Let's turn back to Galatians
1. A couple of firsts tonight. We have a new coffee. Tracy's and Luke is going to
get us a new coffee. So I think that's neat. And also
we have Delphus and Joy for the first time here as a married
couple. So isn't that neat? In Galatians chapter 1, Paul
said in this 23rd verse, they heard only that he which persecuted
us in times past now preacheth the faith which he once destroyed. I've entitled this message, Preaching
the Faith Which He Once Destroyed. Back up to verse 13, Paul is
giving his testimony. We considered these verses last
week, for you have heard of my conversation in times past in
the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the
church of God and wasted it. And I profited in the Jews' religion
above many mine equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous of the tradition of my fathers. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me that
I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood." When God did to Paul what Paul
expressed in verses 15 and 16, when it pleased him to call him
by his grace, the one who separated him from his mother's womb and
to reveal his son in him. When God did that to Paul, Paul
said, I didn't have to check this out with flesh and blood.
I didn't have to go to any man and say, here's what the Lord
told me. What do you think? No, he did
not go to men at all. He felt no need to have this
verified. validated or affirmed by man. This was a conference he avoided. He had no need for this. I was
thinking, what if after God appeared to Abraham and said, take now
your son, your only son, and offer him up as a burnt offering
to me, what if Abraham would have conferred with Sarah about
this? What if when God gave Noah instructions concerning the ark
and how to construct it. What if he would have checked
this out with some local engineer to see what he thought? No, there
was no need to confer with men. And if the Lord ever appears
to you, if you and I ever really hear from him, we won't need
other men to verify it. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood. Now, I think this is interesting.
Let's go on reading in verse 17. Neither when I went up to
Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me. He didn't
go to the apostles to see, is my experience real? Let me check
it out beside yours. He didn't do that. He felt no
need to go to the apostles about this because the Lord himself
had appeared to him. So what did he do? In verse 17,
but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. Now, Arabia
is the desert. It's where Mount Sinai was. He
tells us that in Galatians chapter 4. Arabia is where Mount Sinai
is, the place of the giving of the law. The Lord put him in
the desert, and that's where he appeared to him and taught
him the gospel. He could have been there as long
as three years, I don't know, but he didn't begin preaching
immediately. After the Lord made himself known
to him, he went into a desert place, and then he went back
to Damascus, and that's where the trouble began. Hold your
finger there and turn to Acts chapter 9. This is his conversion experience.
And after the Lord appeared to him, we read in verse 18, and
immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales. And
he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. And when
he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then, and this
could have been three years between how long he'd been in the desert
in this present time. Then was Saul certain days with
the disciples which were Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ
in the synagogues, that he's the Son of God. But all that
heard him were amazed and said, Is not this he that destroyed
them which called on this name in Jerusalem? And came hither
for that intent that he might bring them bound unto the chief
priests? But Saul increased the Moor in strength and confounded
the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
He hadn't come to Jerusalem yet. And after that many days were
fulfilled, him preaching like this, the Jews took counsel to
kill him. They said, We're not having any
more of this. And there laying awake was known of Saul, and
they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples
took him by night, and led him down by the wall in a basket.
And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, this was three years after his
conversion, he assayed to join himself to the disciples, but
they were afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared
unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he
had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus
in the name of Jesus. Now back to Galatians chapter
one. after his preaching in Damascus,
verse 18, then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see
Peter and abode with him 15 days. No doubt he talked to Peter about
all that the Lord had taught him and he listened to all the
things Peter had to say during this period. Verse 19, but other
of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. Now
the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie
not. I'm not telling a lie. I'm telling you the truth. Now
why did he interject that? Well, the false apostles were
telling all kinds of things about their experience with Christ,
and all the things that they had learned, and all the things
that Christ had taught them. And he was saying, they're lying.
They're not telling the truth. But I'm telling the truth. I'm
not lying. He says in verse 21, afterwards, I came into the regions
of Syria and Cilicia, places of his missionary journeys, and
I was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea, which were
in Christ. That's the church of Jerusalem. They didn't know
me by face, but they'd heard only. that he which persecuted
us in times past now preacheth the faith which he once destroyed,
and they glorified God in me. They saw this was nothing less
than the supernatural work of God, and they glorified God in
what they saw in me." Now, I want to call your particular attention
to this phrase in verse 23. But they had heard only that
he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith,
the faith which he once destroyed. The definite article, the faith. In Galatians 3, twice, he calls
this the hearing of faith. It's what you hear when you believe
the gospel, the hearing of faith. Now, what is it you hear when
you hear the gospel? And remember this, the gospel
is good news. If I don't hear it as good news,
I haven't heard the gospel. It's only when I hear it as good
news that it's gospel to me. What is the hearing of faith?
What is it that you hear when you hear the gospel? Now the
scripture that came to my mind is this. Matthew chapter 1 verse
21 the very opening chapter of the New Testament. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Is that gospel? It sure is. That's good news indeed. He shall
save his people from their sins. Now beloved, here's exactly what
I need to be saved from. My sins. Now God is holy. God hates sin. And do you know that God actually
puts men and women into hell because of their sins? That's
a reality. That's the truth. Fear not him
that kills the body, and after that, that's all he can do, but
rather fear him who, after he hath killed the body, hath power
to cast body and soul into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. Now, I need to be saved, first
of all, from the condemnation of my sin. I can't bear the penalty
of my sin. I can't do it. I need to be saved
from the penalty of my sin. God's just. God's holy. If He
sends me to hell, He's holy and just and right in doing it because
He's God. But I want to be saved from the
penalty of my sin. I don't want to be condemned.
I don't want to be punished for my sin. Christ took my punishment
for me. That's the gospel, isn't it?
Christ took my punishment for me. My sin became his sin and
he was punished for me. I need to be saved from the power
of my sin because I find that sin has such power in me to this
extent. For one thing, I can't not sin. Now somebody might look at my
life and say, well, you seem like you have a pretty good life.
Well, I believe I do as far as compared to other men, but you
don't see what I am. And thank God I don't see what
you are. But I know this, I have no power
before this thing of sin. Sin has dominion in this sense,
I cannot believe the gospel unless he gives me grace to. I cannot
repent. unless He gives me the grace
to. I can't love unless He gives me the grace to. I need to be
saved from the power of my sin. I need to be enabled to do what
I cannot do in and of myself. I need to be saved from the power
of sin. And that's precisely what Christ does when He gives
you a new heart. He gives you a new heart that
does believe. Now the old heart's still there, I realize that.
The old sinful nature is still there, but you're given a new
heart that does believe, that does repent, that does love,
that does persevere in the faith. And beloved, I need to be safe
from the commission of sin. You know, my salvation doesn't
mean anything if it leaves me a sinner. Now, I'm still a sinner,
but bless God, one of these days I won't be. I'll be safe from
the very presence of sin where I will not sin anymore. Now, that is the gospel. Justification, God saving me
from the penalty of sin, making me to arrive just before his
holy law. Sanctification, God giving me a new nature and delivering
me from the power of sin. And oh how we look forward to
that time while I be saved from the very presence of sin and
glorification. I won't be a sinner anymore.
Now faith is relying on Christ for that. What I just described,
salvation from sin, I am right now presently relying upon Jesus
Christ the Lord for all that. I'm looking to Him for all of
that. I'm looking to Him for salvation
from the penalty of sin. He bore it for me. I'm looking
to Him for salvation from the power of sin. He gives me a spirit. It comes from Him. He gives it
to me because He died for me and gives me a new heart to believe.
And oh, how I'm looking forward to being saved from the very
presence of sin. And I'm relying wholly, 100%,
on the Lord Jesus Christ for that. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, here's
my faith. I've got to hope that when I
stand before God in judgment, I'm going to be without sin.
Well, what's the evidence? You don't look like it. I don't
need to look like it. I believe. I believe. That's the evidence that God's
done something for me. I believe the Gospel. You know
what the evidence of faith is? Faith. It really is that simple. The evidence of faith is faith.
Believing the Gospel. The faith. Now we have the faith spoken
of a lot in the scriptures. Paul at one time sought to stand
that stamp out the faith but now he preached the faith which
he wants destroyed. Now before I get into the last
verse of scripture I want to look at considering what is the
faith. I want to give you a bunch of scriptures. I'm not going
to comment much upon that mention the faith the definite article
the faith. We read in Titus 1-4 of the common
faith. The common faith. Do you know
all believers believe the same thing? They have faith in common. They don't believe differently.
They believe the same thing. I remember hearing somebody sing
a song, it's one of these modern religious songs, and the guy
said, we all believe but not the same thing. That's foolishness.
If we believe, we believe the same thing. It's the common faith,
the faith that all of God's people have. It's what Karl Paul the
mutual faith. They all believe what Abraham
did. We read in Romans 4.11 of the faith Abraham had being not
yet circumcised. Well, what was that faith? He
simply believed God. God appeared to him. Abraham,
can you count the stars? No, I can't. So shall your seed
be. He believed what God said. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. We read in Ephesians 4.13 of
the unity of the faith. You know, there's true unity
with the people of God. It's not something you've got to muster
up. It's really there because they believe the same thing because
Ephesians 4.4 says there's one faith. One faith. Now what that tells
me is if I believe If I really believe, if I really have faith
in God, and you really believe and have faith in God, we have
the same faith. We believe the same thing. There's
not different beliefs and different views. No, not in the kingdom
of heaven. There's one faith. We all believe the same thing.
We all believe the Bible. We all believe Scriptures alone.
Can you be saved and not believe the Bible? No. No. This is the
very truth of God. And we don't look to men's creeds
and churches and denominations and theology books for what we
believe. We believe the Bible. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. We look to Christ alone. We don't
look to Christ and anything else. We look to Christ alone as everything
in our salvation. We really do believe that salvation
is by grace alone. We really believe that. Every
believer believes that. We believe in faith alone. We
look only to Christ. Colossians chapter 2 verse 7
speaks of being established in the faith, made firm and secure,
fixed and set, not being so easily moved. The wise man said, metal
not within that are given to change. If your position is always
changing, you've never been on the rock. He says, be established
in the faith, settled to where you're not so easily moved. First Corinthians 16, 13 says,
stand fast in the faith, quick like men and be strong, hold
your position. Same thing, don't be moved. I
suppose another way to say this is abide in Christ. That's the
same thing as standing in Christ, abide in Christ. Don't be moved. Don't leave. Then we read in
Colossians 1.23, says, if you continue in the faith, if you
continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved
from the hope of the gospel. As a matter of fact, hold your
finger there in Galatians 1 and turn with me over there for a moment.
Colossians chapter 1. Verse 23. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope,
you know, Paul said in Ephesians 4, there's one hope, the hope
of the gospel. Now what is the hope of the gospel?
Well, he tells us in this passage of Scripture. Look in verse 20.
And having made peace through the blood of His cross. Somebody says, have you made
your peace with God? No, I haven't, but Jesus Christ has made my
peace with God. That's my hope, that He made
my peace with God. having made peace through the
blood of His cross by Him, to reconcile all things to Himself,
by Him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body
of His flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight, if you continue in the faith
grounded and settled. Now here's my hope, that when Christ died, He made it to where I myself,
in the very sight of God, am holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Now, what am I to do? I continue
in the faith, believing that, grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel. In 1 Timothy 4.7,
Paul said, I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. In Philippians 1.27, Paul said
to the Philippian believers, Stand fast in one spirit with
one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. This is something we strive together
in. This is where our unity is. Jude said, earnestly contend
for the faith once delivered to the saints. Well, what is
the faith that was once delivered to the saints? It's only delivered
once. It's a final revelation. There's no additions or modifications
to it. What is it? Well, Paul tells
us in 1 Corinthians 15, I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received. How that? Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. That's the gospel. It's not just
that he died. It's not just that he died for
our sins. If I say Christ died for our sins, I didn't preach
the gospel. It's how that Christ died for our sins according to
the Old Testament scriptures. You have the whole Old Testament
see what that means. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. We're to earnestly contend for
that faith that was once delivered. We read in 1 Timothy 3.9 of great
boldness in the faith. We read in 1 Timothy 4.1 of some
departing from the faith. Boy, that's a scary one, isn't
it? departing from the faith, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron. We read in 1 Timothy 5.8, if
any man provide not for his own specially, they of his own household,
he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. We read
in 1 Timothy 6.10, of the love of money being the root of all
evil, which some have coveted after and have erred from the
faith. pierce themselves through with
many sorrows. We read in 2nd Timothy 3 18 of
those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof From
such turn away, for of this sort are they which creep into houses
and leave captive silly women, laden with sins, led by diverse
lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. These men are men of corrupt
minds, reprobate concerning the faith." Now, whatever the faith
is, I'm going to get to that last scripture in just a moment.
I know I'm popping them out like a machine gun, and I hope they
take root. But whatever the faith is, it
has something to do with the actual faith of Jesus Christ. His personal faith. Listen to
this scripture, Galatians 2.16. Knowing the man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ. Not by faith in Christ, but by
the faith of Christ. Paul said in Galatians 2.20,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. That's the faith I live off of.
If I had to live off my faith, I'd be in trouble. You would
too. Somebody had to believe God perfectly,
and he did. Paul said in Philippians 3, 9,
O that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. The faith has something to do
with the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what I'd like you
to do is turn to the book of Titus. What is the faith? Now, the faith,
the definite article is not a faith, it's the faith. It's the only
faith there is. That's very important. And look
in Titus chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to The faith of God's
elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. Now whatever the faith is, it's
the faith of God's elect. It's the ones God chose before
time began, and they all share the same faith, the faith of
God's elect. And he calls it the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness. Now that means it
produces godliness, and it's caused by godliness. If you have
faith, it's because you have godliness. God's done something
for you. And what faith does is it leads
to godliness. Now, think of what he says. This
is so important. Whatever faith is, the faith
of God's elect, he uses this word. It's the acknowledging
of the truth. Now, that's what the faith of
God's elect is. That's what the faith is. It's the acknowledging
of the truth. Now, this word acknowledging,
it's a very special word. It means more than just giving
a scent. You can give a scent to the truth.
Well, yeah, I see the Bible says that. I can't disagree with it.
That's not faith. It has nothing to do with what
faith really is. It's the acknowledging of the
truth. That means it's the perception of the truth. It's the recognition
of the truth. It's participation in the truth. Now, what do I mean by that? It's the recognition of the truth. When you recognize something,
what's that mean? Well, you already knew it. And
when you recognize it, you say, yeah, that's it. That's it. You recognize the truth when
you hear it. If you're a believer, you recognize
it. Yep. When you say amen audibly or
under your breath or in your heart, when you hear the truth,
you know it's the truth. The scripture speaks of doing
the truth. When you hear the truth, you know it's the truth. If you don't know it's the truth,
it's not the truth. If you have the Spirit of God
in you, Now, it takes someone who knows the truth to recognize
the truth, doesn't it? It takes someone who knows the
truth to perceive the truth. If you have the Spirit of God
in you, if you have this new heart, when you hear the truth,
you hear what you already believed and you acknowledge it. I like this. It has something
to do with a participation. the truth. Now what do I mean
by that? A participation in the truth. It's not just an assent. There's an actual participation
with the truth going on. What all does that mean? Well,
when I, or any preacher, stands up and declares that men, by
nature, choice, and practice, are dead in sins, And the Bible
says that, Ephesians 2.1, and you hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. You participate in that. You
say, yeah, that's me. Bingo. I understand that. There's a participation in that. You know that's the truth regarding
you. You don't believe it's the truth
simply because you read it there. Yeah, it says that. But you know
that that's the truth regarding you. You know, without anybody
having to convince you, that you are evil and in need of a
savior to save you from your sins. You see, there's a participation
in the truth. When you hear that God, before
time began, chose who would be saved, you know the only way
that you could be saved is if He chooses you to be saved. If
it's left up to you, you won't be saved, and you know that.
When you hear that Christ accomplished redemption for His people on
Calvary's tree, you say, that's the only way I can be saved.
The only way I can be saved is for Him to pay all my debt to
where it's no more. And if I can be damned even though
He paid for my sins, I will be damned. The only way I can be
saved is for Christ to accomplish my salvation. You see, there's
a participation in the truth. You understand when you hear
of God's grace being invincible and irresistible, you know that's
the only kind of grace that'll do me any good. When you hear
of God's people persevering by being preserved, that's the only
way I'll persevere is if He preserves me. You see, there's a participation
in the truth. It's not just a bunch of doctrines to you that you
give assent to. This is life. This is words of
life that when you hear it, you know it's so. You know when I
hear the truth, I know it. And when I don't hear the truth,
I know it too. I know when it's not the truth. There's a faith,
the faith of God's elect, the faith that all that God's elect
possess is the acknowledging, the recognition, the perception,
the participation in the truth. Now, the truth of what? Everything this book says. Now,
this book claims to be the Word of God. It is the Word of God. It is. And everything we have, everything
we believe, this acknowledging of the truth, comes from this
book. We don't come up with new experiences
to talk about. No. Our experience What we believe
is found in the pages of this book. This is the holy word of
God that reveals to us everything we believe. How much of the Bible
you got to believe to be saved? Every bit of it. Every bit of
it. There isn't anything in the Bible
you could not believe. If you don't believe what the
Bible says, you're an unbeliever. What do believers do? They believe.
They believe the scriptures. That is the ground. Everything
we believe, if I don't have a scripture for it, it's not valid. It's
not valid. Every believer believes that,
and we believe. This is so simple. We believe,
we acknowledge what the Bible says about God, His character,
His attributes, everything about Him, His immensity, His eternity,
His sovereignty, His immutability, His holiness, His justice, His
omnipotence, whatever attribute the Bible declares regarding
the living God, we believe it. Now, there are some things you
can know about God without the Bible. You can know he's mighty
powerful. He created the universe. The
heavens declare his glory in that sense but you can't tell
whether or not he'll forgive sin by looking at nature. You
can't tell how he can be just and justify the ungodly by simply
looking at the world. The only way we can find the
answers to these questions is found in the Word of God. And
we believe all that the Bible says about the character of the
living God. And we believe what the Bible
says about the character of us. When the Lord said to his disciples,
if you then being evil, and the Lord said that to his disciples,
he didn't say this to unbelievers. He said this to his disciples,
if you then being evil, Know how to give good gifts to your
children. How much more shall your heavenly father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Now when he says, if you
then being evil, do you do it? Do you? Yeah. That's me. That's me. What's a sinner? A sinner is
someone who all he does is sin. A sinner is someone who cannot
not sin, no matter what he's doing. A sinner is someone who
doesn't have his right to look down his nose in judgment on
anybody. A sinner is someone who has no
claims on God. If he sends me to hell, just
and holy is his name. And the only way a sinner can
be saved is by the free grace of God. We believe what the Bible
says regarding the character of God. We believe what the Bible
says about our own personal character. And bless God, we believe what
the Bible says about salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. If
I'm saved, it's because He saved me. And He did it all. Salvation by the Father in eternal
election when He chose as an act of His own free and sovereign
will who would be saved before time began. Salvation by the
Son when on Calvary's tree He put away the sins of everybody
He died for. He kept the law for them in His
life. He put away their sins in His death. Salvation's of
God the Holy Spirit in the new birth when he gives life a new
heart. Salvation is of the Lord. We
believe that's the faith. We believe that. That's the acknowledgment
of what the Bible declares regarding the truth. And then in Acts chapter
24 verse 24 Paul talked about the faith in Christ. like this,
the faith in Christ. Now this is the faith of God's
elect, the acknowledgement of the truth which is after godliness,
the faith in Christ. He reasoned of the faith in Christ. What do I want to say about that?
What do you believe? We believe Him. What's your doctrine? Him. He's the embodiment of it all. He's the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. What do you
believe? We believe Him. Everything we
believe is predicated on who we believe. We believe Him. He spoke of the faith in Christ. And that's what faith is. It's
faith in Christ. It's not faith in yourself. It's
not faith in your experience. It's not faith in your intentions.
It's not faith in your understanding. It's not faith in your doctrinal
acumen. It's not faith in anything you
do. It's faith in Christ. Now Paul preached the faith. which he once destroyed. Oh,
there was a time when he hated Christ, but now something happened. He loves what he used to hate,
and he now hates what he used to love. He preached the faith
in Christ, and the scripture says they glorified God in him. You see, a believer's not going
to glorify a man. When a believer sees someone preaching the faith
in Christ, you know what they know? They know this is God's
work. This is His supernatural, glorious work, and they glorified
God in Him. Let's pray.