We probably think I'm going to make you sing all four verses of The Mighty Fortresses of our God, but this won't do. You're absolutely right. No, you're wrong. But I would like to stand up for a second, and I would like us to sing together the first and the last verse of The Mighty Fortresses of our God. Our mighty fortress is our God, of old work never failing. Our helper be a wind of flood, of mortal ills prevailing. Seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great. And armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal. Verse 4. The Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sided. Let goods and kindred go. The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever. So you sit down, you turn around, you just greet one another, and then take about 30 seconds. Good morning. Good morning. All right, well, here we are in Galatians. This is the second teaching period. If you will go ahead and sit down. I'm going to stand up if you don't mind for a while, but may sit down in a few minutes. This is the Sunday school fall session that we take together. And as we shared last week, we are in the book of Galatians. So I hope that Magdalene or one of my grandchildren will have an opportunity to have their presence each Sunday with us. So once again, I'm hoping Magdalene will give you a smile on your face as you consider coming into our study of Galatians. And she indeed says, welcome back to our time together. The Scottish minister P.T. Forsyte would say this, the secret of the Lord is with those who have been broken by his cross and healed by his spirit. I'm hoping that this is something that you will take seriously as we consider our study of Galatians together. For it is inside of Galatians that we see the exaltation of two things. The cross of Christ is the only way a person can get right with God. And the spirit of Christ is the only way a person can obey God. Anything that diminishes the beauty and all sufficiency of what happens within that, has to be, in fact, an anathema, something that is accursed. And if you remember, as we set the stage last week, we reminded ourselves in terms of the fact that the Apostle Paul, having been given and commissioned with the authority from God himself to, in fact, give the gospel to the Gentiles, was so perplexed and disturbed by the Galatians' believers that they already would begin to move away from the purity of the gospel. Anything that puts our willing or running where the Holy Spirit belongs is witchery to Paul. And the reason we sense a kind of compassionate rage that is running through Paul beneath this letter is because he looks and says, someone has bewitched you. I think he is always saying, how could you let them bewitch you? You have received the gospel, the pure gospel, as I received it directly from God. yet you would begin to stray. So I hope that we will, in fact, as we study this great book with one another, that you will indeed etch its words upon your hearts and your mind. This is perhaps the first writing within the New Testament of Paul. He will write this somewhere in 49, as you will see in a few minutes. And he writes this and it follows what the churches already have, we believe, from the book of James. Now, there is nothing that I would rather be over the next several months than, in fact, one who helps you fall in love with Galatians. Because as you fall in love with it, the endearment will cause you to come to its words and to read its words over and over again. Now, this is Galatians chapter 1. If you've got your Bibles, I encourage you, you can look at this. Hopefully, it's already very familiar with you because we've had the opportunity over this past week to read it a couple of times. But Paul would begin in writing and say, Paul an apostle not sent from men or through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead and all the brethren who are with me. To the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins so that we, he might rescue us from this present age, according to the will of God our Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you receive, he is to be accursed. For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned once more to Damascus. Then, three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him 15 days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying. Then I went into the regions of Syria and Silica. I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ, but only they kept hearing. He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy, and they were glorifying God because of me." Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, how we rejoice in the fact that we are given the book of Galatians, that we are reminded that you commissioned the Apostle Paul, that he might speak and preach the gospel in its purity, that that which came from you was not defiled by him, but rather it was presented as it was received. We pray, Father, that you would help us to look within ourselves as we consider the meaning of the gospel, the message that is presented to the Galatian believers and through the centuries now has been given to us. We thank you, Father, for our time together in Sunday school and the opportunity that we might learn. And in your name we pray, amen. I shared with you that unlike some of the teaching periods that I've had in the past where I occasionally have given out homework and asked you to do things, I've also tried that as I go through it to do something that I think is the responsibility of those that teach. And that is to give you things that may assist you as you are reading and as you are studying God's Word. One such thing as that is if one would want to know what is the book of Galatians about, I would say you could do something as simple as this. Take a word and trace it through the 169 verses, the six chapters, and perhaps you would begin to gain insight of what he speaks. If you look here, inside of Galatians, If you just simply looked at Christ 38 times, grace seven times, law 32 times, the gospel 11, faith 21, belief four, promise 11, justified eight, spirit 18, flesh 16, circumcision 13, bondage eight. You could take each one of these things and say, what is God saying through Paul to me about Christ? What do I learn of Christ? When Paul speaks of the law, if I take that and look at each of those verses where law is contained, what do I learn? What insights do I gain? When he speaks in regards to a promise, and he does that 11 times, what is that promise that he speaks of? And when he speaks of being justified, how does he write it in such a way that I understand what it is to be free from bondage? and be free. Also, you can do this as well. Oftentimes we are afraid we will do it wrong. Our pastor, when he taught through Galatians, shared with us in the beginning of his series what was the key verse. We have the opportunity to look as well and to consider that. I would look inside there and I'd say, as you were looking at Galatians, do not miss that in 1-4, Jesus who gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of God our Father. It is He who gave himself for our sins that He might rescue us. A context and a content associated with salvation itself. 2-16. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. If you see 2.16, and hold that as your key verse, as you run the threads, of the gospel through this book of Galatians and what Paul speaks toward, you will have 216. In 220, Paul will say, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. chapter 5 1 it was for freedom that Christ set us free therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh So let me encourage perhaps this next week, if you do nothing else, read through these chapters, look at the verses, see what is key, the essence of what Paul is speaking through, inspired by the Holy Spirit. And look at these words to see what you learn. So, as we started last week and we put the context in place, I said to you there are some hills that cannot be taken. We must hold those hills. As the Apostle Paul comes to the Galatian believers, he comes to the Galatian believer and he comes in such a way that there is going to be no doubt within their mind that his tone is serious And he is looking and he is saying as sometimes the phrase I would use with my children, read my lips. What is he saying? So, this doctrine, justification by faith alone, is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God, and without it, the church of God cannot exist for one hour, Calvin would say. Paul knew the ministry that he held to the Gentiles with the gospel would be one, in fact, that he would not fail. for in him was Christ. He would fight the good fight, and he would go to address this. How sad it is today, so often, that when the gospel is not being presented in its biblical truth, how silent our voices. Oh, how we need to shout today in regards to the fact of fighting the good fight. So I've spent most of my life in the study of Paul and his writings. And his passion spurs me on. And I hope that he will spur all of us on as we consider his address to the Galatians. Now, what is the gospel? One must only listen to our pastor teacher each Sunday to have insight and regards to the gospel, or listen to the prayers that are spoken, or the verses that are read from the testament. But the gospel is called the good news because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings. And that problem is simply this, God is holy and He is just and I am not. And at the end of my life, I'm going to stand before him in a holy God, and I'll be judged. And I'll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness or lack of it, or the righteousness of another. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of a perfect obedience to God. Not for his own well-being, but for his people. He has done for you and me who are in Christ what we could not do ourselves. For He lived that life of perfect obedience and He offered Himself as that perfect sacrifice. The Bible makes it clear that we're not justified by our works, nor our efforts, but by our deeds, but by faith, and by faith alone. Now we talked about in terms of the fact that as we look at Galatians, is it relevant to us? So very quickly, there's a couple of slides I want to share back with you. You remember we said there is a gospel threat, and that gospel threat is alive and well here today within our community, just on this street itself, as the gospel is being distilled, as it is being, in fact, turned upside down with untruths. R.C. Rouse said, listen, you can spoil the gospel by substitution, addition, disproportional, and you can completely spoil the gospel by confused and contradictory directions. That's why you must understand. One of the things that we ask you when you come in as a member of the church, it's probably the first question that the elders ask, and what is it? What is the gospel? For if we do not understand the gospel and cannot articulate the gospel, cannot go back into the word of God, how then are we going to be on the straight and the narrow path? The Galatian believers had the gospel in their hand, taught by the apostle Paul himself, yet there were those that could come in and add. This comes from a man that many of you are familiar with, Paul Washer. He is passionate, he is compassionate, but he is also very straightforward. He would say one of the greatest crimes committed by this present Christian generation is its neglect of the gospel. And it is from this neglect all our other maladies spring forth. The lost world is not so much gospel-hardened as it is gospel-ignorant, because many of those who proclaim the gospel are also ignorant of its most basic truths. The essential themes that make up the very core of the gospel, the justice of God, the radical depravity of man, the blood atonement, the nature of true conversion, and the biblical basis of assurance are absence. Churches reduce the gospel message to a few creedal statements, teach that conversion is a mere human decision, and pronounce assurance over anyone who prays the sinner's prayer. So what are the results? These are results I will share with you that I believe that today and yesterday, as Paul considered, what are the consequences associated when the gospel is presented and it is incorrect and you are being moved away from the truth? Paul would say, the results of this gospel reductionism has been far reaching. It further hardens the hearts of the unconverted. It deforms the church from a spiritual body of regenerated believers into a gathering of carnal men who profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him. They reduce evangelism and missions as little more than a humanistic endeavor driven by clever marketing strategies based upon the latest trends in culture and it brings reproach to the name of God and the consequence to the church's purity and reputation. Do we not see that standing so near and doing nothing when we see the glorious gospel of our blessed God, replaced by gospel of lesser glory, does not become us as believers? That is not the gospel upon which we are saved, upon which we, in fact, wear its garments. So, Paul would say, We would be wise to see the gospel through the eyes of the ancient apostle, and to esteem it worthy of a lifetime of careful investigation. For though we may have already lived through years in faith, Though we may possess the intellect of Edwards and the insight of Spurgeon, though we may have memorized every biblical text concerning the gospel, and though may we have digested every publication from the early church fathers, the reformers, the Puritans, and up through the scholars of this present age, we can be assured that we have not yet even reached the foothills of this Everest that we call the gospel. even after the eternity of eternities, the same will be said of us. He will go on to say there is almost an infinite number of biblical truths a man might spend a lifetime examining. However, one theme arises above them all and is foundational to the understanding of all other biblical truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though this singular message, through this singular message, God's power manifests itself most in the church and in the life of the individual believer. Oh, that we might catch a glimpse of the glory of the gospel and allow it to kindle our passion with an ever-increasing, ever-deepening understanding of what God has done for His people in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. So as we get into Galatians, we know that it is an exposition, a defense, and an application of the gospel of God's grace. In chapters 1 and 2, he defends his apostleship. 3 and 4, he lays out an experiential and theological argument for the purity and the accuracy of the gospel. And then in chapters 5 and 6, he's going to give its practical implications. Now, one other thing that you can do as you go through, you may want to consider making your own outline so that this text becomes personal to you. you write in your Bible you can do that if you're not a writer in your Bible perhaps you want to have a journal that you have just on each of the books that are taught by the pull it by our pastor teacher in the pulpit and when we do it in Sunday school now when you look at Galatians in the first five verses. The five verses are pregnant. I mean there is so much that is inside of these. Some commentators and scholars will say that in these five verses you would find in fact the road map of all six chapters. Within these five verses we're going to have a greeting. We're going to have the author that is going to define for us. We're going to have Paul's defense of his apostleship, where its source is. He's going to talk about his supporters. He's going to talk about the recipients that are going to be given in the Church of Galatians. And then he's going to talk to us about grace and peace. And I will tell you, especially over this past week, I have spent some time with these two words, grace and peace. And I come once again to say, there is so much that I often do not understand, even in the simplest of words, that we so casually can push back. But inside that grace and peace, there's a source of blessing, God the Father. There's an enactment of the blessing, Christ's death for our sins. There's a purpose for it that we might be delivered from this evil age. And there is a guarantor of the blessing, God the Father, and then this beautiful doxology. So, let's get into the text. As we get into the text in verse number one, if we were to ask ourselves the question, who is the author? Guess what? We're gonna know by the first verse. Paul, an apostle. When we look at that, we're gonna see two things. We're gonna see the author's name comes first, customary in ancient writing to do that, and then it is followed by his credentials. Followed by his credentials, why? Because one of the things that is happening, as the false teachers, the Judaizers come into the midst of this congregation, To be able to take the message apart and to cause it to be considered false, they must get at Paul. And so he, at the very beginning, begins, Paul, the apostle. It is to give no doubt to them who speaks. the ambassador, the emissary of Christ himself with the message of the gospel being sent not by the authority of Paul, not by the authority of man as we're going to see, but from God himself. Now, when we look at this, it is always wonderful in terms of the fact of the debates that normally will go back and forth in regards to whether or not there are authors. And I will tell you that, especially as a lay student of the Word of God, there are so many things in regards to the fact that you read that you have to filter. But one of the things that they look at and we can look at as we begin to know Paul is to know that the nature of its theological argument, its distinctive use of scripture in support of that argument, the character of its impassioned appeals, and the style of the writing all point also to Paul as the author. Now, that opening phrase, Paul an apostle, is characteristic. But here, his apostleship is at stake. And so, it's used. We're going to see some things associated with the fact He speaks to himself as the Apostle, and then we're going to look and see how he addresses those that are with him. But from the beginning, he is deliberate, intentional, passionate, and confident. Because Paul's apostleship was not from men or man's agency. He wasn't divorced from the church because we know from our readings and Acts that there's a laying on of hands that is going to occur at Antioch. But he did not get his apostolic position and authority from his church. His call, he claims, did not come from man or means of man, literally not from man nor through man. This means that his apostleship is not derived from any other human source or dependent upon any other human agency. He, in fact, Paul is anxious to establish his independence from any human authority. He's not gonna deny his brethren, but he's gonna be determined that they understand. And these false teachers are picking away a Paul, an apostle? Really? Was he part of the 12? Well, where did he get his apostleship from? And so they will look and they will bite at him. We look not sent from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father. What is the source of Paul's apostleship? One of the things about my slides, if you look at them, up in the upper right-hand corner is gonna kinda give you an overarching, well, what are we gonna talk about? The source of Paul's apostleship. And the highlight deals with the particular phrase. Paul had been called not by man, but Jesus Christ and God the Father. And this is an unusual expression, I'm told. I am not a Greek scholar. So like a layman, like many of you who have not been seminary trained, we in fact depend upon those that have walked before us, have been sound in the writing and the capturing of that which is true to the Word of God. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I will always speak into the fact that foremost my teacher first is the Holy Spirit, who hopefully illuminates the word, that how wonderful it is to have gifted men who are trained and can guide us. And it says it's governed by the same preposition. Moreover, Jesus Christ is placed first, followed by God the Father, which is a reversal of the usual sequence. So what's he saying here? Well, he's claiming there is no distinction between the calling of Jesus Christ and the calling of God. And the wonderful thing is, we now have an opportunity in these verses, as we see throughout, that there's a joining, there's a connection, there's a presence of the Trinity. There is the showing here of the essential and eternal unity between the Father and the Son. And it goes, "...who raised Him from the dead." Very interesting in terms of the fact that he says resurrected from the dead. Not necessarily the first step as we think within the gospel. But he speaks toward this and as he speaks toward this, it's important to see the personal and the functional distinctions which Paul has now drawn between Jesus and the Father. God the Father did not die upon the cross. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on Calvary, and God the Father raised Him from the dead. This is the theology that clarifies the nature of God and the means of salvation. Jesus Christ and God the Father are one divine being, but there's a clear distinction of their personal actions and the plan of redemption. Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present age. It is Paul's practice when referring to God to mention something of what he and what he has done, usually in the terms of Christ Jesus. And we see this in his other letters. So why did Paul assert and defend his apostleship? It was because the gospel that he preached was at stake. He wasn't concerned about his reputation. He was not concerned about his pride being hurt. He was concerned that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ would in fact be defended by an apostolic authority that was recognized and understood to defend his message. Now Paul, Paul an apostle, not sent from men, through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. You know, when I look at Paul, we'll hear more about Paul as we finish up this first chapter and go into the second chapter. But I wanted to stop for a moment and say, okay, but for me, Paul, what about it? A major factor is that Paul was set apart. He was set apart, as we know, on the Dabascus Road. But he was set apart from the others was the abundance of what I think was divine grace, that it transformed him from what he once was, a fierce persecutor of the church to the man we know from Scripture. The vast scope of mercy shown to Paul never ceases to amaze me and gives me great hope in the mercy that God will grant me in my sinful condition. But what was his response? His response was to labor all the more diligently for the spread of the gospel and the honor in Christ to make the most of the calling. I had to stop and ask myself the question then. Am I making the most of my calling? Are you? We have been called. We have been transformed. We have this wonderful transforming grace. Do we diligently work for the sake of the gospel to the glory of our God? So Paul. The other thing is I stopped for a moment And in the 21st century, it seems that for so many, we view that there is no cost to claiming Christ. No cost. And I consider just for a moment about Paul. And so I went back and said, look at his cost, yet we're going to find how diligently he will pursue those that he has taught to once again nurture them in the word of God and give them the truth that they may speak. In the 39 lashes, I can only say this, I wanted once again just to read the words. So this is Paul. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. For the sake of time I'll only read this. After the 13th on the chest, The whipping was transferred to the back. 13 hard strokes across one shoulder, 13 across the other, cutting across wheels already bleeding. The pain may be gauged by a description of flogging in early Australia from the autobiography novel, Ralph Reichle, for whom the first dozen strokes were like jagged wire tearing furrows in the flesh. And the second doesn't seem like the filling of the furrows with molten leg, sensations of intense and intolerable pain. Five times. How could he continue? That was but part of the price he would pay. What's the price we're paying? Oh, if I dare speak the gospel or challenge someone in regards to a gospel that is incorrect, they will think less of me. And that will hurt me. And I feel bad. And I don't want to feel that way. What is the price? What is the sacrifice that we make? So he says, all the brethren with me. And with all the brethren with me, what he is saying is a couple of things. I am an apostle. And I have my brethren with me, distinct. I'm the apostle. These are my brethren. But he's going to speak and say, I have those that are around me. We don't know who they are. They might be Luke. Some have asked the question whether or not there were others. We don't know exactly who they were. But we do know this, that they gathered around Him. They spoke the same truth. And Paul had the ability on times as he needed to lean on them. The question is, within our life, within our journey in the gospel, as it lives out in us each and every day, as we live life together, do we have the brethren with us? Paul did. He would write to the Church of Galatias, 30 years or so, he had gone through three missionary journeys, gone into Galatia at least twice. Around 49 is when he writes. There is great dispute in terms of the fact of whether it was the southern region or the northern region. And you can read forever in regards to this debate. I will share this. It makes no difference whether it was the northern region or the southern region. The truth that he speaks, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is applicable to that church as it is to us. And there, of course, we know one of the reasons why we would support, perhaps, the southern region is he planted churches in the province of Galatia, Asia, Macedonia, and Arcadia. He did that. The church. And to that church, the abruptness of the language is remarkable. And the other letters that he will write that will follow this in the years ahead, there will be notes of commendation. There will be almost a group hug at the beginning. There is no group hug here. There are no words that say to them, but you've done this good. No, there is not. He's gonna say, what? I am amazed, I'm perplexed, I'm disturbed that you have so easily been taken from the gospel so soon. He doesn't even address them as saints, although they were. So he says, grace to you and peace. Grace and peace need to be understood this way. Basically, Grace is the source of salvation. Peace is the result of it. These are two precious words. Grace is positional. Peace is practical. It's more than just a nice way, you know, it is so easy to say, well, this was the customary greeting, grace and peace, customary greeting, and you run right past that. What is inside this grace and peace are ingredients of the gospel. They speak of the gospel in terms of the fact that grace is the source of our salvation. It is grace through faith that has saved us, linked to the message of Jesus Christ. And peace is the result of it. For we who are chosen, who have been brought into Him, will find peace. Grace is the sum of all blessings provided by God. Peace is the enjoyment of all blessings provided by God and experienced by the believer. You should ask yourself the question, if by grace, through faith I have been saved and I proclaim myself to be one who is in Christ, are you in peace? If you are not, why is that? Now, we are saved by grace into peace. We have a peace that passes understanding. We have peace with God. We don't fear death. We don't fear what the world brings. We have no fear of the enemy. We were concerned about the tropical storm or the hurricane Category 5 Florence that almost came near our door. But we know in the end our God is a sovereign God. And whether we live or whether we died in the storm. He is our God. And the worst that happens to us is that we go to be with Him. We have no fear of whatever happens in life because we are at peace with God, our eternity is settled, and we're eager to be in His presence. That is the profound peace. that grace brings. If there is no grace, there is no peace. So he says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The names of God and the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are governed here by one preposition. I like when I read that and I went back again and looked through it again and said, yeah, it all comes from one ultimate source. It's from this word indicating that they are the joint source of grace and peace and that they cooperate in the carrying out of the plan of man's redemption. They were not separated in this. For when Christ gave himself for our sins, He was not doing this. He was not saying, hey, I love you. Therefore, I'm going to reverse what my angry father did, and I'm going to go to the cross for you. No. It was for God's love, because of that love, that Christ the Son would go to the cross. Now, in verse 4, in about the four minutes that I have. Verse four is a wonderful verse. You just gotta spend some time inside of it. And as lay people, we can do this. When you look at this, who gave himself for our sins in order that we might be delivered us out of this present evil age according to the will of the Father. There's almost a succinct summary of the gospel. It shows its nature, its object, and its source. So look at this for a moment. Christ gave himself for our sins. This affirms that the purpose of Christ's coming was to be a sin offering. The nature of the gospel, Christ atoning death and resurrection. What was the object of the gospel we see there? To deliver from the present age. God sets us free from this present evil age, rescues the believer from danger. We're not removed from this world until they die or Christ comes again for us, but we're rescued out of this present age the moment that we are in Christ Jesus. We are still in the world, but not of it. and then the source of the gospel according to the will of God Christ was obedient to the will of God salvation removed from man and clearly given into God so there are Another series of things that you can look as you consider this verse and what Paul was saying just in the first minute and a half of his letter. He says who gave himself. This phrase who gave himself shows the willingness of Jesus to go to the cross. It was voluntary. Galatians 4 says, gave himself, Ephesians 5.25, he gave himself up. And Titus 2.14, he gave himself up for us. What did Jesus say? I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I do it of my own accord. Christ's death, a sin offering. The phrase for our sins shows the purpose of the cross. A transaction took place. We are the ones who would deserve to die because we owe God an infinite debt for our sin. Christ took our place on the cross. He became our substitute and our offering. He did that why? In order that we might, he might deliver us out of this present age. You know, one of the things that, as I read so many times over and over again from learned men of God handling this, just how each of them would take so personally this thought in regards that that word deliver us is a word that strikes the keynote of the letter. It denotes not a removal from, but a rescue from the power of the characteristics of this present age. Have you given thought to that? Meditate on that this afternoon. Talk with your spouse or within your family about how is the gospel of a rescue because it's an emancipation from a very state of bondage. Now, this phrase, in order that he might deliver us out of this present age, shows us the effects of the cross. We think of atonement when we think of the cross. We have seen Christ die to pay for our sins, but he was also crucified to emancipate us from this evil age. It is an evil age. a difficult one. And so by this present evil age Paul means the course and the current of this world's affair is corrupted by sin. Ours is one of corruption, decay, and death. And even though We continue to live in this realm. We're being continually rescued as our sanctification process is one of spiritual maturity. So do we understand that when we place on the armor of God in the midst of the spiritual warfare that we have, and I think that we forget sometimes, we are at war. We are at war. And so as we grow, we have Christ who continues to rescue us from this age. You remember this prayer? The Lord's Prayer deliver us from evil. We are asking God to finish the work Christ began to do on the cross. That is why Galatians is the epistle of what many will call the soul set free. According to the will of God, this shows the origin of the cross. He did it according to the will of God our Father. They were in unity with one another. as God gave His Son to die upon the cross. The Father does not love us because the Son died for us, rather the Son died for us because the Father loves us. The cross had its origin in that. To whom be glory forevermore, such a rich benediction. Salvation is the work from end to end. And within the gospel in its purity, when it is stated, how can one but come to what is a doxology moment? And he ends it with an amen, expresses the affirmation fitting the worthiness of God to receive glory for such a wondrous provision of eternal gracious salvation. I love this. Maybe Hsiu-Ling can pronounce that for us. You know how to pronounce that? No, you're just looking at me. Hello, Hsiu-Ling. He says at the end of a prayer, this is an old-fashioned Cantonese-speaking Christian, xin shan sheng un. Close? Oh, that was bad. I know you're not. You're supposed to know all these languages. So here we go, but here's what it says, with all my heart, this is what I wish. Boy, you know what? I hope that is the case, that as we look at Galatians, that we are gonna wish the same thing as Paul, that the gospel be pure, that there is a basis upon which our calling is from God, and as we move forward in the gracious love of the gospel, to walk within that gospel, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day, for the opportunity that you give us of worshiping. We pray now that you might help us as we transition, but might our mind and our hearts so quickly move, Father, may the Holy Spirit work this day within our lives. We give thanks for all that you have given us, and in your name we pray. Amen.