This certainly is my pleasure
to have been here today. I trust the Lord will give us
another blessing as we look into his word this evening. If you
would open your Bibles to Galatians chapter 1, I've entitled the message, A
Gospel Worth Believing. You know, there are many different
messages being preached in the world today, many different messages
being preached in Danville, Kentucky today. But you know, there is
only one gospel that saves, only one. The gospel that declares
all of salvation is in Christ. The gospel that declares all
of salvation is conditioned wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only gospel that saves because that gospel declares Christ the
only Savior. So there are many messages being
preached, but there's only one gospel worth believing. It's
the gospel that saves. You know, there are the free
willers. They have a message that insults my knowledge of
myself. I might can fool you, at least to a degree, into thinking
that I'm a pretty good fellow, that I keep the law, that I do
these things, but I know better. I know I can't fool you. those
things. I can't do anything good or righteous. I can't do anything
to deserve to be saved. I can't even choose God. God's
got to choose me. That message insults my knowledge
of myself. The Pentecostals and these healers,
they insult my intelligence. I know that's just acting. They're
just easy for anybody to see through. All that is is a show.
The Catholics, they insult my desire to be free. They're putting
me in bondage to the church and bondage to that priest and his
wicked desires. Then there are preachers who,
they like, preachers do this, you know, they like to sound
impressive. They preach an impressive sounding
doctrine. I don't have a clue what they
said, but they preach an impressive sounding doctrine that gives
me a headache. And there are preachers who make
only emotional pleas, you know, won't you make this decision
because don't you want to see mama in heaven? Won't you make
this decision for Jesus? It'll make your mama so happy.
They give me a stomachache. None of those messages are worth
believing because none of them declare Christ. And tonight I
want to preach to you a gospel that's worth believing, a gospel
that's worthy of all acceptation, worthy of all belief. And it's
found the first few verses of Paul's letter to the Galatians.
Now this letter is not written to one individual church, but
to all the churches in that area of Galatia. All these churches
had heard the gospel and claimed to believe it. Paul thought they
did. He thought they believed and
loved the gospel. He'd been there preaching to them early on. But
after Paul had left, Judaizers had come in, and what they did
is they denied God's They denied God's servant. They said, Paul's
not really an apostle. He wasn't around during our Lord's
earthly ministry. He couldn't be an apostle. And
this is what they do. First, they pick at a man. And
it's easy to pick at a man. It's easy to find faults. They
call that man into question. And then they use the logic,
if you call him into question, you can call his message into
question. And then they attack the gospel. And it sounds religious,
you know, to say, oh, Christ died, yes. He died as a sacrifice
for sin, but that's not enough. You Gentiles have to convert
to Judaism to be saved. And they're not telling them
to do evil, wicked things, the flesh things. They say, well,
you need to be circumcised. You need to follow the law. You
know, don't eat pork and keep the Sabbath day. In other words,
what they're saying is in order to be saved, you need something
more than Christ. The father requires more than
Christ alone. So the apostle writes this letter
to clearly set forth salvation in Christ alone and to give them
and to give us a gospel worth believing. Now he begins in verse
one of Galatians one, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither
by man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the father who raised him
from the dead. Now, you know, the very first word of this epistle,
sets forth salvation by grace without works. Paul, that's not
the name his parents gave that baby boy when he was born. They
named him Saul. And Saul of Tarsus grew to be
a Pharisee of the Pharisees. This man knew the law. He was
doctrinally straight, so straight and outwardly moral and strict
But Saul was mean. He was a mean man. He hated Christ
and he hated anyone who believed Christ. It was Saul's mission
in life to wipe out the name of Jesus Christ from the earth.
Saul was so mean, he'd arrest women and children. Saul had
men stoned to death for believing Christ. This man is mean. But
look at verse 23. What a difference, what a change
God's grace makes. They had heard only that he which
persecuted us in times past now preached the faith which he once
destroyed, and they glorified God in me." Now, Paul's the chief
apostle, not one whit behind any of the apostles. Now, how'd
that happen? 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. And Paul was not an apostle by
the will of men. The other apostles never would
have chosen Saul to be their comrade. They never would have
done that. They chose a man named Matthias and it shows you what
they knew. We never hear from Matthias again.
But God chose Paul and every person in this room knows the
story of the apostle Paul. Now to be an apostle, you had
to be taught the gospel directly from the Lord Jesus himself and
Paul was. Miraculously, after our Lord
ascended on high, the Lord Jesus came and he taught Paul the gospel
personally. We see that in verses 11 and
12 here, chapter 1. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached to me is not after man, for I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Our Lord came and taught Paul
the gospel personally. Now, Paul was given special revelation
of the gospel. And Paul was given a very special
gift to preach the gospel. Paul wrote more scripture. Paul
preached more messages. Paul planted more churches. Paul
worked more miracles and saw more wonders than all the other
apostles. Paul saw heaven itself. Yet what
was Paul's message? grace, salvation by grace, without
works, without experience, salvation by grace alone, through faith
alone. In the opening lines of this letter to the churches at
Galatia, Paul addressed this matter of salvation, being in
Christ plus something men do. At the end of verse 1, he speaks
of God the Father who raised him, who raised Christ from the
dead. Now remember, these Judaizers
come in saying, The father must not be completely satisfied with
Christ. That's why you have to convert
to being a Jew in order to be saved. You have to live like
a Jew does. Well, then why did the father raise his son from
the dead? The father would only raise Christ from the dead if
sin was gone. When did the father turn his
back on his son? When he was made to be sin. The
father turned his back on him. That's why our Lord cried, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? because he was made to be
sin for his people. Well, the father would only turn
his face back to his son when his sacrifice put that sin away.
And he raised him from the dead because sin's gone. Paul, in
this very first verse, is telling us salvation is in Christ alone,
without our works, without any of our experiences. In verse
2, he goes on, he says, and all the brethren which are with me,
under the churches of Galatia, Now Paul is including the other
brethren that are with him in his salutation. And certainly
Paul is being kind to include these brethren in this letter.
You know, if I'd gone down to Rocky Mount and Brother Henry
wrote y'all a letter and he's writing this letter and he says,
and Frank's with me, y'all not looking for my name, are you?
You're looking for his. Well, everybody, what they really
care about, what does Paul have to say? I mean, let's be honest.
That's what they care about. What does Paul have to say about this? So Paul's
being kind, but he's also being wise. In this letter, he's going
to rebuke these brethren in Galatia. He's going to set some things
straight. And he's telling them, let every
word be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. These
other men of renown in the gospel, they're with me on this now.
They agree with me in these matters, so you ought to listen. In the
next three verses, Paul gives us six marks of the gospel. Six marks of the gospel of God
that's worth believing. Number one, the gospel worth
believing is a gospel of grace. Verse three, grace be unto you. The gospel that's worth believing
declares salvation is by grace. Free, unmerited, undeserved favor
from God. Grace is God's goodwill towards
sinners. It's grace that moved God to
do a work for sinners. And it's also grace that moved
God to do a work in sinners. That's the new birth. That's
grace. And it must be by grace. Salvation
has to be by pure, sovereign grace. Because all men are fallen
in Adam. In Adam, we all were made sinners. In Adam, we're all guilty. Now
if sinners are going to be saved, it has to be by grace. It can't
be by their works. It must be by grace because sinners
can't do any good work. Sinners can't do anything righteous.
All they can do is sin. Well, if all we can do is sin,
then a sinner can't please God by anything that we do. Christ
has to please God for us. What we do is what caused this
separation between us and God in the first place. Isaiah 59
too. your iniquities, what you do, who you are. Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hit
his face from you. So not only can we not do anything
to make God pleased with us, it's our sin that's made the
holy God angry. So if sinners are going to be
saved, God's going to have to save them even though they don't
deserve it. And that's grace. Salvation even
though they didn't do anything to deserve it. Look at John chapter
1. It's grace that sent Christ to
this earth and it's Christ who brought grace to men. John chapter
1 verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. And John bared 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. Grace is in our Lord Jesus Christ. He brought grace to men. Now I know the heathen. I know
the heathen need to be saved by grace. That's why we send
missionaries to those poor heathen. What did Peter have to say about
that in Acts chapter 15? Peter said, but we believe through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We, he's talking to Jews, we
Jews, we religious folks are going to be saved even as they,
even as those heathen Gentiles. Brethren, if we're going to be
saved, it's by grace because we're the heathen. We're the
heathen. Alright, salvation is by grace.
Is grace really enough? Is it? Is grace really enough
to justify the ungodly? What does Scripture say? Romans
3, 24. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Yes,
grace is enough to justify the ungodly. Well, is grace really
enough to put away all of my sins? Now, do I have to do some
things better? Do I have to quit doing some
things? Is grace really enough to put away all my sin without
any contribution from me? What does Scripture say? Romans
5.20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Yes, grace is enough to put away
all my sin. Look at Romans chapter 11. Is
grace really enough to save me without any works for me at all. What sayeth the scripture? Romans
11, verse 5. Even so, at this present time
also, there's a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if by grace, then is it 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. Yes, scripture
is clear, salvation is by grace without works. Grace, it is a
charming sound. Do you get tired of hearing a
grace? It's a charming sound, harmonious to the ear. And heaven
with the echo shower sound and all the earth shall hear, saved
by grace, grace alone. The gospel that's worth believing
is the gospel of grace. Secondly, in our text, the gospel
that's worth believing is the gospel of peace. Verse 3, grace
be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, this peace is a soul peace,
an inward peace. Not only are we not guaranteed
to have peace on this earth, we're guaranteed not to have
peace on this earth. This is a peace of heart, peace
of the soul. Now, how can a sinner have peace?
Just one way. If our sin's removed. It's impossible
to have peace if our sin's not removed because our conscience
will never be quiet and let us have peace as long as there's
sin in our conscience. That's why Paul says grace and
peace. Now, I know this is Paul's usual
salutation. He puts it in all of his epistles.
Grace and peace. Grace and peace. Grace, mercy,
and peace. But that's not just Wasted words
that don't mean anything because they're repeated. You know, usually
in Scripture, something repeated, we ought to sit up and take notice
of it. This is Paul's usual salutation, but it's always in this order.
First grace, then peace. Peace has to come second because
grace produces peace in the heart. Because grace removes sin. By
grace are we saved. It's by grace. So once sin's
gone, under the blood of Christ, Then we have peace. Christ made
peace for us through the blood of his cross. It's the blood
of Christ that removed the sin of his elect, so we have peace
by grace. And the gospel that's worth believing
calls us to peace. It calls us, first of all, to
peace with God. The war's over. God's reconciled. Now, you be reconciled. I will
be if I see Christ. It calls us to peace with God.
Secondly, the gospel that's worth believing calls us to peace with
one another. Grace has made us part of the
same family. We're part of the same family. Then have peace. It's a dysfunctional
family that does not have peace with one another. Then seek peace
and pursue it. We're part of the same blood
family. And thirdly, the gospel that's worth believing calls
us to seek peace with all men. the men of the world. As much
as lieth in you, not as much as lieth in them, as much as
lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. This is the gospel
of peace. But notice the Father and the
Son are in union in this matter, in this matter of grace, this
work of grace and peace. Because like Lindsay told us
in the Sunday School lesson this morning, they're in union in
every work. Here, Paul says, grace and peace
from God the Father. and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything the Father gives, the Son gives. Everything the
Son gives, the Father gives. And the Father will never require
anything more from a sinner than what Christ gives, because Christ
is enough. He better be, because Christ
is all, then He's enough. And we can't add anything to
the salvation that Christ provided because He's all. And if we do,
we ruin it. You know when we ruin our peace?
We try to add something to it. We try to make peace conditional
on something that we've done. We ruin it just like we ruin
everything. The gospel that's worth believing declares peace
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Third, the gospel that's worth
believing declares the sacrifice of Christ. Verse four, who gave
himself for our sins. the love of Christ for His people. It's something we can never get
these human minds around, that He would give Himself, that He'd
give Himself for our sins. It's not like He gave money to
pay off a debt. He gave Himself for our sins. My daughter has some, she's in
college, she has some work that needs to be done in her car,
Her daddy pays for it, but I just give him money. I'd write a check
or swipe my cards. Our Lord paid the debt of His
children by giving Himself. He sacrificed Himself. Lindsay
read it in a study, Isaiah 50. He gave Himself. He gave everything
that He is to redeem His people from their sins. He gave His
back to the smiters. You want to beat me? Beat me. He gave his back to the smiters.
He gave his cheeks to those that would pluck out his beard. He
gave his face to be spit upon. He gave his head to that crown
of thorns. He gave his hands and his feet
to those nails. He gave his whole body to be
abused and tortured and hung naked in front of a crowd of
people jeering at him. He gave His blood, His payment
for the sin of His people. He gave His life that His people
would live. He gave all of His humanity for
the salvation of His people. The gospel that's worth believing
declares that. That's worth believing. That's
a Savior who's worth believing, who gave Himself for our sins.
But now notice here, Christ didn't die for good people, did He?
He gave Himself for our sins. He gave Himself for somebody
that's got sins. He gave Himself for sinners.
Are you a sinner? That's who Christ came to save.
That's who He gave Himself for, people who have sins. A righteous
man doesn't need a substitute. A righteous man doesn't need
somebody to die for him. A good man doesn't need somebody
to die for him. But sinners must have a substitute. Sinners must
have a sacrifice so Christ gave himself for their redemption. Now that's grace and that's peace. Now someone might worry, I still feel my sin. All I see
about myself is sin. How can Christ have taken it
away? I don't know how to explain that. But let me ask you this
question. Who are you going to believe?
Now, you know yourself. Are you trustworthy? You're going
to believe yourself or you're going to believe God? God said
Christ died for our sins. God said Christ gave himself
for our sins. Then I'm going to believe him.
That's who I'm going to believe. He gave himself for our sins. Fourthly, the gospel that's worth
believing Not only does it declare the sacrifice of Christ, but
the gospel that's worth believing declares that salvation is found
in the sacrifice of Christ. Verse 4, who gave himself for
our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world. Christ did not die to make salvation
a possibility for all mankind. Christ didn't die to make salvation
possible for as many people as may choose to accept it. Christ
died to save his elect from their sin, to deliver them from this
present evil world. The word deliver that the apostle
uses here means to pluck out and rescue, but it also means
to choose out. He chose out on purpose. I'm
going to save this one and I'm going to save this one. to choose
out and to select for one's self. I choose this one to be mine.
I choose this one to be mine. And he plucked his people out
of the condemnation of their sin. Look back in Zechariah chapter
3. See if this isn't what we read
in Zechariah, that on purpose, God plucked his people out of
the condemnation of their sin. In Zechariah 3 verse 1, And he showed me Joshua, the
high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan
standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said
unto Satan, The Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord
that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuketh thee. Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire? This is a brand that was plucked,
that was chosen, that was delivered from the fire by God's electing
love. Now, whenever you refer to the
death of Christ, don't ever refer to the death of Christ as something
that could fail or something that should make us feel pity
for the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, these emotional preachers
I talked to you about earlier, you know, they tell you, you
know, won't you make a decision to accept Jesus? Don't you feel
sorry for poor Jesus who died? Now, I am so sorry that my sin
caused my savior to suffer such grief. I'm so sorry, but I'm
thankful for his death. The Lord's not the one to be
pitied. I'm the one who needs pity. He
pitied me. Don't pity him. He's to be worshiped
and praised because his sacrifice saved his people from their sins.
And the gospel that's worth believing declares the sacrifice of Christ
was effectual. It got the job done. Why would
you want to believe any gospel that tells you the sacrifice
of Christ didn't get the job done, but it's up to you? It's
not worth believing. But the gospel that declares
the sacrifice of Christ put away the sin of His people is a gospel
that's worth believing. And that's what he did. When
he died, that's why the father raised him from the dead. He
put the sin of his people away. And if the father raised Christ
from the dead, if the father accepted his sacrifice, then
you and I don't need to contribute anything to it in order to be
saved. The father would never have raised
his son from the dead if salvation was not fully accomplished and
sin completely put away. But the work's finished, so we
don't add a thing. And that's worth believing. Now,
the gospel also declares not only that salvation is found
in the death of Christ, but the gospel that's worth believing
declares it takes the death of Christ to save his people. It takes the death of Christ
to put sin away. It's the only way it could be
done. When Paul says we're delivered from this present evil world,
he's showing us our sin nature and our need of Christ. All men
on this earth are evil. Now, they're evil, us included.
That's our nature. That's the nature we receive
from our father, Adam, is an evil nature. It's the nature
of this earth. And every generation at all times
on this earth have been evil. I know I'm guilty of saying the
world is as bad as it's ever been. It's getting worse. It
keeps getting worse. It keeps getting worse. Maybe
it is, maybe it isn't. I don't know. But I do know this.
Every generation who's ever lived on this earth is evil because
we all came from Adam. But Christ delivered his people
from all of that evil by his death, from the evil of this
world. He delivered us from Satan, who's the prince of this world.
He delivered us from the snare of Satan to freedom in Christ.
Christ delivered his people from sin, which is the nature of this
world. And he delivered us to holiness in Christ. And the death
of Christ delivered us, his people, from death, which is the end
of this world, to life in Christ. Christ saves souls and Christ
changes lives. He changes our walk in this world
because of the new birth. When that new nature is born,
when a new man is born in you, there's going to be a new walk,
a changed walk. Now we're still in the world,
but we're not off the world anymore. We've been delivered from the
controlling power of this world. And we're not delivered by our
efforts in Christ. It's not me and Jesus. It's Christ
alone. That's salvation. That's a gospel
that's worth believing. That salvation requires the death
of Christ. It's the only way sin could be
put away. And the death of Christ was effectual.
He did put the sin of His people away. Now rest in Him. The gospel
that's worth believing declares salvation by the will of God,
not by the will of man. Verse four, he gave himself for
our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and our father. Christ delivered
everyone he determined to deliver according to the will of God.
Salvation is not by man's free will. You cannot read the scriptures
and come up with that conclusion honestly. Our will is only free
to do one thing, to sin. So we can't be saved by our will.
You remember that rich young ruler. He came to our Lord and
he asked the Lord, what good thing shall I do that I can have
eternal life? That young man was the best man
has to offer. He did it all. Outwardly, from
his youth up, he did it all. Was it enough to save him? He
knew it wasn't, didn't he? He knew in his heart otherwise
he never would have come to the Savior. He knew he was missing
something. He thought he was missing a something. What he
was missing was a person. He was missing a someone. That
young man was the best man has to offer and he went away sorrowful
because he would not let go of his many possessions. Many of
us may not have many possessions, but our problem is not letting
go of possessions. It's letting go of self. Letting
go of our righteousness. Those things are valuable to
the flesh. He wouldn't let go of those things and follow Christ.
And the disciples marveled. They said, well, who then can
be saved? You know, this is the best we've got. Who then can
be saved? Our Lord replied, with men it's
impossible. Now, is that putting an end to
free will? With men it's impossible. By our will, salvation is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. All things are done if God wills
it. The gospel that's worth believing
declares salvation by the will of God, by the determinant counsel
and foreknowledge of God. And brethren, the work's done.
It's finished. And I know that the flesh rebels
against this truth, that salvation is by the will of God, not by
the will of man. But why? The will of God's not
against us. Paul says here, the will of our
father. Your father means you no harm. I remember being a boy, I thought
it was the greatest thing in the world until we actually went
out in the cold winter to do this. I thought it was the greatest
thing in the world to go out and cut down our own Christmas
tree. And after what seems like dragging this ax and this saw
for miles and miles and miles, we see this tree to cut down.
And dad's carrying this saw and this axe, you know. Well, I could
be alone in the forest with certain people and I'd be awful frightened
if they had an axe and a saw. I wasn't when I was alone with
my dad. That axe was going to do me no harm in his hand. That
saw was going to do me no harm in his hand. Child of God, nothing
in this world is going to do you any harm. in the hand of
your father, and it's all in his hand. This is the will of
our father. God the father is our father
through union with Christ. What'd our Lord say? I ascend
unto my father and your father, to my God and your God. Then
the will of our father is for our eternal good. This is something
to rejoice in. That's worth believing, isn't
it? The gospel that's worth believing
declares that God have all the glory and salvation. Verse 5,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Now you and I are not going
to get any glory and salvation. Any gospel that gives sinners
some glory and salvation It's taken all the luster off of itself.
It's not worth believing. There's no glory in sin and rebellion
and death, and that's all ours. Sin and rebellion and death,
and that's all that belongs to us. But there's glory and mercy
and grace to sinners, and that all belongs to God. You think
what glory there is in God's wisdom that enabled him to be
just and justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. That's glorious. What glory there is in the incarnation
of Christ that God became a man. That's too glorious for us. We
can't even, we don't even understand what that means. What glory there
is in that. What glory there is in the blood
of Christ. His blood is so powerful. It
cleanses us from all sin, all sin. That's glorious. What glory
there is in the death of Christ. First of all, there's glory just
the fact that Christ could die. That God died. There's glory
in that. And there's glory, second of
all, in who he died for. Christ died for sinners. There's
glory in that. What glory there is in God saving,
keeping power. God doesn't save his children
and set them down and say, run along now and get to heaven on
your own. He saves His people and He keeps
them, preserves them by His power. There's glory in that. Now, why
would anyone turn from that gospel? That's a gospel that's worth
believing. Why would anyone turn from that gospel? Any other message
is not another gospel. No, it's not. It's not another
way of looking at the same thing. It's not another gospel. It's
a perversion. It's a mutation. And men who
preach that perversion that mutation do so because they don't know
God and they'll be damned because they don't know Christ. Now I
know that sounds harsh but what does scripture say? Verse 7 in
our text. Well look at verse 6. Paul says,
I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ into another gospel which is
not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. Now this is how serious this
matter is. 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 accursed." The gospel is not a set of doctrines. You know, well, we have this
set of doctrines, and this group has this set of doctrines, and
this group has this set of doctrines. The gospel is a person. What
we're about to observe here This is not doctrine that we believe
somebody else doesn't believe. This is a person. This represents
a person that's vital to your soul and your doctrine. What you believe is controlled
by who you believe. There is a gospel that's worth
believing. God sent it to sinners. The gospel
that's worth believing is a gospel of grace. It's a gospel of peace
in Christ. The gospel that's worth believing
is a gospel that declares both the need for the sacrifice of
Christ and the success of the sacrifice of Christ. The gospel
that's worth believing is the gospel that declares salvation
is by the will of God, not by the will of man, by the will
of God. And the gospel that's worth believing declares that
God have all the glory and salvation. May God grant us the faith, by
His grace, by the gift of His grace, grant us the faith to
believe Him. Alright, the Lord bless you.