Galatians chapter 1 and verse 1. Paul an apostle not of men neither
by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him
from the dead and all the brethren which are with me unto the churches
of Galatia Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and
from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that
he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Amen. I thought that we might
spend a little bit of time in the epistle to the churches of
Galatia. We kind of finished up on our
Thessalonian considerations a couple of weeks ago and I did mention
at the time that Thessalonians is thought to be, 1st and 2nd
Thessalonians, are thought to be the earliest books that the
Apostle Paul wrote. and the epistle to the Galatians
is thought to be next. I'm not sure just how hard and
fast these things are, but certain things can be deduced from the
apostles' missionary journeys and the facts that are recorded
in the epistles and heads wiser than mine have put a little bit
of a timescale to some of these letters and it's thought that
the epistle to the Galatians was quite early following the
Thessalonian letters. So we're going to spend a few
weeks, if the Lord will allow, just thinking about this epistle
to the Galatians and By way of introduction, I thought I would
just mention a couple of things about Galatia. Galatia, in the
Bible, refers to that region in Central Asia Minor. Now, we call that Turkey today. It's that northeastern corner
of the Mediterranean Sea. And as I say, we call it Turkey
was historically called Asia Minor. It was during the time
of the Apostle, a province of Rome. Rome was the dominant military
power, of course, at that time. Actually the word Galatia comes
from Gaul and it probably had reference to tribes that had
moved over from Western Europe some centuries before maybe even
what are called Celtic tribes and these were quite a strong and dominant people
and they had made their home in this area which then became
known as Gaulia or Galatia. So Galatia is the place that
we're talking about and actually Turkey's capital is called Ankara
and Ankara is right in the heart of Galatia. So it's a place with
a long, long history. And this was one of the areas
that the Apostle Paul visited on his second missionary journey. He was accompanied at that time
by Silas and Timothy and we learn about that in Acts chapter 16
where we're told that he visited the region of Galatia. And we're also told a little
bit later in Galatians in chapter 4 verse 13 that the apostle was
sick when he was in this area and because of that sickness
he was delayed. and he wasn't able to travel
and consequently he had longer opportunity of preaching the
gospel amongst the people there. And I just thought that I would
mention that because very often we encounter what we would call
troubles in this life and, well I don't know, maybe it's a car
that breaks down or we get a headache or we feel unwell or something
goes wrong and we get annoyed, we get frustrated and sometimes
even angry that our plans get disrupted and the things that
we wanted to do we can't do anymore. And I just thought, you know,
here was the apostle prevented from moving on because he was
sick. And yet the Lord used that to
enlarge his preaching ministry and establish churches in Galatia. By which of course, and we were
talking about providence with the young people on Sunday, by
which of course we find that the Holy Spirit provided us with
this letter to the Galatians. So all of these things work together
for good, even if it is thousands of years later. So the Apostle
here had spent time in Galatia and there were probably a goodly
number of cities included in the reference here where the
Apostle says to the churches of Galatia. That's who he is
addressing this letter to. There was probably a goodly number
of churches involved here. If we spent a little bit of time
going through Acts chapter 13 to 16, we would find that the
churches involved may well have been in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium,
Lystra and Derbe, and that Paul also visited a city called Perga
and Atalia. And it's thought that those two
might have been a little bit further south. But actually,
recent archaeology has suggested that they too came within that
Roman province of Galatia. So they may well have had churches
there as well, although they were a little bit further south,
to whom these letters would have been legitimately addressed under
the title, The Churches of Galatia. So the Apostle had sent this
letter to these churches. It's interesting as well, just
to reflect on that for a moment, that the Apostle when he was
writing sometimes wrote to individuals, named individuals like Titus,
and Philemon and Timothy and sometimes he wrote to churches
in specific cities like Rome and Corinth and Ephesus and Philippi,
Colossae and as we've been thinking Thessalonica. But here it's a
group of churches or churches in a region and it may well be
supposed that the Apostle intended this letter to be passed around
amongst all the churches over a period of time. It seems as
if Paul was instrumental in establishing these Galatian churches. Though,
again, it might be useful for us to note that there may have
been believers in these cities before the Apostle Paul arrived
there to preach during his second missionary journey. And I say
that because there were very likely Jews from Galatia in Jerusalem
on the day of Pentecost and among the 3,000 converted on that occasion. Paul seems to have ministered
among these churches on several occasions in Acts 16 and again
in Acts 18 we find that he is going around the churches at
different times and it also appears as if Peter preached to these
churches as well because Peter addresses his first epistle to
the believers in Galatia and likely he was addressing it to
members of the churches founded by the Apostle Paul. In this epistle the Apostle beautifully
sets out the plan of justification by grace and faith and as well
as majoring on that theme and we'll understand more about that
as we go on. He also brings several matters
which are particularly revealed in these few chapters that might
not easily have been known about had not Paul specifically revealed
a number of things. For example, with respect to
Sarah and Hagar being types and allegories of the covenants of
grace and works. The epistle also appears to have
been written to combat errors that were being taught by Judaising
teachers who were trying to seduce the churches of that time to
follow a much more law-based or works-based form of religion. And that was characterised by
a return to circumcision and adoption of Jewish legal customs. And these false teachers were
denying Paul's apostolic authority. So that for this reason, as we'll
see in a minute or two, the apostle at once supplies a very clear
statement of the gospel and returns the Galatians to the simple message
of salvation by grace and faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. Just before we come to that,
I want to mention the apostle's greeting and the reconfirmation
of his apostleship because that was one of the areas in which
these Judaizers were attacking the church. And it's noticeable
that those who wish to overthrow the gospel often begin by casting
aspersions on gospel preachers. That's called an ad hominem attack. If you can't deny the message,
attack the man. And it's a well-worn trick and
it was employed here by these Judaizers. So Paul reminds, he
begins by reminding his readers that he's writing with the authority
of an apostle of Jesus Christ, and he speaks then of this message
of grace and peace that always started his epistles, or most
frequently did. Even before he greets the brethren,
he reminds them that what he has to say comes from his apostolic
authority. He was appointed not by men,
but by Jesus Christ himself and God the Father. And of course
it's good that we remind ourselves of this fact also. That authority
still stands and it reminds us that these epistles are not the
opinions of human minds or the ideas of men, but the very word
of God supplied by those authorised by Christ to teach and to preach
and to convey and establish the divine truth and the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Our faith is based upon what
the scripture teaches and what the appointed apostles of Jesus
Christ have taught. That Paul wasn't one of the original
12 is acknowledged and yet Paul is not behind the other apostles
in any way because he was personally appointed by Christ on the Damascus
Road. And we'll come to more of that
a little later in Paul's personal testimony in subsequent chapters. We've mentioned in passing there
the inclusion of Paul's usual greeting of grace and peace,
and these two words are at the heart of the gospel. The message
of grace and the message of peace, the message of mercy and reconciliation. of forgiveness and acceptance
with God despite of our sin and guilt and unworthiness. That's
what makes this gospel of salvation blessed to those who have been
convicted of sin and brought into the fear of the Lord. And
we see from this that the Apostle Paul, in having these two words
so frequently employed in his introductions, never missed an
opportunity in writing to set these great truths of grace and
peace front and centre in his message. And I'm sure that was
also the case in his preaching. If our preaching, if our preachers,
don't come with a message of grace and peace from God the
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, then they are not fulfilling
their purpose, they're not doing their job. So Paul is a good
example for preachers as well in making our message to do with
the grace of God and the peace that is obtained through the
work of Jesus Christ. These Judaizers were coming with
a message of works holiness and self-righteousness. And the apostle
at once wants to emphasize where a believer's true hope and comfort
and joy comes from. Not because we are laboring to
please God or striving to keep ourselves acceptable to God. in the things that we do and
in the things that we say, but because we have faith in the
completed and accepted sacrifice of Jesus Christ, because we trust
in the efficacy of his blood to cleanse us from all sin and
his righteousness to clothe us in the presence of the Holy God. And here Paul gives us a simple
and profound statement of gospel truth in a single verse. He tells
the Galatian believers, and by the Holy Spirit he shares it
with us all, that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins,
that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. And this is the Gospel, this
is the very heart of the Gospel and the Apostle Paul has set
it out here for us to see. Let me just point to three things
in what he says and then we'll be done. Firstly, he says that
the Lord Jesus Christ willingly gave himself for our sins. That is substitutionary atonement. He took our sins as his own,
he placed himself under God's law, he bared his body and soul
to the sword of the Lord, and he interposed himself between
the wrath of God and weak, helpless, guilty sinners. bearing our sin
in his own body and dying in our place. We also learn from
this verse that our redemption by Christ was made for the express
purpose of delivering us from this present evil world. That's our justification. It's our transformation and it's
our glorification all wrapped up together. It is the Lord Jehovah's
particular distinguishing grace that effectually achieves the
end for which it is revealed. Paul says elsewhere, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. And we learn that too from this
verse. And then thirdly, the Apostle
says Christ was sacrificed, his death was undertaken and by his
death he successfully accomplished the will of God our Father. So this teaches us that the Lord
Jesus Christ and God the Father and of course we understand as
well God the Holy Spirit, but we're in agreement together as
to the purpose and outcome of this great substitutionary work. And that teaches us sovereign
love, and it confirms the existence and purpose of the everlasting
covenant, with its glorious end of eternal life for the objects
of God's mercy. I say again, we can but admire
the beauty, simplicity and directness with which the Apostle approaches
his purpose in writing to the Galatians. And I trust that over
the next few weeks and perhaps months as we consider this epistle
together, we shall all benefit as much from the Apostle's Gospel
as did his original Galatian readers. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to us. Amen.