All right, Galatians 1. Our subject tonight, and I believe I have appropriately
entitled it, the assurance of Christ. I did not call it the
assurance of faith, because faith is not my assurance, Christ is. Christ is our assurance. A fellow
friend of mine jokingly said to me one time, he said, well,
are you still saved? I said, well, is the Lord Jesus
Christ still at the right hand of the Father? Well, he said,
yes. I said, I'm still saved. He's
my salvation. I'm seated with him in the heaven.
If he ever moves, I move. But he's my hope, he's my assurance,
and yours too. Look at this scripture here,
Galatians 1. It says, Paul, an apostle. An
apostle, not of man, that is. Man didn't make him an apostle. He's an apostle not of man, but
of our Lord Jesus Christ, neither by man. No man takes this office
upon himself except God gives it to him. But I'm an apostle
of Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised
him from the dead by divine appointment. I'm an apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ by divine appointment. The Lord Jesus himself and the
Father made me an apostle. You think about this man's credentials. When we study the testimony of
the Apostle Paul, he wrote 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament. God used this man, whose writings we're reading
this evening, to write 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament. But then on another occasion,
and this can be said of no other man, who ever lived on this earth,
that God took him into the third heaven. Talk about the heavens,
this is the first heaven where the clouds, the second heaven
where the planets and stars and sun and so forth, then the third
heaven, paradise. God literally, he said one time,
whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know. But such
a man was taken into the presence of God and heard things that
are not lawful to utter. That's the credentials of this
man. Then the Lord called him a pattern. As we study Paul's
assurance in Christ, we're studying the pattern of the man God intended
to be a pattern of you and me. Let me read that to you in 1
Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12
follows the pattern, the divine pattern that the Lord has given
us. Do us well to study carefully what the Lord leads him to say. Look at 1 Timothy 1.12. He says, Let no man, 1 Timothy
1 verse 12, And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled
me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me in the ministry, who
was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious. But I obtained mercy,
because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. And the grace of our
Lord Jesus was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is
in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. How be it, now watch,
for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ
might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him the life everlasting. That's us.
We're reading this very thing and he's saying that what God
did in me and for me and the gifts he gave me and the ministry
he gave me is a pattern for folks to come down the road. the word
that the Lord gave him to write. All right, let's see now back
in my text. Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but
by Jesus Christ, God the Father, raised him from the dead. And
then in verses 2 through 4, Paul gives his usual salutation to
the church, to the people, with strong emphasis on the person
and work of Christ. It's always Christ. I determined
he said to no nothing among you say Jesus Christ him crucified."
It's always Paul's message. Now listen to this salutation.
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. And then Paul says
in verse 6 to these churches, I marvel, I'm astonished, I'm
amazed that you are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel." I'm amazed, he's saying,
that you're so soon removed from me and from the other apostles
and from those who teach the word, who taught you the word,
he said, from whom you received and heard the gospel. You've
left us. You've left those who established
you in the grace and mercy of Christ Jesus. to go to another
gospel. I'm amazed. I'm astonished. You know, sometimes, sometimes
the Lord himself removes the gospel from a place. Sometimes
he warned the churches over here in the book of Revelations. He
said to one of those churches, he said, now remember Therefore,
from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first
works, or else I'll come quickly and move your candlestick out
of the place, except you repent. I'll move it." And God has removed
the candlesticks and the churches. Over in some European countries,
it used to be stalwart, fine, gospel-preaching, situation. Sometimes God removes the gospel. And then sometimes men remove
themselves from the gospel. They'll take their families up
for economic reasons or whatever reasons, and they'll move away
from the place where the gospel is preached. Elkanah did that. He left Judea,
left Bethlehem and went to Moab. You know, what happened to his
family, too? So sometimes people remove themselves from where
the gospel is preached. And then I've known preachers,
yeah, even grace preachers, to remove the effects of the cross,
the gospel, from their messages and from their sermons. because
of the offense of the gospel. They just tone it down. Spurgeon
said one time, the gospel has its offense, it has its edges.
It's like a sword, cuts both ways, two-edged sword. And when
you take those edges off the gospel to make it more palatable
and fix it so men will receive it without being offended, You
take the power out of the gospel. Its power is its edge. Its power
is its cutting point. And sometimes men take the offense
out of the gospel because of the fear of man, or to hold their
jobs, or covetousness, or ambition, or desire to make a fair show
in the flesh, but they just remove the gospel out of their message.
Sometimes God will take the gospel out of a place, and sometimes
men take themselves out from under the gospel, and sometimes
the faults in the pulpit take the edge off the gospel. But
these folks here, this is what Paul's marveling about. This
is what's amazing him. He said, I'm amazed that through
these false teachers, you're removing yourselves from those
who preach the gospel. and adopted another gospel. He mentions that over in 2 Corinthians. Turn back just two pages in your
Bible. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 4. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 4. He that cometh, for if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, or another spirit which you haven't
received, another Jesus whom we haven't preached, or another
spirit whom you haven't received, or another gospel which you've
not accepted, you might well bear with me. Well, here in my text, Paul says,
he says that in verse 6, I'm amazed, I marvel that you're
so soon removed from those who called you into the grace of
Christ to another gospel, but there's not another gospel. Verse
7, which is not another. That can't be another gospel.
That can't be another gospel other than the gospel of God.
It wouldn't have anything to do with God. It wouldn't be any
help to me, and it can't be any other gospel besides the gospel
of free grace, besides the gospel concerning His Son. Christ is
the gospel. Well, what is it then? Look at verse 7. It's a perversion. It's not another, but there'll
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. This is a perversion of the one
gospel. There's not another. What does
the word perversion mean? It has a threefold meaning. Number
one, it's deviating from that which is right. Tag that on anything
you want to. is deviating from that which
is right, that which is established, that which is of God. Secondly,
it's deviating from that which is good. Everything God ordained
is good. When man perverts it, it's evil. Thirdly, it's departing from
truth and reveling in error, walking
in error. There is no such thing as another
gospel. If anybody comes to you and preaches
anything other than the truth of the gospel of Christ, he's
perverting it. He's deviating from that which
is right, that which is good, and that which is true. Look
at Romans chapter 11. Listen to this scripture, Romans
chapter 11. Can't be another gospel. People
talk about, well, we're not of the same faith. There's only
one faith, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father,
one body, just one. Listen to Romans 11, verse 5.
Even so, then, at this present time, there is also a remnant,
there is a remnant, according to the election of grace. And
if it's by grace, it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is
not grace. But if it be of works, it's not
grace. Otherwise, works not work. It
can't be a combination of the truth. Salvation cannot be except
by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now verse
8 and 9, Paul expresses the seriousness of this era. He declares in plain
terms, powerful terms, his absolute confidence in the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says this in verse 8, Though
we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed. Let him be under the judgment
of God, no compromise, no matter who it is, even if it's an angel
from heaven. He preaches any other gospel
than the gospel of God, the gospel of free grace, the gospel of
the blood and righteousness of Christ Jesus. Let him be under
the curse of God. Back here in 1 Corinthians chapter
16, He declares this in 1 Corinthians
16, verse 22. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, love him, believe him, rest in him, find his hope
and confidence in him, let him be anathema, let him be cut off,
let him be excommunicated. Excommunicated from God, anathema,
a curse under the judgment of God. Let him be accursed. Marianatha,
what does that mean? The Lord's coming to judge the
world. And let him fall, if any man
love not Christ, believe not in Christ, let him be excommunicated,
cut off, accursed under the judgment of God when the Lord comes. That's
how serious it is. And verse 9, he said, I'm going
to say that again. You know, it's not very often
in the scriptures that the Apostle says the same thing twice in
succession. He said, I'm going to say that
again. Verse 9, as we said before, so
I'm going to say it again, make it as clear as I can. If any
man preach any other gospel unto
you than that you have received, let him be accursed. That's serious,
isn't it? It's a whole lot more serious
than we think it is. A whole lot more serious. I just don't
think that I could clearly define the seriousness of this. But
how can Paul, how can the apostle be so bold? If any man, even an angel from
heaven, ourselves or any other man, preach any other gospel
than the gospel I preached to you. Let him be under the wrath
of Almighty God when Christ comes." Well, he gives us several reasons.
Look at verse 10. Here's the first reason. He says,
"...for do I now persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? If I yet please men, I would
not be the servant of Christ." I don't seek to please men. This
is the first proof. I give you that my gospel is
God's gospel because He's the one I'm seeking to please, and
not me. I want you to turn to the book
of 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Who gets the glory? God does. Who are we trying to please?
Please God. Who are we trying to glorify?
Trying to glorify God. Then our message must be from
God, if that's our true motive. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter
2. For yourselves, brethren, you
know our entrance in unto you. It was not in vain. But even
after that, we have suffered before and were shamefully treated,
entreated. As you know at Philippi, we were
bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much
contention, many enemies. Our exhortation was not of deceit,
it was not of uncleanness, it was not in guile, it was not
insincere. We weren't trying to sell you
a bill of goods. But as we were allowed of God
to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not pleasing
men, But God, which trieth our hearts, for neither at any time
use we flattering words, you know that, nor cloak of covetousness,
God is my witness, nor of men sought we glory, neither of you,
nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles
of Christ." This was our sole motive. What's the man's motive?
What's his purpose? What's he trying to accomplish? Honor God, glorify God, exalt
Christ. Well, I'll tell you this, that's
the first start. He'll tell you the truth. He's
got no hidden motive. He'll tell you the truth. All
right, secondly, here's the second reason. Verse 11, Galatians 1.11,
For I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. I didn't receive it of man. Neither
was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, the gospel that
I'm writing and preaching and teaching. The gospel was given
to me, revealed to me by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That's right. I want you to turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, and we'll read to you about this
experience. There are several times when
the Lord dealt with Paul personally, the Lord Jesus himself. You see,
an apostle, two or three things about an apostle. Number one,
he had to have been called by Christ. He said, I'm not an apostle
of men or by men, but by God the Father in Christ. He had
to have seen the Lord. This man, if he's an apostle,
had to have sat under the ministry of Christ himself. Christ himself. You say, well, Paul didn't do
that. That's what some of the people back then said. But he
said, I've seen the Lord as one born out of due time. He saw
him on the road to Damascus. But he saw him, what I'm about
to read right here, face to face. and must have received his gospel
from Christ, not from somebody else. And that's what he's saying
here. The gospel I preached, I didn't
get it from man. Now look at 2 Corinthians 12,
1. It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory, but I will
come to visions and revelations of the Lord, from the Lord. I
knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago. Whether in the body
I cannot tell, or out of the body I cannot tell, God knows.
Such a one was caught up into the third heaven. He's talking
about himself. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. I don't know the
condition in which I was at that time. However, he was caught
up into paradise. That's what Christ said to the
thief on the cross. Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise." But the thief, that was after his day, and this is
Paul's living, caught up in the paradise. And I heard unspeakable
words. What does he mean by that? There's
no way, he said, I can tell you what I heard. You don't have
the capacity or the knowledge or the nature to receive what
I'd have to say. It's a total different world.
unspeakable words, which is not lawful, not possible for a man
to utter. That's, he saw the Lord. He stood
in glory. That's right. That's the reason he can be so
bold with this statement. If any man preaches anything
that I don't preach, I don't care if it is an angel from heaven,
one of the fallen angels, let him be accursed. And then go
back to my text, Galatians 1. He says here in verse 13, here's
the third reason why his gospel is the gospel, because the Lord
chose him and called him and himself revealed Christ in him. Listen to verse 13. You 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. I talked about that this morning.
I profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals in my
own nation, being exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my Father. Not of Christ, not of the Gospel,
not of the glory of God, the traditions of my Father. That's
what I pushed. But when it pleased God, suddenly,
who separated me from my mother's womb. He knew it all along. He
called me by his grace, and he revealed his Son, not to me,
though he did, in me. Gave him the nature of Christ,
the heart of Christ, the love of Christ, that I might preach
him among the heathens. And let me tell you, immediately,
I didn't confer with flesh and blood. This is what I would do.
If the Lord did something like that in this day, we'd run to
somebody, some other preacher. Somebody's been in there longer
than we have. We'd run to him, talk to him. Tell me what you
believe. He said, not me. I'm an apostle. And I didn't
confer with Peter, James, John, Matthew, Luke, Nathanael, any
of them. Didn't look them up. Didn't seek
them out. Neither went I up to Jerusalem.
That's the headquarters. That's the capital of religion.
I didn't go to Jerusalem. To them who were apostles before
me, I went to Arabia. You know, I don't know a whole
lot about Arabia. I looked that up and looked a
little bit, but with this Boy, this Bible here refers you to
chapter 4 of Galatians chapter 25. Let's look over there and
see what that says. Paul says about Arabia, I don't
know, I'm just throwing this out now. In Galatians chapter
4 verse 24, he's talking about Hagar and Saba, which things
are an allegory. For these are two covenants,
the one from Mount Sinai, which gendered to bondage, which is
Hagar. And this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia. What you going over there for?
That's where God gave the law to Moses, the types, the pictures,
and all these things that point to the gospel. I don't know.
Paul went into a raid. It doesn't say how long he stayed
there. I hear people say he stayed there three years. No, it doesn't
say he stayed there three years at all. It doesn't say that.
It says he went there. And that's the only reference
I can find to this thing right here. But a lot took place at
Mount Sinai. A lot took place at Mount Sinai.
The glory of God. The law was given to Israel and
to Moses. Christ is the fulfillment of
all that. This Jew, Paul, was steeped in the law. Educated
in the law. Was an expert on the law. God
made him an expert on the gospel, which is the fulfillment of the
law. Take him down both paths. That's right. I don't know. And then he said, anyway, let's
fix up this three years thing now. In verse 17, it said, Neither
went I to Jerusalem, to them which were apostles before me,
but I went into Arabia, and then I returned again to Damascus.
So it didn't say how long he stayed in Arabia. I don't know.
Doesn't matter anyway. Then, after three years, three
long years had passed. You know how long that is. Then
I went to Jerusalem. I went up to see the apostle
Peter. And I abode with him 15 days.
That's the first time he'd met Peter. First time he'd ever done
it. He'd been saved three years, been redeemed, taught the gospel
by Christ. So that's the reason he can say,
I'm telling you, if any man preaches any other gospel than the gospel
I preach, Let him be accursed, let him be excommunicated from
anything having to do with God Almighty. Then he gives us another reason.
In verse 19, it says, Other of the apostles saw our nuns save
James, the Lord's brother. I received a letter. You remember
the letter that wrote me and asked if any of the Lord's brothers
were saved? James. is here called the Lord's
brother, and he was the pastor in Jerusalem is what most people
believe. His brethren did believe on him. James was a pastor, and Paul
went to visit James, the Lord's brother. Verse 20, Now the things
which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not. That's
my testimony. Now here's another reason why he's so strong. In
verse 21, afterwards, I went into the regions of Syria and
Cilicia, and I was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea,
which is in Christ. But they knew one thing about
me. They knew I was the one who persecuted the church in times
past. Persecuted the church. And I was now preaching the faith
that once I destroyed. And all those people in Judea,
Jerusalem, in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, they glorified
God in me. He must have preached the truth,
or that church wouldn't have glorified God in him. I received my gospel from Paul. I don't mind confessing that
at all, that I received my gospel from Paul. Turn to Hebrews chapter
1. I'm not an apostle, I'm a preacher,
but I received my gospel from the scriptures, from these men
whom God sent to preach the gospel to us. Before our Lord went back
to glory, he assembled his disciples around him and told them, he
said, you go into all the world and preach the gospel. To every creature,
and he that believes what you preach will be saved, and he
that believes not will be damned. That's right. So we receive the
gospel from these men. See, I hear people criticizing
Paul and the apostles, speaking lightly about them, but let me
tell you, they're the ones whom the Lord used to teach us the
gospel. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manners spake to our fathers by the prophets has spoken
thus by his son and his apostles. Now listen to this, Hebrews 2
verse 1. Therefore you and I ought to
give the more earnest heed to these things which we've heard,
lest at any time we let them slip away for some reason or
other. But if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how are we going to escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken
by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him, Peter, James, and John? and Paul, and Matthew,
and Luke. These are the men. God also bearing
them witness. He gave them credentials. He
gave them a witness, just like he did his son when Christ came.
Christ had the witness from heaven. He had the witness of the Spirit. He had the witness of the Word,
but he had the witness of the miracles. So God bearing them
witness both with signs and wonders and different miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost according to his will. These men came preaching
the gospel. And how blessed we are to have
the word that enables us to believe. Brother Scott Richardson and
I were driving along one day, we'd been somewhere And we were
driving along talking about the gospel. And we, I don't know who started
this, he did or I did or something, but we got talking about this
statement of Paul, if any man preach any other gospel than
the one I preach, let him be accursed. That's serious, isn't
it? That's what I believe about my
gospel. concluded about six or seven
reasons why we believe that our gospel is the only gospel. Paul
gives the reasons here in Galatians 1 to confirm his gospel. I give you these reasons to confirm
mine. Here they are. Number one, this
is the only gospel that gives God all the glory. It's the only
gospel. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, his elective grace, his covenant mercies, his effectual
sacrifice, his perfect righteousness, his death, burial, resurrection,
his ascension, his being seated as our high priest at the right
hand of God, that doesn't give me any glory or any credit. It gives all the glory to God. Our gospel is the only gospel
that's true to the Old Testament promises of the Messiah. The
very first thing the Lord God said after man fell, the very
first thing God said after man fell, I'll send the seed of woman
to bruise the serpent's head. That's it. That's the first promise
of the Messiah. And then God promised him to
Abraham. Abraham rested in that promise.
And God said to Abraham, I promise you a seed, a Redeemer. And God swore by himself because
he couldn't swear by any greater. And he confirmed it by his oath
and by his promise. You can rest in it. It's Christ
Jesus. Our gospel is the only gospel
that fulfills every type and shadow and picture of the Old
Testament. Who is the seat of woman? Go over all of history
and tell me who it is. There's only one. Who is the
priest forever after the Lord of Melchizedek? There's just
one. Who is the Passover lamb? without spot or blemish. When
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Who's the city of refuge?
Who's the brazen serpent lifted up? Who's the smitten rock? Who's
the high priest that went into the Holy of Holies? Who's the
mercy seat, the propitiation? Who is Christ? He's the only one that fits all
those promises and fulfills them. And that's what it said when
they took him down from the tree. They nailed him to the cross.
And when they had fulfilled everything that was written of him, they
took him down from the tree. It's all fulfilled. Fourthly,
my gospel is the only gospel that will enable a holy God,
just and righteous and holy, to be a holy God and a just God
and justify an unholy sinner. No other way, no other way can
a sinner be justified in the presence of God except through
Christ who gave him a perfect holiness and paid for his sin
debt, satisfied the law and justice. That's the only way. And that
water won't do it, shaking hands with a preacher, the Lord's Supper,
the law, nothing. Only Christ enables God to be
just and justified. And fifthly, this is the only
gospel that provides two things that a sinner must have to stand
before God. A perfect righteousness and a
perfect record. Perfect righteousness and no
charge written on the books. An atonement and a righteousness. And Christ did both. This is
the only gospel that gives hope to a sinner, a real sinner. As
Barnett said, a genuine, bona fide, self-confessed, hell-deserving,
ill-deserving, undeserving sinner. And there ain't no other kind.
David said, Lord, if you would charge iniquity, who could stand? Well, nobody here. So let me
tell you something. As far as redemption is concerned,
you and I only have one way, and that's Christ. He gives hope. There's no hope
in anything else. I don't care what anybody tells
you to do in order to be saved, it will not give you any hope.
But it just will. Rest in Him. Trust in Him. Believe
in Him. And last of all, number seven,
this is the only gospel that will keep you saved. He that
hath begun a good work," Paul says, I'm confident of this,
I promise you, he that hath begun a good work, he'll complete it
in the day of Jesus Christ. What the Lord does is forever. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they'll never perish.
And no man will ever pluck him out of my hand. My Father which
gave to me is greater than all and no man is going to pluck
him out of his hand. My sheep are in my hand and in the hand
of God. They'll never be lost. So, I
say, with followers, I don't care who he is, how many degrees
he has behind his name, how important he is, how many followers he
has, whomever, if any man, I don't care if it's an angel from heaven.
Preach any other gospel than what I preached to you for all
these years. For the glory of God, for the
glory of Christ, let him be accursed. Let him be anathema, cut off,
excommunicated, because the Lord's coming. Let it be. Your son or
my son. Your folks or my folks. Your
old pastor or my old pastor. Let it be a curse. This is the
gospel. That's the assurance of Christ.
That's not just the assurance of faith. That's not the assurance
of the Baptist faith. It's not worth a whole lot anymore,
I don't think, most places. That's the assurance of Christ.
And Christ is the only faith. May God bless that to your heart.