["Pomp and Circumstance"]
You
Good evening and welcome. Let's find their seats. Take our song books turn to song number two hundred and forty five
Song number two four five
Two hundred and forty five, the old account was settled, let's sing it out on the first. There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven, the old account was standing for sins you had forgiven. My name was at the top and many things below. I ran into the keeper and settled long ago.
Yes, the old account was settled long ago. Hallelujah. And the records came today, for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. Two hundred forty five on the second. The old account was large and growing every day, for I was always at the top.
The old account was large and growing every day For I was always in pain and never tried to pay
But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and woe I said that I would settle
I settled long ago, long ago, long ago Yes the old account was settled long ago
Hallelujah, and the rank is here today For he washed my sins away
When the old account was settled long ago On the third, when in that happy home
My Savior's home above I'll sing redemption strongly
And praise Him for His love And not forget that hook
With pages white as snow Because I came and settled
I settled long ago, long ago, long ago Yes the old account was settled long ago
Hallelujah, and the rank is here today For he washed my sins away
When the old account was settled long ago On the last, O sinner, trust the Lord
Be cleansed of all your sin For the last He hath provided
For you to enter in And then if you should live
A hundred years below Up there you'll not regret it
You settled long ago, long ago, long ago Yes the old account was settled long ago
Hallelujah, and the rank is here today For he washed my sins away
When the old account was settled long ago
Amen. Welcome here to the Wednesday evening service. Let's go ahead and open up with a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we come to you this evening. Lord, we ask that you would bless this time that we have to meet together.
Bless the preaching and the fellowship afterwards. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Turn to song number 96.
Song number 96.
God leads us along. Song number 96 on the first.
In shady green pastures so rich and so sweet God leads his dear children along
Where the water's cold flow bathes a weary one's feet God leads his dear children along
Some through the water, some through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the flood
Some breathe sorrow, but God gives a song In the night season and all the day long
96 on the second Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright
God leads his dear children along Sometimes in the valley in darkness of night
God leads his dear children along
Some through the water, some through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the flood
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song In the night season and all the day long
Though sorrows befall us and Satan oppose God leads his dear children along
Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes God leads his dear children along
Some through the water, some through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the flood
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song In the night season and all the day long
You're singing well. Sing it out on the last.
Away from the mire and away from the clay God leads his dear children along
Away up in glory, eternity's day God leads his dear children along
Some through the water, some through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the flood
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song In the night season and all the day long
Good singing.
Amen. All right. Well, let's go ahead and take our bulletins. We'll look at some announcements this evening.
If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we will get one for you.
The verse this week, Ephesians 3 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. And that's a good verse there.
We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m.
We, of course, invite you to be with us on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for church Sunday evening service at 6 p.m.
And we're glad you are with us for the Wednesday evening Bible study.
If you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
And then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
So if you are a soul winner, please don't forget if you have a salvation to add your
salvation's on the communication card so that we can update the bulletin and be able to track that.
And if you have a map that you did not finish or if there was something wrong with it,
clearly Mark was done was not done and put it in the bin in the foyer so that we can get that recycled through and get it done.
And if you're running late to our soul winning times, you can call or text us at the number there.
Nine one six eight six eight nine zero eight zero. Let us know your plan on being there.
But you're running late. That way we can make sure we have a partner and a map and everything that you need.
If you're a first time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church, we're so glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building tonight.
If you go out our main foyer or if you go out our secondary foyer, you'll see a little table set up.
And on that table, you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight.
There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have.
The one I like to highlight is this is this documentary that our church made.
It's called Being Baptist. It's very well made, very interesting. We think you'll like it.
We want to give us a gift. Please make sure you don't leave here tonight without grabbing one of your gifts, one of those gift bags on your way out.
And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin.
If you need a pen, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen.
We'd love to have a record of your attendance. And we would actually like to send you a little gift.
But we need your information to do that. So please take a moment to fill the card out.
When we're done with the announcements, we're going to sing a song. When we're done singing, we'll receive the offering.
And as the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate.
If you'll notice there, we of course are a family integrated church. What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the service.
We don't separate children from their parents for any reason. However, we do have other baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience.
So if you have a child that's been distracting during the service, if you need some privacy, we'd encourage you to use those rooms as needed.
If you need to be baptized, you can let us know on your communication card on the back. You can check off that you'd like information about baptism.
And we'll follow up with you and talk to you about that. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course on Sunday, we started two brand new series.
On Sunday mornings, we started a series called Helping People Reach Their Full Potential. You should have one of these cards there in your bulletin.
And we'd love for you to join us and be here as we continue this series. On Sunday, I'm going to be preaching a sermon entitled Helping You Reach Your Full Potential.
And we're talking about you personally, and then we're going to get into different topics after that. We'll talk about, I'm going to preach a sermon for the wives, teaching the wives how to help their husbands reach their full potential.
A sermon for the husbands, helping the wives as well, and so forth. We want you to be here for this as we study this out and use this card to maybe invite somebody or just to remember.
And then on Sunday night, we started a series called Wilderness Wanderings, and it is a chapter by chapter study through the book of Numbers. We started in Numbers chapter one, and we'd love for you to join us for that.
And then tonight, we're starting again another brand new sermon series, and we're starting the book of Galatians tonight. So I encourage you to be with us.
The best time to be at church, I mean, it's always good to be at church, but the best time is right at the beginning of a sermon series.
And if you're here tonight, I hope you brought something to take notes with. On the back of your course of the week, of course, there's somewhere for you to take notes.
And I want to encourage you to be with us every Wednesday night for the next several weeks as we study the book of Galatians together verse by verse and chapter by chapter.
And then, of course, we have our men's preaching and pizza night this Friday, April 21st at 7 p.m. All the men are invited for an evening of preaching pizza and fellowship.
We'll probably have about seven or eight guys preach that night. We've got more than that signed up already, so we'll just be drawing names from a hat, and it'll be if the lot of the Lord lands upon you.
But we'll have a good time with that, and want to encourage all the men to come. Even if you're not preaching, you can come and just listen to the guys preach.
We'll have pizza afterwards. It'll be a great time. It's good for the men of the church to get together and spend time together with godly men.
So I encourage you to be here on Friday night for that. And, of course, we have several things coming up for the ladies as well.
Ladies' Tea. All the ladies are invited for an afternoon to come out to an elegant afternoon tea in honor of Mother's Day.
That's on Saturday, May 13th at 3 p.m. And you can sign up on your communication card.
And then Mother's Day is the next day, Sunday, May 14th. We're going to have a T-shirt for all the ladies in attendance, girls and adults, whether you're a mother or not.
Shirts for all the ladies at BBC. Ladies' T-shirts. And then the Children's Choir will be singing.
And then for the choir, we just want you to be aware that there's going to be some recordings, 30-minute recordings after the Sunday night service in the Fellowship Hall starting Sunday, April 23rd, 30th, and May 7th.
So please make sure you're aware of that. Children's Choir, they've got practice at 5.15 on Sundays in the playroom.
There's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries this week. We have Miss April Villa's birthday on April 22nd.
Praise Report, Money Matters, all those things are there for you to look at. I think that's it for all of the announcements.
So we're going to go ahead and take our song books and let's go to page number 116.
Page number 116. And we're going to sing He Leadeth Me 116 as we prepare to receive the offering this evening. Sing it out.
Sing it out on the first.
Sing it out on the second.
His hand, He leadeth me.
Lord, I would clasp my hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine.
Content, whatever, what I see, since it is my God that leadeth me.
He leadeth me, He leadeth me.
I am alone and He leadeth me.
His faith so forward I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me.
Sing it out on the last.
And when my task on earth is done, when by Thy grace the victory won,
in wrathful strength I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me.
He leadeth me, He leadeth me.
I am alone and He leadeth me.
His faith so forward I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me.
Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank You for allowing us to gather together tonight.
Lord, we pray that You bless the offering, the gift, and the giver.
We ask that You bless the time set aside for prayer and of course for the preaching of Your word.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We pray.
Amen.
We'll go ahead and take our prayer sheets tonight.
If you did not get a prayer list on your way in, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a prayer sheet, just put your hand up and we will get one for you.
And of course I want to remind you that the way you add a request to the prayer sheet is through your communication card.
On the back of the card is a place for you to write a request.
Please make sure you mark whether it's private or public.
If it's private, only I will see it.
If it's public, we'll put it on the prayer sheet.
The market will do our best to figure it out, but we usually don't put those on there.
We do add them in the order that they are received and they are removed after a couple of weeks.
And I just want to give you a quick update on Ms. Edith Castellum.
She has a prayer request there, her son as well.
She had a surgery today and of course my wife and I have been in contact with them and they just wanted to let the church family know.
Thank you for praying for her.
The procedure went well.
There is a chance that she might have pancreatitis, so they're keeping her overnight.
We'll just be praying for her regarding that, so if you could maybe make that update there.
And of course just be praying for our church family.
Throughout the course of the day today, my wife and I had six different families tell us they weren't going to be here tonight for one reason or another, sickness or traveling or whatever.
It's kind of one of those days, every time my phone went off, somebody was telling me they weren't going to be in church.
So just be praying for the church family.
Everybody gets back to normal and back soon, although we have a good crowd here tonight, so praise the Lord for that.
But let's go ahead and bow our heads.
We'll take these requests to the Lord.
I'll pray out loud and I'd ask that you'd follow along in your mind and your heart.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight.
Lord, we pray for these requests from our church family.
We begin with these health requests, Lord.
We ask for Brother Fred, praying for the healing and recovery of his daughter, Jackie Jeter.
Also, Brother Mike DiPasquale, praying for complete healing of his wrist since he had surgery on it.
Brother Ryan Gibbs, praying for upcoming dental work.
And of course, Miss Edith, we're praying for her recovery from surgery, that it would go well, that there'd be no complications, Lord,
and that she would not have pancreatitis or any issues like that.
Lord, that she would get released soon.
And Lord, we also pray for Miss Christine Ortiz, praying for her health.
Brother Salvador, praying for his health.
Miss Docma, praying for her pain and asking that you would relieve the pain, help her to have relief of the pain.
We're praying for little Uretzi, that she would continue to be healthy and strong.
And Lord, we ask for all these individuals, we pray that you would help them and be with them.
We ask for Miss Angel Cabuntala, Missionary Dave Cabuntala's wife, who's dealing with cancer,
praying that you would heal her and be with her.
And Lord, we also pray for Sam Osborne, whose daughter is having a major surgery on Monday.
She may need a transfusion, asking that you would be with that situation as well.
Lord, we ask for all these individuals, we pray that you would give them health and strength,
we pray that you would help them to be healthy.
Lord, we ask that you would relieve pain and that you'd give them healing as you will.
Lord, we ask that you'd give wisdom and strength to the doctors and nurses dealing with them and that you would help them.
We also pray for the ladies in our church that are expecting Miss Ajana, Miss Schuyler, Miss Karen, Miss Ava, Miss Rebecca,
Miss Kiki, and Miss Celina, praying that they would have healthy pregnancies with no issues and no complications.
And Lord, I pray that you'd give them healthy babies and no problems during their pregnancies.
And Lord, we also pray for these that have physical requests, Miss Christina Nellitescu,
praying for the Lord's will concerning her changing jobs.
And Lord, also praying for the Gustelums, praying for their son, Joshua, to be able to resolve his car issues.
Miss Christine Ortiz, praying for finances and to be able to find a place.
Brother Salvador as well, finances and work, asking Lord that you would give them just answers in those areas as well.
Lord, then we pray for these that have requests for salvation, Miss Natalie, praying for the salvation of her husband and family.
And also, Brother Ron, praying for the salvation of his mom and family as well.
Miss Christine, praying for her children and grandchildren's salvation.
Miss Dogma, praying for her daughter and her family's salvation.
Lord, we ask for all these individuals, we pray that you would help them to come to the place where they would be ready and willing to hear the gospel and that they might be saved.
We pray for Miss Kimmy, that you would give her and her family traveling mercies as they travel to Vancouver.
Lord, we pray that you would keep them safe as they travel, bring them home safely as well.
And then, Lord, we pray for Miss Christine and Brother Salvador for their faith and walk with you.
Lord, we also ask for these that have unspoken requests.
Daniel and Latesco have an unspoken request.
Miss Natalie, Miss Diane, Miss Kimmy, all having unspoken requests.
Brother Salvador and Miss Dogma, Lord, asking that you would please answer according to your will, that you would help them, that you would guide them.
Lord, we pray for our church, we pray for our church members, we pray that you bring them back safely soon.
Those that are sick, help them to get better.
Lord, we pray for our prison ministry, that you would continue to bless that.
We pray for our Mother's Day service coming up, that everything would go well with that, with the ladies' tea and all those things, all the events of that weekend.
Lord, we pray for our church here in Sacramento and then, of course, our church plants in Manila, Pompano and Bicole.
They need to keep all these locations safe and healthy.
Lord, we ask that you would help us as we open another book of the Bible, Lord, begin to study another passage of scripture together.
Lord, we pray that you speak to our hearts and help us to learn that we might be encouraged, that we might be exhorted, that we might draw closer to you.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Just real quickly, one request that I forgot to mention there, but Miss Selena De Dios was added there for pregnancy.
So congratulations to De Dios' family on their expecting a baby.
Please open up to Galatians 1. Galatians chapter 1.
If you need a Bible, you can put your hand up and let's bring your Bible.
In Galatians chapter 1, if you need a Bible, keep your hand up and let's come by.
Galatians 1, we read the entire chapter as our custom.
Galatians 1 beginning in verse number 1.
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 the 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. Amen.
I marvel at you 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, or 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 ye have received, let him be accursed.
For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men?
For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which is 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.
We have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion,
how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it,
and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions 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.
Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again into Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and I bowed with him fifteen days.
But other of the apostles saw I none save James, the Lord's brother.
And the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not.
Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown by faith since the churches of Judea which were in Christ.
But they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
And they glorified God in me. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your Word and for our church and for this new Bible study.
God, I ask that you please be with us. I ask that you be with our pastors tonight and just strengthen them and from their spirit.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Alright, we're there in Galatians chapter number one.
And of course tonight we're starting a brand new Bible study sermon series in the book of Galatians.
And like I said, I hope you'll be with us over the next several Wednesday nights or the next many weeks.
There's six chapters in the book of Galatians. We won't do one chapter a night.
We'll take it a little slower than that, probably not too much slower than that.
Tonight we're going to look at about half of chapter one. We'll make our way to chapter number 12.
And I want to encourage you to take notes. Of course on the back of your course of the week there's a place for you to write down notes.
And I want to begin tonight by just giving you some real quick introductory information to the book of Galatians.
And then we'll jump into the passage tonight and go to about verse 12.
And I just want to give you kind of some things to realize about the book of Galatians and be ready to see.
And I want to begin just by way of introduction of highlighting a few themes of the book of Galatians.
As far as I can tell, and when I read the book of Galatians, there seems to be four predominant themes that come up.
And you'll notice that these four themes are kind of correlated to each other, and I'll point that out.
But I just want to give this to you up front just so you can be looking because really almost every chapter of the book of Galatians,
all of these themes are going to be in most every chapter, and most of these themes will be in all of the chapters.
And I just want you to kind of have a heads up and be looking for these.
The first theme that you'll see in the book of Galatians, and you really see this in all of the Apostle Paul's epistles,
but especially in the book of Galatians, you'll see Paul's authority as an apostle.
And you'll notice this theme come up through the book of Galatians where the Apostle Paul is asserting his authority as an apostle.
And the book of Galatians is actually a book where he goes into a lot of detail about his own testimony and his history, the things he did.
We see a lot of Paul's salvation testimony. He uses that a lot in other epistles.
But here in Galatians, he tells us about what he did after he got saved and when he was a newer Christian.
And he tells us that to kind of authenticate his authority as an apostle.
So that's a theme that you're going to see throughout the book of Galatians, is Paul's authority as an apostle being proclaimed.
Another theme that you'll see in the book of Galatians, and if you've ever read the book of Galatians, even one time,
you should already see this because it's so clear throughout the book, but you'll see the theme of salvation by grace through faith and not of works.
And honestly, the book of Galatians is probably the clea- I mean, it's one of the- if not the clearest, it's definitely up there,
epistles where this is just hammered home, the fact that salvation is not of works. It's not through the law.
It's not through the keeping of the law. Now the reason that we have those first two themes,
Paul's authority being asserted as an apostle and salvation by grace through faith and not of works, is because of the next two themes.
And the third theme that you'll notice in this book as we walk through the next six chapters over the next several weeks,
is you'll notice the apostle Paul warning and fighting against the Judaizers.
And the Judaizers is a term for people in the first century, especially, although it still applies today,
those who would try to bring Judaism into Christianity, or those who would try to bring the Jews' religion into Christianity.
And you're going to notice that Paul deals with this a lot in the book of Galatians. There's a reason for that,
and we'll talk about it as we enter the passage. And for that reason, because of the fact that there are these enemies of the cross of Christ
who are trying to bring this idea or this concept, they're trying to teach the churches in Galatia that they have to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.
That's why there is such a strong theme in this book about salvation by grace through faith and not of works,
because Paul is trying to hammer this home and he's trying to solve this problem that these churches in Galatia are having
where they're being taught that you have to add works to salvation, you have to add the law of Moses to salvation
in order to be saved. The reason that we'll see Paul asserting his authority as an apostle is because these Judaizers,
who are the enemies of the gospel, are also attacking Paul and trying to discredit Paul and attacking his credibility as an apostle.
So he's defending himself and defending the gospel. So that's a theme you'll notice there, the warning and fighting against the Judaizers.
And then a fourth theme that you'll see in this book, and we'll see it even in the first few chapter verses we're going to look at tonight,
but it'll become even more evident as we continue through the book, is this idea that salvation can bring and should bring sanctification through the Spirit.
And I want to be clear about that because, and I want you to understand kind of how all these themes work together,
because if you remember these enemies of Paul are coming to Galatia, which by the way are churches that Paul started,
they're coming in after him and they're trying to add works to salvation, and they're teaching that people have to keep the law.
And what Paul is teaching is that salvation is by grace, through faith, not of works. You don't have to keep the law to be saved.
But he also is teaching the fact that when you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And that when you have the Spirit of God and it's producing fruit in your life, then you will live the sanctified life.
So he's teaching them not only that they don't need to keep the law, but that when Christians begin to actually walk in the Spirit,
a sanctification process will happen as a result, and they will begin to live the Christian life.
So these are the four themes that we'll see throughout this book.
Paul's asserting his authority as an apostle, salvation by grace through faith and not of works,
his warning and fighting against the Judaizers, and then the fact that salvation can bring sanctification through the Spirit.
And I say that very specific. It can bring, and it should bring. It doesn't always bring,
because you and I can quench the Spirit and we can stop the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
So these are the four themes. I just want you to be aware of those as we enter into the book of Galatians.
And then just real quickly, let me just give you a real basic outline.
And obviously, we could get really complicated with these outlines, and I'm going to get complicated with these outlines as we move through the book of Galatians.
Let me just give you a real quick outline of the entire book. Like I said, it's only six chapters.
And just so you can kind of understand it, and if you want to jot this down, you can.
Or if not, you can just kind of listen to this, and it'll help you understand the way that the book is formatted.
So first, of course, we have the introduction. That's basically what we're going to cover tonight.
Verses 1 through 10, we might go a little further. I plan to go a little further into verse 12.
But that's the introduction where Paul introduces himself, and he introduces the idea of the rightness of Paul's gospel is asserted.
And then in verses 11, and really I would say verse 12 or 13 to about chapter 2 and verse 21,
we have Paul teaching the justification of faith, and it's defended.
He is defending justification by faith, and that's really kind of the second section of this book.
Justification by faith defended. Then in Galatians, and that takes you up to about chapter 2.
Beginning at chapter 3 to chapter 4, we have justification by faith explained.
And then at chapter 5 to chapter 6 in verse 10, we have justification by faith applied.
So I want you to notice that the book is actually very well outlined.
Paul begins with an introduction, the first 10 to 12 verses.
Then the rest of chapter 1 and chapter 2 is justification by faith defended.
Chapters 3 and 4, justification by faith explained, chapters 5 and 6, justification by faith applied.
And then the end of the book, Galatians chapter 6, 11 through 18 is a conclusion where Paul kind of gives his last words of wisdom and of course a benediction.
So that's the book of Galatians, and that's what we're going to be covering over the next several weeks.
Like I said, tonight we're going to look at the first 12 verses.
And I want to give you these first 12 verses, and like I said, they're kind of introductory to the epistle of Galatians.
But I want to break these 12 verses we're going to look at into two different headings.
We're going to look at them as verses 1 through 5, and if you'd like a heading for your notes, you can give it the headings of the greeting.
We'll see the greeting from the Apostle Paul, and if you'd like to just jot down in your notes the greeting verses 1 through 5.
And then the second heading would be the Gospel, and we'll look at that in verses 6 through 12.
The greeting verses 1 through 5, and then the Gospel verses 6 through 12.
So I think that's enough for introductory statements. Let's go ahead and get into the book there, Galatians chapter number 1, and look at verse number 1.
Like I said, the first five verses, we can kind of separate those or outline those under the heading of the greeting.
And under this heading of the greeting, I'd like to point out two different points for you.
The first one is that we see Paul's position. Paul's position.
I want you to notice that there in verse 1, just notice that the first, just the first statement, the first sentence in the entire book,
it says this, Paul an apostle. Paul an apostle. And then immediately there's a pause, there's a comma, and we get a parenthetical statement.
And he says, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.
And I want you to notice that just right off the bat, you get a hint of a bad attitude from the apostle Paul.
And I can tell you that he is writing this letter and he is not happy.
He is upset about the fact that he has to correct some things that he feels don't need to be corrected.
And you can just tell even right there at the beginning that there's a little bit of an attitude with the apostle Paul.
And it's not like I have a bad attitude tonight. I hope you can see that.
But every once in a while I might have a bad attitude and if you guys ever have an issue with that, look at the apostle Paul.
Sometimes we as leaders need to get upset about things. And we see the apostle Paul here, I mean it's already just,
I mean he hasn't even finished his first statement and he's already, you know, Paul an apostle, let me remind you, not of men.
He said of men, neither by men, saying I wasn't made an apostle by anyone. Nobody made me an apostle. Nobody asked me to be an apostle.
He said of men, neither by men. He said my apostleship comes but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.
So we see his position. He is asserting his position right at the beginning.
He's an apostle and he's not an apostle of men, meaning the sources came from men, neither by men, meaning not a man made him an apostle.
Verse 2, and, because he's writing to them, he says Paul, and just so you understand, in the ancient world when they would write letters,
this was the common way of starting. The way that you and I write letters today is we begin by stating the name of the person we're writing the letter to.
So we'll say, dear so-and-so, whoever we're writing the letter to, we'll write our whole letter and then we'll get to the end and we'll sign our signature.
Where in the Bible it was different, in the ancient world it was different, you began by stating who it is that's writing the letter.
And then you would end, you'll notice that a lot of these letters end with all these names and all these salutations,
because you would end by saying the addressing and welcoming or whatever.
And it kind of makes more sense that you shouldn't have to read a whole letter and find out who it is that wrote you the letter at the end.
So that's why we see it this way, but it says Paul an apostle, not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.
Then in verse 2 the Bible says,
And I want you to notice that the book of Galatians is a little unique in the sense that it wasn't written to one church.
Oftentimes when it comes to epistles we'll see an epistle written to a specific church, the church at Corinth or the church at Thessalonica, and it's one church in one city.
Galatia was not a city, it was a region or an area in which there were several churches that the apostle Paul had started.
So this letter was actually written to a multitude of churches, to several churches, and he's addressing it unto the churches of Galatia.
We know of course from other epistles that Paul expected them to read these letters and then to send them off to other churches.
And the letters were to be read throughout other churches, and here we see that this letter is not really written to any one specific church, but it's written to several churches, to the churches of Galatia.
Now you're there in Galatians, obviously that's our text for tonight, I want you to keep your finger there, but go with me just real quickly to the book of Acts.
If you go backwards past the book of 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, Romans, into the book of Acts, I just want to highlight something for you.
And we've already kind of talked about it, but it's a theme of the book and I want you to understand it.
These Judaizers had come to the churches of Galatia and they began teaching that Gentile Christians needed to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses.
We're going to see that, it's going to be very clear as we travel through the book of Galatians that that's what's going on.
In an effort to persuade the Galatian believers, one of their tactics was to discredit Paul as an apostle and to challenge his preaching of the gospel.
Now I want to just show you in Acts 15 that this was already something that was common in the first century.
Now Acts 15 is not about the church in Galatia, but it's a very similar situation and I just want you to notice it.
In Galatians chapter 2, when we get there in maybe a couple of weeks, Paul is actually going to give us a testimony of the events that happened in Acts chapter 15.
So I want to be clear, Acts 15 is not about the book of Galatians, he talks about Acts 15 in the book of Galatians, but Acts 15 gives us an example of what's happening in the book of Galatians.
Now I want you to notice one verse, Acts 15 verse 1. The Bible says,
And certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved.
Now of course in Acts 15 we have the apostle Paul and Barnabas, they find out about this and they just throw themselves a fit.
They get upset about it and we see this whole Jerusalem council that comes as a result.
But I want you to notice that there were certain men who had came down from Judea and taught the brethren and said,
Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved.
This is exactly what's happening to the churches of Galatia.
These Judaizers are coming in after Paul and they're trying to add the Mosaic law, they're trying to add the law of Moses saying you have to be circumcised, you have to follow the law of Moses to be saved.
And this is why the apostle Paul writes the epistle to the Galatians. They're attacking Paul, they're attacking his authority, they're attacking his apostleship, and they're attacking the gospel.
Now if you go back to Galatians chapter 1, like you'll notice verse number 3. Now in verses 1 and 2 we see Paul's position, already right off the bat.
Because remember, one of the themes of the book of Galatians is Paul asserting his authority as an apostle, and we see that right in the opening statement.
Paul an apostle, not of man, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ. And then in verse 3 we see God's intention.
So in verses 1 and 2 we see Paul's position. In verses 3, 4, and 5 we see Paul's intention.
I want you to notice that there he says, Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice at the end of verse 3 that the subject, the context to which we're talking about is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 4, who? Okay, so who's the who there? It's Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, notice what he says, gave himself for our sins.
I want you to understand that here we already see the second theme of this book begin to be brought out.
This idea that salvation is by grace through faith and not of works. The idea that Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins.
That's the gospel. That's salvation. Not that you have to work your way to heaven, not that I have to do anything.
The only way that you and I can be saved is because Jesus gave himself for our sins.
And you need to understand that. I mean, I hope you understand that. I hope the vast majority of you are saved here tonight.
But you need to understand that because Paul's about to use some, you might call crude language or very negative language.
And the reason that he's so upset is because this is what he is defending. The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins.
So that's the second theme of the book. Salvation by grace through faith, not of works.
Now I want you to notice, here comes another theme. He says, Jesus Christ, verse 4, who gave himself for our sins, that he might, notice these words, deliver us from this present evil world.
Now here's what I want you to understand. These Judaizers are coming in and they're pretty much trying to say that Paul is just kind of teaching this loose gospel.
And he's saying that they can be saved and there's nothing they have to do. By the way, amen. That's the right gospel.
But they're coming in and saying, Paul's just telling you that it's just by faith. You don't have to do anything.
But then he's condoning this loose living, is what they're saying. And they're saying, no, you got to keep the law. You got to get circumcised. You got to do all these things.
And Paul begins to correct that by saying, look, yes, salvation is that Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins. But please understand something.
Though that is true, and Paul's going to make it extremely clear, salvation is by grace through faith, not of works.
You don't have to do anything to earn it. You don't have to do anything to keep it. You don't have to do anything to be saved. You put your faith on Jesus Christ.
You call upon him for salvation and that is salvation. It's not of works, plus nothing, minus nothing. It's Jesus Christ alone.
With that said, with that said, God didn't save you to leave you the way you are.
Now you can stay the way you are and still be saved. You don't ever have to do anything and you're still on your way to heaven if you truly believe and receive Christ as your savior.
But God has an intention. He has a plan. He gave his son who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us. You say deliver us from what?
Well, we like when we're told that he delivers us from sin. We know that's true. We like when we're told that he will deliver us from hell. We know that's true.
But notice here Paul says, yes, you are delivered from sin and yes, you are delivered from hell, but he also wants to deliver us from this present evil world.
And this is what Paul is going to develop over the next six chapters, is this idea that yes, salvation is by grace through faith, but God did not save you for you to sit there and remain the way you are.
Now if you sit there and do nothing, you're still saved. If you sit there and do nothing, you're still on your way to heaven. But that's not God's intention.
His intention is that after salvation, the Holy Spirit would have a work in your life that would produce sanctification and he gave us the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world.
Because the goal is this, the goal is God. And the goal is that we might be conformed not to this world, but unto the image of his son.
So we see here already the fourth theme and we're going to see it all throughout this book, that salvation doesn't have to, but it can and it should bring sanctification through the Spirit.
According to the will of God our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
That's the greeting. Then in verse six, he gets into our second section, our second heading, the Gospel.
I gave you two points under the heading of the greeting. Paul's position, God's intention. What's Paul's position?
He is an apostle, not of man, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ. What is God's intention?
It is that you might be saved. He gave Jesus Christ, gave himself for our sins, but that's not his only intention.
His intention is that he not only would save you, but that he would deliver us from this present evil world.
That it would have an effect on our lives. Not that it has to have an effect on your life, but he wants you to be sanctified.
And it's always funny to me. It's always interesting to me that people will attack us, right, because we preach what Paul preaches, because it's the word of God.
We preach, you don't have to do anything to be saved. You don't have to do anything to stay saved.
And people will accuse us of like, oh, you're just giving people a license to sin. You're letting people do whatever you want.
But you know what's funny is that churches like Verdi Baptist Church who preach the strongest and the hardest on the fact that you don't have to do anything to be saved,
you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved, you don't have to turn over a new leaf to be saved, you don't have to do anything to be saved.
And once you're saved, you don't have to do anything to keep it. But yet, we are the types of churches that still produce the most separated people.
Our church is filled with people who work hard, who work for God, who show up Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, it's all winning.
They show up, they live right, they quit drinking, they dress right, they act right, they live honest life.
You say, how do you do that if you're not telling them they got to do that to go to heaven? It's called the Holy Spirit.
It's called the process of sanctification. And you know what? You'll get more by loving God and being filled with the Spirit than just trying to like, you know, scare people.
And then the religions, like the Roman Catholic Church, who will just tell you like, you got to do this, you got to do that, you got to go to the confessional booth, you got to, you know, take the sacraments, and then just produce the most worldly people.
I mean literally just drunkenness, fornication, but they'll show up on Saturday night and go into some booth with some pedophile or something and tell them, you know, I drink.
Sorry. So even just logically, you look at the churches that preach the hardest, salvation's not earned.
But when they're preaching the Word of God, you know what people? The people in the pew will begin to walk with God and be sanctified.
Because He gave Himself for us that He might deliver us from this present evil world.
So that's the greeting, verses one through five. Let's move on to the gospel, verses six through twelve.
Now in this heading of the gospels, verses six through twelve, there's five different points I'd like to bring up to you, and I'd like to do it as quickly as possible.
We really don't have to take that long. Five different points regarding the gospel.
Number one, I'd like you to notice the authenticity of the gospel. In verse six, he says, I marvel.
The word marvel means he's astonished. He's really just, he's like, wow, he's amazed. This is not a good thing, though.
He says, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.
I want you to notice that the apostle Paul here begins the subject of the gospel, and he brings up the fact that there's another gospel.
But then, just so you're not confused, he immediately clarifies what he means by that in verse seven. He says, which is not another, because there's only one gospel.
It's funny to me that dispensationalists who are Baptists will say, oh, the Bible has seven different gospels. The Bible has five different gospels.
They'll even say that the gospel of Paul was different than the gospel of Jesus. Well, you know, Paul said that you've been moved onto another gospel, he says, which is not another.
The reason he says that is because of the fact that there's only one gospel. He says, which is not another.
What he means by the fact that they've moved onto another gospel is that there be some, he says, that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
We're going to come back to those statements here in a minute. Look at verse eight. But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, then that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Verse nine, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that ye have received. I want you to notice that little phrase there.
And that ye have received, let him be accursed. And we see this authenticity of the gospel. What is the authenticity of the gospel?
It is the fact that there is one gospel and anything else, and here's what I mean. He says, I marvel that you're so soon moved. You've been moved onto another gospel.
He said, but it's not another gospel because there's only one gospel and anything else is a perversion of the gospel.
Now real quickly, let's just run some verses so we can kind of understand this gospel. And I know you're a smart crowd and you know this, but let's look at it together.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, if you would. You go backwards from Galatians past 2 Corinthians into 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15.
What is the gospel? Because there's only one gospel. And in 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul himself defines for us what the gospel is.
1 Corinthians 15, 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.
Now he's going to declare the gospel, but before he declares the gospel, because he actually doesn't begin to declare the gospel until verse three.
And this is why, you know, evidence that the apostle Paul was a Baptist preacher because he said, I'm going to declare unto you the gospel.
But he's got two verses worth of stuff to say before he gets to that. He says, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.
He says, which I preached unto you. So he said, I'm going to declare unto you the gospel, but let me just tell you some things about the gospel.
He said, the gospel is what I preached unto you. This is Paul speaking to the church of Corinth. And then he says this, which also ye have received.
And that should remind you of Galatians 1.9. We just saw it where he said to the Galatians, then ye have received.
He said, you're hearing another gospel than the one that ye had received. So the gospel is something that's preached, but the gospel is also something that is received.
So he says, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received. Notice, and wherein ye stand.
Why does he say, and wherein ye stand? Because remember, he didn't save you for you to sit there.
He saved you for you to stand in the truth of the gospel. And the truth of the gospel is this, that yes, Jesus died on the cross for my sins.
And due to his sacrifice and atonement, I can be saved. But because I'm saved, I have the Holy Spirit of God.
And it is in Galatians where Paul tells us, I am crucified with Christ.
He says, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
You say, what is that? That's not just me receiving the gospel, that's not just Paul receiving the gospel, but that is living a life where we are standing on the gospel.
He says, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. Verse 2, by which also ye are saved.
How are you saved? By the gospel. The word gospel means good news, by the way.
If ye give in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
Now in verse 3, he gets to the definition. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which also I received.
He said, I gave you what I received. By the way, that's soul winning.
Someone gave me the gospel, so I'm not going to be selfish and lazy with it. Someone gave me the gospel, so I'm going to give you, I'm going to give someone else what was given to me.
I will never understand this Christianity that says, oh praise the Lord, thank you for saving my soul from eternal damnation, but I'm too lazy or too selfish or too self-absorbed to then give that to somebody else.
Paul says, I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received. Praise God for that.
How? Notice, here's the gospel. Three characteristics of the gospel. How that, number one, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
Number two, and that he was buried. And number three, that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
What is the gospel? The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it's not just the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The message of the gospel, the good news of the gospel, is that I could not save myself. I had a debt I could not pay, but Jesus Christ paid the debt on my behalf.
He died, he was buried, and he rose from the grave as a payment for my sin. There's nothing I need to do to be saved. There's no good work.
There's not enough confessional booths that I can enter into. There's not enough grape juice that I can drink. There's not enough bread that I can eat.
There's not enough water in this world to baptize me enough times in order to be saved.
The gospel is that the only way that you and I can be saved is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There's only one gospel, and anything else is a perversion of the gospel.
If you try to replace that and say, no, no, you don't need the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you just need to live a good life.
You just need to keep the Ten Commandments. You just need to do this or do that, which Paul's going to deal with that in the book of Galatians.
That is a perversion of the gospel. But let me say this as well. Also say, oh no, it is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, but you also have to add works of salvation.
It's something that the apostle Paul will also deal with in Galatians, and that is also a perversion of the gospel.
It's Jesus Christ plus nothing minus nothing. That's the message of the gospel. And it's good news.
The good news is this. I was on my way to hell. There's nothing I can do about it. There's not enough good things I could have done to make up for the fact that I was already a sinner.
But Jesus died, and he took my sins, and he paid for them on the cross. When he was buried, his soul went to hell, and he resurrected from the grave. That is the gospel.
So we see, first of all, the authenticity of the gospel. Go back to Galatians chapter 1, if you would.
What is the authenticity? There's only one. There's only one gospel. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
And anything else trying to replace that or trying to add something to that is a perversion of the gospel.
We see the authenticity of the gospel. Number two, under this heading, we see the hostility towards the gospel.
Look at it there in verse 7. Galatians 1, verse 7. He's talking about the gospel, which is not another. Notice what he says here in verse 7.
But there be some that trouble you. Do you realize that there is a hostility towards the gospel?
There are some which trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. He says, look, Galatians, I want you to understand the authenticity of the gospel.
I preach the gospel to you. You're now receiving another gospel. But he said it's not another. It's just a perversion of the true gospel because there's only one gospel.
And then he tells them, I want you to understand that there's a hostility towards the gospel. There be some. We talked about it.
The Judaizers is who he's going to fight in this epistle. He says there are some that trouble you who would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Now let's just run a couple of verses real quickly and look at some cross references. Go to Philippians, if you would. Philippians chapter 3.
You're there in Galatians. Go past Ephesians into the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 3 and look at verse 18. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 18.
For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping. This is Paul speaking to the church at Philippi. He gives them the same warning.
He says, I now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
You know, what I found unfortunately with many Christians is that they are very naive.
They don't understand that not everyone that says that they are a minister of the gospel really is a minister of the gospel.
And I'm trying to give you the same warning that the apostle Paul gives. Go to 1 John, if you would, 1 John chapter 4.
At the end of the New Testament, you start at the book of Revelation and you go backwards. You have Jude, 3 John, 2 John, 1 John. Revelation, Jude, 3 John, 2 John, 1 John.
1 John chapter 4. Listen to me. Not everybody that shows up at your door with a briefcase is preaching the gospel.
Not everybody that shows up at your door with a book that looks like the Bible but it's actually the book of Mormon with a tie on.
They're 15 years old but they have a badge that says elder. It's preaching the gospel.
Not every preacher on the radio, in fact, probably the vast majority of preachers on the radio are not preaching the gospel.
Most preachers on TV are not preaching the gospel. Most preachers on the internet are not preaching...
Look, I'm just being honest with you. Not everyone that says they are a minister of the gospel really is a minister of the gospel.
There's a hostility towards the gospel and the apostle Paul is trying to help these churches in Galatia and I'm trying to help you and help you understand that not everyone that says they're a minister of the cross is.
And we're not supposed to foolishly and naively just accept, oh, they opened up a Bible and they quoted some scripture. They must be a good guy.
1 John chapter 4. You there? Look at verse 1. 1 John 4 and verse 1. Notice what John says. He says, Beloved, believe not every spirit.
He says, believe not every spirit, but try. The word try means to test. But try the spirits whether they are of God.
You say, why should I just not naively believe every spirit? Why should I test and try the spirits whether they are of God? Here's why.
Because many false prophets are gone out into the world. You know that you're supposed to test the spirits. You say, how do I do that? The word of God.
The word of God. This is the measuring stick. You try it and test it. We're supposed to be like the Bereans who search the scriptures daily whether those things were so.
And look, by the way, I'm not just telling you, hey, don't listen to the guy on the radio and search the scriptures daily whether those things are so for the guy on the radio.
I'm saying for everyone. Have you noticed that at Verity Baptist Church I ask you to turn to every passage? I have you go to every. You say, why do you do that?
Pastor, if you didn't have us turn to all these passages, you could probably tell more stories and tell more jokes. Yeah, I know.
But you know, the point is for you to get your eyeballs on the word of God because it is the word of God that can change your life.
Now you're not supposed to have a bad attitude about it because that's the other part. You preach like this and then people want to have a bad attitude.
You're not supposed to show up to church and say, well, I'm going to try to find every problem that the pastor.
Look, I get so tired of this because if you get up and preach for an hour three times a week for 12 years of your life, you're going to say something wrong.
It's always funny to me the people who they never have anything good to say. They never say, hey, pastor, good job. Thanks for that sermon. That really encouraged me.
But as soon as I say, you know, Jonah instead of whatever, you know, it's like, pastor, at the 14 minute, 42 second mark, you said, I don't think myself, you were here.
What do you mean? You're not even looking at the screen. How do you know the minute mark?
It's like we have this like social media world where you're like, you're here right now. They're like, 17 minutes, 32 seconds.
You're not supposed to have a bad attitude about it.
The Bible says about the Bereans that they came ready to receive, but they also search the scriptures daily whether those things were so.
You know, most pastors don't want you reading the Bible because you might figure out that they don't know what they're talking about.
At this church, I'm constantly trying to get you to read the Bible. Read the Bible, read the Bible, memorize the Bible, study the Bible, show up to church, leave the Bible.
Why? Because we're not supposed to believe every spirit. We're supposed to try the spirits. I don't have a bad attitude about it.
I don't have this attitude where you're just trying to find everything wrong with everything, you know.
That's why I'm going to start doing that at the men's preaching. I'm just kidding.
But I'm going to start taking notes of all the wrong things people say. I'm kidding. I'm not going to do that. Some of you are like, okay, quitting that.
Go to Jude. Jude, verse 3. You're there in 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, then you have Jude right before Revelation.
There's a hostility towards the gospel. A hostility towards the gospel.
And we are to contend for the faith. That's what Paul is doing in Galatians.
He is earnestly contending for the faith. Jude 1, verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation.
Here's Jude. He said, I wanted to write about the common salvation. Meaning, I wanted to write on the subject of salvation.
And the term common salvation is a reference to the common salvation that we all commonly share.
Because just like there's only one gospel, there's only one salvation. And if you're saved, then we all share that same salvation.
So he said, beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, he said, after I thought about it, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith.
Which was once delivered unto the saints. You see how the same wording there about the gospel? Being delivered, being received.
He says we have to earnestly contend for the faith. And you might be here tonight and say, I don't know why, you know, why do you have to mention the Mormons?
Well, I'm about to mention the Mormons a little more. Why do you have to mention the Catholic Church? You know why? Because we're supposed to earnestly contend for the faith.
Because we're supposed to fight for the gospel and these false religions are damning people to hell. Do you understand that?
They're preaching a false gospel and sending people to hell and Paul says, I'm going to fight it.
Our job is to earnestly contend for the faith. Go back to Galatians 1. Galatians chapter 1.
So we see the authenticity of the gospel, we see the hostility towards the gospel.
And I want you to notice thirdly, in verse 8, we see the credibility of the gospel.
The credibility of the gospel, verse 8, but though we. Notice what Paul says here.
He says, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed. Here Paul speaks to the credibility of the gospel.
And please understand this. The credibility of the gospel, the gospel does not find its credibility in its messenger.
Paul says, I don't care if I show up next week and start preaching another gospel.
He says, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
What's the lesson? Nothing outranks the gospel. You understand that?
No angel, no apostle, no preacher, no pope, no prophet, no president, no denomination, no council, nothing outranks the gospel.
It doesn't matter who's preaching the wrong gospel. If they're preaching the wrong gospel, we go with the authenticity and the credibility of the word of God.
He says, look, even if I, Paul says, even if I change and I start preaching another gospel, he said, don't listen to it.
He says, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel.
Now it's interesting to me that the apostle Paul talks about an angel from heaven preaching another gospel.
Because of the fact that there are some religions who teach that angels came to them and caused them to preach another gospel.
I've already mentioned one, but let me go ahead and mention it again.
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, claimed that in 1823, an angel named Moroni, which is why they're called Mormons, appeared to him and told him of the existence of an ancient record engraved on plates buried in a hill near his home.
So according to Joseph Smith, who's a known liar and swindler and thief and con artist, according to Joseph Smith, who is known for telling tall tales and just lying through his teeth every time he opened his mouth,
according to Joseph Smith, this angel, Moroni, shows up and gives him another gospel.
And this angel says to Joseph Smith, everyone is wrong. Every other religion is wrong. You're the only right one.
And their credibility to their so-called Book of Mormon and their Mormon religion is that an angel showed up and told Joseph Smith.
Now you might ask me, do you think an angel showed up? I think something showed up. Yeah, I do think an angel showed up. I think a fallen angel showed up.
I think a fallen angel showed up. A demon showed up and brought another gospel to Joseph Smith and damned a bunch of people to hell that are believing in Mormonism.
You say, what's your answer to Mormonism? But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which he has preached unto you, let him be accursed.
So an angel told him, I don't care. An angel told him a false gospel. An angel told him to add baptism to salvation, to add repent of your sins to salvation, to add works to salvation, to add church membership to salvation.
That's what an angel, so-called angel, told him. Mormonism is not the only religion. How about Islam?
Muhammad, the founder of Islam, claimed that the word of God was revealed to him by the archangel Gabriel in Arabic.
That an angel showed up and told him, and look, Muhammad for a while wondered whether he had seen a demon.
And he should have gone with his intuition because, yes, he saw a demon. An angel shows up to Muhammad and brings another gospel.
And Paul says, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, 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.
So we see the credibility of the gospel. The gospel, it's its own credibility. By the way, the word of God, it's its own credibility.
Do you understand that? As Christians, we need to get away from trying to defend the Bible.
Now the Bible is a logical book and it's a reasonable book, and I don't have a problem with us identifying that and seeing that.
I like to preach sermons about how the Bible has prophecy that's fulfilled and has science in it that was there before man had found it and how the Bible is always ahead of man.
I don't think there's anything wrong with those types of sermons, but please understand that your job and my job, my job is not to get up here and defend the Bible.
The Bible defends itself. The credibility of the Bible is the Bible itself.
And no one, nothing, no position, no pastor, no preacher, no pope, nobody outranks the Bible, outranks the gospel.
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.
So we see the authenticity of the gospel. We see the hostility of the gospel. We see the credibility of the gospel.
Then number four, we see the severity of the gospel, the severity of the gospel. Notice there verse eight again.
But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, notice this little phrase, let him be accursed.
Let him be accursed. That word accursed means damned. It means sent to hell.
Verse nine, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received.
Look at it again. He says it again. Let him be accursed. He says let him be damned.
And look, I'm not trying to offend you and I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but you need to get acquainted with the God of the Bible.
And what Paul is saying here is they can go to hell. And I don't mean that as some sort of a phrase of cussing.
I know some of you are so into TV and whatever that you can't hear biblical words and not see.
But this is a thing in the Bible. For people to be cursed, to be damned, it means for them to go to hell.
I'm not having road rage here like you do. I'm not telling someone to cut me off to go to hell.
But the apostle Paul is saying let him go to hell. Let him be accursed. This is pretty severe language.
And it's severe, the severity of the gospel. And look, you say, I don't understand why you have to be, why do you have to bring up the Mormons,
why do you have to bring up the Catholics, why do you have to bring up the Jehovah's Witness, why do you have to bring up these false religions,
why does Paul have to tell them to go to hell, why do you guys have to be so mean and so angry.
Listen, remember where we started? God sent his son to die for your sins.
He was buried. His soul went to hell. He resurrected from the grave to prove that he was who he said he was.
God did this. His son did this as a payment for your sin and my sin. And then religious man wants to say, oh no, that's all right, I got it.
And here's all that God is saying. And if you don't like it, take it up with God.
But what God is saying is if you want to tell me that you don't need the sacrificial atonement of my son because you got dunked in a baptistry,
because somebody poured water on your head, because you went into a confessional booth and told somebody all the rotten things you've done,
because you quit smoking or you quit drinking and now you think that that's what's going to get you to heaven,
here's what God is saying and here's what Paul is saying and here's what I'm saying is if you want to reject Christ and trust in your works, you can go ahead and go to hell.
It's the severity of the gospel. You don't get to reject Jesus Christ. Paul is saying go to hell.
If you want to reject Jesus, go to hell. And look, he's speaking to false prophets. Do you understand that?
He's not talking to the Hindu or the Muslim who doesn't know any better. What does he say to that person?
To that person we're supposed to go and preach the gospel. And it's funny to me because people will listen to this woman and say, you're so hateful.
Yet this church will have 120 soul winners out this week preaching the gospel to people who've never heard a clear message of salvation.
So you want a loving message? Show up on Saturday. You'll hear it.
But to those who preach false gospels, who show up to churches or get on the television or get on the radio and pretend to be a lamb when they're really a dragon
and pretend to be a man of God when they're really a man of the devil and they preach a perverted gospel, Paul says go to hell.
Paul says let them go to hell. If they want to put their faith in that, go to hell.
We see the severity of the gospel. He says if you want to reject the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for salvation and instead place your faith, trust confidence in yourself
or your religion or whatever you're trusting in, he says let him be accursed.
We see the authenticity of the gospel. We see the hostility of the gospel. We see the credibility of the gospel. We see the severity of the gospel.
And then lastly tonight, I want you to notice we see the authority of the gospel. Look at verse 10.
He says, for do I now persuade men or God? What does that mean? Here's what Paul's preaching. Here's what Paul's saying.
Here's what Paul's telling the churches in Galatia. And this is what I'm saying to you.
Paul's saying I don't preach for you. I'm not writing this letter for you. Listen to me, Verity Baptist Church, I love you.
But I don't preach for you. For do I now persuade men or God? You say I don't like your sermon. I don't care if you liked it.
I'm not trying to please you. I'm trying to please God. If everybody walks out of here and says that was a terrible message, I hate it, but God says I liked it, then that's good enough for me.
For do I now persuade men? Is that what I'm trying to accomplish? Is that what I'm trying to do? I'm not up here trying to win a popularity contest.
He said for do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
And here's a message to every person that ever wants to be a preacher is you better decide who you're going to please as a preacher and as a servant of Christ.
You just get up and preach the word of God and let the chips fall where they may. You make sure you please God and that's all that matters.
What's interesting to me is that if you love people and you show up in people's lives and you're there for them and you preach the truth to them and you love them even when you have to tell them the truth, the church still grows.
But Paul says for do I now persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
And look, that should be the life verse of the average televangelist. Joel Osteen's life verse should be I am trying to please men.
That's why he gets up every Sunday in front of millions of people, preaches for 20 minutes, has that cheesy smile on his face,
never says anything controversial, never says anything biblical, says a bunch of garbage that's not even in the Bible, a bunch of feel-good messages.
That's what the average preacher is doing. They're just preaching to please men so that they can live in a nice big house and drive a Ferrari.
Paul says, here's what Paul's telling the church of Galatians. He's telling them, I know this letter is not going well already.
I'm only 10 verses into this thing and you're already pissed off. But he says, I don't care. For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
And then he says this in verse 11, but I certify you, brethren. He said, that word certify means I want you to be certain of this, be certain of this.
He says, but I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
That phrase after man means that it's not like something that would have came from a man. It's not patterned after man.
Because, you know, if a man was going to preach a gospel, if a man was going to create a gospel, you know what they would say?
They would say, live a good life. They would say, go to church. They would say, that's why, and by the way, that's why all these religions say that.
Because a bunch of unsaved people are trying to come up with the gospel and they come up with the only thing that unsaved people can come up with, which is live a good life, go to church, try to do right, maybe you'll be good enough to go to heaven.
Maybe you'll be good enough to go to heaven. That is what every unsaved, unregenerate person would think without the Bible, without the Holy Spirit.
And look, the truth is, even here at Verde, even our kids, our kids in this church, I'm talking about kids that were born in this church.
All they've ever known is this church. I know this because many of you have told me this about your kids and I've even experienced it with our kids.
You'll have a four-year-old, a five-year-old, a six-year-old, all they've ever known is Verde Baptist Church.
All they've ever heard is Verde Baptist Church. They've never been anywhere. They've never heard anything else.
And then they'll get to five, six years old, mom and dad will ask them, what do you think it takes to go to heaven?
They're like, be a good person. And it's like, where did you get that from? You have never heard, no one's ever said that to you.
But you say, why do they say, hey, look, mom and dad, don't freak out. You know why they say that?
Because that's what every unregenerate human being would come up with.
That, by the way, is why they need a soul winner with the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit to explain to them the Gospel.
So Paul says, the Gospel which was preached of me is not after men. It's not something that men would have came up with because men would not have came up with this.
Man is not going to come up with, we're helpless and we need it to be saved. Man is going to come up with, we weren't that great, but we kind of turned things around.
We kind of picked ourselves. And then in verse 12 he says, the Gospel in verse 11, which was preached of me is not after man, verse 12,
for I neither received it of man. He said, it didn't come from man. Neither was it by, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And the apostle Paul has a little bit of a unique testimony in the sense that he's going to state that the Lord Jesus Christ actually appeared to him.
So his authority and where he got the Gospel from, he says, neither received it I of man. Neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And of course, he brings that up because the revelation of Jesus Christ is what gives him the authority as an apostle.
Because he, we saw it on Easter, I think, in 1 Corinthians 15, he said, and last of all he was seen of me. He said, who was born out of due time.
So he's bringing up his authenticity as an apostle, asserting his authority as an apostle.
But we see the authority of the Gospel, and the authority of the Gospel is this, that it did not come from man.
I mean, today churches will teach. The Roman Catholic Church will say that they hold the salvation.
If they excommunicate you, then you're not going to go to heaven. They see themselves as the source of the Gospel, salvation.
Other religions do the same thing. You say, what do we believe? We believe the Gospel is not, no one owns it.
It didn't come from anyone but God and Jesus Christ.
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And then in verse 13 and into chapter 2, the next section of this epistle Paul is going to give us,
and he's going to go into detail about his testimony and how the Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself to him, and we'll cover that next week.
Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you, and we thank you for the book of Galatians.
And Lord, I realize that the vast majority of people here are saved, and I thank God for that.
But it's good for us to be reminded of these things, that we need to earnestly contend for the Gospel.
Let us not just assume that religious people are saved, because the truth is that the average so-called Christian is not saved.
There's a broad way that leads to destruction.
Help us defend the Gospel, fight for the Gospel, love the Gospel.
And Lord, I pray that you'd help us as we'll learn in this book, not only to be saved by the Gospel.
If that's all that we can get, then praise God for it.
But help us to learn to stand in the Gospel, so that we might not only be delivered from sin and from hell,
but that we might be delivered from this evil present world, this present evil world.
We love you. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
Alright, well we're going to have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song.
I just want to remind you that on Sunday morning, of course, we'll be back into our helping people reach their full potential series.
So we'd love for you to join us, of course, on Sunday morning, and maybe bring a guest or invite somebody with you.
And then the men of the church, don't forget, on Friday night is men's preaching night.
And I want to encourage you to be here for that. We'll have a great time, of course.
And the guys always do a great job, and I do not point out to them what they did wrong, unless I really have to.
No, I'm just kidding. It's always a good time, right? Don't be scared.
We're going to have a good time. Pizza, it's good for the men of the church.
You ladies, remind your husbands so that way you don't have to cook dinner, alright?
And you send them on to church. We'll give them pizza, and that'll be good, alright?
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. Brother Matt, come up and lead us in a final song.
Turn to song 355.
355.
What a friend we have in Jesus, 355 on the first.
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear.
Oh, because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
When we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Sing it on the last. Are we weak and heavy-wakened, covered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do Thy friends despise forsaking? Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In His arms He'll take and shield me. Thou wilt find us all this land.
Amen. Good singing before we leave here.
If anybody has questions about salvation, baptism, or church membership, the pastor will be at the door.
He'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's trained you to talk about that.
I'm going to ask Brother Matt, would you close a prayer for us?
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this stunning night of biblical issues, Lord.
We thank you for our pastor's heart to preach the word.
We thank you for it. We thank you for the gospel to be with us.
We thank you for the gospel to be with us.