Grace and Peace in This Present Age

Transcript

GR 1136
11-08-98
Grace and Peace in this Present Age
Galatians 1:3-5
Gil Rugh


We’re studying the book of Galatians together on Sunday morning, so turn in your bibles to the book of Galatians and the first Chapter, Galatians, Chapter 1. Paul established the churches in Galatia on his first missionary journey. He visited them again on his second missionary journey. He visited them again on his third missionary journey. Timothy, who became such a vital part of Paul’s ministry, was from Galatia. But these churches are best known to us today because they’re the recipients of Paul’s most severe letter that we have preserved in our New Testament. There was a dangerous apostasy, false teaching, infiltrating the churches in the region of Galatia. The false teachers were evidently Jews who came from Jerusalem. They professed to believe in Jesus as the Christ or the Messiah, but they were also proclaiming that in addition to faith in Christ, you must also be circumcised and keep the law. Paul deals with this teaching very strongly and very firmly.

These teachers used two approaches that were closely joined together to try to undermine what had been taught at Galatia. First they attacked the creditability of Paul’s apostleship. They tried to undermine people’s confidence in the fact that Paul was a genuine apostle. And then secondly they attacked the gospel of grace that Paul preached. So you can see how the two go together. If they could cause people to lose confidence in the fact that Paul was an apostle sent by Christ, then people would lose confidence in what Paul taught, and that would make it easier for their false teaching, which undermined the gospel of grace to take hold in the churches. These two issues formed the bulk of what is discussed in the book of Galatians, Paul’s defense of his apostleship and his defense of the doctrine of grace. And he deals with these two issues in the introduction to the letter, that which we often call the salutation or the greeting of the letter which covers the first five verses.

Paul dives right in to what the issues are confronting the churches. He will talk about his apostleship and he’ll talk about his gospel. Now as we move through the book of Galatians, some of you have been here for other book studies before, but just a reminder, we take it piece by piece. Our goal is to understand as clearly and thoroughly as possible what God has said through the apostle Paul. Furthermore, to the best of my ability, I approach this as though I were teaching people who had not been through it before. I mention this because those of you who have been part of the ministry here for a number of years may think well, boy, you know, we’re reviewing things I already know. But keep in mind, we try to approach it, and in my thinking I’m thinking of those who perhaps have become believers in recent days and months. Don’t want to take any more for granted than is necessary. We’ll be taking it piece by piece. The goal, when we get done in Galatians, you will understand what God said here for yourself, and will be implementing it in your life.

In these first five verses there is no word of appreciation for the Galatians, there is no word of thanks regarding the Galatians. Often in Paul’s letters he’ll express his thanks to God for something that God has done in a Galatian’s life. There is none of that here. This is Paul’s most stern and severe letter and the issues of great significance. The very existence of the churches in Galatia are at risk. So even in his introduction he draws attention to what the two basic issues are, to establish what he will be dealing with through the rest of the letter.

In the first two verses Paul defended his apostleship. He began by saying Paul an apostle, and then he elaborates, I am an apostle because of divine appointment. God the Father and Jesus Christ appointed me an apostle. So I am not inferior in any way to any other apostles. I am a directly divinely appointed apostle. He’ll elaborate on that subject through the first two chapters of this letter. Then in verses 3-5 he deals with the second issue and that is a defense of his gospel. So he’ll present in these verses what the gospel is and what it accomplishes and then primarily in Chapters 3 and 4 he’ll elaborate and develop that. Then in Chapters 5 and 6 he’ll pull it together on how this ought to be lived out in the lives of the Galatians.

So he’s ready with verse 3 to continue his introductory comments and he says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. So even though there’s no word of thanks, no expression of appreciation, he does have hope that the Galatians have truly been born again. He has hope that their salvation was genuine. He’ll allude to this and refer to it through the letter. The very fact that they are thinking of abandoning the gospel indicates that they may not have ever truly believed the gospel. And so he’ll deal with them about that issue. But he does have hope in his heart that they have just been confused and have forgotten the clear teaching that he brought to them during the times he was with them. So he expresses here a desire that grace and peace will be given them from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s rather standard in all of his letters, and yet it’s not just routine. Remember Paul was writing under the direction of the Spirit of God. So here he is expressing his desire, as given by the Spirit, for these churches. First, that they would experience the grace of God. You could call Paul the apostle of grace.

The word grace is used about 155 times in the New Testament. The apostle Paul uses it 100 times in his letters. So about two thirds of the uses of the word grace appear in Paul’s writings in the New Testament. He is concerned about the issue of grace. Grace deals with God’s kindness, God’s mercy. It is by definition something that is undeserved or unearned. So when we talk about God’s grace, we’re talking about his treatment of us as sinners, who are worthy and deserving of condemnation and judgment. But God has dealt with us in kindness and mercy and love. And the great example of that is his work of redemption in Jesus Christ. The very mention of grace brings up a crucial issue in the letter to the Galatians. The Judaizers, those who said you had to believe in Christ plus keep the law or parts of the law, were denying grace.

Turn back to the book of Romans, Chapter 11. I want you to understand clearly the issues in grace here. Verse 6 of Romans 11 Paul writes, But if it is by grace, and this is God’s work in salvation, we’ll be talking about this in a little bit, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. You see when you’re talking about grace, you’re talking about something that is not a result of works, and if works are included it is not grace, because grace by definition excludes the works. It is unearned, unmerited, undeserved. Now this is important because the Judaizers would not come and say we don’t believe in the grace of God. What they want to do is redefine the grace of God.

I have been visiting with some pastors from the area, some of you are familiar with and our disagreement is over the issue of salvation by grace. But they declare we believe that salvation is by grace, but you cannot be saved without being baptized. We have to be careful, because in that situation grace is no longer grace. So it is with the Judaizers. Oh, we believe in salvation by the gospel of grace, but you also must be circumcised. You understand verse 6 of Romans 11, if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. This will come out as we move through our section together today.

Come back to Galatians. What he is saying grace to you, he wants God’s unmerited, undeserved favor to be bestowed upon them. This is not only the grace they experience in their initial conversion, but salvation grace brings about our conversion but also provides enablement and strength and so on for living the life that God wants us to live. So we are not only converted by God’s grace but we live our lives daily by God’s grace as well, and this becomes an issue in the letter to the Galatians. You’re not saved by grace and now you live by keeping the law. No, it is grace from beginning to end. So he wants God’s grace to be poured out upon them, God’s provision for them in every area. He wants them to be enjoying and experiencing the peace of God, so its grace and peace to you, and our salvation includes peace.

Three aspects of the peace that we receive in our salvation. No. l is peace with God. Romans 5:1, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. The enmity, the hostility between God and the sinner is ended when we come to salvation in Christ. We have peace with God. Secondly, there is peace with others. We have peace with others in the family of God as a result of God’s salvation work. Ephesians, Chapter 2, verse 14-17 talk about the fact that God has broken down the barriers and established peace between Jew and Gentile in Christ. That racial conflict and discord and enmity is dissolved and resolved in Jesus Christ. So Ephesians 4:3 tells us that we are to endeavor, keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace within the body of Christ. We are to function in a relationship of peace with one another, as a result of the work of the Spirit of God in our salvation in our lives. Then there’s a third dimension of peace and that is peace with ourselves, inner peace, tranquility of heart and mind. Philippians, Chapter 4, verses 6 and 7 speaks of the peace of God which goes beyond understanding, standing guard at our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus, so that God brings to our hearts peace, tranquility that is our privileged portion.

Paul desires that these believers in the churches at Corinth be experiencing God’s peace in all of its dimensions in their lives personally and in their relationships. This peace comes from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We sometimes get into discussions about the deity of Jesus Christ and there are certain passages in the scripture that clearly declare that Jesus Christ is fully God as well as fully man, passages like John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. But there are also passages like this that do not directly declare Jesus is God, but it is assumed in what is said. It is God who gives grace and peace and grace and peace come from both God the Father and Jesus Christ the Lord. And it would be blasphemous to say grace and peace to you from God the Father and Gil Rugh. I have no ability to bestow grace and peace upon your heart and life, only God can do that and Jesus Christ himself is God.

So you’ll find down in verse 6 for example of Galatians l, he’ll refer to the grace of Christ, but over in Galatians, Chapter 2, verse 21 he’ll refer to the grace of God. Well the grace of Christ and the grace of God are the same grace, because God the Father is God and God the Son is God, distinct persons comprising one God. Same with the peace of God, Philippians 4:7, it’s the peace of God. Colossians 3:15 it’s the peace of Christ, same peace, comes from God the Father and from Jesus Christ.

Galatians 1:4. Now when he mentions the Lord Jesus Christ he now moves to an explanation and development of the work of Christ in salvation, just like he did in verse 1 when he declared himself an apostle. Then he gives an elaboration of what is involved in his apostleship. Now he mentions Jesus Christ and he elaborates on the salvation, on the gospel that is accomplished and provided in Jesus Christ. And it is this gospel which is being threatened by the Judaizers. You know, it’s a good reminder for us that here are the churches in Galatia, established by the apostle Paul, repeatedly visited by the apostle Paul, and yet the error that is threatening their very existence is a failure to understand and stand firm for the simple truth of the gospel. And so it is with the Evangelical church today. What is wrong in the church of Jesus Christ today is we are not clear on the gospel. We have become so loose and broad and indifferent to gospel clarity that we face the same dangers and the same issues that the Galatians did, and the result is we have a corrupted gospel which is no longer a gospel. And it’s a very, very serious matter. That’s why the letter to the Galatians is so pertinent to us as a church today.

Note what he says in verse 4. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who gave himself for our sins, so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. And you note you have the work of the Son and the work of the Father again brought to our attention. It will be Christ who gave himself, as verse 4 begins, and He did it according to the will of the Father at the end of verse 4. So God the Father and God the Son working together in perfect harmony to bring about a rescue operation, the salvation of sinners. This is a clear, concise statement of the gospel and he works it into the introductory greeting, so the people are prepared for what he is going to develop. He gave himself, stress on his sacrifice, his going to the cross was a voluntary action. Jesus Christ went to the cross of his own volition. He gave himself to be the sacrifice for our sins. And many passages of scripture emphasize Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for sins.
And that expression for our sins, is repeatedly emphasized in the New Testament. In fact this particular preposition translated for here, we write it in English huper. Huper is sometimes called the preposition of the atonement, because it’s used numerous times to refer to Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, his taking our place to pay the penalty for our sins.

Back up to I Corinthians, Chapter 15, a little bit in front of the book of Galatians. I Corinthians, Chapter 15. Here Paul unfolds the gospel that he preached, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and his appearance before witnesses. He says in verse 1, I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, his apostleship and his gospel were under attack at Corinth as well, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. He has the same concerns for the Corinthians. Maybe they didn’t genuinely believe for salvation. For I delivered to you, now note this, as of first importance. This is number one. Christ died for our sins. Christ died for our sins. The good news about Jesus Christ is a message about sin. It’s a message about the death of the Son of God. It’s a message that declares the Son of God, died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. The scripture declares all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The scriptures declare the wages of sin is death, and the scriptures declare that Christ died for our sins. He gave himself for our sins, to take our place, to pay our penalty. He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, I Peter 2:24 says. Christ died for our sins. This is of first importance.

If you don’t come to grips with the issue of your sin, you cannot be saved. If you don’t come to grips with the issue of Jesus Christ, the Son of God dying to pay the penalty for your sin, you cannot be saved. In the book of Romans, Chapter 5, back up before I Corinthians to Romans, Chapter 5, verse 6. For while we were still helpless, there was nothing we could do, the penalty for is death. I could not pay that and experience salvation because it is an eternal penalty. While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Verse 8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us on our behalf, in our place, because He was paying our penalty.

So come back to Galatians, Chapter 1. Christ gave himself for our sins, is at the heart of the gospel. Why, what was the purpose? So that He might rescue us from this present evil age. You know, so much of the confusion that has enveloped the Evangelical church, if I can use that as the general term that is used, that professes to believe in Jesus Christ and believe the scriptures, so much of the confusion and misdirection flows out of a failure to understand and submit to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s why we are left with confusion over whether these people are really saved or not. Same concern Paul had for the Galatians. He’ll say later I’m worried about you. I may have invested all my labors in you for nothing, because I’m really wondering whether you’ve really believed the gospel of grace. So we see that going on in the Evangelical church today. Christ died for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age. This present period of time, this age is characterized by evil. And the word here is aion basically, a word we’re familiar with in English, it’s the word for age. Some translations have world. The word kosmos is world, and they are sometimes used very interchangeably. But age stresses more the period of time. The kosmos of the world is the system that characterizes this period of time and all that’s going on in it. This present time, and the system that characterizes this time, is denoted as evil. It is an evil age and in the scripture we could divide time into two basic broad periods, the present age and the future age. The present age will be characterized by Satan and sin ruling. The future age will be characterized by Christ and righteousness ruling. So you have two broad periods of time that the Jews would deal with, the present time and the future time, the future time being the time when the Messiah rules and reigns.

So when he speaks of this present evil age, he’s not just talking about the days in which he lived 2,000 years ago, but this period of time preceding the rule and reign of Christ and righteousness. Now this is the period of time when Satan rules. II Corinthians, Chapter 4, verse 4 refers to Satan as the god of this world, and the word there is age again, same word we have here. Satan, who is the god of this age blinds the minds of the unbeliever, god, small g. Satan does not rule as absolutely supreme, but in the plan of God Satan now is allowed supremacy during this age, during this period of time. So he is the god, small g, of this age.

I John, Chapter 5, verse 19 says that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. There the word kosmos is used, world. This whole world system, matter of operation, the corruption and so on lies in the power of Satan, the evil one. So it’s no wonder Paul refers to this age as the evil age and I stress this because we, as believers, forget about it, and we wring our hands as though there’s something unusual. Did you ever see so much evil about you? We want to call our nation back to righteousness and we embarrass ourselves and worse than that we embarrass the gospel of Jesus Christ, because we find the world is not interested in being called to righteousness, because the god of this world is not interested in righteous, nor are the people of this world. This is an evil age because not only does Satan rule as the god of this world, but you understand sin rules and reigns in the hearts of men and women, because all have sinned and there is none righteous, no not one, and Jesus said he who sins is the slave of sin.

So we have men, women and young people living under the domination of Satan, living under the domination of sin. This is an evil age and a wicked world, and I cannot for the life of me, understand how people who claim to believe in Jesus Christ and believe the Bible can be parading around, trying to reform the world. Look at verse 4 of Galatians l again. It does not say Christ gave himself for our sins, so that he might reform. He had to die to pay the penalty for our sins, so He could rescue us from the present evil age.

I have no tolerance for those who keep mailing me material on how we can change our country by voting for the right people. God did not call me to change our country. You cannot clean up this present evil age. That is a denial of the gospel. Why would you need Christ to give himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age if we could clean it up without Christ? And so the church joins a crusade which has in its heart and foundation a denial of the truth of the gospel. And they try to turn it around and say I’m not being a good Christian if I don’t do these things. I say the church doesn’t even know what the gospel is any more. The church doesn’t even understand what the message and ministry of the body of Christ is. It’s a rescue mission. This is an unsalvageable situation, this is an evil age, and that’s not going to change. Now I realize at times it seems the evil is more openly manifest, sometimes it seems more covered. But the hearts of men have not changed. God’s evaluation is the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

We are on a rescue operation, a rescue mission. We bring the gospel of Christ that says Christ died for your sins, to deliver you from this present evil age. If we’re not clear on this, what are we clear on? You know what the church has moved into, just being another social organization, and if we get the right votes and we get the right legislation we say, boy, God must be pleased. Why? We’ve driven those sinners underground. They’re still lost. We don’t want to deny the impact and necessity of the work of Christ.

Look at Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 14. Since then the children share in flesh and blood, the children, those He was going to redeem to become the children of God. He Himself likewise also partook of the same. He became flesh and blood, He became a human being.

So that through death, you know what it takes, it takes the death of the Son of God, so that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver or free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. You see where the freedom comes from. It comes from the death of Christ and our identification with Him. That frees us from the power and authority of Satan and the power and authority of sin, and nothing else can.

Turn to Titus, Chapter 2, it’s a little in front of the book of Hebrews, the book of Titus, Chapter 2. Paul unfolds in a fuller way the truth that is condensed in verse 4 of Galatians 1. Titus, Chapter 2, verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to or for all men. In other words the grace of God in having His Son die to pay the penalty for sin has brought salvation to the world, not that every person in the world experiences that salvation. And this grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. The word translated present here is a different word than we have translated present in Galatians, Chapter 1, verse 4, but the idea is very similar. The word here is simply the little word now, to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the now age. Talking about this present age, the now age, the age in which we’re living, this present evil age. We who have experienced the grace of God in salvation are to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and we are to be living sensibly, righteously and godly in the now age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. We are looking forward to the coming age, and ultimately that time when Christ will rule and reign and righteousness will prevail.

Christ is the one who gave Himself for us, to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. You see what makes the dramatic transformation is the grace of God in salvation. It’s those who have experienced God’s grace in salvation that are called to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the now age. How did the church get off track when this is the gospel which is the heart and foundation of the church, to thinking we are to call godless sinners to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the now age. I cannot do that without denying the gospel, because the gospel says that’s not a possibility. Something is wrong and the issue is serious. The church needs to open its eyes and come to grips with reality. We are not here to reform our country. We are not here to clean up our country. We are here to proclaim the gospel so that sinners can be rescued from this present evil age, set free from the power and authority of sin and Satan in their lives, and then by the grace of God enabled to live godly lives.

Come back to Galatians, Chapter 1. You note that there is to be a radical transformation in the lifestyle of the believer. That will come out in Galatians very clearly. In fact when we get into Chapter 5 Paul will say if your life has not changed, you’re not on your way to heaven, and that’s in the context of saying you’re not saved by keeping the law and you’re not sanctified by keeping the law. But the grace of God changes your life.

Romans, Chapter 12, verse 2 says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. And again that word translated world in most of our English translations is the word age, same word as we have this present evil age in Galatians 1:4. Romans 12:2 says do not be conformed to this age, to the evilness of this time, to a corruptness of this time, but be transformed by being made new in the area of your mind. That’s what we are called to, transformed living, not to be conformed to this corrupted world and age.

Back in Galatians, Chapter 1. Christ gave himself for our sins, so that He might rescue us from this present evil age. Now the Judaizers would come and say we believe that, we preach that, but that in and of itself is not enough. You need to keep the law. And we’re not detracting anything from what Christ has done, we just want you to understand the fullness of what is necessary for God’s work in your life. You know, the church is falling for that same thing today. When the Judaizers came and said you must keep the Mosaic Law in addition to believing in Christ, they were denying the work of Christ, because it says Christ gave Himself for our sins. Now if Christ gave Himself for our sins that takes care of the issue of sins, does it not? Now what do I need to keep the Law for? Well, that took care of sins in one sense but it didn’t take care of them all, and maybe it took care of them in connection with your conversion, but it doesn’t take care of them in the context of how do you live. You know, churches are falling for the same thing today. Yes, Christ died for our sins, we believe that gospel, but there is more. Christians are struggling with sins, they can’t get the victory. We need something, and here you don’t deny the gospel but you bring this and mix it with the gospel. Now you have a ministry of caring and of loving and of meeting the needs, and helping Christians live. That’s just Satan recycling the old Judaizing heresy and yet when we try to preach that we’re considered obstinate, narrow minded, unloving. Well, what are you telling me? Here’s a person who got saved but has never dealt with the issue of sinful practices in his life, he needs something else than the gospel. Well, then I guess Christ didn’t give Himself for his sins, because it didn’t work. You see how it’s a denial of the gospel. Well, you know, that’s a little bit simplistic, don’t you think? I hope not because it’s what God said. You see no matter how you dress it up we’re back to saying what Christ did in and of itself will not be sufficient. The sins of our day are a lot more complicated than the sins of past days, I think not. Not when Jeremiah hundreds of years before Christ said the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things and no one can know it except the Lord.

I think nothing has changed and that includes the way Satan goes about corrupting the simple truth of the gospel and I scratch my head and say how could the churches of Galatia get confused on this basic issue, and then I find that the church today that has the completed word of God is every bit as confused and I find myself scratching my head and say have we labored in vein over them. Maybe they never understood the gospel of grace at all, and yet we welcome them into our churches, we welcome the teaching as though now we have a more complete gospel and that’s what the Judaizers said. They didn’t deny the gospel, they just thought they had a more complete gospel.

Christ died for our sins, so that He might rescue us from the present evil age. That includes the power and authority of Satan. That includes the power and authority of sin.
Romans 6, you were slaves of sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I have no latitude, no slack because the bible doesn’t allow it. I believe I have been fully delivered by the work of Christ. He is sufficient. Now I am to draw upon His grace and power to live accordingly. And it’s just that simple, and it’s just that hard. And this is all according to the will of God our Father, our God and Father. So Christ voluntarily gave Himself according to the will of God the Father. There is always perfect harmony between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, the three persons of the triune God, one God eternally existing in three persons, always in perfect harmony and agreement. Do I understand all the details of that? No I don’t. Do I believe the truth of it? Yes I do. I do not expect to fully comprehend with my finite mind the infinite God, but I believe the truth that He has said. This was according to the will of God our Father.

You note, salvation is by grace and as such it originates in the counsel of God’s own will.
You know, we use the expression bad theology always catches up to you and it does. And bad theology in the context of the gospel always catches up to you and the idea that I contributed to my salvation, God did the work but then it was left to me to respond or not respond. Well then I don’t have salvation by pure grace. I might have 98.8 percent grace but it still took me to make it work. That’s not the gospel that’s presented in the New Testament folks. It’s a salvation that is according to the will of God.

Turn over to the next book after Galatians, Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 11. Also, we’ll break in the middle of a sentence here, also we have obtained an inheritance, we who have been saved by God’s grace, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of our wills. No! After the counsel of His will. God counsels with Himself, confers with Himself and sovereignly according to His will reaches out in mercy and salvation, to choose and predestine some. That was expressed at the end of verse 5 of Ephesians 1. He has predestined us according to the kind intention of His will.

Could do a literal translation of what we have kind intention, according to His good pleasure. He did it because it pleased Him, the same in the middle of verse 9. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention or according to His good pleasure, because He is the one who works all things after the counsel of His own will, and it was the will of God that Christ voluntarily give Himself a sacrifice for our sins, that He might rescue us from this present evil age.

And I become irate when people who profess to be believers challenge the sovereign plan of God and say there is something else, there is something more, there is something additional necessary to deal with the issue of sin. And the last place you ought to hear that kind of teaching is in a church that claims to be bible believing and gospel preaching.
The last place the Judaizers should have gotten a hearing was in the churches at Galatia established by Paul and others. No excuse. That’s why Paul deals with it with utmost severity.

You can just jot down, we won’t turn there for time, Romans, Chapter 9, verse 11, Romans, Chapter 9, verse 16 the same thing. God is sovereignly working in salvation, it’s His plan. It does not depend on the man who wills or on the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. That’s why we bow and thank God for His mercy, for His grace, otherwise none of us would be saved. And if it was by grace it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Aren’t you glad it’s that way? That God didn’t provide a wonderful salvation and now has to wring His hands and say, boy, if Gil will only see the light, if we can only get him over the edge we’ll have him. I tell you God already determined I’m going over the edge, and I’m glad He did, because He called me to Himself and caused me to believe in His Son.

Come back to Galatians, Chapter 1. When he mentions the will of God he draws attention. He is the one to whom be the glory for evermore. Glory, giving glory to God means giving Him the praise, the honor, acclaiming His majesty, His splendor. And so God is the one who is to be exalted. Salvation is not teamwork in that sense. He gets all the glory for the redemptive work that Christ accomplished. To Him be the glory for evermore. And that’s a great expression for evermore. It is the strongest way to express in Greek eternity. You know what it literally is? Into the ages of the ages. What a contrast with verse 4. Christ died to deliver us from the present evil age, and in this marvelous salvation to God be the glory for the ages of the ages, long after this present age is passed. The glory of God will be declared because we will be trophies of His grace for all eternity.

Marvelous, it’s for His glory. Why did God save you? Why did He save me? To God be the glory. That’s the reason. To receive all the glory for being a God of infinite grace and mercy and love and kindness. Why did He not save everyone? That He will be declared to be a God of righteousness, severity, wrath, judgment in the destruction of the wicked. Why? I don’t know why. Because He didn’t counsel with me, aren’t you glad? I’ve been here long enough to have made some pretty bum decisions under the influence of Don! I’ve made one or two of my own. But God counseled with Himself. He counseled with Himself. That’s all I can tell you. Why? He works all things after the counsel of His will. To God be the glory. I don’t understand it all. But I am an instrument to praise Him for the reality of it.

Amen, Amen, comes from the Hebrew word that means to confirm something. It brings forth declare. This is so, this is settled, this is valid, this is true, this is confirmed. To God be the glory for the ages of the ages. That’s settled, that’s confirmed, that’s true. Amen.

Let me read you what Martin Luther wrote on this passage, a great commentary on the book of Galatians. Martin Luther died in 1546, so almost 500 years ago. Listen to what he said on this passage in Galatians. “The genius of Christianity takes the words of Paul “who gave Himself for our sins” as true and efficacious. We are not to look upon our sins as insignificant trifles. On the other hand we are not to regard them as so terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe that Christ was given, not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but for mountainous sins, not for one or two but for all, not for sins that can be discarded but for sins that are stubbornly ingrained. You know, I must have the perspective on sin that God gives me, and it’s so bad that there is only one solution. But the one solution is so great that it takes care of all my sin.” Luther had it straight in those comments. The church of Jesus Christ needs to have it straight today.

John R. W. Stott, writing on this passage in Galatians said, “Christianity is in fact a rescue religion.” And we realize that’s what we are, we are a rescue mission here. You know we sometimes talk about the City Mission as a rescue mission. That’s what the church is. We’re here to represent the living God who has sent us on a rescue mission, to proclaim the gospel that men, women and young people might be rescued from this present evil age.

Won’t you come and help us clean up our country? No, I’m sorry I have no time, energy or money for cleaning up. I’m on a rescue mission. That’s why this church exists, that we might give forth the gospel, that people might be rescued from this present evil age and brought to maturity in Christ in preparation for the coming age, when Christ and righteousness will rule and reign.

In John’s gospel, Chapter 8 Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, you are of your father the Devil and you always do what he wants. They lived under the authority of Satan. Jesus also said in that same context. He that sins is the slave of sin. We’re doubly cursed. We live under the authority and domination of Satan, the god of this world and we live under the authority and domination of our own vile sinfulness. But you know, there’s great hope as Jesus declared in John’s gospel, chapter 8, verse 36, If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. What a glorious gospel. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ. Have you ever been set free? Have you been rescued by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ from this present evil age? Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day when you are called to turn from your sin and believe in the Savior. Today is the day that the people of God are called to believe and stand for the simple truth of the gospel of God’s grace in redemption. Let’s pray together.

Thank you Father, that you are the God to whom is the glory into the ages of the ages. Lord, our hearts are thrilled and overwhelmed to realize that we through all the ages of eternity will declare your glory. And Lord, we are privileged to begin that process even today. Thank you for your work of salvation in our lives. We are trophies of your grace.
Thank you for the message of the gospel of grace. Lord, I pray this church might stand firm for the purity of your grace and the gospel until Christ comes. Lord, I pray for those who are here today that they would consider carefully whether they have believed in your grace as demonstrated in Christ for their salvation. We pray in His name. Amen.