Alright, Galatians chapter 1.
Now you'll remember we began in our study looking at this
epistle. False prophets had come into
the church at Galatia and they came preaching a false gospel
that a person saved partly by Christ and partly by their own
obedience to the Levitical ceremonies and laws. But there's a problem. The Apostle Paul had been in
these churches preaching the gospel. And the message that
Paul preached was very different than the message that these false
prophets were preaching. So these false prophets, they've
got to discredit Paul some way. They can't really attack his
message. So they start personal attacks on him. They say, well,
he's not an apostle. He didn't get his message directly
from the Lord and so forth. And they felt like if they could
discredit Paul, then his message of salvation in Christ alone
would be automatically discredited. And that's what Paul's dealing
with in these next verses. Now, I'm not going to spend a
lot of time defending Paul's apostleship. You all know his
qualifications and that he was an apostle. You all know that.
We'd be in serious trouble if Paul's not an apostle. I mean,
he wrote about half the New Testament, do we believe, so we'd be in
serious trouble if he wasn't an apostle. And he was an apostle.
And he tells us here he was called. He called to be a believer. called
to be an apostle. Now, none of us are apostles. We're not called to be apostles.
There were only twelve apostles. An apostle, if you're going to
be an apostle, you had to be taught the gospel directly from
the lips of the Lord Jesus himself. Well, there are no apostles today.
The apostles, they could work miracles that would confirm their
message. And they could work those miracles because the scripture
wasn't completed at that time. Nobody needs to be able to work
miracles to confirm their message today. We've got the completed
Word of God. You can check a man's message
with the completed, finished Word of God. So nobody today
is called to be an apostle like Paul was. But we are called to
faith. The same way the apostle Paul
was called to faith is the way he calls people to faith today.
So the title of the lesson is The Call That Saves. And here's
the first thing we learn. The call that saves. comes from
the preaching of the gospel. Now Paul was called directly
from the Lord. But the rest of us, we're not
going to be called directly from the Lord. We're going to be called
through the preaching of the gospel. That's what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 14. Whereunto he called you. How? By our gospel. Through the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. So verse 11, this is
where we begin, Galatians 1. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." Now, Paul received his gospel straight from God,
from the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he received
it by special revelation. Now, none of us receive the gospel
that way today. The gospel is preached to us
today by men. If you're going to hear the gospel today, you're
going to hear from a man. But the only way we're going
to believe the gospel is the same way Paul did. It's by revelation. Christ must be revealed to us
by faith. And Christ is revealed to his
people through the gospel. This is what has pleased the
Lord to do through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. But now, it's not just any preaching. It's the preaching
of the gospel. The gospel of God. Christ cannot
be revealed to the soul through a lie. Can't be done. Christ
cannot be revealed to the soul through a gospel that men make
up. Because man's not wise enough to devise a gospel that saves.
Man's just not that wise. They come up with many different
ways and theories of salvation, but none of those ways saves
a sinner. and at the same time lets God
be God. None of them do that. Man's not wise enough, man's
not merciful enough to come up with a gospel that saves sinners.
They come up with a gospel that saves good people, but not sinners. So no gospel that a man makes
up will ever save anybody. The gospel, the gospel that saves,
is offensive to the flesh. That's another reason a man can't
make up this gospel. Because the gospel is offensive
to the flesh. So if we're going to hear the
gospel, God's got to give it to us. And the gospel declares,
it's the gospel of God. It declares who God is and how
God saves sinners. Not the way we save ourselves,
the way God saves sinners. And that way, that way of salvation
is a person. The gospel is a person. The Lord
Jesus Christ. And God reveals Christ. Every
person, he says. Christ is revealed to the heart
of every person, God says. No matter where they're from,
no matter what generation they're from, God reveals Christ to the
heart. From the least to the greatest.
They all know Christ. This is the same way the Apostle
Paul says. Now, Paul received the law and
he received the traditions of the elders from men. But Paul's
going to know Christ and he's going to know the gospel. God's
going to have to reveal. Christ to his heart. And that's
what the gospel does for us today. The gospel doesn't reveal the
doctrines of grace. The gospel reveals Christ. And
once we see Christ, then we see all true doctrine. The gospel
doesn't reveal a set of truths. The gospel reveals Christ. Once
we see Christ, then we see all other truth because Christ is
the truth. So the gospel declares Christ.
that declare salvation in Christ alone. We preach Christ and Him
crucified. Christ is our obedience. Christ obeyed the law perfectly
and His obedience is my obedience. We preach Christ. We preach Christ
our righteousness. The man Christ Jesus lived a
perfectly righteous life and He is my righteousness. Now there is a big difference.
You listen to me. There's a big difference between
preaching doctrine and preaching Christ. You can preach doctrine
and preach the imputed righteousness of Christ. But if you're going
to preach Christ, you're not going to preach imputed righteousness.
You're going to preach Christ our righteousness. And that'll
take care of the matter of imputation in itself. We preach Christ. We preach Christ our sacrifice.
It's His blood that was shed as a payment for the sins of
His elect. And that sin's gone because of whose blood it is.
All the Father needs is the blood of Christ. And Adam, that's all
I need too. The blood of Christ. I'm perfectly
satisfied with it. I don't need to add one thing
to the sacrifice of Christ. Christ is my sanctification.
Christ made me holy and Christ's going to keep me holy. Christ
is my acceptance with the Father. I'm accepted in the Beloved.
Christ is all in salvation. So we preach Christ. The Gospel,
the call of the Gospel reveals Christ. I'm called to Christ,
I'm called by Christ through the preaching of the Gospel of
Christ. Second, the call that saves is a divine call. It's
a call from God. Look at verse 15. But when it
pleased God, He separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by His grace. Now the Gospel is not after man,
it's the Gospel of God. And the call of grace comes from
God. It doesn't come from man. It
comes from God. You're not going to hear the
call of grace, a call to your heart that saves. That call doesn't
come from the preacher. It doesn't come from your parents.
It comes from God. You'll hear the gospel from a
man, but if a man's all you hear, you'll never be saved. Salvation
comes when God calls a sinner. He can call the heart. All I
can do is reach your ears. God calls the heart. He reaches
the heart. This is the call as a divine
call. It's a call from God the Father.
It's a call to God the Son. And it's a call that's brought
to us by God the Holy Spirit. It's a divine call. And that
divine call, if it's divine, if it's of God, now it has to
be a sovereign call. It has to be. God calls whom
He will, and God calls when He will. when it pleases Him. Isn't that what Paul says? When
it pleases God. God is God. I wish people would
understand this. God's God. So He does as He pleases. And nobody can question what
He does because He's God. David says in Psalm 115, verse
3, Our God is in the heavens. God's God. And He hath done whatsoever
He has pleased. Brethren, that's the way I want
it. That is the way I want it. And I'll tell you why. Let me give you a few things
Scripture says it's pleased the Lord to do. 1 Samuel 12, 22. For the Lord will not forsake
His people for His great namesake. Well, why? Because it pleased
the Lord to make you His people. Isaiah 53, verse 10. It pleased
the Lord to bruise them. It pleased the Father punish
and bruise his son. Why? Because God's holy. Sin was imputed to Christ and
God pleased the Father, the Holy Father, to punish his son for
that sin. That's how God can be just and
justifier. I'm thankful it pleased the Lord
to bruise my substitute so I can go free. And that's a sure salvation. Salvation that way is a sure
salvation. Because I know this, the Father
is pleased with His Son. All the pleasure of the Father
is found in Christ. Isaiah 42, verse 21. The Lord
is well pleased for His righteousness sake. For the righteousness of
Christ. That makes me thankful Christ
is my righteousness. And a low voice from heaven saying,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. I'm pleased
with him. I'm pleased with his life. I'm
pleased with his sacrifice. I'm pleased with his death. I'm
pleased with his blood. I'm well pleased with him. And my salvation is secure if
I'm in him. For it pleased the Father that in him, in Christ,
should all fullness dwell. Well, if I'm in Christ, I've
got everything. Because it pleased the Father that everything dwell
in the Son. And God takes pleasure in the
work of His own hands. Psalm 147, verse 11. The Lord
taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope
in His mercy. Well, who fears the Lord and
who hopes in His mercy? Only those who've been born again,
who are a work of God. He takes pleasure in the work
of His own hands that He's not going to abandon you. This call
is a sovereign call. The divine call must be a sovereign
call. And it also has to be called
according to God's eternal purpose. In Romans 8, 28, those who are
the called are called how? According to His purpose. All
of salvation is according to God's good pleasure, which He
purposed in Himself. Now, if you're saved, you're
not saved on accident. You're saved on purpose, according
to God's eternal purpose. It's a divine call. Thirdly,
the call that saves is a gracious call. Do you want proof that
God saves sinners? Do you want proof that God saves
the worst? Look at verse 13. For you have
heard of my conversation, my life in time past in the Jews'
religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God
and wasted it. And I profited in the Jews' religion
above many of my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous of the tradition of my fathers. These false teachers
who want to say, Christ died for you, but if you want to be
saved, you've got to keep the law too. They've got a zeal,
but it's not according to knowledge. The apostle Paul can tell you
that from experience. At one time he had zeal that
wasn't according to knowledge. Paul can tell you from experience
that keeping the law will not help you at all. Look at Philippians
chapter three. Not only will keeping the law
not help you, it'll damn you. And the Apostle Paul knew this
from experience. Philippians 3 verse 4. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more. Who can keep the law
outwardly better than Saul of Tarsus? I was circumcised the
eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and
Hebrew of Hebrews. My mama was a Hebrew, my daddy
was a Hebrew. As touching the law, a Pharisee. Top of the totem pole. Concerning
zeal, persecuting the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. Saul was straight as a gun barrel
and twice as empty. Remember Brother Henry said,
straight as a gun barrel and twice as empty. I bet you Saul
of Tarsus was hard to live with. I mean this guy I mean, there's
no way you can enjoy being around that guy. But, verse 7, what
things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but lost, for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things. And do count them but done, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Now that's
the call of grace. The call that saves is a call
of grace. A call that saves sinners. Then,
fourth, the call that saves is an eternal call. Verse 15, back
in our text. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, Now when Paul talks about
being separated from his mother's womb, he doesn't mean God first
started loving him when he was born into this world. He means
a whole lot longer time before then. Before God even put him
in his mother's womb. Before anything was created.
Look back at Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah learned the same thing
that the Apostle Paul learned. The call that saves is an eternal
call. Jeremiah 1 verse 4, Then the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee,
and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified
thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Now, this is
an eternal call. The Lord doesn't mean here just
before you were conceived. He means before the foundation
of the world. And I'll show you that in Jeremiah
31. Look over Jeremiah 31. Verse 3. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. I ordained
you before you were formed in your mother's belly, because
I loved thee with an everlasting love." He's talking about from
eternity he loved him. From eternity he ordained him
to be a prophet. He ordained him to be one of
the sons. That's why Paul wrote in Ephesians
1, according as he hath chosen us in him, when? Before the foundation of the
world. See, this call is the same to every believer before
the foundation of the world. It's an eternal call. And the
Apostle Paul can say this, and every believer here can say this.
From the time I was born until the time Christ was revealed
to me and in me, God was protecting me. I didn't know God, but God
knew me. He was protecting me and he was
preserving me until he brought me to faith in Christ. All because
God chose me before the foundation of the world. I've used this
illustration before. When I was a teenager, I was
in two very bad car wrecks. Should have been killed in both
of them. Just from looking at the car afterwards. I should
have been killed both of those times. I walked away from both
of them without a single scratch. Why? I didn't know the Lord yet. And he is preserving me until
the time he revealed Christ in me. Every believer here can say
that very same thing. God's not going to let anything
happen to those because he loved them and he chose them. And it
was God's purpose to save them by his grace through the sacrifice
of Christ. And he's going to reveal his
son to them. And he's not going to let anything stop his eternal
purpose. The call that saves is an eternal
call. And God will bring it to pass.
Fifth, the call that saves is a call that's heard in the new
birth. In verse 16, Paul says, he called me by his grace to
reveal his son in me. Now, certainly Christ is revealed
to every believer. Christ was revealed to the Apostle
Paul, wasn't he? That's not what he says here.
He says Christ was revealed in me. Well, how does that happen? What does Paul mean by that,
that Christ was revealed in me? Well, he means that Christ is
formed in the believer in the new birth. He said, I labor till
Christ be formed in you. The Spirit of God dwells in a
believer by the new birth. Christ is the hope of glory who
is in every believer by the new birth. The call that says, saves
because Christ is not only revealed to us, but Christ is formed in
us, whereby we're made partakers of the divine nature in the new
born. Six, the call that saves is a
personal call. Back up here in verse 15, Paul
says, but when it pleased God, He separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace. The call that saves is always
a personal call. Abraham leave your father's house
and go to place. I'll tell you God didn't call
Abraham's father. He didn't call his nephews or
his Whoever our family was living there. He called Abraham. It's
a personal call Samuel Come here. I've got a message for you He
he didn't call anybody. I didn't call Eli called Samuel
Zack is All that crowd there, the Lord told Zacchaeus, today
I must abide at your house. Matthew, follow me. Peter, James, John, leave those
fishing nets. You come follow me. I'll make
you fishers of men. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Lord, what would you have me
do? Go to the Gentiles and preach this gospel to them. And that's
exactly what happened. And when God called you, it wasn't
on accident. This is not a general call of
grace that God issued to see if some dead person might hear
and respond. It's a personal call of grace. And that personal call, that's
between you and God. It's not between you and the
preacher. It's not between you and your family. It's between
you and God. Look at verse 16. Paul says,
It pleased God to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach
Him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which
were apostles before me. So I went into Arabia, and returned
again unto Damascus. And after three years I went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and I bowed with him fifteen
days. But other of the apostles saw I none, say James the Lord's
brother. Now the things which I write
unto you Behold, before God, I lie not. And afterwards, I
came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Paul says when God
called me, I didn't have to go confirm that call with Peter
or James or John or other men of the flesh. And the same thing
will happen to you if God calls you. You don't have to confirm
that call with your family, with your flesh and blood. And I give
you three reasons for that. Number one, If your flesh and
blood is in false religion, I can tell you what they're going to
try to do. They're going to try to talk you out of it. Say, now,
let's keep the family at peace. Don't you do this. Don't you
go over there. Keep the family at peace. Now, God called you. And He called you to be divided
from your family. He called you to love Christ
more than anyone or anything. God called you. Secondly, salvation. is not in your family ties. Well,
you know, what if your family's in false religion? They'll try
to talk you out of it. Well, what if your family's believers?
Like many of you. What if your families are believers?
Salvation's not in family ties. Salvation's in Christ. God's
been merciful to families here, and we're thankful. There are
grandparents here who worship with their grandchildren, their
children and their grandchildren who are believers. The salvation
didn't come to them by family ties. It's by grace through Christ. You don't have to confirm that
call of flesh and blood. Thirdly, God called you. You can't verify that call with
flesh and blood. You're the only one that knows
it. God called you. He called you in the heart. And
if God called you, you're going to know it. And you won't have
to confirm it with flesh and blood. If Christ is formed in
you, You're going to know it. Now, there's a new man born.
There's a new nature born. There's a warfare born. There's
suddenly born a desire to worship the Lord, to pray and to read
his word, to hear his gospel. If Christ is formed in you, you'll
know it. And you're not going to have to confer with somebody
else. You'll tell them, you'll confess it, but you're not going
to have to have them confirm it for you because God called
you. It's a personal call. And then
last, the call that saves is a call to a changed life. In
verse 21, Paul says, afterwards, I came into the regions of Syria
and Cilicia, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea,
which were in Christ. But they had heard only that
he which persecuted us in time past now preaches the faith which
he once destroyed. And they glorified God in me.
Now, I don't care who you are. Before God called you, you were
in false religion. You can be sitting right here
this morning and be in false religion. I can tell you that
from my own experience. You can sit right in the pew
here in the gospel of Christ preaching. You can be in false
religion. There's no problem doing that. But when God saves
us, the first thing we'll admit is before now, I was in false
religion. I was worshiping an idol, looking somewhere else
other than Christ. before God saved me. I was an
idolater before God revealed Christ to me and in me. You know,
when Paul pointed out his past life, he didn't do that to brag. He didn't do that to brag about
how good he was. He did that to point out how wicked he was
and to magnify God's grace. He pointed that out to magnify
the grace of God. Look, he said, God saved the
chief of sinners. That's why he pointed that out.
And now, by contrast, you can see Paul had to change life,
didn't he? The gospel that Paul once tried to destroy, now he
went everywhere in the world preaching. He risked life and
limb all the time to go preach the gospel. The gospel he once
hated, the gospel he once tried to destroy, he preached everywhere
he went. The name that he once hated is
the name he now loves. The name He believes. The name
He preaches. How He loved the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You do too if God called you
to Him. The people He once hated, He now loved. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples. That you have love one to another.
The people He once hated, the people He once tried to throw
in jail and have stoned, He now loved them. And He preached Christ
to them. He preached Christ to them so
they'd be saved. So that Christ would be revealed
in them. He preached Christ to them so their faith would be
confirmed. He preached Christ to them so their hearts would
be comforted. Because He loved them. And the brethren, they
saw this and gave God all the glory. They saw God's glory in
saving someone like Saul of Tarsus. Made him a preacher. Sent him
to them to preach the gospel of Christ to them. And you know
what? Something no less wonderful happened.
God saved me. And you say the same thing. Something
no less wonderful happened. God called me and saved me by
His grace. And now you live a changed life. This is the most gracious, kind
group of people that I know. You live a changed life. Maybe I shouldn't tell this story,
but I will. This is some time after, I don't
know, I don't remember how old the girls were, but they were,
you know, I had been substitute teaching in some of the Sunday
school classes. I'd go out preaching a little bit, you know. Henry
told me one time, he said, I sure am glad the Lord saved you. He
said, we're about ready to trade you in on a girl. You live to
change lives. God makes a difference in the
walk of a believer. He just does.