Back in Galatians chapter 1, as was always the case, after Paul had preached the gospel,
wherever it was, no matter where it was, after he preached the
gospel and God was pleased to save people by that means, Because
as Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save those that believe. And God hasn't
changed his mind about that. He hasn't adopted any other means
by which he saves sinners. He calls them through the preaching
of the gospel. He reveals Christ to them through
the preaching of the gospel. And that's all. That's all. But
after Paul had preached the gospel, and God was pleased to save people,
the devil would always come behind him and sow tares among the weak. He did that among the believers
at Galatia. Paul preached to them, as he wrote in this epistle,
that Christ is all. Christ is all. Chapter 3, verse
11. But these false teachers came
behind him and said, no, he's not. No, he's not. Some taught law and grace. Oh, yes, they said. We won't
deny Christ. We won't deny what he did, but There's got to be a place for
the law. Yes, we're saved by grace, but we're kept by our
own works. There's got to be a part in there
someplace for man's contribution. Some were teaching that, and
that was common. Paul encountered that a great
deal. But others taught philosophy,
vain philosophy. You read this epistle, and Paul
deals with each of these things. They mixed their own reasonings
with God's revelation. Does that sound familiar? They
felt like what they reasoned had an equal bearing or authority
as God's revealed Word. This is what I think. Have you
ever heard that? Someone asks you something, you
would say, well, the Word of God says, and they say, well,
and just brush it aside. But this is what I think. Paul encountered that. And others
taught a form of mysticism. Even the worship of saints and
angels, they were teaching that. And yet there were others who
taught that salvation was obtained through knowledge. After you
learn so much, are able to grasp so much, you'll be saved by that
means. You arrive at it through your
smarts. Look what Paul says in verse
6 of chapter 2. Now, he writes to these believers
who were being bombarded with this stuff, these various heresies,
and look what he reminds them of in verse 6, as ye have therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, how did they receive Christ
Jesus the Lord? How did Christ become theirs
and they become His? How did it happen? How does it happen that any sinner,
whether it's in 60 or 62 AD when this was written, or 2014, how
does any sinner receive Christ? Not by works. Not by merit. No, no. Look what Paul says.
As ye therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
ye in him. So walk ye in him. When these
believers first came to Christ, they came to him empty-handed. Absolutely empty-handed. That's
the only way any sinner comes to Christ. You don't bring your
merit. You don't bring what you think
you deserve. Oh, no. When a sinner comes to
Jesus Christ, they come empty-handed. They come as beggars before the
throne of grace or they don't come at all. Ask the rich young
ruler if that's not what he found out. They bow before him or they're
sent away. Sent away, that's exactly right.
Mr. Spurgeon was fond of quoting
in his messages. I read a lot of his messages,
and every other one, it seems, he'll quote these words from
Mr. Toplady's famous hymn, Rock of
Ages. Nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to the cross I cling. And that's so. That's how we
receive Christ. And Paul tells them, continue
the same way, the same way that you first received Christ and
his mercy and his grace. Continue the same way. Walk in him. Walk in him. From start to finish, Paul is
telling them, look only to Christ. Don't attempt. or even think
that you can get beyond this, like some were telling them. Don't even entertain such a thought. Don't even listen to such a suggestion. Look what he says in verse 7
of chapter 2. So walking in him rooted and
built up in him, Same way. The same way. As you start, so
you continue. And established in the faith
as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving, beware. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." You don't
need nothing else, Paul said. You don't need anyone else. And
you are complete in him. You couldn't be more complete. You can't add anything to completeness,
which is the head of all principality and power. Paul reminds them
of the supremacy. of Christ in chapter 1. We read
a portion of it. Who he is and what he alone has
done for sinners. What he alone has done for them,
not what they did for Christ. That's what we hear today. No,
salvation is not something a sinner does for Christ. It's something
Christ does for the sinner. The great shepherd seeks his
sheep, and he finds his sheep, and he saves his sheep, and he
keeps his sheep, and he'll bring them all the way to glory. It
sounds like he does it all. You got that right? He does it
all. And that's good news. That's
good news to a weak, wandering sheep. Once Paul gets started
talking about Christ, he just can't seem to stop. He's speaking
about his Savior. Look at chapter 1, verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. who had delivered us from the
power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son." And once that's mentioned, his dear son, Paul's gone. He's gone. His dear son, and
he begins to talk about him and just can't seem to stop. Again,
verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us
meet. The word meet means worthy. It means fit. Fit to inherit
glory. That's what it says. A sinner
is fit to inherit glory. Fit to be in the presence of
God Almighty. How in the world can that be?
How can that be? Well, Paul tells us in verse
14, in whom, this is how, in whom we have redemption, that
is Christ, God's dear Son. He's the one makes us fit. He
who is worthy makes us worthy in Him. In whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Oh, that's it. That's how he makes us worthy. He redeemed us with his own precious
blood. That's exactly what Moses sang
at the Red Sea. That's exactly what he sang.
And this is a picture of our glorious redemption in Christ
Jesus. Listen to this. Some of the things
sung that day when they had crossed over and looked back and Pharaoh
and his great army had perished. Listen to what they sang. Exodus
15, verse 13. And this is exactly what Paul
said, in whom we have redemption. Thou and thy mercy has led forth
the people which thou has redeemed. He redeemed them, Louis, first.
with that Passover, the blood of the Lamb. They were redeemed
before. And now he brings them forth, the same people, not a
different people. No, the same people that he shed
his blood for are the same people he brings to glory. Thou and
Thy mercy has led forth the people which Thou has redeemed. Thou
has guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation. He has made us fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life." Again, they sang, Thou
shall bring them in. Thou shall bring them in. If,
but, maybe, no, no, no, no, no. Thou shalt bring them in and
plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance in the place,
O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in." They're
going to be where you are. In the sanctuary, O Lord, which
thy hands have established. I go to prepare a place for you.
There'll be no empty mansions in glory. And I'll come back for you that
where I am, there ye may be also. Paul is speaking, as we said,
of his favorite subject, Jesus Christ. Indeed, his only subject. This was the joy of his heart
and the theme of his song, Jesus Christ. This was the subject
of Paul's message. Which one? Every one of them.
Every message Paul preached. Again, writing to the church
at Corinth, I'm determined to know nothing among you. That
was true wherever he was at, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. We could use any epistle Paul
wrote to prove that fact, even before he wrote. We read in Acts
9 after Paul was saved by God's grace, and after being baptized,
straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is
the Son of God. Look at verse 27 in Colossians
1. To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory, to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you." Christ in you, nothing else. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. He is that mystery revealed once
hidden in the past under the shadows of the law in types sacrifices,
but is now revealed to every believer. Remember what our Lord
said to Simon when he asked the disciples to question that time?
You know, there was rumors abounding about who Jesus of Nazareth was.
Some said he's a good man. He's a good teacher, good moral
teacher. Others said he's a nut. He's
insane. He's beside himself. Why do you
even listen to him? Some said he's a deceiver. He's
a fraud. But some said we're a little
more generous. They were still wrong. Well,
he's like one of the prophets, Elijah. But the Lord asked his disciples,
who do you say that I am? Who am I to you? And child of God, pray. I pray often. God, don't let this redeemed
sinner to whom you have revealed your glorious Son, ever get over
it." Ever get over it. Who am I to you? Who do you say
that I am? And old Peter spoke up and said,
we know who you are. We don't have a doubt. Let others
say what they will. Thou art to Christ the Son of
the living God. And you remember our Lord's response
to Peter. Remember what he said. Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't teach
you this. Do you hear that? Flesh and blood didn't teach
you this. You didn't come to this on your own. You didn't
educate yourself to this. Neither did anyone else. You
didn't learn this by studying. You didn't learn this through
somebody else's knowledge. Oh, no, no. The revelation of
Jesus Christ is not a hand-me-down. I can't pass it to my children.
I can't pass it on to my loved ones. Oh, no. The only way anyone
can know Jesus Christ, I mean know Him, everybody knows about
Him, that's what the rumors showed. But our Lord said to Peter, Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed
this to you. But my Father which is in heaven,
God Almighty's done something for you, Peter, that in His sovereign
mercy He's not done for everyone. He didn't do it for Judas. But
Peter, of all people, he's done it for you. He's revealed to
you who the Son of God is. And he said, you're a blessed
man. You are a blessed man, Peter. Our Lord on another occasion
said, nobody knows who God is or who the Son is except those
to whom God will reveal Him. You see, it requires a miracle. It requires a miracle. For anyone
to really know, savingly, who Jesus Christ is, it requires
a miracle. It doesn't require a miracle.
I mean, you've known this since you were, as they say, knee-high
to a grasshopper. About everybody born in this
country, I dare say, have heard of Jesus Christ. And everybody
would tell you if you would ask them, do you know Christ? Oh
yeah, I know Christ. I know Jesus Christ. I know He
was born and He died and He rose again. Yeah, I know that and
all, but that's not saving knowledge. That's just carnal knowledge.
No. To know Christ as my Redeemer,
to know Christ as my Savior, to come to Christ with the heart
requires a revelation of Him to my heart that only God Almighty
can perform. Oh, is it any wonder in verse
28 of Galatians 1, Paul says that's who we preach. Whom we
preach, that's not surprising, is it?
Whom we preach, who else would He preach? After declaring the
supremacy of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He's accomplished,
where He is now, what He is doing, all fullness of the Godhead in
Him, Who else would Paul preach? That's our text. Whom we preach
in verse 28 and why. Notice what Paul says. Whom we
preach. We. Not just Paul, but their pastor
preached of the church at Galatia that Paul mentions in verse 7
of chapter 1. Then in verse 1, he mentions
also Timothy. And then the other apostles.
Not some of us preach Christ, but we all preach Christ. Every
man that's called of God to preach the glorious gospel of the blessed
God preached Christ. Turn if you go to Acts chapter
5, and you may be thinking, well, I hear a lot of fellas that preach
a lot of other things. Well, they've not been called
of God. Mommy called them, maybe Daddy called them, maybe the
seminary called them, or they called themselves, but if God
calls a man to preach, that man's going to preach Christ. Look,
if you will, in Acts chapter 5, if there's any place to learn
what the church should be and do, it would be in the book of
Acts, would it not? Would it not be? That would be
the place to go to the see. In Acts chapter 5. Peter and John earlier had been
arrested and threatened not to preach anymore in that name.
Of course, they went out and preached in that name. And now
it seems that all the apostles were arrested on this occasion,
and they're brought before the powers that be. They're beaten
and they're threatened, and then they're turned loose. Don't speak
anymore in the name of Jesus, verse 40. and let them go. And they departed, verse 41,
and they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that
they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily
in the temple," I just went right back to it, didn't I? And daily
in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and
preach Jesus Christ. Everywhere. In the big house
and in the little house, they preached Jesus Christ. In the
temple, among the religious bigwigs, they preached Jesus Christ. And
if they were allowed to go into home, the cottage of some poor
peasant, their subject was still the same. They told them about
Jesus Christ all the time. That's all they preached. And
they preached him to everyone and everywhere. Turn, if you
will, back in Acts to chapter 4. This is what Peter tells them. when he and John are arrested. And God opens the door of the
prison and they go out preaching. When they're sent to be brought
before the powers, they come back and say, well, they're not
there. And then somebody comes on the
heels of that message and says, those men you're looking for,
they're in the temple preaching Jesus Christ. So they bring them. Look what we read in verse 8
of chapter 4. Then Peter, this is before the
Sanhedrin and the rulers and the scribes and the high priests
and just a whole bunch of renowned people, distinguished folks.
Verse 8, then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them,
ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be
examined of the good deed done to the infinite man, by what
means he is made whole, if that's the question before us, if that's
what you're asking us, look what Peter says, be it known unto
you all all of you fellas, and all the people of Israel, that
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom He crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand
here before you whole." Oh, I would to God, Mike, that
every preacher that stands in the pulpit this morning, if they
were examined as to what they preached, they could say the
same thing. It's not what, it's who. Who? Jesus Christ. That's what they preached everywhere
and to everyone. Let's look at one more in Acts
chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. Philip, one of
the first of those seven deacons. He was preaching in Samaria and
a lot of people believed and were baptized. What a glorious
time. And then God speaks to him and
tells him to leave there where that Great work was taking place. Leave those crowds and go down
in the desert. The one black guy. Now think
about that. And Philip obeys. And of course,
it's the Ethiopian eunuch. He's been up to Jerusalem and he is in his chariot and
he has stopped apparently and he's reading one of the scrolls
of the prophets, Isaiah. And apparently he's reading out
loud because Philip joins himself
to him and asks him, do you understand what you're reading? And look
at verse 29. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot. Verse 32, the place of the scripture
which he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened he not his
mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this? Who's Isaiah talking about? Is he talking about himself or
some other man? Verse 35, Dan Phillip opened
his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him,
Jesus. Jesus. What we read there is
true of all scripture. You can start at that scripture
and preach unto them, Jesus. Because Jesus, when he rose from
the dead, told his disciples, instructed them out of Moses,
out of the prophets and out of the Psalms, those things concerning
him in all the Scriptures. No wonder Paul said, that's whom
we preach. There's not salvation in any
other. I've received Recently, several
emails concerning messages preached here and folks have heard on
Free Grace and others, others concerning our bulletin that
we send them out, folks we send them to, and all very encouraging. And every preacher that's been
here since I've been your pastor, Don, Donny, Clay, Bruce Crabtree, Daniel
Parks. After they've been here and preached,
they've all told me, Larry, it's such a blessing to preach to
those folks. They seem to pay such close attention and they
seem to rejoice in the gospel of God's grace concerning his
dear son. And I said, oh, yes, it's a delight.
That's a delight to worship with those folks. What a rare and
rich blessing that is that's been granted unto us that we
might preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. That's what's on our bulletin,
isn't it? On the front page of our bulletin from 1 Corinthians
1, this is what we say. But we preach Christ crucified. Christ crucified. The Jews seek
a sign, the previous verse, and others seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified. This is our claim, period. Fairmont Grace Church, that's
their claim. We preach Christ crucified. What about the young people?
What do you do for them? Preach Christ crucified. What
about the old folks? We preach Christ crucified. What
about those in between? We preach Christ crucified. What else would you preach? Unless
you just don't care whether they hear or not. Unless you just
don't care whether they perish or not. Oh, but God forbid. God forbid. We preach Him. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 said,
but we preach Christ. We preach not ourselves. Not
ourselves. Not about ourselves. Or to promote ourselves. He says,
we preach Christ crucified. I saw a website just a couple
days ago, glanced at it, it caught my attention. It advertised our most popular
sermons. Must hear. And I thought, well
let me check that out. And they had just hundreds and
hundreds of messages, the title of messages. Like this. A drug addict's testimony. Several on depression, a series
on that. Abortion, homosexuality, and
just bucos under the theme family issues. Poor old Paul would have
been awful uncomfortable in that mix, wouldn't he? Because he
didn't preach any of those things. He preached Christ crucified. He preached whom? If I were right
now, sitting where you are, and the Lord willing, in a few weeks
I will be, looking forward to it. But if I were sitting where
you are, Brother Lowell, if I came in this morning and I wasn't
doing the preach and I was sitting down there, I'd want to hear, and I'd need
to hear, Mike, about my Redeemer. If I came in heavy hearted and
burdened down, what else would do me any good? Or if I came
in as a lost sinner, what good would it do me to hear about
family issues? Would that answer the question,
how can this sinner be just with that God? Would that answer the
question, if that man standing here was focusing on the family,
would that tell me what I must do to be saved? No. Would that prepare me to face
God in eternity? No. That's why Paul said, we
must. We must preach Christ. I'm the
sinner. I'm the sinner, Joe. Tell me
about my Savior. I'm sick. Tell me about the great
physician that's able to save to the uttermost. I've sinned.
I've sinned. As David cried out, I've sinned
against God. Oh, tell me that I have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. They'll do my
soul good. If I'm growing careless and cold,
remind me I've been bought with a price, with the precious blood
of Jesus Christ, and I'm not my own. And the hymn writer said,
tell me the old, old story when you have caused the fear that
this world's empty glory is costing me too dear. Warn me, exhort
me, encourage me to get my eyes back upon Christ. And when I'm
ready to depart this life, when my time comes to leave this
world, tell me, Lord, about that one who said, I'll never leave
you. Fear not, I'm with you always,
even until the end of the world. He'll hold to my hand as over
Death's river I go. Moose Parks, Daniel Parks, He
wrote a hymn years ago. I thought about it as I was preparing
this message, so I sent him an email if he could send me a copy
of it. And he did. He wrote this for
our conference, the conference in Danville in 1996. He wrote, we have gathered in
this chapel having come from far and near. We are weary from
our travel, some good news we long to hear. So to him who is
our preacher, we would make this one request. Prove yourself to
be the teacher of the one who'll give us rest. Tell us of the
Christ, Lord Jesus, who has died for God's elect, his blood ransoms
and releases them from sin and its effect. Everyone for whom
he suffered shall be saved and justified, and at last they shall
be ushered into heaven to be his bride." Oh, yes. Tell me
about him. Secondly, why? Whom we preach and why? Well, it's hard to... have not
answered that already to a great degree, because when you speak
of whom, it also answers this. Why would we not preach anything
else? But why do we preach Christ solely,
always, to everyone? Because the captain of our salvation,
this is the marching orders he gave to his church, every one
of us, every one of us, going to all the world. And I like
how one translated it. As you're going through the world,
mom, don't go sell everything you have and run off to Africa
somewhere. No, no, right where you're at. Right where you're
at. As you're going through the world,
preach the gospel to every creature. Stay right here, Christ said,
until I get back. Why do we preach Christ? Because I want those who hear
to know Him. And faith cometh by hearing. Christ said this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou didst send. Salvation is not changing my
theology. changing from free will to free
grace. Salvation is knowing Him. Verse 27 of Colossians 1, it's
Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's the only hope that a sinner
has. Christ in you. Not you in the
church, or you in the water, or you in the right doctrine.
Oh no, Christ in you. If any man be in Christ, Paul
said, he's a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things become new. New in him. In verse 28, Paul
says, perfect. That we might present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus. Without fault. That's what we
read in Revelation 14, without fault before the throne of God. The other morning, yesterday,
I read Mr. Spurgeon's reading for February
1st, yesterday morning, from his morning and evening devotional,
and the verse that headed the article was this. Thou shalt
sing in the ways of the Lord, Psalm 138, verse 5. Mr. Spurgeon
said, when the Lord first pardoned my sins, I was so joyous, I could
scarce refrain from dancing. And you probably all know the
story. A young man didn't get to go to the church he wanted
to go to that morning because there was such a fierce winter
storm, so he ducked down an alley and went into a little primitive
Methodist church that was half a dozen people there. The pastor
couldn't even get out to the service. And a man stood up and
read, Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,
for I am God and there is none else. And he looked down at Spurgeon
and said, Spurgeon said, the fellow told
me I looked miserable. Right from the pulpit, he said,
I knew I looked miserable, but I didn't expect it to be broadcast. But he said, young man, look!
Look unto me and be ye saved! And Spurgeon said, I looked. God took the scales off my eyes,
the blinders, and I looked, and I beheld the Lamb of God. Mr. Spurgeon said, I thought
on the road home from that house that morning where I had been
set at liberty that I must tell the stones in the street the
story of my deliverance. So full was my soul of joy, I
wanted to tell every snowflake that was falling that day from
heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus who had blotted out the
sins of one of the chief of rebels. Me too. Me too. Let me wrap this up. How can I be found in Christ
Jesus? How can I know that Christ, the
only hope of glory, is in me? How can I know that I have Him? How can I know that I was chosen
How can I know that I was one of those that Christ redeemed
on the cross? Believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how you'll know. Everyone
that believeth, John wrote, is born of God. Look unto Christ and be ye saved,
as young Spurgeon did, for I am God. and there is none else. Why must we preach Christ, Lonnie? I look out on this generation
that you and I are in, and I see being fulfilled, especially it
seems in our day, those words of Christ in Matthew 7 when he
said, many shall say unto me in that day, didn't we do thus
and thus and thus? And he said, I never knew you.
I never knew you. depart from me. And I wonder,
will there be any there that hear those awful words depart
from me that I preach to? And if so, oh God, make me preach
Jesus Christ to them and nothing else. When I read in Revelation of
that great white throne that all men are ushered before. And Christ sits upon that throne
and judges everyone in strict justice. And multitudes, multitudes hear
him say, cast him into outer darkness. I think, oh my soul, we've got to preach. We've got
to tell them Christ is all. We sang it a few moments ago.
See our mothers and our fathers and our children sinking down? Oh, have mercy. Christ, have
mercy upon them. All that will matter, and I'll
wrap this up. All that will matter in that
day, when all men stand before God, the only thing that will
determine where I spend eternity, the only reason that I won't
hear, cast him out. Larry Crist, cast him out into
outer darkness. The only reason I won't hear
that, is because I'll be found in Him, Christ, the only hope
of glory and nothing else, absolutely nothing else. Let me read you
a verse or two of this old hymn and then we'll sing a closing
hymn. The hymn writer wrote, Jesus,
thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress,
Misflaming worlds in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, while through thy
blood absolved I am from sin and fear and guilt and shame.
I like this verse. This spotless robe that The same
appear when ruined nature sinks in years. No age can change its
glorious hue. The robe of Christ is ever new. Oh, let the dead now hear thy
voice. Now bid thy banished ones rejoice. Their beauty this, their glorious
dress. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness. Amen. God bless you.