Today I would like you to turn
in your Bible to the book of Galatians, the book of Galatians
chapter 1, beginning with verse 1. I'll be speaking from verses
4 and 5 this morning, but let's read from Galatians chapter 1,
verses 1 down through verse 8. 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 for ever and ever. Amen. I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel." Now he says in verse 7, which
is not another. There's just one gospel, my friend.
Continue reading with verse 7, but there's some that would trouble
you and would pervert or change or twist the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, then that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed." In verses 3, 4,
and 5, the apostle gives a description of the gospel, of the true gospel,
and the only gospel, of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said it's a
gospel of grace and peace. It's a gospel concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, how he gave himself for the sins of his people. Now serious problems had crept
in among many of the churches in Galatia. Paul had preached
to them plainly and boldly the truth of salvation in Christ
alone, by grace alone, received by faith alone. That's how salvation
is received. Not by doing, but by believing. And it's believing is a gift
of God. Faith is something God works in us. Faith is a gift
of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. But false teachers had been encouraged by Paul's imprisonment. Paul is in prison now in Rome,
writing this letter back to these believers. False teachers had
been encouraged by Paul's imprisonment, and sought to slander his character,
saying that he was not an apostle of Christ. And they also sought
to ridicule and ruin his message of grace, saying that salvation
was partly by observance of the law, and partly by faith in Christ. Now it is recorded what they
said over in Acts chapter 15, verse 1. Here's what they were
saying. Here's what the false preachers
of that day were saying. They said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. Paul in Romans
chapter 10 says of these men, they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. My friend, men are doing the
same thing in our day. Rather than preaching Christ
alone, faith alone, and salvation by grace alone, They are pointing
people to various things to do or to say or to abstain from
in order to earn salvation, in order to receive salvation. You
listen to Paul's instructions in chapter 3 of Galatians. You
listen carefully. He said, This only would I learn
of you, receive you the Spirit by the works of the law, or by
the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh, perfect
by the law? Paul says you started out by
the Spirit of God, but now you've turned away from grace, and you're
looking to works, looking to the law. Many in our day and
many preachers in our day are doing the same thing, turning
people away from Christ alone and pointing them to some other
things. Now, the Apostle writes to them in great love and concern
for their soul's welfare, plainly warning them not to stray from
the true message of salvation by Christ. He says over in chapter
5, turn over there if you would, chapter 5, notice this warning
he gives, he says, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing, nothing
at all. If you look to the law, or look
to your works, Christ shall profit you absolutely nothing." Nothing
at all. He says in chapter 2, verse 16
of Galatians, chapter 2, verse 16, he says, "...knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified." In chapter 2 of Galatians verse 21, Paul
says, I don't frustrate the grace of God, distort it or confuse
this grace of God and salvation by the grace of God. If righteousness
comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. You see, he's
warning these people to stay with Christ alone and grace alone. Now let me ask you a vital question. Is salvation, and I mean by that
peace and pardon, Reconciliation with God. Redemption before God.
Righteousness. Is it dependent in any way upon
what you do? Or what you have done? Or what
you will do? Or is salvation totally dependent
and accomplished by another? Jesus Christ. Now, which is it?
Is salvation totally dependent upon you? Or is salvation totally
dependent upon the sinner's substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ? It can't
be both. It can't be both. We read in
Romans 11, Romans 11, verse 6, "...if by grace, then it is no
more of works." Salvation is either totally by our works or
totally by God's grace. And my friend, the only biblical
answer that we can give to that question is salvation is totally
vested in Christ. It's His doing, His dying that
secured our salvation. You listen to His prayer. The
Lord Jesus Christ praying in John 17, He said, "...I have
glorified thee on the earth." I finished the work that you
gave me to do." Salvation is a finished work. God who had
begun a good work in you, He'll finish it. He'll accomplish it.
In Christ dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and we are
complete in Christ. You see, my friends, salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is something Christ
accomplished. Salvation doesn't depend on the
sinner. Salvation depends on the sinner's
substitute. the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the
Apostle Paul was given wisdom of God to deal with this error
and to expose this false doctrine, this false gospel, by setting
forth the true gospel. And that's the way you expose
error is by preaching the truth. If you want to expose a crooked
stick, lay down a straight stick beside of it. And that's what
the Apostle Paul does here in verses 3, 4, and 5. Let's look
at these verses. Galatians 1, verse 3, "'Grace
be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ.'" Here we have the truth declared. He says salvation
is all of grace. Grace to you. Grace. Salvation
is by grace. There can be no reason given
for grace but grace. Grace cannot be earned, merited,
or deserved. This grace is not common grace,
but the special, saving, redeeming, sovereign grace of God. In Acts
chapter 15, Peter stood up at that council and said, We believe
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved. We are justified by His grace.
Justified freely, Romans 3 verse 24. Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
not only justifies by grace, but He calls us by His grace.
This same chapter, chapter 1 of Galatians, verse 15, read these
verses together. But when it pleased God. Now when will a man be saved?
When it pleases God. Not when a man walks in the aisle,
not when a man shakes a preacher's hand, not when a man prays through
him. When will a man be saved? When it pleases God. You look
at verse 15, "...but when it pleased God, who separated me
from my mother's womb, and then He 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." He recalled
by grace, and salvation is a revelation of Christ in you, the hope of
glory. So we're justified by grace.
We're called by grace. And this grace, my friend, is
sovereign grace. And I mean by that, God will
have mercy on whom He will, and whom He will, He'll harden. It's
not of Him that willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but it's
God that shows mercy. And then He says, peace. Now
where grace is given, peace will follow. And there can be no true
peace with God without the grace of God in Christ. In Christ we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. In Christ we have peace
of conscience. No condemnation to those who
are in Christ. In Christ we have peace among
believers. How good and pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell
together in unity. This grace and peace flows out
from God. He's the author of grace. He's
the author of peace. He's a God of peace and a God
of all grace. That's the gospel that Paul preached. Grace unto you in peace. And
then he goes on in verse 4 to describe this gospel in detail. Here we have the reason that
God can be gracious and give peace unto us who are not deserving
or worthy of such mercy, such blessings. We've merited. The
only thing that we have merited is wrath. The wages of sin is
death, and we're all sinners before God, this preacher included. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Now, notice these things he says
in verse 4, describing this gospel. Here we see who died. The Lord
Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins. Now, always remember
this about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. The crucifixion
of Christ was not an accident. He died on purpose. He died on
God's purpose. Him being delivered by the determinate
purpose of God, counsel and determination of God. Wicked men did what they
wanted to do, but they did what God before determined to be done.
God planned the cross. God presided over the cross,
and God participated in inflicting the Lord Jesus Christ that day
at Calvary. It pleased God to bruise Him.
And we see who died on the cross. It's who died that gives merit
to what He did. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's God,
He's the Savior, and He's the Anointed. Prophet, Priest, and
King of God. And here we see what He did.
He gave Himself for somebody. He died as a substitute. He didn't
die for his own sin. He didn't have any. He died for
our sins. He died for the sins of God's
people. He didn't die as a frustrated reformer. He didn't die as a
defeated martyr. He died as God's substitutionary,
satisfying sacrifice for sin. God made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made to bear the righteousness
of God in Him. He was wounded for us, bruised
for us. Peter said, by the one sacrifice,
one sacrifice, he suffered once for our sin, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us unto God. He was manifested to
take away our sin. He gave himself as a substitute
unto God, as a sacrifice unto God, satisfying God's offended
justice. Something else we see in verse
4, that He might deliver us from this present evil world. My friend, the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was not
shed in vain. He delivered us. He didn't die
to render salvation possible for all men. He died to secure
and to deliver God's elect from their sin. And He shall not fail
to redeem, to save and deliver all His elect from their sin. From all the penalty of their
sin. He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. He redeemed us from the penalty
of our sins. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. He delivered us from
the sting of death. We've been made conquerors through
Him. Thanks be unto God who has given
us the victory through Christ. Now notice this. He gave Himself
for our sins and He delivered us from this present evil world.
Now notice this in verse 4. And it's all according to the
will of God. Whose will? How are you saved? By your will? No, sir. There's
no such thing as free will. Free willism does not exist.
Free willism is not the truth of salvation that's taught in
the Scripture. Men are dead in sin. Their nature is dead to
God, bound by sin, dead in sin. A dead man can't give himself
life, neither can a sinner. redeem himself and give himself
salvation. Salvation is according to the
will of God. You see that? The will of God.
In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law. God worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
Now notice that carefully. Salvation, He gave Himself and
delivered us, redeemed us and saved us by His will. Salvation. is of the Lord. He worketh all
things after His will. All things in creation, He is
sovereign. All things in providence, He is sovereign. Of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things. And all things in salvation,
He is sovereign in salvation. Of His own will beget He us with
the word of truth. Now in closing, look at verse
5. Galatians chapter 1 verse 5. And here's the reason behind
all His suffering, all His dying, all His redeeming blood, all
the will of God. Verse 5 sums it all up. To whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. The grand design and the
ultimate end of everything God does is for His glory. Now listen
to me carefully. What is the grand design of redemption? The grand design of redemption
is not to save some sinners from hell, the grand design of redemption
is the glory of God, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. The believers of the gospel
love His glory. That's why Paul said in Galatians
6, God forbid I should glory save in the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believers love His glory because
He has been enthroned in their hearts. We love His glory because
He's washed us, loved us, and washed us from our sin in His
own blood. We love His glory because He saved us by His sacrifice. And we love Him because He's
given us all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.
No wonder the eternal song of heaven will be, worthy is the
Lamb that was slain to receive all honor and all glory.