Would you turn to Galatians 1? We're going to read the first five verses
of Galatians 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. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are. Lord, we so by your grace Admire
your character. All your glorious attributes.
Lord, we stand amazed that. Your son gave himself. For our
sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world.
Lord, would you be pleased to speak in power from your word
to our hearts? Enable us to worship thy dear
son. Lord, those that are going through
sickness of body, sickness of mind, we pray for your blessing
upon them. Lord, we ask that our sins might
be forgiven for Christ's sake, that they might be blotted out
by what he did on Calvary Street. Lord, we pray for your blessing
on all your people wherever they meet together. Bless us for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Happy
Mother's Day. Now, Paul almost begins this
with a little bit of a tone of self-defense, or it appears that
way when he says, Paul, an apostle, not of men. Man didn't make me
an apostle, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father
who raised him from the dead. Now Paul is saying to the Galatians,
I was not appointed an apostle by any group of men. I wasn't
voted into office. I was not appointed by any human
authority. I was appointed to this office
by Jesus Christ himself and God, the father that raised him from
the dead. Now, why is he beginning this
way? We've all been around people
who are trying to convince us of how important they are and
how significant they are, and Paul's not doing that. Why is
he doing this? Well, before I answer that question,
first, what is an apostle? Paul, an apostle. Not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ. What is an apostle? An apostle was one who was appointed
so directly by the Lord Jesus Christ. They were taught directly
by the Lord Jesus Christ. We've all been taught by men.
An apostle was not taught by human instrumentality. Christ
himself appeared to them and taught them the gospel. To be
an apostle, you had to see Christ in the flesh, You had to be commissioned
by him and taught by him directly. Do you remember when the Lord
appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus? It's recorded in
Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 22, and Acts chapter 26. It's
repeated these three times. Why is it repeated? I think Luke
knew that people were always questioning Paul, so he's bringing
out how Paul was appointed by Christ himself to be this apostle. There are only 12 apostles. This
is very important. We read of the 12 apostles of
the Lamb. I've heard people call themselves
apostles today. That's foolishness. There were
only 12 apostles. And if somebody thinks about
what about Matthias there in Acts chapter one? Let me read
that to you. I've got it. And they appointed two, Peter
and the rest of the apostles. They were going to get somebody
to take Judas's place. And they appointed to Joseph
called Barsabbas, and whose surname was Justice and Matthias. And
they prayed and said, thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all
men, show whether of these two thou has chosen. Neither. Neither. I think it's interesting that
the very first act of the apostle is wrong. Neither. The Lord had chosen the apostle
Paul. He said, he's a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name. And he took the place of Judas.
as the apostle. Now, why was Paul trying to present
himself as one who the Lord commissioned to this? Well, look in verse
11. He said, I certify you, brethren,
I assure you, I make known this to you, that the gospel which
was preached to me is not after man. It's not derived from any
human source. It came from God himself. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it. No man gave this to me. No man
taught this to me. I was taught directly by the
revelation of Jesus Christ. Now that gives the importance
of his apostleship and there were men calling that into question. He had men, look in verse six,
I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called
you to the grace of Christ and to another gospel, which is not
another, but there'd be some that trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. There were people who were undermining
what Paul said to bring in another gospel. Now Paul realized that
he himself was nothing, even as an apostle. Turn back a page
to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 11. He says to the church at Corinth,
I've become a fool in glory. I've been trying to show you
that I'm called to be an apostle and I've become a fool in glory
and you've compelled me for I ought to have been commended of you.
You know, I think that's amazing, Paul always having to defend
himself to these people. God put him in this office and
yet he says, I should have been commended by you and yet you're
always calling me into question. And then he says, for nothing
am I behind the very chiefest apostles. What's he say next
though? The lobby, what? Nothing. Paul understood that he was nothing
and that God put him into this office to declare the gospel. Jesus Christ himself made me
this apostle. Paul, verse one, an apostle,
not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the
Father who raised him from the dead. Now the heart and soul
of the gospel is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Do you know that if Christ was
not raised from the dead, all the claims he made concerning
himself are wrong? They're not true. But because
he was raised from the dead, Everything he said about himself
was true. And all of our hope of salvation
is in his resurrection. If he just came and lived, it
wouldn't do us any good. If he came and kept the law perfectly
and went back to heaven, it wouldn't do us any good. But he died. And he was raised from the dead. This is why he came in the first
place, to die. I love it on the man of transfiguration
when Moses and Elijah appear to him. And think of all the
things they could have talked about. What was the subject they
were talking about? Luke 9.31 tells us, they spake
the Lord Jesus Christ, Moses, and Elijah. You think of the
relationship every believer has with Jesus Christ, the living
God. These men had this personal relationship with him and what
were they speaking of? They spake of the decease which
he should accomplish at Jerusalem. I love to think about this. They
were talking about, you're going to go die on the cross, and I'm
sure that they were saying it even then, trembling, thinking
of what he was going to go through, but knowing what he was going
to accomplish by that death. He accomplished the complete
glory of God, the glorification of all the divine attributes.
He accomplished the complete salvation of his people. And
that's what they were talking about. Isn't that glorious? They
were talking about the deceased, which he should accomplish. And
I'm sure included in that was his resurrection that was going
to prove that. But what a, what a conversation that was going
on at that time. And when Paul speaks of Christ
and God, his father, he speaks of God who raised him from the
dead. Romans 4.25, he was delivered
for our offenses. I wish I could properly describe
how evil my sin is, but I don't know. I really don't know. But I know this, the Son of God
had to die. That's the only way my sin could
be put away. The sins that you've committed, if you're in him,
the only way they could be forgiven is for Jesus Christ to put them
away by his death. The Son of God actually died.
The only reason for death is sin. My sin became his sin. He became guilty of the commission
of that sin, though he never sinned in himself. God wouldn't
kill somebody who was not guilty. God killed his son because he
was guilty of the commission of my sin. Now somebody says,
how can that be? I don't know, but it is. It is. This is part of the great mystery
of the gospel. Second Corinthians 521, for he,
God the Father, hath made him the son of God to be sin. I don't even know what all that
means. But I know the only hope I have of being saved is because
this is so. He made him to be sin. That's more horrible than
I can even imagine. He made him the holy spotless
lamb of God who knew no sin. He made him to be sin to where
he experienced everything about sin but the commission of it.
He experienced the guilt, the humiliation, the embarrassment,
the shame. He experienced the separation
it causes because he was completely separated from his father. He
experienced all of that on Calvary Street. And what did he accomplish by
that? that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now that is every believer, the
very righteousness of God in him. He was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. That's why
the father raised him from the dead. Now, because of his resurrection,
Because of his resurrection, and this is the whole gospel,
because of his resurrection, if God be for us, who can be
against us? Nobody. You can't be against
yourself. You can't mess this up. Isn't
that a wonderful thing to think about? You can't mess it up.
If God be for you, who can be against you? He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall I not
with him also freely give us all things? There's nothing that
can prevent him. You can't mess it up, I can't
mess it up. Again, there's nothing that can prevent him from freely,
without a cause in you, giving us all things. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Do you realize that because
of the death, burial, the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection
of Christ, nothing can be laid to your charge? You have no guilt. You have no sin. Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God. Now that is the result of his
resurrection. So when Paul's opening this epistle,
Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus
Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Verse two. and all the brethren
that are with me unto the churches of Galatia." Now, while he didn't
need the affirmation of any man, he still mentioned all the brethren
that are with me, that are in complete agreement with what
I'm saying. And he's speaking to the churches
at Galatia. Now, we saw last week that these
churches were all founded through the preaching of the Apostle
Paul. The church at Antioch, the church at Lystra, there were
four or five churches in Galatia that he had founded on his first
missionary journey. And these people heard the gospel
from him. There in Antioch, he was there
18 months preaching the gospel to them. Verse three, grace be to you. and peace from God the Father
and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I pointed out last week
that this church is never commended by Paul. He says, I stand in
doubt of you. Tell me you that desire to be
under the law. Don't you hear what it says? Did that keep him
from wishing the greatest wish there could be to anybody? It
didn't. Grace be to you and peace. from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, other than the name of Christ,
there is no word that's greater than grace. Grace be unto you
and the result of grace, peace. Now, grace, this is a word that
Everybody's used it one time or the other. Even an unbeliever
will use this word for different descriptions of things. Grace,
grace, and grace. We use the word and we use the
word unmerited favor and it is unmerited in the sense that I
didn't do anything to deserve it. It's totally unmerited favor. It's just like We use the term
unconditional election. What's that mean? Well, there's
no conditions I had to first meet in order for God to elect
me. He did it freely by his grace, but elections are highly conditional.
You've got to be in Christ. Grace is utterly merited favor. Because Christ merits God's favor. And if you're in Christ, you
merit God's favor. One of the things I love about
this word, this word is so glorious, the grace of God, that the only
way you can describe it is by using every attribute of God
to describe it. Is God eternal? It's eternal
grace. It never had a beginning. Is
God sovereign? Absolutely. It's sovereign grace. He gives
it to whom he will. It is just grace. God gives it in a way that magnifies
his justice and his righteousness. It's the grace of his love. It
begins with his eternal love in Christ Jesus. It's independent
grace. You do not have to do anything
in order to make it work for you. It doesn't need anything
from you. It is immutable grace. It cannot
change. It's the grace of God. Only this
grace we're speaking of, the grace of God brings peace. If there's something I had to
do, Before God could give it to me, I would have no peace. But the peace I have is because
God's grace is saving grace. The grace of God. Grace unto
you, he says to the churches of Galatia. And peace from God
our Father and our Lord Jesus. Christ, how we love His name,
our Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He created the universe. He's
the Lord of providence. That means everything that happens,
He's in control of, and causes. He's the cause of causes. He's
the first cause. And most especially, He's the
Lord of salvation. If you're saved, it's because
He saved you. He willed your salvation. He saved you, and
He's my Lord. He's my Lord, our Lord Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Christ, God's
prophet, the word of God, God's priest, the one who brings me
to God, God's King, the one who causes me to do his will. Don't
you love his name? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look in verse four. Now here
is why we have peace, verse four, who gave, what? Himself. He gave himself. Love so amazing, so divine. Demands my soul, my life, my
all. He gave himself. What more could he give? His
father gave him. I think of that passage of scripture.
I've already quoted it once. He that spared not his own son,
but delivering him up for us all. He gave himself. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
my sake, put your name in there if you're a believer. Your name
was on his heart at that time. This was no generic death. Your
name was in his heart at that time. He gave himself. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became
poor. The poverty of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He no longer had his father's
presence. He no longer had his father's
favor. He was forsaken by his father.
He became poor that you through his poverty might be rich. Rich in the favor of God, rich
in the grace of God. Matthew 121. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus. He gave himself for our sins.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. Beloved, what I need to be saved
from is from my sins. My sins. David said my sin is
ever before me. My sin's ever before me too.
Thank God it's not before him because of what Christ did, but
it's ever before me and I need to be saved from my sins. And
that's precisely what he did when he said it is finished.
I've been saved from the condemnation of sin. I'll never have to give
an account for it. I've been saved from the power
of sin. Now what does that mean? Save from the dominion of sin.
There was a time when I could not believe I can now. There
was a time when I didn't know what it meant to repent. I'm
in a continual state of repentance now. I've been saved from the
power of sin. It doesn't have dominion over
me the way it did because he's given me a new nature, a nature
that loves God, a nature that believes. And one of these days,
it hasn't happened yet, but one of these days I'm going to be
saved from the very presence of sin. I'm not going to be a
sinner anymore. You know, I was thinking last
night, I don't know what was, I don't even know what precipitated
this, but I was thinking, I'm 65 years old, I don't have much
time left. Maybe 10 years, still not, it's
mostly over for me. Maybe 15 years, maybe tomorrow,
I don't know. But I thought, when I close my
eyes in death, I will be without sin." I can't even grasp that. I really
can't. I can't even grasp it. But that's
why I call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. Verse four, 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. That he might deliver us from
this present evil world. Now, what's that talking about?
Is that talking about this planet? The beautiful grass, the beautiful
day we have? Of course, it's not talking about
that. I know that this creation is subject to vanity because
of the fault because of sin, but he's not talking about this
planet. It's the world the Lord refused
to pray for. I pray for them. Speaking of
his elect, I pray not for the world. And that's a powerful
statement, isn't it? I'm not praying for the world,
but for them, which thou has given me. For they are thine."
This present evil world is what John spoke of when he said, love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world for all
that's of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, the cravings
of sinful fallen human nature, the desire for sin. That's caused
by being dead in sins. I love to think of the fact that
before the fall, they were naked and were not ashamed. It was
not an issue with them. But after the fall, what'd they
do? They tried to hide their nakedness. Why? Because they
now have an evil, sinful nature. That's where all these cravings
for sin come from. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes. The lust of the eyes, all their works they do to be
seen of men. Doesn't that represent the lust
of the eyes, wanting to please men, wanting men to think well
of us? Like those fellows who were they
love the praise of men more than the praise of God the lust of
the eyes the pride of life self-righteousness He came to save us from this
present evil world He gave himself that he might deliver us from
this present evil world that he's going to judge now I think
of Demas. Paul said, Demas hath forsaken
me, having loved this present world. Now, I would be amiss
if I said that we no longer have the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, or the pride of life, because as long as you
have a sinful nature, you'll have all these things. But we,
the new man, desires complete deliverance, don't we? I don't
want to know anything, and one of these days I won't. I don't
know anything about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life. And I hate it. I hate it. So does every other believer.
And thank God, here's the reason I'm going to be delivered from
this present evil world, who gave himself for our sins, that
he might deliver us from this present evil world. It's present, isn't it? It's
present right now. We're aware of it in here. We're
aware of it. It's present. There's a reason
he said that. And every believer knows exactly
what I'm talking about. It's present, isn't it? This
present evil world and our great desire is deliverance from this
present evil world. And look how this happens. And
this is what I entitled this lesson, according to the will
of God. Now, that's why it's going to
happen. It's according to the will of God. You know how I'm going to be
delivered from this present evil world? And it's a sure thing
because it's according to the will of God, God's sovereign
will. It's going to happen because
God willed for it to happen. Now, I love Daniel 4, 34 and
35, where it says, with regard to the living God, he doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, What doest thou? Give an account for yourself.
He gives no account of his matters. He is God, and the reason I'm
going to be saved from this present evil world and saved from my
sins is because it's God's will for it to take place, and His
will cannot be thwarted. Our salvation is dependent upon
the will of God. You know, I love the story of
the leper. He understood this issue when
he said, Lord, if you will. Do you understand that? Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. My being made clean is all according
to your will. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. And anyone who's ever said that
and desired that has had this answer. I will. Be thou clean. According to the will of God,
verse five, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.