Bibles today to Galatians chapter
1. Galatians chapter 1. I'll read the first nine verses. 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 our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world according to the will of God and our Father, to whom
be glory forever and ever. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But 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. As we said before, so say I now
again. If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. We see that
Paul begins this letter to the churches of Galatia speaking
of the message which he had preached among them. And he pronounced
a curse upon any that preached a different message. The message
that the Apostle Paul preached was a message of the gospel of
the grace of God. You see that here in these verses
that we read, grace be unto you. Peace, how is it that men may
have peace with God, be reconciled unto God? who gave himself the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the gospel, the person
and work of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Paul pronounced a curse
upon anyone that would in any way add to or subtract from the
message of the gospel of the grace of God. Now I'm not sure
which preacher said this first, But it's been said many times
and it's still true. Every message should contain
three R's. Every message should contain
the three R's. Ruined, redemption, and regeneration. Every message. We live in a day
when those three R's have been changed to three E's. Entertainment. That's the message of today. Entertainment, a message to entertain
people on the way to hell. It contains no substance, nothing
to make men stop and consider who God is, who man is, what
sin is, and how it might be possible that God could forgive a sinner,
could declare a sinner like you and I to be just before Him. The three E's. Entertainment. Second, emotion. A number of
sad stories that pull on the heartstrings of men and women
to get some kind of decision. Emotion. And then the last E
is experience. A message which causes people
and encourages people to trust in their own works. It's all
about you and what you've done and what you've experienced.
And rather than bring your experience, whatever it is, and let me tell
you something. People have all kinds of religious
experiences all over this world because men by nature are religious. And rather than bring your experience
to the Word of God and see if your experience lines up with
the Word of God, we live in a time when it doesn't matter what the
Word of God says, I've had this experience, and I know this was
God. I know this was God speaking
to me. I know I'm all right. I know
I'm on my way to heaven, no matter what the Word of God says because
of some experience that I've had. Well, this morning I want
us to go back once again and look at the three R's. The three
R's. First of all, ruined by the fall. Ruined by the fall. The gospel
message must acquaint men of what the Bible declares is true
of all men by nature. What the Bible declares is true
of all men as we come into this world. The fall, what we call
the fall, or the introduction of sin into the human family,
it did not leave man crippled in need of crutches. It did not
leave man nearsighted in need of glasses. It left man dead
in need of a deliverer, ruined by the fall. God told Adam, when
he created him and placed him in the garden, in the day that
thou eatest of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt die. Now in the Hebrew, that could
be translated, maybe better, In the day that thou eatest thereof,
in dying thou shalt die. In dying thou shalt die. Adam disobeyed God and yet he
lived for over 900 years in this world. Does that mean that God
is not faithful? Does that mean that somehow God
denied himself after telling Adam And the day, and the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. But he lived
on nine hundred and some years. Does that mean that God is not
faithful? That God is not truth? That God
is mutable? That God changes? God forbid. God forbid. God is. The unchangeable God. The same
yesterday, today, and forever. Immutable. And God is faithful. He's truthful. And every word
that He says is true. Let every man, the Apostle Paul
said, be a liar, but God is faithful. God is truthful. Well, what did
the Lord mean then? What happened that day that Adam
disobeyed God? Well, first of all, the day that
Adam ate that fruit, he became mortal. That is, he became subject
to physical death. And death began to work in his
body from that very day, even though he lived on for hundreds
of years. We might say with that fruit,
and no one knows if it was an apple or whatever it was, it
was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God placed man in that garden
and we saw that, we sang just a few minutes ago that hymn,
God is giving and forgiving. And God is giving. You know the
very Name God means good. And God placed Adam and Eve in
that garden, and there's, I don't know how many trees, no one knows,
but placed him in a place where every need was supplied. And
that he might know, you're not God, Adam. You reign over the
animal creation, but you're not God. You're created to look up. You have a creator in heaven. You have a sovereign ruler above
you. And there's one tree you're not
to eat of. And of course Satan did to Adam
like he does to all of us. He doesn't point out all the
good things the Lord has given to us, but he points at that
one thing. Yea, hath God said? Well, when
Adam ate, we might say when he took that fruit and ingested
that into his body, but along with that, every disease and
sin, every disease and infirmity that is known to man, he ingested
into his body. From that day on, he began to
die. And so that you and I, because
we are his descendants, he represented us. When he died, we died. When he sinned, we sinned. That's what Paul says in Romans
5 in verse 12. For by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. So then death passed upon all
men. He became mortal. But secondly,
not only did he become mortal, that is physically he began to
die, but the day that Adam ate, he experienced spiritual death. He had been created in the image
of God, but that image was ruined, marred, ruined in the fall. The faculties of his soul, and
the Bible speaks of the heart. And most people today, when they
hear or read about the heart, they just think about emotions. We have Valentine's Day, and
we think about our emotions, our love, associated with the
heart. But in the scripture, the heart
means, first of all, the mind. The mind. And secondly, yes,
the emotions. And thirdly, the volition, the
will. And what happened when Adam died
spiritually, he was blinded spiritually. That's the reason the Lord Jesus
Christ, speaking to a religious man, said, you must be born again. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He cannot perceive. Why? Because his mind is now blinded. Blinded to the things of God.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, the apostle said, the natural man,
that is the man apart from God's salvation, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. There may be some of you here
today. I hope not, but there may be some of you here today
and you think that preaching, coming together and having someone
stand up and preach from the Word of God is foolish. It's
foolish. We live in a day when we'd rather
see the gospel acted out maybe in drama, in dancing, in music,
in something of that nature. The natural man, he receives
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. You tell me, preacher, that all
of us were represented by one man? Absolutely. Oh, I believe
in evolution. Well, go on believing in evolution
and believe on it all your way into hell. Go on. No. The Word of God is very clear. We are all the descendants of
Adam. And to the natural man, the preaching
of the cross is foolishness unto them that perish. And listen,
that's not the end of the verse. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. Listen now, neither can. It doesn't say may. It doesn't
say neither may he know, neither can he know them. For they are
foolishness unto him. He cannot know them because they
are spiritually discerned. So the mind became darkened.
We are darkness when we come into this world. And the second
thing about the faculties of the soul, the heart, not only
the mind is blinded, but the emotions are turned towards self. We love ourselves. Who do you
love the best? I know who you love the best.
You love yourself the best. That's just part of a depraved
heart, isn't it? We love ourselves. And then the will, the volition. is set, obstinately set against
God. We will not have this man to
rule over us. Now that's our condition, ruined
by the fall, spiritually dead. And you see that in the history
of Adam when you think about the fact that Here he is, made
in the image of God, and yet he thinks he can hide himself
from God. You may think that. You may think
that. You may think that you can live,
and in the darkness of the night, or in whatever situation, that
you may hide yourself from God. God sees. God is everywhere.
He sees all. He knows all. But man is spiritually
dead. And third, when Adam ate, not
only did he introduce a mortality into himself and spiritually
die, but he became liable to eternal death. Liable to eternal
death. When we think about eternal death, it is so overwhelming to think of men and women, sinners,
spending eternity under the judgment of God in hell. It is overwhelming. It is so overwhelming that most
of us put it out of our minds and do everything we can not
to think about the fact that the same God who has promised
eternal life to some has promised eternal death, damnation unto
others. But that's the truth. You say, explain to me, hell,
I could, can't, I can't. And I don't think anyone else
can as well. But I know this, from the time
we come into this world, lost or saved, all of us have experienced
the goodness of God. And to go out into eternity without
Christ is to be in eternity and never, ever, ever, ever know
anything again of the goodness of God. To be eternally separate from
Him. So run by the fall. Every message
should tell us plainly and clearly what our situation is. What our need is. We are depraved individuals. But number two, second, redemption
by the blood. Redemption by the blood. The
gospel message must not only acquaint us with what happened
in the garden, but it must also acquaint us with what happened
at Calvary. The gospel message must acquaint
men and women with God's purpose. Now hear me now, God's purpose
in the death of his son. When you look at creation and
all men are responsible because we live in God's creation and
we see God's wisdom. We were speaking earlier, my
son and I, Jonathan, about seeing God's, the handiwork, the beauty
of God in creation. And we see the wisdom of God,
do we not? We see the wisdom of God, the
planet that we live on. They tell me if it was any closer
to the sun, we'd burn up. If it was any farther, we'd freeze
to death. Well, isn't that something that
that big bang situated the earth in the exact location that it
might be habitable? Oh no. We see not only the wisdom
of God in the tiniest insects to the greatest of his creation,
but we see his power. His power. So then, when we read
and when we hear, God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, we must ask ourselves, what was His purpose? What was His purpose? Certainly,
surely a God of such wisdom, such power, gave His Son, His
only begotten Son, He has a purpose in giving His Son. in giving
him to die upon the tree. Well, if you would ask most people
today, I'm sad to say, most preachers, if you ask them, well, what was
God's purpose in giving his son? About 99 would say, well, he
gave his son to make salvation possible, possible for those
who would give their consent. Now when a man or woman thinks
like that, they must be forced to consider this. If God gave
his son with only the possibility that some would believe, some
would give their consent, some would exercise their so-called
free will, then that means it was possible that he could have
died and none have been saved. That none would have accepted,
exercised their free will. He just made it possible. If
men would think, if men would think that if there's something
If God just made salvation possible, He didn't actually redeem His
people, then that means that there's something else besides
the blood of Jesus Christ that saves sinners. I won't allow it. I just won't
allow it, will you? I won't hear of it. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, those who are set apart. He,
by his work, by his blood, by his sacrifice, he's not made
salvation merely possible. He redeemed God's chosen people. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself say? He said, even as the Son of Man,
speaking of Himself, came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister and to give His life a ransom for many. What is a
ransom? Well, it's a price paid to free
captives. The Lord Jesus Christ before
the foundation of the world, he was given a people. He was given a people to be his
bride, to be members of his body, to be his sheep. He was given
a people. They were God's chosen people.
And he became their surety. And as their surety, that means
that he would come and pay that they might be set at liberty. They are captives. He is a ransom. His blood is a ransom paid that
his people might be delivered. The justice of God demanded satisfaction,
payment for his people's many offenses. You just think of yourself. How many sins have you committed?
If we could pile them up, this building would not contain the
number of sins that any one of us are guilty of. And yet, he
gave himself a ransom for many. Didn't say all, but for many. Justice cried for man's execution. Grace cried, deliver him. Every child of God here this
morning, deliver him from going down into the pit. I have found
a ransom. That's God's grace. I have found,
I have provided a ransom. A ransom. If you could picture
in your mind this morning, a man who has stood on trial and been
convicted as guilty, and he appears again before the judge to be
sentenced. Just think of that. A man in
court, and he's standing there before the judge. He's already
been convicted. He's guilty, and the judge is
about to sentence him, and before he does, a man steps out of the
gallery, and he says, I will take his place. And the judge
allows it. And so this man, this man who
came from the gallery, takes the place of the guilty man.
The guilty man goes back to the gallery. And so the man is now
sentenced to whatever the crime is punished with. Now that picture's
substitution to us. That's what Christ did for his
people. He took our place. He died in our stead. But in this example, the man
who was guilty, he just moves. He's not changed at all. His person is not changed at
all. That brings us to the third R,
regeneration. Regeneration. You still have
your Bible here in Galatians. Look over to chapter 4 with me.
Chapter 4. And look at verse 3. The redemption, before we read
the scripture here, let me make this statement. The redemption
of the Lord Jesus Christ isn't an end in itself, but it assures
regeneration. Let me say that again. Redemption
in itself, that's not the end, but it does assure regeneration. In other words, every person
for whom Christ shed his blood, that person is going to be called
by God's effectual call. Everyone. In Galatians 4, beginning
with verse 3, The apostle said, even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. Now that word elements
is translated rudiments. The rudiments of this world,
the elements of this world, we were all in bondage. This refers
to this basic tenet of all religions, and there's religions Who knows
how many all over this world. But no matter how they present
themselves, they all have this basic belief at their core. There's a common thread which
runs through each and every one of them. And here it is. Man
can earn God's favor. Man can earn God's favor. Man can earn God's favor by his
works. That's the reason the Proverbs
says there's a way which seemeth right unto man. It just does. I don't care where you go. I
don't care what religion you look into. It's always going
to just seem right that by doing something, by prayers, by tears,
by baptism, by observing certain rules, whatever it may be, that
we can earn God's favor by what we do. They all believe, they all teach
that we can earn favor with God by our works and therefore we
must, and that's where the bondage comes in. We can earn God's favor,
then we must earn God's favor, and oh, what bondage, because
we don't know. We can't know. Have we done enough? Have we done it exactly right?
Well, if we look in the word of God, we'll know, because everything
we do is somehow tainted with sin. In fact, the Bible says,
did you know the very best of our works, our righteousnesses?
I don't know if you noticed it in the Psalm we read a while
ago, Psalm 71, at the beginning of the service, but David said,
I will speak of thy righteousness and thy righteousness only. Wonder why he'd say that. Well,
what did God say in Isaiah? Our righteousnesses, are as filthy
rags in God's sight. Ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, regenerated by the Spirit. Now notice here in
Galatians 4, but when the fullness of the time was come, notice
verse 3, we were all in bondage. But when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem, there it is, the blood, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Did you notice it says, because
you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your
hearts. It doesn't say God sent his spirit into your hearts and
you became a son. It said because you are sons. because you were chosen of God. And after in the fullness of
the times God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law, then it is God,
the Holy Spirit, comes into the heart. By that effectual call,
that new birth, that's when men and women now have faith. to see, to believe, and repentance
to turn from those idols that we have all worshiped. Because
you are sons, God sent forth his spirit into your hearts whereby
you cry Abba, Father. Now that word Abba is an Aramaic
word. And why would Paul insert that
here when he's writing in Greek, and it says it means the same
thing as father. It means the same thing, but
it is a word, a term that only a child would use with his father,
Abba, kind of like Dada, Daddy. And it shows the relationship
that we now have with God because of his regenerating work in our
hearts. We trust in him. We turn from
our sins. We're made new creatures in Christ
Jesus. Behold, all things become new.
All things are passed away. And let me just close with this.
When you think about what takes place in regeneration, being
born again, trusting in Christ as your Lord and Savior. There's
so many wonderful things that are true now. For one thing,
your body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit. When a person
is born of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God comes in and
thank God he doesn't come in for a few days. You're sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise until the day of redemption,
the day of the resurrection. You're adopted into the family
of God, and you may say, Abba, Father. There's a relationship
now that you have with God as your Father, that closeness,
that love that exists between God and you, and you and God. You're part of a new family.
I love the family of God, don't you? I love to be with God's
people. Love to worship with God's people,
such a wonderful thing. Got a new family. I love my old
family, but I tell you, I love my new family a whole lot more. I really do. And we've got not
only a new family, we speak a new language. We don't talk that
old language we used to talk. Now it's grace, grace, grace. It's by grace that we have been
saved. And we have a new home prepared
for us in heaven. When our days, and they're all
numbered, we saw that in that Psalm too. They're all numbered. And when that number comes, to
leave this world, and it's a sinful world, isn't
it? It's a wicked world. There's a lot of beautiful things
here, but I tell you, sin has worked havoc in this world. And
we see all the things that take place, the killings, and your
heart just break this past week. Thinking of those families, sent their child off to school,
never expecting they wouldn't be there when they came home. It's a wicked, it's a sin. That's
the problem, sin. And the only answer is the gospel
of Jesus Christ. the three R's, ruin, redemption,
regeneration. May the Lord bless this word
to all of us here today.