Here
We Stand
By
John C. Orlando, Jr.
Preached on 20 September 2004
Covenant Presbyterian Church
Abilene,
Texas
Scripture: Galatians 1:1 - 10:
"1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brethren who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ."
Intro:
“Unless I am
convinced by Scripture and plain reason--I do not accept the authority of popes
and councils, for they have contradicted each other--my conscience is captive to
the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against
conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.
God help me. Amen.” Thus spoke
Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms, and the Protestant Reformation was off and
running.
The church in
Luther’s day had compromised the Gospel because they had turned from God’s
Word alone as its only rule for faith and practice.
They had exalted the traditions of men, and the works of Law and the
works of men as the basis upon which one could gain a right standing before God,
over and against the clear teaching of Scripture and the Gospel of Christ, and
in the process Christ and His cross were blasphemed.
Luther’s
statement was a statement of conviction that it is in the Scriptures alone,
God’s very words, that we find the only infallible source for faith and
practice. Luther was declaring to the world that he wasn’t about to do away
with the cross of Christ in favor of man-made traditions.
He wasn’t about to compromise with the spirit of the age.
Individually and collectively, compromise presents itself in many ways. We must, however, like Luther and the other Reformers, be absolutely committed to the authority of the Scriptures alone, exalting and preaching the cross of Christ alone, trusting the finish work and merits of Christ alone, resting upon God’s amazing grace alone, all to God’s Glory alone.
We must, as
Luther, take hold of the cross, and declare to the world:
HERE WE STAND, we cannot do otherwise.
The Apostle
Paul in the Book of Galatians was faced with similar concerns.
In dealing the infiltration of false teachers, Paul had to take a stand
for the Gospel regardless of the consequences.
In this opening chapter, Paul sets forth the framework and theme of the
entire the letter. In taking his
stand, Paul first:
I.
Describes the Basis of His Authority
A. These churches challenged the apostleship of Paul, and by challenging that, they challenged the message he had preached to them. Paul defends his position as an apostle, saying he was an apostle …“not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead”
1. Notice,
by saying that he is not an apostle by or through men, but through Jesus Christ,
Paul has made Jesus Christ something more than merely a man!
Paul goes on to link Jesus with God the Father, not an angel or any other
created being. By doing this, Paul essentially makes Jesus one in nature and
essence with the Father. Paul gives
us a picture of the Divine nature of Christ and the plurality of Persons that
make up the Godhead, alluding to the Trinity.
2. Paul then says “the
Father…who raised Him from the dead.”
Here we have what amounts to an affirmation of the full humanity
of Jesus. Only humans suffer death.
Jesus, as touching His human nature, suffered, bled, and died…but that
is not the end of the story! He was
also raised from the dead, which is significant with regard to the issue of
justification that Paul will address, since Christ, Paul says in Romans 4:25 was
raised because of our justification.
3. These points are critical, because the only Jesus that can save anyone is the REAL Jesus. Paul makes mention of this in 2 Cor 11:4. Paul says that there will be those who will come preaching another Jesus whom he has not preached. “Other Jesus’” abounded 2,000 years ago and have plagued the Church ever since.
4. Thus Paul, establishes the fact that He is an apostle not by any man, nor by any group of men, rather, directly by the sovereign, Triune God of heaven and earth! Paul is an apostle, and as such all that he writes here is binding to his readers. God had various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, but has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, and it was through the apostles that God would give us His holy, infallible, and inerrant Word. It is to our apostolic authority, as contained in the Scriptures alone, that we must turn to for…
C. The Scripture Alone is our sole infallible rule for faith and
practice
Only Scripture, God’s very words, can bind our conscience. John McAurthur, “Scripture alone speaks with an authority that transcends every other voice.”
1. When we place other things above or equal to Scripture, we move from truth to error, and end up distorting the message of Scripture. However, we must understand this principle aright, for even those who believe this still wind up perverting the Gospel…and there is the key word: Gospel. And the key to the Gospel is Christ! It is Scripture alone only as it comes to us in the person of Christ, and in the perfect and finished work of Christ. The Scriptures are the sole infallible source for faith and practice, and in a real and powerful sense, Christ Himself is our hermeneutic; that is, we must understand the totality of Scriptures through the lens of the perfect and finished work of Christ alone.
Which takes me to my second
point; Paul after having established his authority, now …
II.
Declares The True Gospel
Verses 3-5:
"Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from
this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen"
A.
Paul doesn’t go into detail at this point, mainly because this is
simply an introduction to the letter, but wow, what an introduction!
Paul causes his readers to reflect on all of the wonder of the true
Gospel. And we must keep in mind that his readers already knew
the message, because this is what he had preached to them on his missionary
journey (see Acts 13:39).
Paul gives just enough of the substance of the Gospel to cause some serious thinking to take place. What exactly would his readers have thought of with regard to these words? There are at least 3 things to notice. First, Christ gave Himself for our sins. Second, He did this to deliver us from this present evil age, and third, it was according to the will of God the Father.
1. “Christ Gave Himself for our sins” – Paul
immediately goes right to the heart of the substance of the Good News. Christ did not merely give us moral principles that we could
take or leave. He did not give us an opportunity for us to save ourselves…He
gave Himself…and not only did He give Himself, but He did so
“for our sins.” Many
of us lose sight of just how repugnant sin is to the mind of God, and just how
costly our salvation was.
R.C. Sproul,
in his book The Holiness of God, describes sin this way: “Sin is treason
against a perfectly pure sovereign. It
is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One to whom we owe everything, to
the One who has given us life itself. The
slightest sin is an act of defiance against cosmic authority.
It is a revolutionary act…it is an insult to His holiness.”
No amount of good will, no amount of money, no amount of good works could ever erase our sin debt. This is what Christ gave Himself for. He came to live the life we couldn’t live, and the took all of our sin upon Himself, and as the prophet Isaiah says, He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Paul then tells us the ultimate goal that was in view, when he says that Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might:
2. “Deliver us from this present evil age”
This present evil age is all
of the post-fall history of mankind, up to the Second Coming of Christ.
Because of the sin of Adam, sin and death entered the universe, but now
Christ has come to redeem us from and set us free from the ravages and
consequences of sin. All of this
was…
3. “According to the will of God the Father..” – Here
our minds are made to contemplate the eternal purpose of God before time even
began. What was the will
of the Father? Listen to the very
words of God Himself:
Eph 1:3-6:
"Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in
love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
John 6:37-40: "All that the
Father gives Me will (not might) come to Me, and the one who
comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For
I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who
sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."
Rom 8:28-34: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies."
Rom 9:13-18:
"As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have
hated." What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whomever I will have compassion."
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who
shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "For this very purpose
I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be
declared in all the earth." Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and
whom He wills He hardens.”
Our perfect
God implemented a perfect plan to perfectly save a multitude of imperfect
sinners from every nation, tribe and tongue, whom He calls His sheep, by sending
His perfect Son to perfectly accomplish all of His perfect holy will, and He
sent forth His perfect Holy Spirit to perfectly apply and bring about all that
is related to His perfect plan. And
it is all by grace alone, God’s unmerited, and de-merited favor bestowed upon
wholly unworthy sinners.
B. Here is an anchor
for the soul. Here we have a God
who always succeeds where man always fails!
Away with such fanciful notions that would posit the good works of sinful
men as the ground for our justification before a holy God.
Away with such God dishonoring babble that would dare
challenge the sovereign right of a Sovereign God to do with the clay as He sees
fit, or that would somehow obligate God to show grace to any wicked sinner, or
would bring accusation against God because He showered grace and mercy on one
undeserving sinner, and not another. Let God and His perfect plans,
His perfect purposes, His perfect truth, His perfect
grace, His perfect mercy, and His perfect works
forever be exalted and praised.
After declaring the Gospel, Paul
now:
III.
Denounces False Gospels
A. Verse 6 “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from
Him who called you in the grace of Christ”,
– Paul stands in utter amazement that these churches, the ones
which he himself just recently established, are now turning away from Christ.
These were the same ones that we read of in Acts 13 where Paul declared
“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man (Jesus) is
preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is
justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses.” So absolutely enthralled
with the Gospel were these folks, that we read further that the Gentiles there
begged that those words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
What was it
that they were turning to? Paul
tells us they were turning to a different gospel, which is not another; but
there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
What was the different Gospel, that really is not a Gospel, and who were
the ones that were troubling these churches?
We discover a bit later in the letter that the Judaizers were adding
law-keeping to faith in Christ as the means to justification.
In other words, a person was not saved by trusting in the finished work
and merits of Christ alone. Rather,
they were saved by faith in Christ and adherence to the Law of Moses, that is,
it was faith in Jesus plus our good works that would justify a person before
God.
And though the
particular Old Covenant practice that is mentioned is circumcision (see Gal
5:2), we should
understand that importing just 1 thing from the Law of Moses obligates one to
keep the entirety of the Law of Moses (Gal 3:10,12,4:9, 30-31; 5:3). Turn
to Galatians 3:10. As many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse. But,
this is precisely what Christ came to deliver us from! Look at Gal 3:11-13.
Only the
precious Blood of the Lamb of God has the sufficient power to cleanse all
of our
sin. The power of the Good News is
that it is the power of God unto salvation, and there is no other power in the
universe that can accomplish that task. It
is only the Gospel that can translate one from the kingdom of darkness to the
kingdom of light. It
is only the Gospel that can set a person free. It is only the
cross of Jesus Christ and His atoning work that has the power to so radically
change a person’s life. But, Paul
says, these
Judaizers wanted to:
B. “Pervert the Gospel of Christ: To pervert something is to turn something from one direction to a completely different direction. The Latin word is pervertere, which means to overturn. This is what the Judaizers were doing to the Gospel. This is what the church did at the time of the Reformation, and sadly, this is still going on today. It is not enough to have the right Jesus, but we must also have the right the Gospel.
1. You see, a person might get all of the facts right about who Jesus is, but they can still get all of the facts wrong about what He did. Not only can people preach a false Jesus by diminishing, distorting, or denying His nature, and they also preach a false Jesus by diminishing, distorting, or denying His work. This is precisely what the problem was with the Galatian churches. They had the right Jesus, the real Jesus in terms of the His nature, but they denied His work! This, in my mind, only compounds the horrific nature of the offense--to have the real Jesus, and yet deny His work. To say Jesus is Lord!” but then pervert His Gospel! Can there be anything more offensive to the mind of God? (ref Heb 10:29)
2. These false teachers
advanced their false teachings by actually using the Word of God to fight
against, undermine, and pervert the Word of God and the Gospel.
They in essence fought the Gospel of God with the Law of God.
They wanted to place the freed New Covenant sheep under the bondage of
the Old Covenant Law made with the nation of Israel.
3. Notice as well, Paul says this is something that they wanted to do. They knew the Gospel that Paul had preached to them, but they despised the Gospel. Christ was clearly placarded before their eyes (Gal 3:1), but they trampled the Son of God underfoot, and counted the blood of the covenant a common thing! (Heb 10:29)
1. So many churches today fight against and undermine the Gospel by trying to bring us back under the Old Covenant Law of God. Some deny the imputation of Christ’s righteousness and the essential concept of merit, while others place the yoke of Moses around the necks of Christ’s sheep, while still others want to infiltrate the world at large and the civil government not with the Gospel, but with the yoke of Moses, stonings and all.
2. Others have replaced the preaching of the Gospel with polls, opinions, and ourselves as the standard of truth that we abide by or to determine what course of action to take.
But note, the
consequences are most severe. Paul says in verses...
D. "8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed."
-- Accursed. The Greek word is “anathema” meaning “set aside for destruction.”
One could have a lot “right things” to say, but if he is
wrong on the Gospel, he is in perilous trouble.
Why is this warning so strong though?
Think about what it says about Christ and His cross if we even think for
a second that we can stand before a holy God on the basis of our own filthy
works. Think of what it
says about that the sufficiency of Christ and His work on the cross. Think of
what it says about the Blood of Christ. It
says, "Jesus, your sacrifice on the cross didn't accomplish anything except
to make salvation a mere possibility. Your atonement didn't really remove
any sin, it didn't really satisfy the wrath of God. Jesus your sufferings
were not sufficient. Jesus, your Blood is powerless to do anything!"
Paul stands up, against every
principality and power...whether angel, demon, or fickle men,
and proclaims the cross of Christ and Him crucified, and counts everything else
as rubbish. He proclaims a cross that has
power in and of it self! He proclaims a Savior does not merely try to save
sinners, but actually does save sinners, not on the basis of what the sinner
does or does not do, but on the basis of He has done for the sinner. We must
ever keep the power of the cross before us, for that is our life, that is our
message, and Jesus is our only King. As such, Paul shows that we must
IV.
Desire to Please Christ Alone
Verse 10:
“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if
I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
A. “Persuade men” – The Greek word for
"persuade" (peitho) carries the idea of
seeking to wein over and/or gaining the approval of. Paul
is saying that he isn’t concerned about winning over or gaining the approval of men, but of
God. How was it possible for Paul,
and how is it possible for us, to have and maintain that same attitude?
Paul's answer is that he’s a
“bondservant of Christ”. Bondservants--- Have no choice but to obey regardless of the
consequences. Their life is not their own, but they are under the ownership of
another.
Conclusion
We were bought
with a price, and Christ has called us to take up our cross and follow Him, and
to proclaim His Gospel to every creature, and to leave the results to Him.
We are slaves, and the only thing that we know for sure that will happen
when we are faithful to the message of the cross is that we will be persecuted.
We will be despised. We
will
be rejected. But thanks be to God,
we have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weakness!
Let us then run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest we become weary and discouraged in our souls. (Heb 12:1-4)
Let us
proclaim to the world:
Here is the church, the Blood
bought Bride of Christ, which has as its sole infallible source the very word of
God, which is interpreted through the lens of the perfect work of Christ alone.
Here is the message that God has
announced, the Good News of Jesus Christ. We
declare that it is through the Blood of Christ alone that we have access to the
throne of Grace, and it is upon the righteousness of Christ alone that we stand,
and we determine to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified!
We will not move. We will not budge. We will not compromise. Let God be true and every man a liar. For do we now persuade men, or God? For if we still please men, we would not be bondservants of Christ. Here we stand, we cannot do otherwise! Amen.