This morning we're going to be
in Galatians chapter one, both hours, if you would like to turn
there, Galatians chapter one. Having established that there
is only one gospel, as we heard last Sunday, Paul continues declaring
the same truth by showing the Galatians or telling the Galatians
that not only is it one gospel, but it's not of man, that it's
of God, it's by God, and it's for his glory. Salvation is of
the Lord. He further cements this unmistakable
truth by pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ, the sum and the
substance of the gospel. The sum and the substance of
the gospel. We must ask ourself, This question, if salvation must
be revealed, who reveals it? Who reveals it? Because you and
I can't reveal it, not by choice, not by works, not by doing or
not doing. The Lord has to be the one to
reveal it. The Lord has to be, the scriptures call it a hidden
mystery. David said the secret of the Lord is with his people.
The Lord reveals his secret. What is his secret? Christ is
all. It's hidden. It's hidden. It's in plain sight. And yet no man can come to the
father except the father which sent me draw him. Salvation is
all of grace. It is all of God. then he must
do all the work. He must do all the work. He must
be the one to reveal it. Well, how does he reveal it?
How does he reveal his truth? Through the preaching of his
gospel. Scripture calls it the foolishness
of preaching. Why does it call it the foolishness
of preaching? Because it's foolish to man. It's foolishness to the
flesh. But to those who believe it's
the power of God unto salvation. Now let's read this Galatians
1 verse 11. And 12, but I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
I mean, that's straight to the point. The gospel that I preach
is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ, titled this message, Not After Man. Not After Man. 1 Timothy 1, 15 and 16 says,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.
How be it for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first, Jesus
Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern. a pattern to them
which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting, a
pattern. What's the pattern that he showed?
Well, everyone doesn't have the same experience as Paul did,
and yet everyone does have the same experience as Paul, meaning
what was revealed is the same. Paul was on the, his name was
Saul at the time, he had letters of conviction, death sentences
for the church. He was going to the church to
give these death sentences out. And on the way, Saul was called
upon by God from heaven. A great light shone, and the
voice spoke to Saul directly. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And the Lord knocked him off of his horse, didn't he?
He was a high horse. That's a figure of speech of
a man being in pride, and he was very prideful in his religion,
very prideful in what he knew, but he didn't know who God was.
The Lord said, why persecutest thou me? And Paul's response,
the Lord changed his name to Paul. Paul's response was, what
would you have me do? What do you want from me, Lord? He called him Lord, he knew who
he was. He knew he was. So Paul saw a
lot better once he was struck blind, didn't he? That's what
the Lord has to do. He has to strike us blind to
ourself, blind to our own righteousness, blind to our own hope in self,
blind to our works to see the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what he did. Three days later, a man by the
name of Ananias, by God's mercy and grace, gave him his sight
back, and Paul was baptized. He was converted. And for three
years, he learned the gospel. He learned the gospel. Notice that verse that we just
read says, it's a pattern to them which might believe into
life everlasting. Just turn over there with me
real quick to 1 Timothy chapter one, I'll show you. First Timothy
chapter one. Look at verse 15. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. How be it for this cause
I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show
forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on him to life everlasting. A pattern. This is not a pattern,
whereas all conversions are exactly like Paul's. You're not going
to hear a voice coming from heaven. You're not going to see a great
light shine. If somebody says that they've seen those things,
no, they haven't. They haven't. The Lord speaks
one way now. He speaks through and by his word, his gospel. This is how he has ordained it
to be. This is how he speaks. This is
the pattern that every child of God, every elect of God, will
have, and that pattern is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's
the pattern. That's the pattern. It's not
a pattern just that of things seen physically at all. It's the things seen spiritually.
It's life given. And we see the Lord Jesus Christ
being revealed of him. See, the Lord can remain a mystery.
The Lord can remain hidden if he so chooses to do so. And if
he does, we'll die in our sin. But if in mercy he chooses to
reveal himself, he always reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. Always. He always reveals the Lord Jesus
Christ in his finished work. And this revelation is unto salvation. According to our text, man cannot
teach this or reveal this. Why? Because it's the work of
God. It's the work of God by grace. Our grace are you saved
through faith in that not of yourself. It is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. This is all the Lord doing. This is his salvation. This is
his gospel. He does it. according to his
own will and purpose. This is how God saves sinners.
The revelation of Jesus Christ. If you see the Lord Jesus Christ,
if the Lord reveals Jesus Christ to you, you're one of his. He
don't do that to everybody. He does not do that to everybody. His appointed time, he comes
to where we are, regardless of our circumstances, regardless
of our mentality, regardless of our thinking, regardless of
our opinion, regardless of our approval, regardless of our anything.
In spite of us and despite of us, he saves us by revealing
the Lord Jesus Christ. Calls us out of darkness into
his light. Calls us out of darkness. Then he gives us faith to believe
it and grace to receive it and gives us mercy to hope in it
for eternity. He does it all, he provides all
of it. This is not of man. This salvation's not of man.
God's salvation is of God. given freely by his grace to
whomsoever he chose in the covenant of grace before time ever began.
It is of God, it is by God, it is after God. He must do the
work. It's not after man. It's not
of man. It's not by man. Man gets no
glory in it. God gets all the glory, all the
glory. He is the cause of salvation.
Before the world was made, a ransom was found. Before time ever began,
the Lord elected a people to redeem those people back to the
Father. The Father elected a people to
be redeemed and the Son agreed to redeem those people that the
Father elected to save them from their sin. Then the Spirit agreed
to regenerate them when the fullness of time came. This is all the
work of God, not the work of man. What does the scripture
say in John? I think I've got this wrote down,
so you may hear this twice, but John chapter one says, which
were born, Lord's people, which were born, not of the will of
the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. It's God's will that
saved his people from their sin. It's God's will that any sin
would be put away at all. If not, we don't have any hope.
We don't have any hope. He is the cause of salvation.
He is the cause. Now this writing, go back to
Galatians with me, Galatians chapter one. Paul is writing this simply to
declare that men have nothing to do with their own salvation.
God is not looking to you to provide to him what Christ provided. He's not looking to you to provide
anything. Somebody said, that you have
to give Jesus your heart. Jesus doesn't want our heart.
Our heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
No, we need a new heart. What did David say? Create in
me a clean heart, oh God. Renew in me a right spirit. See,
my heart's bad. My heart's evil. My heart's wicked.
I need a new heart. I don't need a quadruple bypass. No, I need a, I need a new heart,
a brand new heart, one made of flesh that looks to Christ as
all my righteousness, as all my wisdom, as all my sanctification
and redemption. No, our good works cannot save
us, but here's good news as well. Your sin cannot separate you
from your God if he has saved you. Your sin can't separate
you. Why? Because he took the sin
of his people and he nailed them to his cross, and he satisfied
the demands of God on that cross. He satisfied justice. He satisfied
judgment. He satisfied the law. He put
the sin away. Scripture says he cast it as
far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered again.
Cast it into the depths of the sea, Scripture says. That's the
sea of forgetfulness, isn't it? You're never gonna remember it.
Why? They're gone. They're gone. Scripture says,
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
God that showeth mercy. The Lord did this. This is God's
gospel. This is God's truth, and it's
not of man. It's not by man. And as a matter of fact, if we
put our hand to it, we make it void for ourself. The Lord won't
let us have any part of it, none whatsoever. When he says, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Scripture
said, how should they believe if they have not heard? How should
they hear without a preacher? And how shall he preach without him being
sent? The Lord does all of it. The Lord has to send the preacher.
He has to bless the word. He has to give us ears to hear
and faith to believe. so that he gets all the glory. It's not
complicated. It just makes our flesh upset
because our flesh wants some kind of power, wants some kind
of something to do. We desire something to do. I must do something. No, don't
do anything. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
What your responsibility is in salvation is to rest on the Sabbath. Rest on the Sabbath. Resting
by definition is not working. My definition, this is what the
Lord requires of His people, not to do anything. The Lord's
not looking to your life. The Lord's not looking to what
you do or what you do not do as any part of your salvation.
He's looking to His Son who satisfied God's demands. He's looking to
His Son who put away the sin of His people. He's looking to
His Son who lived a perfect life. His soul was made an offering
for sin unto God and the agony and torment that He endured should
have been ours. Should have been ours. And yet he shed his precious
blood for one purpose, to save his people from their sin, to
honor his father, to honor the covenant of grace. And did he
accomplish what he set out to do? He said on the cross, his
final words were, it is finished. And the veil in the temple was
rent in twain from top to bottom when he gave up the ghost. Now
the scripture says, come. Spirit says come, and the bride
says come. Whosoever will, let him come. Take up the water of
life freely. I've said this to you before, but you'd agree with
this. I'm glad it doesn't say Caleb
Andrew Hickman can come, because there's many Caleb Andrew Hickmans
in the world. It says whosoever, whosoever will. But is it not
true that God has to save us against our will? Yeah, that's
accurate, against the will of the flesh, but he gives us a
new heart and therefore gives us a new will. We want to come
to him. See, his call is irresistible.
You can't turn him down. He gives you the love and the
heart to come to him, the faith to believe. That's the good news
of the gospel. He does it all so that we are
not responsible in any way For anything in salvation, he does
it all. He does it all and gets all the
glory. This is the standard, this is the fact of the matter.
If we are to be saved from self, from sin, and from Satan, God
has to be the doer of it. He has to be. Otherwise we'll
remain dead, we'll remain lost. Scripture says in Acts 4.12,
neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none
other name. Under heaven, given among men,
whereby we must be saved. God's the doer of it. God's the
doer of it. We may be like these Galatians.
Somebody here might be like these Galatians where you try to aid
God. That's what they were doing. They were aiding God in salvation.
Yeah, yeah. Salvation is all of grace, but
you have to be circumcised as well. Now they're aiding God.
Do you see that? Well, the only thing that's doing
is adding to the mountain of sin because they're going back
to the law for part of their righteousness. It's adding to
the mountain of sin that the law has them guilty of. That's
what that does. Anytime you use the law for righteousness,
all it does is condemn you because we are sinners by nature, sinners
by practice, sinners by choice. We need a savior. We don't need
to do a work. We need to know the work is finished.
We don't need something to do. We need to know that it's done.
This is what the Lord's people need. And this is what we find
in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The good news is this. When the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, born of a
woman, born under the law, to redeem his people who were under
the law. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's good news. It's the blood of Jesus. It was
the blood in the Old Testament. We're saying the message is not
of man. It's not of man. It was the blood
in the Old Testament. It's the blood in the New Testament.
And it's the blood today. It'll be the blood forever. That's
how the Lord saved his people. Not my blood. Our blood's tainted,
polluted. The blood of the lamb. The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how the sin was remitted.
God's people will only be saved one way. By the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. When he hung on Calvary's cross doing business
with God, the Father, he was saving his people. The act that
took place there was our salvation. He did it all by himself. What
did he say in Hebrews? We went through the entire book
of Hebrews. Remember what he said in the first chapter, verse
four? He had by himself purged our sins. What did he do? He
sat down. The work's finished. There's
no more work for you to do. No more work. God accepted the offering of
his son. I want to be clear on something. God's offering on the cross of
Calvary was never to man to accept or reject. That was an offering
to the Father. That was an offering to God.
He made his soul an offering for sin, the sin of his people,
and God accepted that offering. How do we know he was resurrected?
Because of our justification. He didn't, now I'm getting ahead
because this is next message too, so bear with me. He didn't
He wasn't resurrected in order for us to be able to be justified,
that we might have a chance to be justified. He was resurrected
because of our justification. We see the wording difference
there. It's a done deal. You've been justified freely
by his grace if you're in Christ. He wasn't resurrected in order
for us to have a chance to be sanctified. No, he was resurrected
because we've been sanctified in Christ Jesus alone. This is
the good news of the gospel. This is why it's not of man.
Every time man puts his hands to the gospel, he ruins it. He
ruins it because he wants to interject himself into it somehow,
some way. Oh, brethren. The good news of
the gospel is that it's not by works which we have done, but
according to His mercy, according to His grace. That's how He saved
us. That's how He called us. That's
how He watched us. And you know, He did that before
we were ever, before the world was ever even made, before the
world was even created. Scripture says in 2 Timothy 1,
9, God saved us and called us, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to
His people. before time ever began, but now it is made manifest
by what? The preaching of the gospel,
that's it. That's it, this is God's gospel,
this is God's salvation, and it is not of man, not by man. God has to be the one that reveals
this. God has to be the one to reveal his son. Scripture tells
us in Isaiah 53 that there was no beauty in him that we should
find. Meaning if you were to look at
the Lord Jesus Christ there would have been nothing appealing to
your flesh looking at him. wouldn't have been attractive.
But he didn't come to appeal to the flesh. The Jews got angry
with him, the religious ones especially, because they thought
if he was, they knew he wasn't, in their mind they knew he wasn't
the Messiah because he didn't set up an earthly kingdom. They
were looking for a king to come like David to rule and reign
on the throne of David. What they didn't realize is he
was talking about a spiritual throne, not a physical throne.
The Lord didn't come to save the flesh. He No, the consequence
for the flesh is death. The Lord came to save the eternal
soul. Therefore, they hated him, because he didn't offer anything
to their flesh. He didn't pat them on the back. He didn't say,
you're doing a good job. He didn't recognize their religion. He
didn't say, well, you did a good job fasting last week. He didn't
brag on them at all. As a matter of fact, he said,
you're of your father, the devil. That's what he told them. You're of
your father, the devil, and his lies will you do. He was a liar
from the beginning, and his lies are in you. That's what he told
them. Why did he tell him that? Because he knew that they were
not one of his sheep. He said, my sheep hear my voice. I know
them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they
shall never perish. The Lord is the one that does
it all. Did you notice what I just said
there? I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
When did he do that? Well, we just heard before the
world was ever created. before the world was ever created.
So am I saying that we were never outside of Christ? Yes. The Lord
has always seen his people as perfectly righteous. I can try
to explain that, but it just blows my mind how that you and
I, if we're in Christ Jesus, this is the glorious part of
the gospel. You and I are in Christ Jesus. We've never committed
one trespass. We've never sinned one time. We've never done any iniquity
whatsoever. It's all gone. That never happened. God sees us as perfectly righteous
in his son because of the cross of Calvary. Look at verse four. We can find
out, it's not of man, but we can find out who it is by. Who
gave himself, Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sin that
he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. That's it, it's according to
his will. According to his will. It's his purpose, it's not after
man. This revelation, is salvation. To see the Lord Jesus Christ
is salvation. To see him as God is salvation. I heard Greg say this, so I'd
preface it because I didn't come up with this, but I believe this
very much so. If you believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ is God and all that entails, you're a believer. If
you believe he's God, Now I don't mean that he's part God, I mean
that he is God. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He was 100% man and 100% God. You wanna explain that one? I
can't, I can't explain that one. That one, my brain can't wrap
around that, but that's the truth. God became a man. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God, and if you believe that, and everything that entails,
everything that that means, you're a believer. To see Jesus Christ
and believe on him as all your righteousness before God is the
miracle of grace God must do, and it's unto salvation. It's
not your choice to make it, God must do it. Thank God, he said
in John 6, 45, they all shall be taught of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ said they all shall be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me.
This is good news if you're a sinner. Not only does he do the work
in salvation, but he does the work in teaching us, he does
the work in calling us, he does the work in keeping us, he does
all the work, and we just get all the benefits. That's the
truth of it, isn't it? We just get all the benefits.
They're in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your sin can no longer separate
you from God. If you are in Christ, your sin
is gone by his finished work. One of the simplest ways to say this is
when the Lord sees the blood was over in Exodus, he said,
I'll pass by you. And we say that often whenever
we take the Lord's table, because it's a good time to bring that
to remembrance. Our hope is not in us, it's in the blood alone.
When God sees the blood, he sees us as worthy. Think about that. He sees his people as worthy.
He sees his people as holy. He sees his people as just and
true. That's the power of the blood. That's what the blood
accomplished. He doesn't see us as wretched
and vile. He doesn't see us as sinners.
He doesn't see us as corrupted. He doesn't see us as false. He
doesn't see us as we see ourself. He sees his son perfect, righteous,
holy, good, just, true. Never told one lie. Never told
one lie. We come out of the womb speaking
lies. What do you mean I never told one lie? He took that sin
and put it on His cross. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
This is good news. If the Lord's made you a sinner,
this is good news. He sees us as worthy, not as
we are. He sees His people perfectly righteous. Here's that verse
I told you you might hear again. It's not of man. They were born
not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man,
but of God. God did the birthing. He did
it all. This leaves salvation truly where
it is, where it belongs. You can't move it anyways, but
this leaves it, we're not putting our hands to it, it leaves it
where it is, in God's hands, in his purpose, in his will,
not mine, his choice. This is the only gospel And this
is the only salvation that truly glorifies God 100%. We don't
get any glory in this, and God's people love it that way. I don't
want any glory, and you don't want any glory either, do you?
I don't wanna be praised. I don't want a choice. I would
always choose the wrong thing. I need God to do the choosing,
God to do the saving, God to do the calling, God to do the
keeping, and thank God he says that's exactly what I'm gonna
do. I have bought you, I have redeemed you, you're mine. I
like the ownership the Lord says of his people, you're mine. I
love being the Lord's, don't you? God's salvation is entirely,
wholly, and completely dependent upon two words, but God, but
God. We can start by saying that we
are wretched, we are vile, we are sinners. That's all we can
do is sin. That's all we are is sin. From
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet, we're covered in
sin. We're lepers. We're dying men. Dying women. But God, who is
rich in mercy. But God, wherein he loved us,
his great love. But God sent forth his son. But God chose Jacob over Esau
before they committed any evil, before they'd done any wrong.
Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated, but God. So that's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but God
that showeth mercy. But God is the key to the gospel. It has to be all of him. It's
not but God and you, or but God and me. It's not but God and
us. It's but God. He's the one that
has to, we're saved by interjection, and God is the one that must
interject. He must be the one that interjects. If he does not provide everything
he requires for my salvation, for the salvation of his people,
we're doomed and we're lost without hope. Without hope. Because it
is not of man, it is by God choosing to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now in closing, let's read this one more time. But I certify
you, brethren, the gospel, verse 11, but I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. That's simple, isn't it? The
gospel he received was by one way, the revelation, of Jesus
Christ and those who are the Lord's people will receive that
same revelation. It won't be the exact same as
Paul's having a voice and seeing the light, but you will see the
Lord Jesus Christ by faith. The Lord will reveal who he is,
what he accomplished, and that salvation is all of the Lord.
My hope is built upon me in any way. I have no hope. If my hope
is built upon me in any way, what I do or what I do not do,
I have no hope. Very clear in scripture. I am
lost and hopeless. But if God in mercy has made
Christ unto me, and if God in mercy makes Christ unto you all
of your wisdom, all of your righteousness, all of your sanctification, all
of your redemption, all of your justification, then that's good
news. That's good news. You're made
to know and believe that salvation is all of grace, all of God,
and not, not after man. Let's pray. Father, we ask that
you would take these words and you would bless them to our understanding
for your glory. In Christ's name, amen. Let's
take a break.