Galatians 1

Galatians 1:1-5

Chapter 1 Paul an Apostle of Christ “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 our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1:1-5) The Book of Galatians shows us the way to true freedom. Genuine liberty is neither legalism nor licentiousness. It is the blessed freedom of voluntary bondage to Christ. It is the liberty of willing captivity to the Son of God, willingly surrendering our lives to the rule and dominion of Christ as our Lord, voluntarily giving up our lives to him, being conquered by his omnipotent, saving grace (Mark 8:34-35; Luke 14:25-33). This true freedom is discovered when sinners are graciously forced to willingly cease from every effort to save themselves and trust Christ alone as Lord and Savior, glorying only in his cross, and trusting him as “the Lord our Righteousness” by whose blood and righteousness all the demands of God’s holy law have been fully met and satisfied forever (Jeremiah 23:6; Romans 10:4). All who have been brought by God’s sovereign, irresistible grace to trust Christ are dead to the law. You cannot be freer than that! The law of God no longer has dominion over us. Guided by the Holy Spirit and bringing forth fruit unto God (“the fruit of the Spirit”), the saints of God, out of gratitude and love to Christ and for God’s free gift of salvation in him, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior and seek to live for his honor and glory as the children of God in this world. The terror and fear of the law no longer rule our lives, but the love of Christ. The proud hope of earning rewards from the Almighty to gratify our lusts no longer motivates us, but the grace of God. The prison door has been opened; and we have entered into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Not only have we found the blessing; but we have become a blessing. For it is through the children of God that God blesses the world. The Epistle Paul addresses this epistle to the churches of Galatia in Asia minor. These churches were established during Paul’s first missionary journey and were located in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, and perhaps other places. It is difficult to determine exactly when this letter was written, but it was definitely among the apostle’s first epistles. We know that it was written after the council at Jerusalem, because it describes Paul’s relation to the other leaders at that great meeting. It was written after the two previous visits to Galatia, which are recorded in Acts 13-16. It must not have been very long after this, because Paul speaks of the conversion of the people there as a recent thing (Galatians 1:6).

It was probably written on his second missionary journey while he was at Corinth, before the arrival of Timothy and Titus. This would fix the date of writing about 50-53 A.D. That which prompted Paul to write this book was the sinister, and to some extent successful, influence of Judaizers[1] who crept in among the saints. It was his purpose to counteract this dangerous error by reemphasizing the glorious gospel of God’s free-grace in Jesus Christ, and by urging the believers to adorn their faith and prove its genuine character by loving and caring for one another. [1] Judaizers are people who teach that believers are still under the law of Moses as a rule of life, though they profess to be followers of Christ. In this book Paul calls for a return to the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ, denouncing all human merit and legal effort, and warning solemnly against apostasy from the faith of the gospel. He tells us plainly that the yoke of legal bondage is a bewitching system of works religion that utterly denies the grace of God and brings people to eternal ruin (Galatians 3:1; Galatians 5:1-4). Here Paul gives a clarion call for a return to the old Gospel. It is God’s power and God’s means by which he saves (Galatians 1:6-9). Divisions The divisions of this book are very simple and clear: The Origin and Authority of the Gospel (chapters 1-2) The Vindication of the Gospel (Chapters 3-44) The Application of the Gospel (Chapters 5- 6). An Apostle The Judaizers who sought to undermine Paul’s ministry and his doctrine accused him of falsely pretending to be an apostle of Christ. Their deceitful practice is common in all ages. The doctrine of the gospel cannot be refuted. Therefore, those who wish to keep others from hearing and embracing the gospel attempt to scandalize the men who teach it. In this first section of Galatians, Paul is forced (and inspired by God) to set forth his authority as an apostle of Christ, as a messenger of Christ to eternity bound men and women. The apostolic office was a temporary office in the New Testament church. There are no apostles, in the official sense of the word, today. However, the word basically means “messenger.” In that sense all true gospel preachers are apostles. But how do we know who the messengers of Christ are? How are we to determine who are true messengers of Christ to our souls? Paul gives us some guidelines in these opening verses of Galatians. Paul could have said many things about himself that would have given him credibility in the eyes of men. He was a man of great learning and tremendous usefulness, and was highly respected by his peers. But it was not Paul’s desire to have his name held in high esteem. He took no titles of distinction or superiority to himself. He was but a sinner saved by grace, just like his brothers and sisters in Christ at Galatia. He does not identify himself as the apostle, but as an apostle. He was one of many messengers of Christ. What a tremendous weight of responsibility he carried on his heart as a messenger of Christ! He daily carried upon his heart “the care of all the churches” (2 Cor. 12:28). Any man to whom this responsibility is given knows something of the high honor and great responsibility the Lord has put upon him. When the Pharisees asked John the Baptist who he was, his reply was, I am a voice, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.” There are multitudes of preachers listed in every telephone directory. But we have few messengers of God, few messengers of the grace of God. The pulpit, in our day, has lost its clarity. Its testimony has been spoiled because doubtful voices have arisen and been scattered among the people. Those who ought to preach the truth and nothing but the truth are telling out for doctrines the imaginations of men and the inventions of the age. Instead of revelation, we have philosophy.

Instead of divine infallibility, we have human speculation. The gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is taught as the production of progress, a thing to be amended and reformed year by year. We live in an age of liberality, of broad views, of boundless universalism, of rapidly spreading apostasy. Another Gospel If the world will not come to Christ, if the people of our “enlightened” age will not accept the gospel of Christ, the wisdom of the world tells us that we must make Christ more acceptable, we must tone down his teachings, that we must take the offence out of the gospel. Such foolishness we have come to expect from self-serving, man-pleasing religious hucksters. Sadly, today there are many who claim to believe the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ who have succumbed to the philosophy of the world. They vainly imagine that the offence can be taken out of the cross and that the gospel of the grace of God can be presented in a way that will make it palatable to unregenerate men. Rather than proclaiming the gospel as good news, the good news of redemption accomplished (Galatians 3:13), they present it as good advice and an offer of possible redemption. Rather than proclaiming God’s grace as the special, distinct operation of salvation (Galatians 1:15-16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Colossians 1:12), they present it as a thing common to all. Rather than proclaiming the efficacy of God’s grace (Galatians 3:14; Romans 9:16), they present a notion of grace that makes the operation of grace dependent upon the will of man. Rather than setting forth the distinct love of God for his own elect which results in their salvation (Galatians 2:21; Jeremiah 31:3; Romans 9:13-18; 1 John 4:19), they make the love of God a universal, and therefore insignificant, helpless passion in God. Rather than declaring that faith is that which God gives to and works in chosen sinners by the revelation of Christ in them (Galatians 1:15-16; Colossians 1:12), they make faith a work done by the sinner for God. While claiming to preach the gospel of Christ, they have so perverted the gospel that the gospel they preach is another gospel, a gospel that is no gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-9). How often I have been told that my message is out of date, that it will not suit people, and that if I would reach the people of this age I must tone down my message and modify my doctrines. Such a message is all right for the Bible College or seminary, or for private, intellectual discussion, but it ought to be modified for the pulpit. Oh, we may use the old phrases so as to please the obstinately orthodox, but we must dress them in new meanings so as to neutralize their force and make them palatable to natural men. The spirit of the age suggests that the wise preacher will abandon all that is too severely righteous and all that is too surely of God. Away with such nonsense! God has given us the message that men need, and he has supplied us with the means of communicating that message.

The message is the gospel of the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ and his death upon the cross. And God’s method of communicating that message is preaching. We must not be deterred by the opinions of men. We must not be “corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). We must not be “removed from him that called us into the grace of Christ unto another gospel” (Galatians 1:6). He, and he alone, who preaches the gospel that Paul sets before us in this epistle is the messenger of the grace of God. Such men have many characteristics by which they are identified. They are set forth in many ways in the Book of God. But as they are revealed in these verses, they are threefold. One Master He who is God’s messenger is a man with one Master (Galatians 1:1-2). As Paul opens this letter his heart and mind are filled with diverse emotions. For the perverters of the gospel there is a withering denunciation springing from holy indignation. For the churches there is marked disapproval and an earnest desire to restore. For the One who has called him there is profound reverence and humble gratitude. Paul knew that he was a man distinctly gifted, called and sent of God to preach the gospel. He was “an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ.” He was a man with a mission. His mission was to make known the gospel of Christ. His commission came directly from God who had called him. It came not from any group of men, or from any single man, but from the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father (Acts 26:13-18). And he did not put himself into the ministry.

He was put into the ministry by God himself (1 Timothy 1:11-12). He was called to be an apostle (messenger) to the Gentiles (Romans 1:1; Acts 9:15; Ephesians 3:3-8). His call was not inferior to the other apostles, for they were called during our Lord’s earthly ministry. Paul was called by the exalted Savior. His call was confirmed by signs and miracles, just as the other apostles. Like them, he had seen the risen Christ.

Only he saw him by special revelation. Paul received his gospel from Christ (Galatians 1:11-12). That was his authority. In his opening words, Paul declares two cardinal gospel doctrines: The equality of Jesus Christ with God the Father and the resurrection of Christ. These things are essential. If Christ is not himself God, then he cannot be our Savior. If he did not rise from the dead, then he did not put away sin. Paul was a man committed to Christ and committed to the gospel (Romans 1:1). Christ was his Master. He was his Master’s devoted servant. He was altogether separated to the gospel (1 Timothy 4:13-16). Paul was God’s messenger. He spoke by divine authority. Those who rejected him rejected God who sent him. It is important to note that this letter and this salutation did not come from Paul alone, but from all of the brethren who were with him and who assisted him in the ministry. Those who labor for Christ are co-laborers. The letter is to all of the churches of Galatia. These were not national churches or parts of a denominational organization, but individual congregations, local churches. Each local assembly was autonomous, functioning independently without control by the others. One Message (Galatians 1:3-4). Paul was a man with just one message—“grace”. “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” He simply proclaimed the matchless, free, eternal, sovereign, saving grace of God in Christ. He had no other issue. He had no other doctrine. He preached Christ crucified, all the counsel of God (1 Corinthians 2:2; Acts 20:27). Grace is not a helpless passion in God, a helpless desire to save sinners. Grace is not something God gives men by which they are enabled to be saved. Grace is God’s free, spontaneous, unmerited favor in action, his freely bestowed loving kindness and salvation upon guilty sinners who turn to Christ for refuge. It is free, undeserved, unmerited, and effectual. It is the effectual, irresistible, omnipotent operation of God in us. God’s grace is given to all sinners that go to Christ for it (John 6:36; 1 Timothy 1:15). It is God’s riches at Christ expense. It is this gracious favor and good will of God by which his elect have been blessed of God, made accepted in Christ and pleasing to God in him from eternity (Ephesians 1:3-7). Grace, and grace alone brings peace. Wherever grace is given, peace is given. We have peace with God, because Christ has reconciled us to God. We have peace in our hearts, because we have the Spirit of Christ within us (John 14:27; Philippians 4:7; Romans 8:1). We have peace in our consciences, because the blood of Christ, answering the demands of God’s holy law, has been sprinkled on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We have peace with one another, because grace has united our hearts, teaching us to love one another. We even have peace with our enemies, because we are assured that they can do us no harm. These two graces come from God the Father, the source and fountain of grace and peace, through our Mediator, Christ Jesus the Lord. Substitution Paul’s was a message of grace and peace through Christ, our Substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s darling Son, voluntarily laid down his life for his people upon the cursed tree. The Good Shepherd gave his life for his sheep, in our room and stead, as our Substitute (John 10:11; John 10:17-18). His purpose in doing so was to rescue us from this present evil world (John 15:19; John 17:14), and he keeps us for the world to come (2 Peter 3:13-14). Paul states this blessed gospel doctrine with profound simplicity and beauty in 2 Corinthians 5:21. —“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” What a profound truth, what stupendous grace, what wondrous mystery those words contain! “He,” God the Father, “hath,” in holy justice and infinite mercy, “made,” by divine imputation, “him,” the Lord Jesus Christ, his infinite, well-beloved, only begotten, immaculate Son, “to be sin,” an awful mass of iniquity, “for us,” helpless, condemned, sinful rebels! “The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ” (C.H. Spurgeon). Substitution is the foundation truth of Christianity, the rock upon which our hopes are built. This is the only hope of the sinner, and the joy of every true believer. “He hath made him to be sin for us!” This is the greatest transaction that ever took place upon the earth, the most marvelous sight that men ever saw, and the most stupendous wonder that heaven ever executed. Jesus Christ was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus Christ, the spotless Son of God, was made to be sin! This transaction that took place at Calvary two thousand years ago —The great substitutionary work of Christ, the mighty transfer of sin from the sinner to the sinner’s Surety —The punishment of the Surety in the sinner’s place —The pouring out of the vials of divine wrath, which were due to us, upon the head of our Substitute —is the only ground upon which the holy Lord God can be, as he describes himself, both “a just God and a Savior.” The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was made to be sin for us. No man living upon this earth will ever really understand this truth. Yet, we ought to be gripped by the glorious reality of it. Oh, may God cause it to get hold of our hearts! The gospel of Christ must not be pushed aside as an old piece of furniture in the house of God. The glorious gospel of substitutionary redemption is the strength, the glory, and the life of God’s church. This substitutionary work of Christ, of necessity (Blessed necessity!), involves the absolute sovereignty of God (Ephesians 1:3-14; Hebrews 10:5-10). Paul was never bashful about asserting God’s glorious sovereignty in all things, especially in the salvation of his elect. He states it as a matter of fact, usually without defense or explanation, assuming that all who trust Christ understand and rejoice in it. That is certainly the case here. Paul simply asserts the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for his people and that the sure result of his doing so shall be their everlasting salvation, “according to the will of God and our Father.” One Motive As Paul was a man with one Master and one message, he was a man with one motive —The glory of God (Galatians 1:5). He urged God’s saints to do all to the glory of God; and that was his own heart’s great ambition in all things. Most distinctly, throughout his epistles, he tells us that the salvation of our souls is for the glory of our God (1 Corinthians 1:30-31; Romans 11:33-36). He has saved us in such a way, and saved such people as we are that he shall be forever glorified by saving us (Ephesians 2:7). Imagine that. The Lord God, our great God, shall forever be praised because of his great grace toward us and wrought in us! Let our hearts ever be motivated by and our lives ruled by his glory. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 1:6-10

Chapter 2 The Singularity of the Gospel “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, 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 pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-10) It is utterly astonishing to a believer that anyone, having heard and having professed to believe the gospel of God’s free, sovereign, saving grace in Christ, could be enticed to abandon it for another gospel (Which is no gospel at all!) of legality, works, or a mixture of grace and works (Romans 11:5-6) But that is exactly what had happened in Galatia. Paul’s purpose in writing this epistle was to expose and reprove those as heretics who attempt to mix the works of men with the work of Christ, and to establish God’s elect in the gospel of God’s grace and glory in Christ. False teachers had crept into the Galatian churches perverting the gospel of Christ. While professing to be followers of Christ, they sought to mingle the works of the law with faith in Christ. They were persuading the people to abandon the gospel Paul had taught them, adding to faith in Christ the works of the law. The apostle Paul had taught them that Christ crucified is the only, all-sufficient, and effectual Savior of men, and that faith in him is the only way we can receive his finished salvation (Romans 5:11). He had proved the truth of all his declarations by miracles. These Galatians professed to believe the gospel as it was preached and confirmed by the apostle.

They had been so thankful for Paul bringing the gospel to them that they received him as an angel of God, and would have, had it been possible, plucked out their own eyes and given them to him. Yet, within a short time, these converts were induced by the eloquent discourses of false teachers to renounce Paul and the gospel of Christ, and to receive in its place a message contrary to the glorious gospel Paul had taught them. Therefore, he wrote this letter by divine inspiration, filled with indignation, sorrow, and astonishment. One Gospel Here Paul declares that there is only one gospel and he proceeds to show the singularity of that gospel. This message is one of dogmatism, finality, and authoritarianism, which is a rare message in our day of broadminded compromise. Our generation is taught not to believe anything, not really. One certainly is not to be dogmatic about anything. But the gospel of Christ is, in its very essence, a non-compromising, authoritarian message of absolutes. The very reason for the flourishing of Christianity in the pagan Roman world in which it was born was the non-compromising spirit of our forefathers in the faith. Rather than relinquishing or adding to one article of faith, they would die! We must return to this dogmatism about the gospel. The church is in desperate need of a clarion message ringing once again from her pulpits. There is too much silence regarding the message that passes for the gospel in this day. There is only one gospel. It must not be altered. It must not be mixed and diluted with human conjectures. We must uphold the gospel in its purity. Men are in a helpless, hopeless, mad dash to hell; and they will not be rescued unless Christ, the crucified Redeemer, sovereignly bestows his grace upon them. The gospel is “good news” from heaven of how that God sent his Son to save his people. It is the declaration of what God has done for sinful, helpless humanity. It is never a proposition. It is a declaration, a declaration of redemption accomplished by Christ. The Galatian Christians had been seduced from the pure gospel of God’s grace to a gospel mixed with God’s grace and man’s merit. Such a gospel is really no gospel (good news) at all, but a perverted system of self-righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 1:19-22; Colossians 2:8-23). The gospel is a declaration of what God has done for sinners in the person of his Son, apart from anything done by men. Anything other than a declaration of God’s work is a perversion of the gospel. Paul here calls upon them to return to, and maintain the gospel in its purity. Amazement It was Paul’s custom to give grateful acknowledgement of divine grace bestowed upon those he addressed, whereby they had been enabled to grow in knowledge, faith, and love. It was very common for him to express his inner satisfaction with the work of God upon them, and to give forth a prayer that they may continue to persevere in the faith. That is what we might expect to find at this point in his epistle. But, in this epistle to the Galatians, we are confronted with the exact opposite. What we find here is not satisfaction, but overwhelming amazement and painful perplexity. The first thing we see in this book is their removal from the gospel. A Change had taken place among them, and this disturbed their spiritual father. As a rule Paul was a very tolerant man. He showed great tolerance in his epistles to the Corinthians, who had behaved so shamefully in so many ways. He showed great tolerance in writing to the Philippians about those preachers who, because of envy, opposed him (Philippians 1:15-18). He was usually very tactful and expressed words of encouragement before dealing with faults and failures. But here the very essence of the gospel is at stake. God’s glory and man’s salvation is the issue; and here there is no place for tolerance. The Galatians were in the process of apostasy. They were forsaking liberty in Christ for the bondage of Moses. Paul was utterly amazed. He says, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel” (Galatians 1:6). Theirs was not merely changing theological positions. They were abandoning Christ, who in his grace and mercy had called them, and turning to another gospel, which was different from his in its very essence. “Called You” By and large, Paul appears to have been convinced that those to whom he was writing had been truly born of God, called by the effectual, irresistible power and grace of God the Holy Spirit to life and faith in Christ. The One who had called them was Christ himself. It was Christ from whom they were in danger of turning, not just Paul. There is a general call and an effectual call. The Lord Jesus Christ calls sinners by his Spirit in a general way, externally, whenever the gospel is proclaimed to them. This call is made effectual by the power of God. The efficacy of the gospel call is ascribed to all three Persons of the Trinity, though specifically it is a part of the mediation of Christ (John 10:2-3; John 10:16; Romans 1:6). The Galatians were replacing the gospel of Christ with another gospel and were being removed from Christ. The gospel of Christ is “good news” from a far land. It is the message of grace from God in heaven for men of the earth. It is a message of what God has done and is doing for sinners in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21). It is a message of salvation alone in Christ. He is the Door. He is the Way.

He is the Truth. He is the Life. In all that concerns the salvation of sinners, from start to finish, “Christ is all” (1 Corinthians 1:30). The gospel is not good advice, but good news, the good news of Christ’s finished work whereby he has made all God’s elect accepted with God. It is the good news of redemption, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, and sanctification accomplished by the blood of Christ, our crucified Substitute (Romans 5:10-11; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Ephesians 1:6-7; Colossians 1:12-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:10-14). “Another Gospel” Neither the Galatians nor their Judaizing teachers had openly denied the gospel. Heretics are almost always more subtle than that. They did openly deny the gospel, but their perversion of the gospel (adding obedience to the Mosaic law to the finished work of Christ) was a total denial of it (Galatians 5:1-4). Martin Luther was right when he wrote, “They made good works, which are the effect of justification, its cause.” But the Galatian error extended beyond the subtle evil of mixing works with grace in the matter of justification. Paul addresses that issue in chapters one and two. But, in chapter three, he deals with an even more subtle and more bewitching form of the heresy, that had been embraced by many at Galatia, and is embraced almost universally today. That is the mixing of grace with works in the accomplishment of sanctification (Galatians 3:1-3). It is a hazardous thing to tamper with the gospel of Christ. It must neither be abridged nor enlarged.

Any gospel that makes righteousness before God to be dependent upon the works or will of man is no gospel at all. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth” (Romans 10:4). Christ is all our righteousness. He is our Righteousness in redemption, in justification, and in sanctification. Neither our faith, nor our works make us righteous before God. By faith in Christ we receive the righteousness he accomplished for us. By our works, our obedience to our God, we manifest the righteousness he has wrought in us by his Spirit. “Accursed” As Satan transformed himself into an angel of light, his ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:3; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). These “deceitful workers,” as Paul calls them, beguile the souls of men, persuading them that they can make themselves righteous before God (or at least contribute something to the work), and thereby teaching them not to trust Christ as “THE LORD OUR ” (Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16). It is for this reason that Paul uses the strong, bold language of verses eight and nine to denounce all who preach any other gospel. “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” (Galatians 1:8-9). Here the apostle tells us how those who corrupt the gospel ought to be regarded. He includes himself and all others in this stern, clear word of condemnation. If anyone comes preaching any gospel other than the gospel of full, complete, effectual redemption and eternal salvation in and by Christ alone, let him be forever consigned to hell. The revelation of God is final, complete, and perfect. It cannot be improved upon. Christ is God’s final Word to men (Hebrews 1:1-3). He is the full revelation of the Father. He came on a mission to perform the work of redemption. He has finished the work. The Book of God is final. It tells us his whole revealed will. It reveals the totality of his work. The Word of God alone has authority in his house (Isaiah 8:20; Revelation 22:18-19). The gospel is final, revealing Christ, only Christ, and Christ alone as the Savior of our souls (Acts 4:12; 1 John 5:10-11). Those who would pervert the gospel, those who preach another gospel, which is no gospel at all, are to be regarded as accursed men (2 John 1:10-11). We should be very cautious in charging any man with preaching another gospel. But when anyone comes preaching another Christ and another gospel, (anyone who preaches that salvation is to any degree or at any one point dependent upon what you do rather than upon what God does) our responsibility is crystal clear. We must not acknowledge them as God’s servants. We must not receive their instruction. And we must not be partakers of their evil deeds by assisting them in any way. Men or God? In verse ten Paul states plainly that as the servant of God he could not concern himself with pleasing men. “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” He did not try to persuade (that is conciliate) men, or make the gospel appealing to men. All such efforts arise from corrupt motives and result in the destruction of men’s souls, not the salvation of them. Paul never courted the favor of men. He was concerned about the favor of God. It was not his ambition to impress, please and win the favor of men. He was concerned for and motivated by the glory of God. His only principle of life was to please his one Master, Christ Jesus the Lord. The simple fact is, no one can have two masters (Matthew 6:24). Any man who, for the sake of human favor, or out of fear for human resentment, will keep back any part of sacred truth is not the servant of Christ. Those who teach believers to live by law misuse the law (1 Timothy 1:8-9), and attempt to place upon God’s people an oppressive yoke of bondage that no man can bear. Let us use the law lawfully. We must never allow ourselves to be brought back under the bondage of the law from which Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1-4). To do so is to abandon all hope of salvation, for it is to abandon Christ altogether. Let us hold forth the gospel in its purity. It is the work of Christ, which alone saves sinners. The church of God has no other purpose for existence. We have no other mission.

Galatians 1:11-24

Chapter 3 Our Gospel is of GodGal_1:11-24 There were false teachers at Galatia who imposed themselves upon the saints there by pretending that they had their commission from the apostles. In the same deceitful manner they asserted that Paul was not an apostle. They made much of the fact that he was not one of the original twelve. They declared that he had never been acknowledged by them and that he did not properly teach their doctrine. Paul replies to this groundless charge with boldness, declaring that his apostleship was directly from heaven; and that it was therefore authoritative. The other apostles had received their office from our Lord during his humiliation. Paul was called to this office by the exalted Redeemer. Paul, however, does not content himself with the mere assertion of his apostleship. He goes on to prove what he has said by an appeal to undisputed facts of his own life. He makes this appeal with the greatest earnestness, because these facts touch the recognition of the validity of his message in all future ages. It is not unlikely that he foresaw that the fiercest attacks upon Christianity would be made upon the doctrine revealed in his epistles. Therefore, he labors to show that what he says, Christ says, since Christ is speaking through him. “It is not strange,” said Spurgeon, “to hear certain dubious people assert – ‘I do not agree with St. Paul.’ I remember the first time that I heard this expression I looked at the individual with astonishment. I was amazed that such a pigmy should say this of the great apostle. It seemed like a cheese-mite differing from a cherub, or a handful of chaff discussing the verdict of the fire.” In the passage before us Paul is defending his apostleship by defending his message. In this defense we see certain definite characteristics of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s object (the Holy Spirit’s object) in this passage is to demonstrate clearly that the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ is not of man, but of God. This gospel, which, by the effectual power of the Holy Spirit, completely changes the heart and life of a man in a very brief moment, cannot be of man. Our gospel is of God! By relating his personal experiences, Paul shows that the gospel originates with God alone, is revealed by God alone, and is applied by God alone. Brethren (Galatians 1:11) “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.”Paul addresses the Galatian brethren as “brethren.” Even now, in spite of their deviation, he considers them as members of the same spiritual family, of which he also is a member – The Father’s family (Ephesians 3:14). What a lesson there is here for us. Many are very quick to declare that others are lost, unbelieving sinners, void of God’s saving grace. Such judgment is both harsh and evil. You and I do not have the ability to discern wheat from tares or sheep from goats. Our Lord’s parables make that fact abundantly clear. We ought to always presume that those who profess to believe the gospel of the grace of God, who profess to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, do so.

These Galatians had fallen into grievous doctrinal error, error which caused Paul to stand in doubt of them (Galatians 4:11; Galatians 4:20), just as the Corinthian saints had fallen into very grievous moral and spiritual errors (1 Corinthians 1-6). Yet, Paul addresses both the Corinthians and the Galatians as “brethren” and deals with them as “brethren.” He does so without compromise, or pretense, bending over backwards in giving them assurance that his heart embraces them as brethren. A Revelation (Galatians 1:11-12) “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was 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.” Here Paul continues to show, as he did in Galatians 1:6-9, that the gospel he preached is the only message worthy of the name gospel, because it is of divine origin. The form of expression used here is very strong. When he says, “I certify you brethren.” He means, “I assure you most certainly. I would have you certain of it. The gospel I preach is not after men.” The gospel of Christ is not a human invention. It is of divine origin; and its character is divine. The gospel is unchanging and everlasting. It always lays man low in the dust and exalts the triune God. It exposes sin, demands righteousness, and proclaims righteousness as the gift of God’s free grace through the redemptive work of Christ. The gospel is neither good advice nor a gracious proposal. It is neither an offer of mercy nor an invitation to salvation. The gospel is good news, the proclamation of mercy, grace, and salvation in Christ, eternal redemption obtained by Christ for all who trust him. The gospel is the good news of a work finished for sinners, not a proposal of something for sinners to do. The gospel of free and sovereign grace is of God in its origin. It is not the result of human ingenuity or devising. Righteousness wrought by another and made over to us graciously is a mystery man cannot understand. Redemption accomplished by a divine Surety and Substitute, without human merit, is foolishness to me. Salvation accomplished for us, but altogether outside of us and without us, man can never grasp, except by divine revelation. Our gospel is totally contrary to human thought (2 Corinthians 2:14; Isaiah 55:8-9; John 1:5). It was devised in the eternal mind of God and brought into being by the sovereign will of God. Many agree that the gospel is from God in its origin who yet insist that it is of man in its reception. Paul declares plainly that that is not the case. —“I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” Paul did not receive it from his parents by his own will (John 1:12-13), the instruction of Gamalial, or from the other apostles. Without question, he heard the gospel from the lips of a man (Romans 10:14-17). He certainly heard it from Stephen (Acts 7:58), and may have heard the message preached many times by others; but it was not a man who gave him faith and caused him to believe and understand the gospel he heard. That is the work of God the Holy Spirit alone. He alone commands the light to shine out of darkness and causes the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ to shine in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). The only way any sinner can and will receive the gospel of Christ is “by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” That is how Paul received it; and that is how every chosen sinner receives it (Ephesians 3:3-8). Paul’s conversion was not the exception, but the rule (1 Timothy 1:16). He was the pattern and example of the way God saves his people. It is only by the sovereign, irresistible, illuminating work of God the Holy Spirit that the dark abyss of any man’s soul is enlightened to see and believe the gospel of Christ (Matthew 16:17; John 3:3; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Luke 10:21-22). Paul says, “God revealed his Son in me” (Galatians 1:16). Conversion (Galatians 1:13-16) “For ye 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.” Here the apostle relates the history of his conversion. It is not Paul’s purpose here to give us a complete autobiography. He relates only those events that support his vindication of his calling and apostleship from heaven. Thus, his record here, and that recorded by Luke in the Book of Acts (which is a history of Christ’s work through the early church) do not contradict one another. They simply bring to light different events in the life of this man of God. Paul was not seeking Christ. He was seeking to destroy the very name and memory of Christ. He was a violent persecutor. He persecuted God’s peculiar treasure, his church, desiring to destroy the body of Christ. This became to him, after the Lord saved him, a source of continual sorrow. He acknowledged that he was, in those persecutions, wishing himself accursed from Christ (Romans 9:1-4). He had been a Pharisee of the Pharisees (Philippians 3:4-7). But, all the while, the Lord God was seeking him. “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” The Lord God had separated him as the object of his sovereign love from eternity and from his mother’s womb in providence. And at the time appointed, “when it pleased God,” he revealed Christ in him. That is exactly how God saves all his chosen. His grace is sovereign, eternal, and irresistible (Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:15; Romans 9:10-24). He has a people whom he has chosen before the foundation of the world to be his own peculiar objects of love (John 15:16; Ephesians 1:3-4; Ephesians 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:9). At the appointed time of love, he calls each of his elect by his omnipotent grace (Romans 8:30). And his call is always effectual. Yes, always (John 6:37-39; John 6:63-65). It is by this omnipotent act of mercy and grace that God reveals his Son in chosen sinners, gives them repentance and faith, and sweetly compels them to come to Christ (Zechariah 12:10; Psalms 65:4; Psalms 110:3). Made A Preacher It was by that same irresistible power that the Lord God made that former blasphemer a preacher of the gospel (1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11). Any man who has been called to preach the gospel is made a preacher by the call of God. He is not merely made to want to be a preacher, made an aspiring preacher, or made willing to be a preacher. He is made to be a preacher. I know that it is customary among men to speak of men being called into the ministry before they are actually engaged in the work. But you will search the Scriptures in vain to find an example of any prophet, apostle, or pastor who was called to the work of the gospel ministry who was not involved in that work. In this matter of the call to the ministry, as in all other things, the customary method is altogether wrong and evil. When men speak of themselves or others being called to the gospel ministry, who are not actually engaged in the work, they put the cart before the horse. In the Word of God no man is ever referred to as being called to the work, until God has put him in the work. The evil of reversing that order is quickly apparent. —Once a man is convinced (or convinces himself) that he is called to be a preacher, he sets out on the relentless pursuit of an office and work to which God has not called him. If he succeeds in his pursuit, the result is disastrous. If he does not succeed in making a way for himself, he is in constant frustration. “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work” (1 Timothy 3:10. But let the man quietly wait upon the Lord God to put him into that office and work. Until that actually happens, let him faithfully serve the cause of Christ where he is with joyful contentment. Until a man can serve Christ with joyful contentment as a door-keeper in the house of God, he is not fit to serve in any other capacity. Indeed, if we are God’s servants, it matters not to us where or in what capacity we serve him. “A man’s gift maketh room for him” (Proverbs 18:16). Paul tells us, that once the Lord God had conquered him by his grace and called him to the work of preaching the gospel, “I conferred not with flesh and blood.” He did not consult with men about what he was to do. This was not a matter of arrogant independence, but of faithful obedience to Christ. If we know what the will of God is, to consult with flesh and blood concerning it is an act of disobedience. “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5). Paul and Other Apostles In Galatians 1:17-24 Paul briefly describes his earliest work and his relationship with those who were apostles of our Lord before him. He did not disregard or seek independence from those faithful brethren. The Lord simply kept him from their immediate influence for three years. He tells us in Galatians 1:17 that he spent some time in Arabia, by the will of God, and afterward came back to Damascus. How long he was there, what he did there, what his work was while he was there, we are not told. Then, after three years, he went up to Jerusalem and spent fifteen days with Peter (Galatians 1:18). But while he was there, he had no communication with any of the other apostles except James (Galatians 1:19). By asserting this fact, Paul is simply reaffirming the fact that what he believed and preached, and his authority for believing and preaching it, did not come from men, not even from the apostles, but from Christ alone (Galatians 1:20-21). When the other apostles heard what God had done for Paul, they rejoiced, gave thanks, and glorified God for his work of grace in him (Galatians 1:22-24).

Galatians 1:15

Chapter 4 All of Grace “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace.” (Galatians 1:15) “Grace tis a charming sound, Harmonious to mine ear; Heaven with the echo shall resound, And all the earth shall hear. Grace first contrived the way To save rebellious man; And all the steps that grace display Which drew the wondrous plan. Grace first inscribed my name In God’s eternal book; Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb, Who all my sorrows took. Grace led my roving feet To tread the heavenly road; And new supplies each hour I meet, While pressing on to God. Grace all the works shall crown, Through everlasting days; It lays in heaven the topmost stone, And well deserves the praise.” Christianity is a religion of grace. Grace is the love of God operating toward man. We teach our children early that grace is “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” Our hymns are hymns of grace. We speak of God’s grace in our worship services all the time. It is the incessant theme of every pulpit where Christ is worshipped. Saved sinners find the thought and experience of grace so overwhelmingly wonderful that they never get over it. Grace is the constant theme of their talk and their prayers. In times past men have written hymns about it. They have fought for it, accepting ridicule and loss of privilege, if need be, as the price of their stand. As Paul fought these Judaizers at Galatia, so Augustine fought the Pelagians, and the Reformers fought scholasticism, and the descendants of Paul, Augustine, and the saints of God have been fighting Romanizing, Pelagianizing, Arminian, legalistic, and humanistic doctrines ever since. With Paul their testimony is, “By the grace of God I am what I am,” and their rule of life is, “I do not frustrate the grace of God.” Yet, there appear to be very few who profess to be Christians who believe what the Word of God teaches about grace. Why do so few people believe in God’s free and sovereign grace? (1.) They fail to see the moral ill dessert of man. (2.) They have a wrong view of God’s justice. (3.) They have a weak and unscriptural view of the merits of Christ’s sacrifice. (4.) They fail to recognize man’s spiritual impotence. And (5.) They refuse to recognize the sovereign freedom of God. Pattern Before God called him by his grace, Paul had been a persecutor of Christ and his people, and went armed with letters to Damascus to hail men and women and drag them to prison. But on his road to Damascus he saw a light, exceeding in brightness the light of the sun, and a voice spoke to him out of heaven saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” By this miraculous interposition of God, this man Saul was converted. He became a saved man. He spent three days in darkness; but when Ananian came to tell him the gospel of Jesus Christ, scales fell off his eyes. He was baptized and became an instrument of great usefulness in the kingdom of God. We generally consider Paul’s conversion very remarkable in its suddenness and distinctness, and truly it is. Yet, at the same time it is no exception to the general rule of conversions, but is rather a type, or model, or pattern of the way in which God shows forth his longsuffering and grace to his elect. The Holy Spirit tells us distinctly that Paul was a pattern of God’s method of grace (1 Timothy 1:16). That simply means that the grace of God Paul experienced shows us exactly how it is that God saves sinners. Though he was suddenly converted on the Damascus road at God’s appointed time of love (Ezekiel 16:8), the Lord God had had thoughts of grace toward Saul of Tarsus long before he was born. God did not begin to work in Paul on his road to Damascus. That was not the first occasion on which the eyes of divine love and grace had been fixed on this chief of sinners. He declares that God had separated him, and set him apart, even from his mother’s womb, that he might reveal his Son in him. Salvation is all of grace. We are not saved by our works, or our wills, our obedience, or our faith; but by the grace of God we are what we are;” so that “no flesh may glory in his presence.” That great work whereby sinners are made righteous and brought to he aven is entirely a work of God’s free and sovereign grace, acting in love towards hell deserving sinners. Commonly, when we think of the word “salvation,” we tend to think only of the time when the chosen sinner, being born of God, first believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. But that is a great mistake. Salvation includes the whole work of God’s free grace in Christ: everything required to bring hell-bent, hell-deserving sinners into heaven’s everlasting glory in perfect conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. From beginning to end, the whole work is wrought of God. “Salvation is of the Lord.” It is altogether by grace and by grace alone. It is not determined by and does not depend upon the will, work, or worth of man to any degree. Planned The grace of God planned our salvation (Ephesians 1:3-14). The whole work began with God’s determination to save the people of his choice in eternal, electing love. He chose whom he would save. He predestined them unto the everlasting glory of the sons of God. He arranged all things from eternity, “according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). And looking upon his elect in the person of his Son, our Mediator and Surety, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, he made them “accepted in the Beloved,” and blessed them with all the blessings of grace and salvation in Christ before the world began, “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” In divine providence our God constantly works all things according to the purpose of his all-wise decree for the eternal salvation of his elect (Romans 8:28-31). The cost of our salvation was born by our God alone (Ephesians 1:7-12). The price demanded by his own holy law and justice was the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-20). He found a way, by his own “wisdom and prudence,” to redeem and save the people of his love; and that way is Christ. The Lord God graciously trusted his chosen into the hands of Christ as our Surety, the same Surety we now trust “to the praise of his glory.” God the Father planned our salvation (Ephesians 1:3-6). God the Son purchased our salvation (Ephesians 1:7-12). And God the Holy Spirit performs the work of grace in us by the power of his omnipotent, irresistible grace (Ephesians 1:13-14). He brings the word of truth, “the gospel of your salvation,” to every chosen sinner at the appointed time of love, creates life and faith in the chosen, seals to the believer all the promises and blessings of the everlasting covenant, and seals the believer in the grace of God, keeping him by infallible grace, until the resurrection day, “to the praise of his glory.” Precedes Grace planned salvation; and grace precedes salvation. We seldom hear or read anything about it in our day; but this grace that precedes grace is what the old writers used to call “prevenient grace.” This prevenient grace is demonstrated in Paul’s life. He was molded by the hand of God, inwardly and outwardly, for the specific purpose of doing the very thing for which the Lord God had separated him from his mother’s womb, to proclaim the unsearchable riches of his grace to the Gentiles. His personality, his education, his religious training, even his persecutions of the church were things used and over ruled by his God for his soul’s good. I mention his persecutions of the church in this matter because Paul seems never to have gotten over the fact that the Lord had so wondrously made him a member of that very body he once tried to destroy. His past acts of sinful cruelty to God’s people were matters of repentance to him, ever humbling him. The remembrance of what he had been and done as a lost man seem to have inspired in him greater zeal and boldness in the cause of Christ than he otherwise could have known. How we ought to thank God for his secret, prevenient grace. I doubt Peter would have been so bold on Pentecost had he not fallen before the maid. Luther probably would not have been so mighty a defender of grace, had he not known what it was to seek eternal salvation by his own works. Yes, when God almighty has set his heart upon a sinner from eternity, he causes “all things” to work together for his good. It is impossible to say when the grace of God begins to work in his elect. You can tell when quickening grace comes, but not the grace itself. God’s grace begins in our earliest years as formative grace. He sovereignly puts us in our homes. He moulds our dispositions. He forms our thoughts.

In later years God’s grace is upon us as preventive grace. He keeps many from a course of open sin and degradation. Then there is that marvelous restraining grace of God. He allows many to walk in sin and yet restrains their vice and keeps them from destruction, even while they live with their fists shoved in his very face (Jude 1:1). As he says to the mighty ocean, so he says to the object of his love, “Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further!” And at the appointed time of love, he steps into the lives of his elect by omnipotent, saving mercy, revealing his Son in them and calling them by his grace. Preparation The grace of God prepares the hearts of chosen sinners for his salvation (Matthew 13:3-9). He makes them willing in the day of his power (Psalms 110:3). He makes them willing to hear his Word. He gives them a tender conscience. He creates in them a dissatisfaction with their present condition. He strips them of joy and peace, creating trouble and woe in their souls (Psalms 107). And he sends his Holy Spirit to convince them of their sin, Christ’s righteousness, and of redemption accomplished by Christ’s atonement (John 16:8-11). God the Holy Spirit turns the eyes of the despairing prodigal heavenward. By his invincible grace, Christ effectually calls his sheep, and causes them one by one to come to him in faith (Psalms 65:4). Preserves The grace of God preserves our salvation, too (John 10:27-29; Philippians 1:6; 2 Timothy 1:12). This thing called “salvation” is God’s work. He will carry it through. Christ’s sheep shall never perish. Here is a divine promise. —“I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.” That is a blanket, unconditional promise of the Son of God concerning his people. It takes into consideration all times, all circumstances, all contingencies, all events, and all possibilities. Our Lord says, concerning all his sheep, “I give unto them eternal life,” and because they are my sheep and I give eternal life to them, “they shall never perish.” What if they are babes in Christ and their faith is weak? “They shall never perish.” What if they are young men in Christ and their passions are strong? “They shall never perish.” What if they are old men and their vision grows dim? “They shall never perish.” What if they are tempted? “They shall never perish.” What if they are tried? “They shall never perish.” What if all hell breaks lose against them? “They shall never perish.” What if they sin? “They shall never perish.” What if they sin again? “They shall never perish.” What if they fall? “They shall never perish.” What if they fall seven times a day? “They shall never perish.” What if they fall seventy times in a day? “They shall never perish!” This promise takes in all the flock. “They shall never perish.” Not one of Christ’s sheep shall ever perish; no, not even one! This is not a distinctive privilege reserved for a favored few. It is a common mercy to all the chosen flock. If you are a believer, if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have received eternal life, you shall never perish! Christ himself has promised it. No, you cannot even sin away the grace of God bestowed upon you in Christ.

Noah’s fall did not alter God’s grace. Abraham’s weakness did not make God’s grace less strong. Lot’s wickedness did not make him less righteous before God. David’s crime did not cause him to perish. Peter’s denial of the Lord did not cause his Lord to deny him. “Salvation is of the Lord!” Christ’s sheep shall never perish. This doctrine of the believer’s security in Christ is in every way consistent with all revealed truth. It is most surely believed among the people of God. Deny this promise and with it you deny every promise of God. If one word from God cannot be believed, no word from God can be believed. Here are seven reasons why the sheep of Christ shall never perish. The promise of God must be fulfilled—“They shall never perish” (2 Timothy 2:19; 1 John 3:19). The purpose of God cannot be frustrated (John 6:37-40). God’s covenant cannot be disannulled. God’s purpose in election cannot be overturned. The suretyship engagements of Christ cannot be defeated (Hebrews 2:13). The redemptive work of Christ cannot be nullified (Isaiah 53:10-11). The Book of God declares an actual, literal, accomplished, substitutionary redemption. Since Christ died for his sheep, in their room and in their place, they cannot and shall not die. He paid all our debts. – We have no debt to pay. He bore all our punishment. – There is no punishment left for us to bear. Christ satisfied the offended justice of God for us. – There is nothing left for us to bear, and nothing for us to satisfy. Justice pleads as strongly as mercy for the eternal salvation of those people for whom Christ died at Calvary (Romans 5:10; Romans 8:31-34).

If even one of those for whom Christ died were to perish, then his purpose in dying for them would be frustrated (Ephesians 5:25-27; Galatians 1:4-5; Titus 2:14). If even one of those for whom Christ died were to perish, then he could never see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The believer’s justification in Christ is an irreversible act of grace. The trial is over. The court of heaven has pronounced an irreversible verdict upon us – “Justified!” God will not impute sin to a believing soul (Romans 4:8). God has put away our sins forever by the sacrifice of his Son. Our acceptance before God is in Christ. Our justification is free, full, and forever! The work of God’s grace can never be defeated (Philippians 1:6). That which God has begun he will carry on to perfection. God is willing to complete his work in us. God is wise enough to complete his work in us. God is strong enough to complete his work in us. Without the least presumption, every true believer may gladly sing, “The work which God’s goodness began, The arm of His strength will complete; His promise is yea and amen, And never was forfeited yet: Things future, nor things that are now, Not all things below nor above, Can make Him His purpose forego, Or sever my soul from His love. My name from the palms of His hands, Eternity will not erase: Impressed on His heart it remains In marks of indelible grace: Yes, I to the end shall endure, As sure as the Earnest is given, More happy, but not more secure, The glorified spirits in heaven.” The intercessory work of Christ must prevail (John 17:9-11; John 17:15; John 17:20; 1 John 2:1-2). “Our cause can never, never fail, for Jesus pleads and must prevail!” The seal of the Holy Spirit cannot be broken (Ephesians 1:13-14). “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” We are preserved in the heart of his love. And we are preserved in the hands of his power. “All thy saints are in thy hands.” We are in the hands of Christ our God and Savior. We are always in his hands. What a blessed place to be! This is the place of our security. These are the hands that were pierced to redeem us.

These are the hands of omnipotent power. These are the hands that hold the reins of universal dominion. These are the hands that hold us in life. These are the hands of God himself. – “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:29-30). God’s elect are preserved in Christ forever, forever, infallibly secure in him (Zechariah 4:6-7; Jude 1:24-25), because this blessed work called “salvation” is ALL OF GRACE!