Rescued

Introduction

Good morning, Church. I want to start by saying, it’s good to be in the house of God today, Amen!

We also want to welcome all those who may be joining online with us as well today.

Today, we’re going to be starting a new journey through another of Paul’s Epistles and this time, Lord willing, we’re going to work our way through the Book of Galatians.

Now, I want to begin this morning by giving you one word to let settle upon your heart this morning as we work our way through the message.

Now, it’s not a fancy word or a theological word that you'd find buried in the back of a seminary textbook. But rather, it’s a word that the majority of us should understand, because we’ve all — at some point in our lives — felt the need for it.

And that word is rescued.

Now, I want you to think about what that word means for a moment.

Rescued means you were in a situation you couldn’t get yourself out of, right? It means someone else had to come to your aid.

Nobody gets rescued from a situation they were comfortable in or from a place they chose freely and were enjoying, right?

No, you get rescued when you are in danger — when you’re trapped — when your own strength has run out and you know — you absolutely know — that if someone doesn't come for you, you’re not going to make it!

That’s the word that is sitting at the very heart of the passage we’re going to look at this morning and it’s where the title of this message came from today.

The message before us this morning will be the first of many over the next couple months or so as we journey through Paul’s letter to the Churches in Galatia.

A letter that Martin Luther called "my own little epistle."

A letter that was so explosive when it was first read aloud in those young churches in Galatia that it likely stopped some people cold in their tracks.

Warren Wiersbe said that Paul had no time for pleasantries when he sat down to write this letter. He had no time for his usual thanksgiving and prayer for the saints. He said Paul was about to "engage in a battle for the truth of the Gospel and the liberty of the Christian life."

And that battle begins this morning here in the very first verse.

John Phillips, reminds us that this letter was designed to do something that had never been done quite so clearly before — to "define, once and for all, just exactly what Christianity really is."

That is magnitude of the letter to which we are beginning this morning.

So, with no further ado, if you have your Bible’s opened to Galatians Chapter 1, would you say, Amen.

Alright, let’s look at the first five verses together.

Galatians 1:1–5 KJV 1900

1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) 2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 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: 5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Let us pray.

Setting the Scene

Now, before we go any further — let me take just a minute here and set the scene for you.

Paul is writing to a group of young churches he planted on his first missionary journey. Cities like Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe — all in the southern region of what we would call modern-day Turkey.

These were people who had heard Paul preach — they had received the gospel of grace and been gloriously saved — they were people who had started living in the freedom that only Christ can give...and then Paul left.

And while he was gone, a group of false teachers slipped in. The Judaizers! Men who said, "Yes, believe in Jesus — but that's not enough. You also have to keep the law of Moses. You have to be circumcised. You have to follow the religious calendar. Faith is fine — Jesus is good — and the cross works — but it's not enough."

Chuck Swindoll, in his study of Galatians, describes it this way — these false teachers were telling the Galatians that to be properly dressed for heaven, they needed to add a few religious accessories to what Christ had already done.

Paul hears about it and he is not happy!

So what does Paul do? What Paul does best! He picked up his pen and by the leading of the Holy Spirit, he began writing!

What we see here in the Book of Galatians, is Paul at his most passionate.

And it all begins right here in these five verses — verses that contain the entire gospel of Jesus Christ tucked inside what looks to be a simple opening greeting.

The title of this morning's message is one word...Rescued.

And by the time we are finished, my prayer is that every person in this room understands deep down in your soul that none of us rescued or can rescue ourselves but that Jesus, the one and only Son of God was the only one who could do that for us!

In these five verses this morning, I want us to see...

The Messenger God Sent — How that Paul was a Man With a Divine Commission

The Message God Gave — And how that it was a Message of Grace and Peace

The Mission God Fulfilled — How that God sent His one and only Son to Rescue Us From This Present Evil World

And we’re going to start here with Point 1...

The Messenger God Sent — A Man With a Divine Commission — (Vs. 1-2)

Look at verse 1 with me.

Galatians 1:1 KJV 1900

1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

Now I want you to notice something that is easy to pass up if you’re not paying attention.

Paul doesn't open this letter the way he opens most of his letters. In most of his letters, after he identifies himself and then he moves quickly into thanksgiving and prayer for the people he is writing to. That’s his normal pattern and style...but not here.

Here, before he says anything else — before the greeting, before the thanksgiving, before anything — Paul defends his apostleship.

Why though?

Because the false teachers had been attacking it!

They had been whispering to the Galatian churches — "Paul's not a real apostle. He wasn't one of the original twelve. He never walked with Jesus. He learned everything he knows from the church in Jerusalem — which means his authority comes from men and not from God."

But Paul says — ohhhh no! I don’t think so!

"Not of men, neither by man" Paul says!

Not from men — meaning no group of men appointed him. Not by man — meaning no individual man ordained him or gave him his commission.

Now, Adrian Rogers in his study of this passage, points this out with perfect clarity. Paul is saying — "I am not like a minister who kneels down and has hands laid on him by a group of church leaders who say, 'You are now an apostle.' There is nothing wrong with ordination — but that is not what makes me an apostle. Men had nothing to do with it."

Then Paul tells us exactly where his commission DID come from.

"But by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead."

Two sources...both divine!

The Lord Jesus Christ — who met Paul on the road to Damascus, knocked him off his horse, blinded him with light, and said, "I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness unto the Gentiles." That wasn’t a committee decision...that was the risen Lord of glory personally commissioning a man for a task!

Then Paul says...and God the Father — who raised Jesus from the dead.

Now don't rush past that phrase.

Paul mentions the resurrection right here in his opening sentence.

Why? Because everything hinges on it!

If Jesus is still in the tomb, then Paul's commission means nothing, the gospel means nothing, and we are all still dead in our sins and trespasses.

But if God raised Him from the dead — and we believe He did, Amen — then the One who commissioned Paul has all authority in heaven and on earth.

Chuck Swindoll notes that Paul is firing a warning shot across the bow here in his very first sentence. He is saying to the false teachers — before you challenge my message, you need to understand who sent me.

And listen friend, I want you to see something here that goes beyond Paul's personal defense of his apostleship.

The God who raised Jesus from the dead is the God who initiates everything, Amen!

He initiated Paul's calling.

He didn't ask Paul's permission.

He didn't wait for Paul to raise his hand and say, “Here I am Lord, send me to the Gentiles”, did he?

No, He interrupted Paul's life on that Damascus road and changed everything in a split second!

And He is the same God who initiated our salvation, Amen!

We didn't find God...He found us!

We didn't choose Him before He chose us.

He came after us.

He pursued us.

He worked on our old hardened hearts and arranged the circumstances of our lives.

He put the right people in our path, brought us to the right moment — and then you know what He did? He rescued us, Amen!

A.W. Tozer once said that the pursuing love of God is one of the most staggering truths in all of Scripture. That the God of the universe would set His affection on fallen, rebellious, sinful human beings and refuse to leave them where He found them.

That my friend is the God behind this letter...that is the God behind this messenger...and that is the God who rescued us this morning!

Now look at verse 2.

Galatians 1:2 KJV 1900

2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

Notice that Paul says "churches" — plural.

This letter was not written to one congregation. It was written to be circulated among all the churches of the Galatian region. Because the problem wasn’t isolated...this false gospel had spread.

And here is something Warren Wiersbe points out that I don't want you to miss. The false teachers were not pagans. They were not atheists. They were religious people — people inside the church — who were adding human requirements to the grace of God.

Vance Havner said it like this — the greatest danger to the church has never been the attack from without. It has always been the corruption from within.

And that was exactly what was happening in Galatia. The gospel of grace was being traded for a gospel of grace-plus. And Paul was not going to stand by and watch it happen!

So, we begin by seeing...The Messenger God sent and how that Paul was given a divine commission to preach the gospel to the Gentile nation.

Then, Paul moves on and shows us...

The Message God Gave — How it was a Message of Grace and Peace — (Vs. 3)

Look at verse 3 with me.

Galatians 1:3 KJV 1900

3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Now, at first glance this looks like a standard greeting. And in one sense it is — Paul uses some form of this greeting in almost every letter he writes but there is a little something different here when you really get to comparing it to Paul’s other greetings.

William Barclay points out that what Paul does here is bring together two worlds in two words. The word “Grace” used here is the Greek word (Charis) and it was the Greek word for greeting. Then Paul uses “peace” — Shalom — which was the Hebrew word for greeting.

By combining them, Paul is saying to his readers — in Christ, Jew and Gentile, Greek and Hebrew, the whole world comes together under the banner of grace and peace.

But there is something even deeper here.

Notice the order...grace first—then peace.

Listen friend, that wasn’t by accident!

Because you cannot have peace — real peace, lasting peace, the peace that passes all understanding — until you have first experienced the grace of God, Amen!

Matthew Henry put it simply: "There can be no true peace without grace."

Think about that.

There are people all over the world this morning who are desperately trying to find peace.

Peace in their marriages.

Peace about their past.

Peace about their future.

Peace about whether they are good enough, whether they have done enough, or whether God could ever possibly love someone like them.

But they are looking for that peace in all the wrong places!

Some are looking for it in religion — in doing more, giving more, praying more, trying harder. If I can just be good enough, if I can just check enough boxes, maybe I can find some peace.

That was exactly what the Judaizers were selling. And Paul says — no. That road does not lead to peace. It leads to bondage.

Adrian Rogers used to say it this way — you are not saved by faith and works. You are saved by faith that works. And there is a world of difference between those two statements.

Grace comes first.

God's unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor — poured out on people who had no right to expect it — that is grace.

And when grace is received, peace follows...like a river...like a flood...like something you never knew you were missing until it arrives and fills every empty place in your soul.

D.L. Moody understood this. He preached for years before he had a personal encounter with the grace of God that transformed him. And he said afterward that everything he had done before that encounter was like trying to light a fire with wet wood. After grace — everything ignited.

That is what Paul is wishing for the Galatian churches.

He is saying — “I know you have been confused. I know false teachers have tangled you up in rules and requirements and religious performance but I want you to come back to these two simple things...grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Not from your performance or your track record. Not from how many times you have shown up to church or how much you have put in the offering plate but come back to what God has done through His one and only Son, Jesus!”

“That is where grace comes from. That is where peace comes from. And that is the only place you will ever find them.”

And the same still holds true this morning, Amen! Grace and true Peace can only be found in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Listen to me this morning friend, the greatest peace we can ever find is in knowing that when utter chaos is going on around us, God the Father is still on the throne and is in control and His Son, Jesus...the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ still has the same saving power today as it had the it was spilled upon that cross, Amen!

I have find peace this morning in knowing that God the Fahter is still in control and also in knowing as long as I’ve been washed the blood, there is nothing this world can do to me...the deep down part of me...my soul because it belongs to God and Jesus said it this way in...

John 10:29 KJV 1900

29 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 am safe and secure in the arms of God...Amen!

“For I’m sheltered safe within the arms of God! He walks with me and naught of earth can harm me...for I’m sheltered in the arms of God!”

We’ve seen The Messenger God sent and how that Paul was given a divine commission to preach the gospel to the Gentile nation and just now, we looked at The Message of God, how that it is a message of God’s grace and peace.

Then, Paul moves on to show us next here...

The Mission God Fulfilled — (Vs. 4-5)

Look at verse 4 with me.

Galatians 1:4 KJV 1900

4 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:

This here is the heart of the message this morning and why I called this sermon Rescued.

Because that word — deliver — in the original Greek is (exaireo) Pronounced: ex-eye-REH-oh.

And it does not mean what we might casually think it means.

Exaireo means to pluck out. To tear away. To snatch from danger.

It is the word you would use for a soldier running onto a battlefield to pull a wounded comrade out of enemy fire. It is the word you would use for someone diving into a burning building to drag out a person who cannot get out on their own.

It’s not a gentle word or a polite, peaceful, or gradual kind of word but rather it’s a word of quick action.

It also speaks of the person who does the rescuing, the snatching out having a special interest in the result of his act. I got such a blessing out of that part of the definition!

Jesus had a special interest in the ones He came to rescue, Amen!

Let that settle on your heart for just a minute this morning! So many people think they aren’t loved or cared about but dear friend the God of all creation, your creator, loves you and has a special interest in you this morning dear friend!

Isn’t that just wonderful!

Now, I want you to see three things about this rescue that Paul describes in verse 4 before we come to a close.

First — Notice Who Did the Rescuing

"Who gave himself."

The subject of this sentence is Jesus. And the verb is gave.

Nobody took His life from Him.

Nobody dragged Him to that cross against His will.

Nobody ambushed the Son of God and nailed Him there before He could stop them.

No, dear friend, Jesus gave Himself!

Spurgeon preached on this very phrase and said — "The substitutionary character of Christ's death is always to be noticed: 'Who gave himself for our sins.'" And then Spurgeon quotes Luther, who said — "Christ never gave himself for our righteousness; but he gave himself for our sins, because there was no other way of saving us except by a sacrifice for sin."

Think about what that means.

Jesus didn't come for the people who had it together.

He didn't come for the people who were doing fine on their own.

He came for sinners like you and I!

He gave Himself — willingly, completely, sacrificially — for people who had sinned against Him and deserved nothing from Him.

Tony Evans said it this way — the gospel is not a self-help program. It is a rescue operation. And the Rescuer paid for the rescue with His own blood.

So first off we see that it was Jesus that was doing the rescuing.

Then...

Second — Look at What He Rescued Us FROM

"That he might deliver us from this present evil world."

Now let me be careful here, because this phrase is sometimes misunderstood.

Paul is not saying that Jesus came to remove us from the physical world — to beam us up out of planet earth and take us somewhere else. We’re all still here after being saved, right? We still live in this world. We still have to go to work in it, raise families in it, pay bills in it.

But what Paul is saying is that Jesus came to rescue us from the age — the system, the spirit, the enslaving power — of this present world that is under the dominion of sin and darkness.

John Phillips describes it this way — the world Paul is talking about is the world-system that is organized under Satan, that operates by the values of pride, self-sufficiency, rebellion against God, and the pursuit of pleasure over righteousness. And every human being, apart from Christ, is not just living in that system — they are enslaved by it. Trapped by it. Unable, on their own, to get out of it.

But listen friend, Jesus came to rescue us from it.

And let me take just a moment here and tell you about this rescue.

Humanity was trapped in a prison made of our own sin, under the dominion of a world system that was pulling us further from God with every passing day.

And Jesus paid the exit fee.

He didn't just show us the door.

He didn't just point us toward the exit and wish us well.

He took on our sin.

He became our substitute.

He bore our judgment.

He paid the price that we could not pay.

And He walked out of that tomb on the third day to prove that the debt was paid in full.

That my friend is the kind of rescue operation this was!

Charles Stanley said it this way — Jesus didn't die to make bad people good. He died to make dead people alive. There is a difference between reformation and resurrection. The world offers reformation but Jesus offers resurrection.

So, we see that it was Jesus that was doing the rescuing and we’ve seen what He was rescuing us from...this present evil world.

Then thirdly, I want us to see...

Third — Whose Will It Was

"According to the will of God and our Father."

This rescue was not an accident.

It was not “Plan B”.

It was not God improvising after things went wrong.

Dear friend, this was the plan from before the foundation of the world.

The Father willed it.

The Son accomplished it.

And the Spirit helps us to live it out.

And friend, that means your rescue — if you have been rescued (if you have been saved and born again) — was personal.

It was intentional.

God did not save you as a matter of policy or duty but rather He saved you out of His great love for you!

A.W. Tozer said that before God ever spoke the first word of creation — before the first atom of matter came into existence — God in His eternal counsel had already determined that if man fell, He would pay the price to bring him back.

Your rescue was planned before you were born.

Your rescue was purchased before you ever knew you needed it.

And your rescue was offered to you — freely, fully, finally — through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now look at verse 5 as we bring this message to a close. Paul finishes up by saying...

Galatians 1:5 KJV 1900

5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Spurgeon noticed something beautiful here. He said that Paul — in the middle of what is supposed to be a simple letter greeting — cannot mention the name of Jesus Christ without bursting into praise. He has no choice. He starts talking about what Jesus did, and before he can stop himself, he says — to whom be glory forever and ever.

That dear friend is the right response to a person who’s been rescued, Amen!

When someone pulls you out of a burning building, you don't take the credit. You point at the one who came for you.

When someone dives into a raging river to pull you to shore, you don't stand up and take a bow. You say — that one. That one saved me.

And when the Son of God gave Himself for your sins, tore you out of the grip of this present evil world, and set you free — the only right response is to say with Paul — To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Conclusion

As we come to a close this morning, I want to take just a second and try bring this home.

We are beginning a journey together through the book of Galatians and I want you to know what this journey is going to be about.

It is going to be about one thing...the unmerited, undeserving, unwarranted grace of God.

Pure grace. The grace of a God who looked at a world that had turned its back on Him and said — I am going to go get them.

The Galatian churches had been bewitched into believing that grace was not enough. That Jesus was wonderful — but not sufficient. That the cross was powerful — but it needed some help.

And Paul says — no.

That is not another gospel. That is no gospel at all. Because the moment you add anything to grace, you have emptied grace of its power.

You did not rescue yourself and you cannot rescue yourself.

No amount of religious effort, no checklist of spiritual disciplines, no accumulation of good deeds can pull you out of the grip of this present evil world.

Only one thing can do that and only one Person can do that and He’s already did what needed to be done.

Paul said here...

"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 has come to rescue you and all the glory belongs to Him.

Vance Havner used to say that the church's greatest need is not a new program or a new method or a new approach. The church's greatest need is to go back to the old gospel — the one that says a holy God sent His sinless Son to die for sinful people, and that anyone who trusts in that Son will be saved.

That is the gospel this morning Church.

That is the message of Galatians.

That is the message of the Church all down throughout the ages.

Invitation

As we come to a close this morning, I want to speak to a few different people.

Maybe you are here today and you have never been rescued.

You have been living your whole life in this present evil world — maybe not in obvious, dramatic ways, but in the quiet, everyday way that all of us live apart from Christ. Going through the motions. Trying to be a good person. Maybe even coming to church. But there has never been a moment when you personally, genuinely, surrendered your life to Jesus Christ.

Friend, He came for you.

He gave Himself for your sins. He died the death you deserved. He rose from the grave so you could have life. And He is offering that life to you today.

All you have to do is receive it.

Not earn it. Not deserve it. Not clean yourself up first. Just come. Just say — Lord, I cannot rescue myself. I need You to rescue me.

And He will.

Maybe you are a believer this morning, but somewhere along the way someone convinced you that grace wasn't enough. That you needed to add something to it. And you have been exhausted ever since — striving, performing, trying to be good enough — and never quite feeling like you measure up.

I want to tell you this morning — you don't have to perform for a God who already rescued you.

You are not on probation. You are not on a spiritual performance plan. You are a child of God, saved by grace, kept by grace, and carried by grace — every single day.

Come back to that this morning.

Whatever need you may have this morning, the altar is open and the God who planned your rescue before the foundation of the world is still in the business of setting people free.

Would you come?