All right. Thank you. You. you Yeah. Yeah. Good morning and welcome, welcome to all. It is good to come before the Lord our God, the Lord of Salvation and we even think of Salvation and Reformation in a particular way this time of year, just yesterday being Reformation Day and so it is good to come before the Lord of our salvation. Welcome, welcome to all. People of God, let us begin our worship with a moment of silent reverent prayer before him. Amen. If you would stand, people of God, our call to worship coming from the Psalms, from Psalm 147. Praise the Lord for it is good to sing praises to our God for it is pleasant and a song of praise is fitting. The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Indeed, directing your attention to the bulletin, I will ask, congregation, where does your help come from? Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Let us receive then God's greeting this morning. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. Amen. Let us open then in song from that 147th Psalm, 147A. Let's sing 1, 2, 6, and 8. 1, 2, 6, and 8 of 147A. Praise the Lord, how good it is to sing Him songs of praise. He heals the broken hearts and warms and binds their wounds and pain. He counts the scars by night. he fills you The Lord has never done this for the nations of the world. His righteous hearts they do have no hope of ending. Indeed come to praise him, come to hear his will, his word, his law for all the earth. And so we read that revealed will in what we can rightly call the 10 part summary. And this morning we'll be reading from that second giving of the law in Deuteronomy chapter five. Deuteronomy chapter five beginning at verse six. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, and you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbors. In summarizing the law, our Lord Jesus Christ said, the first and greatest commandment is this, that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second commandment is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And surely people of God, the commandments were given and given the second time at a specific time in the history of God's people. So as is mentioned in the beginning and sometimes throughout the exodus and the deliverance there, And some of the language is a little bit older. We're probably not coveting specifically our neighbor's donkey, but we know these commandments stand. They are repeated in the New Testament. They are the moral law of God. And so we are to see that they apply to us in our deliverance. Our deliverance from sin itself, driving us to these laws, to follow them and serve God in gladness and thanksgiving. And yes, we can rightly in our minds, substitute out words like donkey and substitute in words like tractor and car, if we want to bring it into our immediate context. This is God's law and it speaks the principles of it to every generation, to every century. People of God, we know that one of the things the law teaches us is that we come before our God as sinners. And so let us pray now, pray to God, prayer of confession this morning. Lord, our Lord, we thank you that you have spoken so plainly, so clearly to us what you would have us to do. We know that in the giving of the Ten Commandments, specific and sometimes particularly heinous crimes were mentioned, whether that be adultery or false witness, but we know there are broader principles behind each one of these commands. Lord God, we pray that you would show us the depth of your commandments, the standard which you would have us to do, and Lord, yes, we fall short of that standard. Even those who no longer live in darkness are still those who will struggle with sin, as the apostle has so clearly told us. And so, Lord, in the knowledge of this drive us both to desire to serve you and to daily confess our sins before you. May we Lord yes do this individually And yes, Lord God, we do this right now as a congregation together, coming to your throne, professing our need of you, our sins before and against you and you alone. Lord, our Lord, this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. People of God, may the words of the psalmist also give us expression. Let us sing together 86B, 1, 2, 5, and 7. 1, 2, 5, and 7. You may remain seated as we sing. You are love, You are highly gracious, you Amen. People of God, we come now with our need for and assurance apart and we know that we are sinners where then does our deliverance come from where what is our hope looking forward to and we've been working through the Old Testament books were kind of pausing in Isaiah and taking more than one week here in Isaiah. So now we come to Isaiah chapter 25 and listen both to words of deliverance from sin and words looking forward to what that deliverance from sin brings. And we see both of these, we hear both of these in the assurance, in the comfort, in the words of salvation spoken of by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 25 beginning at verse 6. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food, full of marrow and aged wine, well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. It is indeed His and His alone, as is even the theme of our text upcoming this morning. Jesus alone, our Lord, our Savior. We are saved by faith alone in Him alone, by the work of Jesus Christ alone. So, people of God, we come before the throne of God's grace. Yes, as sinners, but we come as God's saved sinners. His people awaiting the wedding feast, awaiting the place of no tears, of no death. And as we come before the Lord God this morning, as we think of, we'll bring particular concerns, again, as well. But it is a morning to bring broader concerns before our Lord God, isn't it? It is a morning when we're thinking of many things in our nation this week. It is a time when we're thinking of Reformation. Yesterday being 503 years from the day we celebrate as the spark of that great Reformation. And it is also a time to think about harvest, all these broader concerns. We come before the God of all the earth. And so our Congregational prayer this morning, yes, we'll bring the names, of specific members of our congregation before God's throne, but we'll also bring these wide-stretching, wide, broad-scoped needs, cares, concerns before our Lord this morning. Let us pray now. Lord God, Almighty God of salvation, our Father, in heaven. Lord our God, make us to wait upon you, to have patience in our heart, to have assurance from you, to have comfort in knowing your control over all things. And Lord God, as we think of your control, as we think that you are not only our Father, our God, that you are our King and you are the King over all, We do think of elections upcoming this week. We think of our nation. Lord God, we think of so much which is at stake. We think of the one million who are legally murdered each year. We think of religious freedom. We think of so many broad sweeping concerns and Lord God we need to be reminded and so remind us this morning that whatever may come in the coming days or even the coming years and decades where we are especially thinking of that which is unknown Lord, remind us that you are in control, that even as you took the heart of a terribly brutal king thousands of years ago, you took the heart of King Nebuchadnezzar and you humbled that mighty king, that brutal king. Lord God, remind us that all leaders are in your hands. That you are the one who points leaders and they act only as you allow them to act. And Lord God, yet your words speak so clearly about personal responsibility. And we think of those who are responsible for policies which would kill those who are the most vulnerable. We think of those who would want to take away religious freedom. And Lord God, we think of our own responsibilities also as citizens in this nation. So Lord, help us to yes, no, no matter what, that our trust is not in princes. To know yes, no matter what, that you control the heart of every king, of every pharaoh, of every emperor that has ever lived. Whether it be those that were most brutal or those that were most just. Lord, you are over all and you have been and you will continue to be. So Lord, teach us to, yes, wait upon you, to wait upon you for salvation itself, to wait upon you as we think about the cares and the concerns and the troubles of this world. Lord God, as we think of these things, we think of the great need of reformation. We think about how some of the evils now committed are legalized by the government but committed by citizens. We think of how there is a great, great need for reformation, reformation of not merely some small sect of perverted leaders but of many perverted ideas that are in our land and our nation. And this is so at the, not merely in the realms of leadership, but this is true within the citizenship, widespread evil thoughts, thoughts which would go against your law and your word. Lord God, many who would deny you and who you are, and certainly would not confess sins and need of salvation from you. In short, Lord God, what we are bringing before you this morning is the need of nationwide reformation, that we stand in need of your word, your spirit working in the hearts of not merely government leaders, but Lord of our nation. broadly speaking, of our neighbors, of our fellow citizens, of our world also, and we live in an increasingly globalized world. Lord, our Lord, bring the good news of Jesus Christ to many. bring many hearts in humility before you, and bring many to know the good news of salvation, forgiveness of sins in you and you alone. Lord, our Lord, we think also of this very congregation, Lord, there are so many things swirling outside of us. May knowing that you are in control help us to not be overwhelmed by what is going on in the world. May we remember those who are near to us with whom we have a special bond and special responsibilities. Lord, we think of those such as Keith and Dee by his side, his continued battle with cancer. Lord, much to give thanks for and yet much pain still ongoing, continue to uphold Keith and Dee by his side. We think of those such as Cal and Bernie and Lord, the difficulty of restricted visiting also upon them. Lord, it is a discouraging season for them, but we give thanks for their love of you and of the church and we pray that you would encourage both of them and help them to be an encouragement to those around them. It is a season and atmosphere where discouragement and disgruntlement can become contagious. Help them both to be those who would encourage those around them and that many would see that yes, they can have peace even in a difficult year by constantly looking to you. Lord God, we give thanks for good notes on surgery and for a very good recovery for Amy Vandenberg. This is something which we give thanks for. We pray that you would continue to be with her. Lord God, we think of those who are distant from us. We think of those such as Andre and his military service, continue to uphold him. We think of Thomas and his seasonal labor, continue to lead and guide him and bring him safely back here as well. We think of Francois and his year off and his travels with family and friends. Lord, provide a family of faith. Give him a good spiritual fellowship with believers as he goes throughout Europe at this time as well. Lord God be with Melissa as she continues in her studies. and we pray that you would strengthen her and carry her through this year. We give thanks for a community of faith there where she can be a part of God's people around Dork College for this season. Lord, our Lord, we come again then remembering, yes, these concerns far-reaching, and the concerns of this very church. And Lord, as we think of the declaration, the proclamation of your gospel, may it indeed be faithful and true this very morning, right here in grace in Wupan. This, Lord God, is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. People of God, our song of preparation from the Psalms 103a. Let us sing one and three through five. One, three through five of 103a. ♪ He forgives our great transgressions ♪ ♪ He forgives our great transgressions ♪ ♪ He forgives our great transgressions ♪ ♪ He forgives our great transgressions ♪ ♪ He forgives our great transgressions ♪ ♪ He forgives our great transgressions ♪ ♪ He forgives our great transgressions ♪ ♪ He forgives our great transgressions ♪ ♪ And always shining, for in anger hide his face ♪ ♪ He is not by our demerits, nor repays what sins he served ♪ ♪ Great is love to those who fear him, high as heaven above ♪ me. his righteousness Amen. Let us turn now to God's Word. We begin a new series, Galatians chapter 1. Lord willing, we'll have about five sermons or so and we'll take a few weeks off from the series to consider some Christmas related sermons and then we'll return again. We're not gonna finish in five weeks. So Galatians chapter one and verses one through nine. One note before we begin, we'll be talking about words, that words can have a couple different senses to them. So we'll, Think about that, especially with the word apostle and the word churches in our first point. One thing before we even get to our first point is that the word Galatia can have a couple different senses. In short, it can refer to either the geographic region of Galatia or the Roman province of Galatia. And those things overlap, but they're a little bit different. And so we don't know exactly which which one it is. Sometimes we distinguish, nowadays we speak of North versus South Galatia. Probably, probably this letter was to the South Galatia, the province of Galatia. So that being so, you might want to mark down Acts chapters 13 and 14 as some supplemental reading throughout the week because those are the churches of Southern Galatia. So I'll list off some of the cities, maybe it's familiar with you, you remember reading through the book of Acts, Pisidian, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, those are probably the churches that are receiving this letter. And so Acts chapter 13 and 14 may be some good supplemental reading in your devotions this week. But people of God, let us come now to this word. Galatians chapter one, verses one through nine. Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers 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 to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one. But there are some who trouble 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 the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. So far the reading of God's holy word. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, no other gospel, the apostle says, because there is only one good news. That's what gospel means. There's only one good news. There's only one savior. And there's only one way in which the one savior saves. You know, I do not especially like this phrase. You've probably heard it. The phrase salvation issue. I don't especially like that phrase. Because it's true that we must take the whole counsel of God seriously. But there are certain truths which do lay at the very heart of Christianity. Upon which there can be absolutely no compromise. There's no compromise. There's no wiggle room. There's no lack of clarity. These are the very things upon which scripture speaks clearly to us. And even the Belgic Confession. that specifies that, that scripture is clear, especially with regards to salvation. And so we might call these basic or essential truths and truths which scripture has clearly taught to us. Is it possible for one to profess to be a Christian and yet to be faltering on even these basic truths? Certainly, sadly, it is. Ligonier has been doing a study on the pulse of American theology. They've been doing this every two years for some time now. They just recently completed the survey again. Here are two of the questions. which get at the very core of who Christ is and the results of their latest survey. 30% of Americans who profess to be evangelical Christians, so this isn't just all of Americans, these are Americans who say, I'm an evangelical Christian, would agree with the statement that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God. 30% of those who say I'm an evangelical Christian. Something very basic, something which, as we dig into our first point, the apostle, he almost assumes, he doesn't say it directly. something so clearly taught in scripture. Even worse, 42% of those who profess to be evangelical Christians agree with the statement that, quote, God accepts the worship of all religious, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, end of quote. 42% agree that the gospel is not exclusive, that there is not one gospel. The conclusion of this study and a summary can be found in the latest issue of Christian Renewal notes that we certainly live in a time of quote widespread confusion in the United States about the Bible's teaching. And I might simply add to that widespread confusion about basic central and essential truths of the Christian faith. But people of God, there is only one gospel. And there is only one true way to proclaim good news. And that's our theme this morning. And our first point, we'll be looking at the deep diving gospel introduction of Galatians. and then how that's immediately followed, our second point, verses six through nine, with a heavy hitting gospel correction. So what is this deep diving gospel introduction? And first, I said that we talk about a couple of words that can be used in different senses. And the first word there is apostle. And we see that Paul, clarifies what he means when he says apostle, doesn't he? He gives a very, we might say, lengthy clarification upon what kind of apostle he is, not from man, not through man. No, I'm an apostle of Jesus. An apostle is one who is appointed, commissioned to do something. An apostle is someone who has a role from someone else. So we might think of an ambassador. That's almost a close English word to the word apostle. What's an ambassador? He's sent under someone else. It's a little bit like that, right? And Jesus is saying, I'm an apostle who gave me my commission, who gave me my apostleship, not man. Now, one of the reasons why he has to specify this is because they did use the word apostle to speak about what we might call broader things. We don't usually see this in our English translations, but if you would turn with me to Philippians chapter two, not too many pages down and just maybe a couple handfuls of pages away. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. In Philippians 2, verse 25, we see an example of how in the Greek, they did use the word apostle differently. Our English translations don't usually reflect this, and they don't here either. You're probably looking now at Philippians 2, verse 25, and thinking, where's the word apostle? Well, it's the word messenger. In the Greek, it's the same word, it's apostle. But he is sent by whom? I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and minister to my need. Your apostle and minister to my need. Now what's going on there? Epaphroditus had a specific commission from the church to carry a message to the apostle Paul. But the word can be used in more than one way. Every time we see the word apostle, it's not talking about an apostle appointed by the Lord Jesus himself. Now, often in the New Testament, that's how it's being used. And so we can think of how the disciples are also called the apostles in the Gospels. We can think about how the letters then refer to those 12 apostles. Sometimes Paul calls them the super apostles. He talks about how he is in the same category as they are, and yet not quite. And so, for example, we read in 1 Corinthians 9, am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Which is what? That's one of the conditions of being a, we might say, capital A apostle. That's one of the conditions of being an apostle, commissioned by Jesus himself. You have to have seen Jesus to have been commissioned directly by Jesus. Have I not seen Jesus our Lord, and are not you my workmanship in the Lord? That's 1 Corinthians 9.1. And then later in 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 15 verses eight and nine, he's speaking about the 12 apostles, who he sometimes calls the super apostles, and himself, and he's talking about the difference between himself and them, and yet the similarity. He says, last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me. What is Paul talking about there? He's talking about how Jesus has appeared to him on the Damascus road. But he appeared to Paul last of all, right? Because we just went through Mark not too long ago, right? Well, those apostles walked with Jesus for three years. Those super apostles walked with Jesus for three years. Now Paul is also, an apostle appointed by the Lord. He is not merely an Epaphroditus, Philippians 2, apostle appointed by a church. No, no, no. He has an authority greater than this. He has an authority from Jesus himself, even as among the 12 apostles, he's the last of them, the one untimely born. And then he continues in 1 Corinthians 15 to say, I am the least of the apostles. So he's the least of them, he's the last of them, but he is still one of them, one of the apostles. that very specific, very short in time office appointed by not merely man, but Jesus himself directly. And so, since his authority has been challenged, So one of the things going on here in Galatians, and we'll speak about this, especially some weeks down the road, when we get to chapters four and five and six, his authority is being challenged. So right away, he clarifies what he is saying, not from men. I am not, if he was talking to the Philippian church, Epaphroditus. I am an apostle commissioned by one who is not a man. And there's the first point of deep theology in this gospel introduction right there already. Do you see it? He's making a contrast between men and Jesus. What's the deep theological truth there? Jesus is no mere man. I did not receive my commission. the apostle says, from man. I received it from the one who is true man and yet also true God, from the one who is mentioned in the same breath, not as fellow ones who, well, in the case of Jesus, for a time, he took on that form below angels. No, no, nothing like that. No, we mentioned Jesus in the same breath as God the Father. And this is, of course, what Jesus himself did, isn't it? This is, of course, what Jesus himself did. And so, for example, we could turn to John 14 and read in John 14 verse 7, if you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. To see Jesus is to see the Father. This is how closely they are related. And this is the way the apostle speaks in Galatians 1. Christ and the Father are intimately united. Jesus is not a man, he is God. He is associated with the Father. I was not appointed by men. I am not an apostle in that sense. I am an apostle in the greatest sense, in the narrowest sense, in the sense of that one office used for the establishing of the church, as he says in another place in Corinthians. one who speaks with a special authority. And so you see, he's not afraid to identify with his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and all the brothers who are with me, see that in verse two, but even as he does that, especially here, especially where his authority is being challenged, he's emphasizing what his office is. I'm gonna pause right there and bring that into this current moment. We have not apostles, but we do have certain offices, right? We have office of pastor, elder, deacon. Now, the apostle Paul, he does not always emphasize his office. And I don't think it's necessary or even wise for office bearers to always emphasize their office in the sense of always demanding that people only ever think of them as pastor, elder, deacon, right? In that sense. It's good for us to speak as all being members of the one flock under the one Great Shepherd. It's good for us to always consider ourselves as being brothers and sisters together in the Lord. But there are times when it is necessary to emphasize the office, even if it's, yes, definitely a lesser office than that of the Apostles. But there are times, especially in this day and age of anti-authority, where even those lesser offices should be emphasized. There are times when it's appropriate, we might say, for the elders and the shepherd elders and the shepherd teacher, the pastor, to emphasize that they have real spiritual authority. And so most of the time you talk to an elder, I hope it's not something that has the Grace URC letterhead on it and says, from the consistory. But there are times when the elders must speak that way. And so both of these things are true. Both of these things are true. And now it's certainly true for the apostle Paul who speaks even with a direct divine authority and nothing indirect about it. And especially here writing the very word of God. And so he, so we see what apostle means and what it does not mean. We see that first theological point there already that Jesus is no, mirror man, and that's who he is appointed by. Well, what about this word church? Can the word church also be used in different ways? Well, certainly it can. Look, for example, at verse 13. We don't have to turn 10 pages, we just have to look down 10 verses. Now look at verse 13. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God. Church there being used in the singular, being used to refer to the church, broadly speaking, the church universal, we might even say. Well, what about the word churches at the end of verse two? Is it being used in the same word, in the same way there? No, it's referring to churches, in the plural, of Galatia, which, again, even if it is one of the two regions of Galatia. Either way, it's a region. It's a regional place. It's a collection, churches in the plural, of local churches united regionally. What's going on here? Why can we use the word church and churches in slightly different ways? Related, of course, but slightly different. And what does this mean for us today? One of the ways we can think about this, people of God, is we have this word that we use. We use the word classes. What is that? It's a meeting of regionally united churches together to have unity in the faith and encourage one another and sharpen one another. And we have two classes meetings every year. And you always know about it, right? Because I'm usually not in the pulpit. And your pastor, one of your elders has to travel and we pray for it and we get the report. Now what's going on there? We don't see the word classes in the New Testament. So why do we do that? Why do we do that? Why do we do that twice every year? Why did your pastor go to three of them this year? Because I was also the delegate to go to The OPC, they don't call it a classist, they use the word presbytery, but it's basically the same kind of thing. So your pastor even went to three of those this year. So what's going on? Why do we do that? Scripture doesn't use the word classist, doesn't use the word presbytery. What are we doing? What's going on? Well, Scripture doesn't speak to us specifically. It doesn't. about exactly how this works out. But we do have these basic things that we see. We see a meeting of churches, the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. We see that churches locally within a region have an identity together. The churches of Galatia, the churches of Asia Minor, Revelation one through three, right? They're all on the same mailing loop. They all have a certain connection geographically with one another. And so we take these things that we see in scripture. We see the Jerusalem Council. We see that we're to do all things decently in good order. We see that it's good to be united together, not only to the church of God, verse 13, but also together with the churches of Galatia. And we try to put this into practice. And it comes out as a classist or a presbytery. Now we don't get very many details, so that doesn't always look exactly the same way. We can illustrate this, we can illustrate this. Think of a fort being built in a basement. So there's a family with a five-year-old, a seven-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a 12-year-old. And one day the 10 and 12-year-old are like out at soccer practice or something. And the five and seven-year-old are bored and so the mother says, well, why don't you go build a fort in the basement? Here's a few blankets that you can use. Here's some boxes that you can use. You can use the couch. You can use the footstool. Here's a couple chairs. Use these things and build a fort. Now a couple days later, the five and seven-year-old are gone to like a birthday party or something. The 10 and 12-year-old are bored, and the mother says the same thing to them. And of course, the fort has fallen apart because those forts don't usually last more than 24 hours. And so the fort that their little siblings made is gone, but now they're told, you know what, go do what your siblings did a couple days ago. Build a fort. Here's the boxes. Here's the couch. Here's the chairs. The four is probably gonna look a little bit different than what their siblings built two days ago, isn't it? It might look quite similar, but it's probably gonna look a little bit different. When we talk about how churches are united together, there are some parameters which scripture gives us. So we might think of there being the boxes. and the blankets and the couch. You can't use the lamp. You can't use the TV that's down there. You can't grab your mother's sewing machine and make that part of the corner of the fort. There's certain things you can't do. There's certain things which you should use, but it's not gonna look exactly the same. You know what, that's actually how, as we think about how to be united together, that's an illustration of how that happens. You know, our sister churches, the OPC churches or the RCUS churches, you know, when they're united together, it doesn't look exactly the way we do it. Sometimes Presbyterians are bigger than Classies, they do this or that differently, we do this or that differently. The principles of let's be united geographically by truth, let's hold one another accountable, let's not be independent, that's one big thing. Those things, those principles, those basic elements are the same. But scripture simply does not give us a detailed blueprint for building that fort exactly the same way every time. And so it's gonna look a little bit different. And you know what, that's okay. And that's reflected even in, right, is it hard to change our confessions? We should talk about doctrinal things. Yes, it's very hard to change those, and it should be. even though they're still guided by the word of God, so we can change our confessions by the word of God, if we could make that case from scripture. What about changing our church order? Is that hard? No, it's not very hard at all, actually. It's a reflection of this, that we are to be united together, but exactly how that looks, and even exactly what language we use, whether we call it classes, or Presbytery, or General Assembly, or Synod, or particular Synods, Exactly how that looks is gonna look different, and that's okay. We don't unite ourselves to those who have church government exactly like us. We unite ourselves to those who we are united on doctrinal things. There's room for wiggling over here. Scripture doesn't give us exact parameters. It gives us basic principles. There's no room for wiggling over here on doctrinal things. essential truths of the Christian faith. That's where we don't wiggle. That's where we don't compromise. That's where we seek to look the same. To the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. As an apostle, he's not merely stating this as a wish. It's an effective blessing by an officer of God. who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age. And so now again, deep theology within an introduction to the letter, not something usually seen, but the apostle, since these are the areas, the reason why he's writing to Galatia, he wants to get this out right away. And so he brings the gospel to bear right away who gave himself for our sins. We are delivered by Jesus Christ. We are delivered from this present evil age by him. We still live in this age. Notice that this is something in the present, right? It's good to think about what the Lord our God is bringing us to. It's good to think about how we have salvation and we can look forward to heaven itself in him. But we also have something presently. We are already, when we are in Christ, delivered from this present evil age. In other words, we're already no longer under the bondage of sin. We still struggle against sin, but we're no longer under the bondage of sin. We're already no longer under the influence of the evil one, who is the prince of the power of the air. But he does not have power over God's people. We have delivered from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. This is also something which we don't usually see right here. There's usually a doxology, a word of praise later in the letters or at the end of a letter, but the Apostle just breaks out spontaneously here. Like this isn't rhetorically, if we think of the letters of the rules of writing a letter, and we still have rules for writing letters, don't we? You know, you start with Dear so-and-so or hello so-and-so or whatever and you have your little body and then you have your your end and your signature whether that's you know sincerely or God's blessings or however you sign it right and then maybe like a postscript after we have like this basic structure right well they have basic structures for letters And we see that in Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians. And in Galatians, it just all breaks down. He's doing his own thing here in Galatians, focusing on the gospel right away because this is why he's so concerned to write to the churches of Galatia. This is where they are faltering. He wants to speak about the gospel. And then there's not usually a doxology here, but because he's speaking about the gospel, because he's speaking about that our sins are taken away, we're delivered by Jesus Christ, I cannot help but break forth in praise at this moment. Does this ever happen in your life? Are you ever thinking about who Jesus is, what He has done for you, and you just spontaneously break forth in words of praise? I hope so. I hope that words of praise to God do not only come to your lips when you're singing in church. And hopefully you do sing, and you sing out loud. But I hope that's not the only place where you sing, praise to the Lord. I hope it just breaks out of you. It just bubbles out. That's what's happening to the Apostle here. This isn't where it's supposed to go in the letter. It's supposed to come later. But he can't help himself. I have just spoken about Jesus Christ, who is the one who delivered me from my sins. I cannot help but break forth in praise. I cannot help but break forth in praise. This is where there is no wiggle room. We talk about the churches, how they're united together. There's some room for difference there. Here, there is no room for difference. And that's a quick summary of our second point. I'm actually, we're gonna return to verses six through nine, because we're not gonna get through all of that and do it justice today. That's where there is no other gospel. So to quickly summarize verses 6 and 9, it's laughable to even use the word gospel, which means good news, to speak about that which is not pointing to Christ. Not that there is a different one. Not that there is another one, verse 7. No, there's only one, there's only what? The gospel of verse four. And so now we'll go back to verse four and we'll make that our conclusion. You know, Martin Luther said in his well-known commentary on Galatians, I got so far away from my notes, now I gotta look and find this quote. Luther said that it is full. Oh, here it is. Quote, verse four has, quote, thunderclaps from heaven against all kinds of self-righteousness, end of quote. Now, as we get into Galatians We see that that's a quick summary of the problem that's going on here. There's a different gospel which is adding something to Jesus Christ. It's adding works, adding things that you must do in addition to Christ to be saved. That's the problem. And right away in verse four, the apostle is setting it out. No, we are delivered from our sins by our Lord Jesus Christ. He delivers us. He takes us from the present evil age. And it's all according to what the will of our God and Father. And so Luther called these the thunderclaps from heaven against self-righteous thinking. Now, If we know the life of Martin Luther, we know that he was caught in a thunderstorm, wasn't he? It's an illustration that would be especially upon his mind. Before Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the door, before he was a monk in the Augustinian order, he was planning to do law, to be a lawyer, he was in those studies, and he was traveling one night on his horse, and he gets caught in a thunderstorm. And he falls off his horse and he swears by St. Anne, because he was Catholic at the time. He swears by St. Anne and says, if you deliver me from this thunderstorm, I will become a monk. Now, maybe no one here has been caught in a thunderstorm like that, right? Because we're usually not too far away from either a car or a house. We have weather forecasts that they didn't used to have. And so, you know, if I think about thunderstorms in my own life, I just think of one. We were driving through the Dakotas on the way back from Montana and it was just this massive thunderstorm. And because the Dakotas and everything's so flat and there's no city lights, there's no hills in the way, there's no trees in the way. We were just driving and you could just see the lightning bolts hitting the ground and striking from cloud to cloud. But I wasn't really scared. I was in the car. If a lightning bolt hits a car, cars are made so that it will ground through the tires. We were a little bit careful not to be touching the side of the car that night. And we were driving right through the night. But it wasn't scary. And probably you've never been caught in a thunderstorm where it was scary. Maybe you have. Maybe that's something we can talk about afterwards. But if you're not in a car, if you're on a horse, Thunderclaps take on a new meaning. That's what Luther is saying. This is not something safe inside a car. This is, I'm on my horse, it's dark, it's night, the tree right next to me just split in half. Thunderclaps from heaven. Do you see it? Do you see it in verse four? Do you hear those thunderclaps booming next to you? Salvation is not what you do. And to say that in any way is to make a perversion, which is not the gospel, which is not the good news. There's only one good news. Let it thunder around you. Jesus saves and Jesus alone. And He is God. He is God. He is mighty and He is gentle at the same time. People of God, this is the one gospel, the one good news. Look to Jesus Christ alone. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, our Lord, May we be brought to our knees in the right kind of fear and the right kind of awe and adoration at what you do and the power of salvation in Jesus Christ alone. May we never look anywhere else Lord, impress this truth upon our hearts and make us to indeed know that this news is good news, that in confession of our sins, we are delivered from those sins by Jesus Christ and him alone. Amen. Let us, people of God, stand to sing together number 278. Number 278, let us stand to sing. I can wash away my sins ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ What can make me whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, precious is the flow ♪ ♪ That makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other fount I know ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ Nothing this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my heart and this my plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. My hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Now by this I'll overcome, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Now by this I'll reach my home, nothing but the blood of Jesus. No breast of sin's the fault that makes me white as snow. No other fault I know, Amen, amen. And people of God, if you would turn now to the Lord's Supper form, we anticipate celebrating the Lord's Supper, Lord willing, next week. Celebration of the Lord's Supper, form two, page 44. We read from Preparatory Exhortation. Let us read and let us in our hearts be preparing this week Preparatory exhortation, dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, since we hope next Lord's Day to celebrate the blessed sacrament of the Lord's Supper, we are called to prepare our hearts by rightly examining ourselves. For the apostle Paul has written, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Therefore you should examine your life and considering your own sin and the wrath of God against it. Be sure that you humble yourself in repentance before God. Examine your heart to be sure that you trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. Believing that your sins are forgiven wholly by grace because of our Lord's sacrifice on the cross. Finally, examine your conscience to be sure that you resolve to live in faith and obedience before your Lord and in love and in peace with your neighbor. Let us pray, people of God. Lord God Almighty, we thank you that you have given us the visible sign of the bread and the wine We pray that you would be with us in this week. May we prepare our hearts in a particular and special way. Looking forward to that celebration next Lord's Day. Lord, impress upon us, yes, our need of you. And yes, the beauty of what you have done, that your body was given. that your blood was spilled. This, Lord, is our prayer in his name, in Jesus' name, amen. It is time now then for our offerings this morning. This morning, that's for the general fund. Following this, our benediction and doxology 571. Yeah. You stand people of God let us receive parting blessing of our God The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all Amen ♪ And to the Son and to the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ As it was in the beginning ♪ ♪ Is now and ever shall be ♪ ♪ World without end, Amen ♪ you