Now, this epistle to the Galatians
was not written just to one church. It was written to all the churches
in the area of Galatia. And all those, I don't know how
many, but there are several different congregations there, and they
had all heard the gospel. They all claimed to believe it.
The Apostle Paul thought they did. He'd been there preaching
early on. Those congregations were being
formed, and he thought they believed Christ, loved Christ, loved the
gospel. But after Paul was gone, Judaizers had come in, and they
denied God's gospel, and they denied God's servant. They said,
now Paul, he's not really an apostle. He was with our Lord
during our Lord's earthly ministry, so he couldn't be an apostle.
You see what they're doing is first they call the man into
question. Then they can call his message into question. And
that's just what they did. Their attack was on the gospel.
And they told them, oh yes, Christ died as a sacrifice for sin,
but now that's not enough. You've got to convert to Judaism.
You've got to keep the law. You've got to be circumcised.
You've got to not eat pork. You've got to keep the Sabbath
day in order to really be saved. In other words, you need something
more than Christ. Yes, Christ died for your sins.
But the Father requires more. He requires something from you,
not Christ alone. So the Apostle writes this letter
to clearly set forth salvation in Christ alone, by faith alone,
in order to confirm them in the faith. The very first word of
this epistle sets forth salvation by grace without works. Paul. Paul. That's not the name Paul's
parents gave that baby when he was born. They named him Saul.
Saul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I mean, this man was doctrinally
straight. He was so strong in doctrine,
he kept everybody else who was doctrinally straight, straightened
out. I mean, this guy was something else. And he was mean. Now, most people who are so doctrinally
straight, you'll find they're mean. That's what Saul was. He
was mean. He hated Christ. He hated anyone
who believed Christ. He hated anyone who loved Christ.
He was determined to wipe the name of Jesus Christ out. Saul was so mean, he put women
and children in jail. And Scripture leads us to believe
he even stoned. At least he had men stoned, he
had believers stoned. He gave his consent to stoning
Stephen. But I want you to look at verse
23. What a change God's grace makes. He said, but they had
heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preaches
the faith which he once destroyed." Now, Paul is the chief apostle. He's not one whit behind any
of the apostles. And it's by grace. Paul is driving
this point home all through this epistle. It's by grace. Paul
said, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle, but by the grace
of God I am what I am. Paul, look at the rest of verse
1 there. Paul, an apostle, not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who
raised him from the dead. Paul is an apostle, but not by
the will of man. This is by God's grace and by
God's will. The other 11 apostles never would
have chosen Saul, ever. As a matter of fact, they chose
a man named Matthias. Shows you what they knew. We
never hear from Matthias again. But God would choose Saul, change
his name to Paul, but God would use Paul to be his apostle. That's
God's will. That's God's way. And you know
the rest of Paul's story. And to be an apostle, you had
to be taught the gospel directly from the lips of our Lord Jesus
himself. And Paul was. Even after our
Lord ascended back on high, in some fashion, he came back and
he taught Paul the gospel directly. We think it was at this time
when he was alone with the Lord in Arabia. And Paul had a special
revelation of the gospel. He has a special gift to preach
the gospel. Paul wrote more scripture. He preached more messages. He
planted more turds. He worked more miracles. He saw
more wonders than all the rest of the apostles. The apostle
Paul saw heaven itself. Yet what was Paul's message?
Grace. Salvation by grace. And in the
opening lines of his letter, Paul addresses this matter of
salvation being in Christ. Not Christ plus something men
do, but in Christ alone. He says at the end of verse 1,
who raised him from the dead. God the Father who raised Jesus
Christ from the dead. Now these Judaizers, remember,
they're saying God's not completely satisfied with Christ. That's
why you have to convert to be a Jew in order to be saved. You
have to do these things in order to make your salvation complete.
Then why did the Father raise Christ from the dead? The Father
could only raise his Son from the dead if sin was gone. As
Christ hung on the cross, the Father turned his back on his
Son. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Well, the only
way the Father could turn his face back to his Son and raise
him from the dead is if that sin is gone. Salvation is in
Christ alone. Paul says that from the very
beginning of this letter. Now, verse 2, he says, and all
the brethren which are with me unto the churches of Galatians. And Paul includes the other brethren,
he always does this, who were with him when he writes this
letter. And certainly Paul is being kind to include these other
brethren, you know. What people really wanted to
hear is what Paul said. I mean, you know, we love each
other, whoever it was that was with him, you know, but, you know,
we're really interested in hearing what Paul's got to say. It's
just, you know, you understand that. But Paul's also, he's being
more than kind. He's being wise. And he's going
to have to rebuke these brethren he's writing to and set some
things straight. Scripture says, let every word be established
by the mouth of two or three witnesses. Paul's saying, now
these other brethren, they're with me, and they're with me
when I'm telling you. They've testified to these same
matters just like I do, so now there are several witnesses,
so you ought to listen. In the next three verses, Paul gives
us six marks of the gospel. The gospel of God, the gospel
that saves sinners. And the first mark of the gospel
is this, the gospel is the gospel of grace. Verse three, grace
be unto you. The gospel declares salvation
is by grace. Grace is the free, unmerited,
undeserved favor of God. God's grace is his goodwill towards
sinners. It's grace that moved God to
do something for sinners. And it's grace that moves God
to do something, a work of grace in sinners too. Now sinners are
going to be saved. Sinners. It must be by grace. It has to be. Sinners can't do
anything good. Sinners can't do anything righteous.
All they can do is sin. So a sinner cannot please God
by something that we do. What we do is what caused this
separation between us and God in the first place. Isaiah 59
too. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your
sins have hid his face from you. It's what we do that caused this
separation in the first place. So not only can we not do something
to please God, make him pleased with us, our sin, everything
that we do, it makes the holy God angry. So if sinners are
going to be saved, it must be by grace. It has to be. If God's
going to save sinners, he has to save them even though they
don't deserve it. That's the definition of grace.
Look in John chapter 1. It was grace that brought our
Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. And it was Christ who brought
grace to men. Look in John 1 verse 15. John bare witness of him and
cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And
of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. For the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
It was God's grace that sent Christ to this earth, and it
was Christ who brought grace to men. Now, I know the heathen. They need to be saved by grace.
You know, that's why we send missionaries out there, those
poor heathens. Oh, they've got to be saved by
grace. But what did Peter say in Acts 15? He said, Brethren,
we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved, even as they. Brethren, we're the heathens,
and we need God's grace. Salvation is by grace. That's
the way God saves every one of His people. Well, now is grace
enough? These Judaizers have called this
into question in Galatia. Is grace enough to justify the
ungodly? Let's say it's the scripture,
Romans 3, 24. Being justified freely, how? By His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Well, is grace really enough
to put away all my sin? Do I have to help out? You know,
live by the law and take care of my future sins myself. Is
grace really enough to put away all my sin, past, present, and
future? What's safe to Scripture? Romans 5.20. Moreover, the law
entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more bound. Yes, grace can put away our sin.
Look at Romans chapter 11. Is grace really enough to save
me without any of my own works? Can I be saved by grace alone
without works? What saved the scripture? Romans
11 verse 5. Even so, then, at this present
time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then is no more of works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is
it no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Salvation is all of grace. If by grace, then it's no more
works. God's gospel, the gospel, is
the gospel of grace. Grace is a charming sound, harmonious
to the ear. Heaven with the echo, shower
sound, and all the earth shall hear grace. Second, the gospel,
the gospel, is the gospel of peace. Verse three, grace be
to you and peace. from God the Father and from
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this peace, it's an inward
peace. Now, a sinner can only have peace
one way. If sin is removed. Otherwise,
if sin is not removed, your conscience will never let you have peace. The reason our conscience bothers
us is sin. But if sin is taken away, you'll
have peace. That's why Paul always says grace
and peace. This is his usual salutation. But just because something's
repeated, don't pass over it, don't say, yeah, this is his
normal salutation. If something's repeated, maybe
that means we ought to look at it more carefully. Over and over
and over again, we read this grace and peace, grace and peace,
always in that order. First grace, first God's grace
that sends his son to sacrifice himself for the sin of his people
so sin can be removed. First grace, then peace. Never the other way around. Always
grace and peace. It's God's grace that produces
peace in the heart by removing sin. And God's gospel calls us
to peace. Peace. Peace with God. The war's over. God's reconciled
in the sacrifice of His Son. In the death of His Son, God
is reconciled. Now you be reconciled. I'm reconciled
too. I'm reconciled to God by the
death of Christ. That death satisfies everything
I need. God's reconciled and I'm reconciled.
There's peace with God. There's peace with each other.
God's grace has made us part of the same family, blood family. Well, we have peace. Seek peace
and pursue it. And we have peace with all men.
Scripture says, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all
men. Now you'll notice that doesn't
say as much as lieth in them you have peace with all men.
As much as they do right yet, no. As much as lieth in you,
live peaceably with all men. God's gospel calls us to peace.
And notice this. The Father and the Son are in
union in this matter of the work of grace and peace. In every
work, the Father and the Son are one. Here Paul says grace
and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
they're together in it. Everything the Father gives,
the Son gives. And everything the Son gives,
the Father gives. The Father will never require
anything more than what Christ gives, ever. So Christ is enough
in me. Christ is all. Of course He's
enough. So we can't add anything to salvation
that Christ has provided. And if we try, if we try to add
something to the salvation that's in our Lord Jesus Christ, like
these Judaizers want us to do, we'll ruin it. Just like we ruin
everything else. Everything we put our hand to
is ruined by sin. And if we try to put our hand
and add something to the salvation that's in Christ, we're going
to ruin it. Thankfully, you don't do that. This is the gospel of
grace and peace. Thirdly, the gospel declares
the sacrifice of Christ. Not just the fact that Christ
died, the man named Jesus died on the cross, but the gospel
declares what the sacrifice of Christ accomplishes, what it
means. Verse 4, who gave himself for our sins. I began looking at that phrase
Thursday morning, and I haven't got over it since. who gave Himself,
Himself, for our sins. What a statement. The love of
Christ for His people is beyond what we can comprehend. That
He would give Himself, not that He'd give something He owned,
not something that was dear to Him. He'd give Himself for our
sins as an atonement for the sins of His people. Christ freely
gave Himself for our sins. He gave everything that He is
for our sins. He gave His back to the smiters. They didn't take Him against
His will. He gave His back to the smiters. He gave His cheeks
to those that would pluck out His beard. He gave His face to
those who would smite Him. He gave it. He gave His head
to the crowned thorns. He gave His hands and His feet
to the males. He gave His whole body to be
abused for our sin. He gave His body to be hung naked
for all to see in shame. Why? For our sins, bearing our
sins, the sin of His people. He gave His life and blood as
payment for our sins. He gave all of his humanity and
died so his people would live. He gave himself for our sins. Now, Christ didn't die for good
people. He didn't die for people who
were good enough that later on they could do some good things
to complete their salvation. You know, Christ got it started
and now they're good enough to finish it. No, Christ died for
sinners. If he died for our sin, he died
for people who have sin. So he died for sinners. Sinners. A righteous man doesn't need
somebody to die for him. A good man doesn't need somebody
to die for him. But a sinner must have someone
die for him. A sinner must have someone else
offer a sacrifice for his sin. So Christ gave himself for our
sin. Now friends, that's grace. And
that's peace. And someone might worry. I still
feel my sin. That's all I feel in my sin.
I feel the weight of my sin. How could Christ have taken my
sin away if I still feel it, if I still see it everywhere
I look? Can't explain that. I don't know. But who are you
going to believe? I understand. I feel the same
way when I look at myself. All I see is my sin. Well, who
am I going to believe? Am I going to believe myself? Or am I going to believe God?
God said, Christ gave himself for our sins. I'm going to believe
God, and I'm going to trust Christ. I've proven I'm not all that
believable, but God is, so I'm going to believe him. That's
what the gospel declares. Fourthly, the gospel declares
salvation in the sacrifice of Christ. He gave himself for our
sins. Well, did it do any good? That
he might deliver us from this present evil world. It didn't
die to make salvation possible for all mankind. Christ died
to save, to save his elect from their sin. This word deliver,
it means to pluck out and rescue. But it means more than that.
It also means to choose out, to select for oneself. And that's exactly what our Lord
Jesus Christ did. He chose this one, and this one,
and this one. on purpose and delivered them
from this present evil world. Look in Zechariah chapter 3,
next to the last book in the Old Testament. Christ rescued his people for
himself and plucked them out of condemnation of their sins. Zechariah 3 verse 1. And he showed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the Lord. And Satan had his
right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem to rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire?" That applies to every one of God's people. Every
one Christ saved, they're a brand plucked out of the fire on purpose. Never, ever, ever refer to the
death of Christ as something that could fail. Never refer
to the death of Christ as something that should cause us to pity
our Lord Jesus. Never. This business of people
just playing on your emotions, you know, won't you make a decision
to accept Jesus? Now, why won't you make a decision
for him? Don't you feel sorry for him? He died for you. That's
not the gospel. Listen, it causes me sorrow. It does cause me sorrow to know
the suffering my sin caused the Savior. It causes me sorrow. But I don't pity our Lord. I'm
the one that deserves pity. I deserve pity. The Lord Jesus
Christ is never to be pitied. He's to be worshipped. He's to
be praised. He's to be thanked. that He gave
Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present
evil world. The Gospel declares that the
sacrifice of Christ was effectual. We saw that in verse 1, the Father
who raised Him from the dead. If the Father raised Christ from
the dead, then salvation is complete. Earl, you don't have to add anything
to it. If the Father raised Him from the dead, the Father wouldn't
have raised Christ from the The atonement was complete. Salvation
was complete. The sin of his elect is put away,
and the work's finished. You don't need to add anything
to it. I don't know if you noticed, but there's a portrait out in
the vestibule. Evelyn Yates painted it. It's
finished. If I try to add one brush stroke
of paint to that portrait, I'll ruin it. It's finished. What did Christ cry on the cross?
It is finished. And the Father raised him from
the dead. But Christ, now the gospel declares
that it takes, it takes the death of Christ. The death of Christ
is required to save sinners. Paul says we're delivered from
this present evil world. Now he says that, he's talking
about you and me. He's not talking about the world
out there. He's talking about the world, the nature of the
world that we're born with. He's telling us we're all born
sinners in need of Christ. All men of the world are evil. The nature of the world is the
wicked nature that we receive from our father Adam. Adam is
of the earth, earthy. that worldly nature is what we
receive from him, and every generation, this statement of Paul's applies
to every generation that's ever lived on this planet, were evil,
because all of us came from Adam. But the gospel declares Christ
delivered his people from that evil by his death. There's three
ways we've been delivered from this present evil world. First,
we're delivered from Satan, who's the prince of this world. We're
delivered from the snare of Satan to freedom in Christ. Secondly,
we're delivered from sin, which is the nature of this world,
and we're delivered to holiness in Christ. And thirdly, we're
delivered from death, which is the end of this world, and we're
delivered to life in Christ. Christ saves the soul and he
changes lives. When Christ saves you, your life
is changed because you've got new life. Your walk through this
earth is changed because of the new birth. There's been a new
man born, and there's going to be a new walk. We're still in
this world, but we're not of this world. A believer's been
delivered from this present world. We've been delivered from the
controlling power of this world. We're not delivered by our efforts
in Christ's Not our efforts in Christ's death. This business
does not mean Jesus. It's the Lord. It's His work
alone. Fifthly, the gospel declares
salvation by the will of God, not the will of man. End of verse
four. All this happened according to
the will of God and our Father. Christ delivered everyone that
He determined to deliver. Not one of them is lost. Those
whom he determined according to the will of God to deliver,
they're delivered. Salvation is not by man's free
will. It's by the will of God. Our will is only free to sin.
So salvation can't be accomplished by our will. That rich young
ruler, he came and asked the Lord, what good thing shall I
do that I may inherit eternal life? That young man was the
best man has to offer. The best. Our Lord started naming
the commandments. He said, I've kept them all.
And listen, I didn't have a wild youth. I just started keeping
them. I kept them for my youth. The best man has to offer. What happened to him? He left
the Lord sorrowing because he couldn't give up this world.
He was not delivered, at least at that time. I hope he was later,
but I don't know. But at that time, He was not
delivered from this present evil world. He had many possessions
and couldn't give them up. Couldn't do it. And left the
Lord because something else was more important to him than Christ.
He couldn't let go of his self-righteousness and depend upon Christ. He couldn't
do it. And the disciples watched that.
They watched that young man leave. And they marveled. And said,
Lord, who then can be saved? And our Lord replied, with men,
it is impossible. Salvation is impossible by our
will. But with God, all things are
possible. All things are done if God wills
it. And the gospel declares salvation
by the will of God, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Now, the will of God is not against us. Not a believer. I'm talking about an unbeliever.
You know, you hear about salvation by the will of God, and they
just feel like, you know, that will's against us. It feels like
it's not fair. The will of God is not against
us. Look what Paul says here. The
will of God and our Father. Our Father. Your Father means
you no harm. Luke, all the time you're growing
up, you never thought the will of your Father was against you.
Well, with the disciplines you might have. But now you know.
Now you know what, don't you? And you never question His will
for you. You know He wants the best for you. Your heavenly Father
is the same way. His perfect will is for you. This is the will of our Father. God of peace. Did that give you
peace? This is the will of our Father.
And God the Father is our Father through union with Christ. what
our Lord tells His disciples. Now don't worry, it's going to
be alright. I've sinned to my Father and your Father, to my
God and your God. He's our Father. God the Father
is our Father by union with Christ. Then we'll have eternal good
because His will for His people is eternal good. And last, the
Gospel declares that God has all the glory and salvation.
Look at verse 5. To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. So be it. You know, you and I
don't get any glory in salvation. There's no glory in sin and rebellion. And that sin and rebellion is
all ours, so the shame's all ours. The glory is found in mercy
and grace to sinners. Mercy and grace is all God's.
So He gets all the glory in salvation. You think what glory there is
in God's wisdom. that enable him to save sinners
and still be just and justifier. What glory is there in the incarnation
of Christ that God became a man? What glory? What glory is there
in the blood of Christ, the only perfect blood ever shed on this
earth? Blood so powerful, His blood
cleanses us from what? All sin, all of it, cleansed
in His blood. You think what glory there is
in the death of Christ. There'll be no glory in my death.
My death will simply mean the failure of this flesh. There's
glory in the death of Christ. He gave Himself. He died that
we might live. You think what glory there is
in God's saving, keeping power. He'll keep it to the end. That's
glory. All that belongs to Him, and
we're just going to give Him all the glory. Now, why would
you turn to another gospel? Now, Paul's laid this out, and
this is what we'll look at in the coming weeks. He's laid this
out. This is the gospel. Why would you leave it? Why could
you ever turn from this gospel? What good news? Salvation in
Christ. If we left ourselves, we would. Thankfully, God won't let it.
He will not let His people turn. to another gospel. All right.
Lord bless you.