, aren't we? And rejoicing in this wonderful
truth. My. Go thy way, for he's a chosen
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings,
and children of Israel. For I will show him how great
things he must suffer for my name's sake." And Paul did suffer,
didn't he? He went through a lot. And Ananias
went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hand
on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared
unto thee in the way, as thou comest, hath sent me, that thou
mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Look at this. Did it happen slowly? No, immediately. there fell from
his eyes, scales, he received a sight for with and arose and
was baptized. Now take note of this passage
here. Take note of divine election in verse 15. But the Lord said
unto him, go thy way for he is a chosen vessel, which means
again to choose, to select in the Greek, to bear my name before
the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. So there
we see divine election, don't we? Next we see divine revelation. Look at verse 3. And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. Boom. The Lord revealed himself to
him, didn't he? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? My, is it hard for thee to kick
against the pricks? And then we see a divine call.
Look at this. Who art thou, Lord? Look at verses
4 to 9. 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. Is it hard for thee to kick against
the pricks? And he, trembling, terrified
in the Greek, and astonished, which is to be amazed or to be
in awe, said, Lord, what wilt thou have
me to do? said unto him, Arise, and go
into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the man which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Saul
rose 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 there three days without sight, neither did eat nor drink. My, oh my. So we see here in
Acts chapter 9, that which is proclaimed in our verse, for
I neither received it of man speaking of the gospel, neither
was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Now take a
look, keep your hand there in Acts 9, look at verses 19 to
22. What does Paul do immediately
after he receives his sight? Look at this. Now he was taught
the gospel by God, by revelation of God. How do we know? Well,
look at this. Soon as he was strengthened, he went into the
synagogues in Damascus. And what did he do? Amen, brother. He preached Christ. He preached
the one whom he cursed at one time. The mouth that cursed him
is now turned to preaching the wonderful news of Christ as the
Messiah. This is absolutely wonderful.
Oh my, look at this, 19 to 22. And when he had received meat
and he was strengthened, then saw certain days with the disciples
which were at Damascus, and straight away he preached Christ. He preached
Christ. Oh my, he preached Christ. that
he's the son of God. My! But look at this, verse 21,
but all that heard him were amazed and said, is not this he that
destroyed or ravaged in the Greek? That word there is ravaged. Then
what called on this name in Jerusalem and came hither for that intent
that he might bring them bound in the cheap priests. But Saul
increased them more and more in strength and confounded the
Jews. They were astonished. Here's
the one that was going through and slaughtering Christians and
taking them down to Jerusalem, and now he's preaching about
the very one who those people proclaim, Christ Jesus, the Messiah? Yep, by the grace of God. He
sure is, by the grace of God. Oh, it's absolutely, well, I
gotta go back here because my notes cut off part of that verse
there. So I'm gonna read here with you again. Acts 9, verses
19 to 22. And when he had received meat,
he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with
the disciples, which were at Damascus. And straight away,
what did he do? He preached Christ in the synagogue. There he goes.
He's going and he's preaching Christ. Some substances that
I shouldn't take. in my youth. And I went back
to my hometown and my buddies and people that I knew, they
were like, what happened to Boyd? Did he go on a bad trip or something? No. No, the Lord saved my soul. He saved my soul. I'm a new creature
in Christ now. My oh my. My oh my. And that's what happened to Paul
here. That's what happened to all of us, isn't it? New creatures
in Christ, beloved. Saul increased them more and
more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is the very Christ. And that's Messiah in
the Greek, beloved. Proving that Christ is the Messiah,
the long-awaited one. He is here. He's here. He's come
to save his people from their sins. And Paul preached that,
didn't he? He preached Christ. Notice that? He didn't preach
himself. He preached Christ, beloved. He proclaimed Christ,
my oh my. And here he's giving, here he's
giving, we're going to see in the next couple weeks in this
section in Galatians, he's giving a testimony of what God's done
for him, and in him, and through him. It's all God. It's all God. Let's go back to our verse. It
says, for I neither received it of man, meaning the gospel,
neither was I taught it, but by revelation of Jesus Christ.
With the words here, Paul brings forth again that man was not
the source of this gospel. We've seen in Acts 9 that he's
received that gospel by revelation of God, and now he's out preaching
it right away. He's preaching that Christ is
the Messiah. Listen to Weiss' translation. He's a Greek scholar.
Listen to what he writes about this verse here. He put Paul, an apostle, not
from man as an ultimate source, nor even through the immediate
agency of a man, but through the direct agency of Jesus Christ
and God the Father, the one who raised him out from among the
dead. So Paul received this gospel.
It originated with God. It originated with God. It was
not a man. It was not a man. The gospel we believe is not
a myth. Turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 3.
We'll look real quick. I've got about a couple minutes
left. We'll look real quick. Oh, this gospel. God's the great
revealer of this gospel. We wouldn't know anything about
this gospel unless God reveals it to us, right? We know that
as believers. We'd know nothing. We'd be groping
around. I'd still be groping around in the dark. My, oh, my. Look at this in Ephesians chapter
3, verses 3 to 12. Paul's saying that, he's speaking here, and
he says, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery,
as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when you read, you may
understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. And we looked
at that where Christ revealed himself in Acts chapter 9 to
Paul. Where in other ages was not made known unto the sons
of men, the gospel was hid from the sons of men. It was spoken
about, the Messiah's coming, the Messiah's coming, the Messiah's
coming, but it was hid from ages and generations. Think of that,
and here we are, we know the gospel by the revelation of God,
right? He's revealed it to us. He's
revealed it to us, beloved. Which in other ages was not made
known unto the sons of man, as it is now revealed unto his holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should
be fellow heirs. Now, the Jews thought they were
the only ones who the Messiah had come for. Praise be to God, he included
us Gentiles, eh? Oh, amen, eh? Yeah, I'm so thankful. Oh, and that was the mystery.
See, to the Jews, that was the mystery. Like, what? The Gentiles?
Those dogs? Yeah, I'm a dog. I'm praising
God that he saved my soul. Let me tell you, I'm a Gentile
dog that's so thankful. Oh, my. Look at this, that the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers
of this promise in Christ by the gospel. Look at that, the
same body. Jews and Gentiles, right? In the body of Christ.
Out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. One in Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. I love it.
Where have I was made a minister? He's called to this. According
to the gift of the grace of God given to me, look at this, by
the effectual working of his power. We're believers by the
effectual working of His power, beloved. Nothing we had to do
with it. People say you just make a decision. God's up there
wringing His hands. That's not the God of the Bible. That's
not the God of the Bible. No, God of the Bible, His people,
His people are born again by His Holy Spirit, by the Holy
Spirit of God. Oh my. By the effectual working
of His power, Under me, who am the least of all saints, that's
how we all feel, right? Is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles, look at this, the unsearchable riches
of Christ. The unsearchable riches, justification
before God, redemption in and through the Lord Jesus Christ,
sanctification in Christ, wisdom. We are wise people in Christ,
not wise in the things of this world, although we know a little.
But we're wise in the things of the gospel, the things of
God, because he's taught us, beloved. He's revealed it to
us. My, oh, my. Forgiveness of all our sins.
And it says, and to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world have been
hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. Christ is the
creator. He's God. He's the word of God. He's our savior. He's the creator.
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers heavenly
places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of
God according look at this according to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation were all according to the eternal purpose
of God just let that one sit this week for us That's enough
just to take us to a higher place in our hearts and minds, isn't
it? Lift us from looking at this world. We're part of the eternal
purpose of God, which he purposed in Christ Jesus. When? Before
the foundation of the world. And then it says, in whom we
have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Let us therefore now come boldly to the throne of grace, that
we might receive grace and strength in time of need. Praise be to
God. Praise be to our great God.