10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.

Can we Please Man and God?
Paul, in defending himself against those bringing a false gospel, cannot be concerned with pleasing both man and God. The two are mutually exclusive, as he has made abundantly clear. Man desires to have his own standards of righteousness, man believes that he is good, indeed, in some cases, man believes he is a god unto himself. If Paul were seeking to please man, he would be promoting a system of dos and don’ts, of a man-centered salvation having nothing to do with the cross. Paul would be seeking to promote something that benefited himself, or gave himself some level of control. But Paul is not concerned about the opinion or approval of man, otherwise he would not be the doulos- the slave of Jesus Christ. He is not seeking an earthly kingdom or rule. He is promoting God’s gospel, of obtaining salvation not by works that we do but trusting in what Christ has done. Therein lies the difference; religion makes us slaves to a system of laws and rules. Christianity gives freedom to be able to please God. My friend, make no mistake. You are either going to be a slave to religion, doing a bunch of good works that hopefully will be enough so that God will be pleased. Or you are going to be a slave to sin, allowing the lust of the flesh to control your every move, blinding you to the work of Christ on your behalf. The third option is to be a slave to Christ in which He does all the work to accomplish your salvation, allowing you as a new creature to do the good works that He has prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).

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As we were digging in last week to the Spiritual Blessings in Christ, I failed to finish a thought about eagerly waiting for Christ. This is a side product of faith, that is, an assurance of things not seen. The spiritual blessings that we have in Christ are something that we cannot see, but as Christians we know that they exist. As we learned in our last study, we certainly know that they exist, and that they are already ours because the One who has promised is faithful and true, and it is based upon His word- which is powerful, and it is ultimately all for His glory. However, we are still in the flesh, we still walk daily in this world and we can easily fall in love with it. Hence the warning from the Word of God:

1 John 2:15 -17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

What the world has to offer is enslavement to its principles, and addictions to its vices. The marketing plan of the world system that has most people in its grip is for things that lose value over time and are to be replaced with the newest and best to keep up with the Joneses. These things of the world offer temporary pleasures of sin for a season, and in its end is death. When we pursue the world-and this does include the approval of men-it demonstrates that the love of the Father God is not in us. The problem is that one day these things that are so important to us will all burn. It should make the permanence and assurance of what we have in Christ Jesus more precious to us. What we have in Christ is of eternal value, and it is to His glory. It will never pass away. He is the pearl of great price, something that we should be willing to sell or give away everything we have in order to possess. What God deserves is our very best- even though all we have to offer is filthy rags, but we lay down all of what we have at the foot of the cross because Jesus is worth it. Is Jesus precious to you? Are you willing to lay down all that you are and all that you have for the cause of Christ? Have you laid it all down at the foot of the cross because you understand the precious promises that are yours to possess because you have believed before they have come to pass? This is really what it means to be first to hope- we trust in Christ before all the benefits are revealed, knowing only that He can save us from our sin and the penalty we so richly deserve because of it. As we grow in Him, we begin to understand all of the spiritual blessings in Christ. We can know that because of His trustworthiness and His promise that we already have the precious promises, though we can only see through the glass darkly. He has already borne your sins, and when He comes again, it will not be as a sacrifice for sinners, but as a judge. For those who have not obeyed the Gospel by putting their trust in Christ alone, they will receive judgment and not mercy. For those of us who have trusted in Christ, he Has already paid the penalty,taking the judgment for our sins. He is coming back to save us in the sense that we will be judged based on what He has done and He will be taking us to glory with Him!
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Born Again
Salvation
Blessings in Christ

redeemed: We have been bought back out of slavery to sin and death by the price of Jesus shedding His precious blood on the cross. He paid the penalty for our sins as our substitute.

forgiveness: this means that all of our sins (trespasses) have been forgiven and forgotten completely because the shedding of Jesus’ blood remits our sins.

grace: We have received all of these blessings without any merit on our part; indeed this has been lavished on us because of the goodness and love of God towards us.

mystery revealed: We have insight, the mystery of salvation has been revealed to us because of the sovereign will of God in Christ, the ultimate purpose that all who are in Christ will be saved and united in Him.

These spiritual blessings in Christ have been purchased and paid for because of the grace of God towards us, and are given to us to the praise of His glorious grace. There is nothing we did to earn them, or to deserve them. The glory of God and His praise are the reasons that we have received them, but we also benefit in the here and now as well as into the future because of all the Spiritual blessings that we receive. We did not and can not merit them, but we get to use them to proclaim the goodness of God until such time as He calls us home to be with Him.

11In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

The inheritance that we have obtained is salvation, and all of the spiritual blessings that have been promised as a result. Now salvation is a word in the Greek that is used in the past perfect tense as repented. This means that the grace of God began with granting us repentance unto life. The past tense of salvation is justification, that is, we can say that the penalty for our sins has been paid and therefore we are declared righteous before God. It is also spoken of in the present tense, that is we are being saved- or sanctified. This is the process by which we look more and more like Jesus Christ. The word salvation is also used in the future tense. We will be saved- glorified- when we die. The beautiful thing is that this inheritance is so certain that despite not yet being fully sanctified on earth nor glorified in heaven when all of the inheritance will be revealed,salvation is spoken of here as already being in our possession. This is not based on our faithfulness, or our ability to grab hold of it and take it right now, it is based on the purpose and promise of God. Not only that, God supplies the very energy (GR ἐ¦νερ¦γοῦν¦τος eh-nehr-goon-tahs) translated here as works all things. In other words, the inheritance is ours because God will accomplish it according to His will. In the same way that the earth was created, it was not only ready to work, it was already working. When we are converted, and made new creatures in Christ, we are fully functioning, and we will be brought to completion in Christ Jesus, as Paul notes in his letter to the Philippians:

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

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We have had the blessing of sharing the Gospel of Christ over these last weeks, specifically that God, to His glory, by His grace, has given to those who are in Christ all the spiritual blessings in Christ. These blessings are not reserved for you based on who you are; whether you are male or female, whatever is your race, your background, your former creed- if you are in Christ it is because God has chosen you, and predestined you to be treated as His own sons. Here is a breakdown of all the blessings we have covered thus far in verses 3-6 of Ephesians 1:

• chosen-even before the foundation of the world, God the Father chose (past tense) you to be in Christ- to be holy and blameless!

• predestined-God decreed or ordained beforehand that you (whether male or female) would be his son-receiving all that his Sons inherit!

• adopted as sons-He adopted you, just as you were, and you are full heirs and God is making you into the very image of His Son Jesus Christ!

• grace-He has completely given you all of these blessings not based on who you are, but based upon who He is. These promises are therefore irrevocable and based upon the trustworthiness of God.

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

The transition in verse 7 is important to note. We go from the role of the Father in salvation, and we move on to the Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Him, (the Beloved Jesus Christ), we (those who have placed their trust in Christ) have the next spiritual blessings- redemption and forgiveness. Redemption (ἀ¦πο¦λύ¦τρω¦σιν ah-pah-loo-troh-seen) is the price that was required to buy a slave out of slavery. People who are not in Christ are enslaved to sin and death, as we who are in Christ used to be. The redemption price that is required by God is death, for that is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23). Jesus Christ paid that redemption price on our behalf when he died on the cross. He did this when we were weak, wicked, and dead in sin. Paul puts it this way in Romans 5:6-9

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

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Galatians 1:8-10 Other than faith, must a person do something to be saved? Paul states an emphatic NO in this study of Galatians.

We have set up the message of Galatians by giving a little bit of background. We know that Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia which he has established as we see in Acts 13 and 14 with an urgent warning because he is amazed at the speed in which they are departing from the Gospel of grace which he has preached to them. We have discussed the ways in which the false preachers in these times were distorting the Gospel by adding requirements like circumcision as a prerequisite for receiving grace. We then crossed the bridge to our world today where there are many distortions of grace. Many people including many of our neighbors and our friends are prisoners of religion, a system of do’s and don’ts and standards of self righteousness. My greatest desire is to know Christ and to truly understand and be a minister of this glorious gospel of grace. I want to be a conduit of this grace to others. I want to see people set free from the prison of religion by the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had the same concern as he wrote Galatians.

Galatians 1:8-9 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. 9 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.

Paul, in the strongest terms possible rejects any other Gospel throughout this book, and very strongly here.

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—Charles H. Spurgeon
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 45
“Straightway” Sermon No. 2618
delivered Sunday evening, January 15, 1882

Notes are found here

In our last study, we spent a lot of time unpacking what it means to be in the darkness and what it looks like. Make no mistake about it, in case I did not make the point clearly is that we are living in very dark times where men and women love sin more than they love life, and they prefer the darkness to the light. People do not like the light, they hate the light because the light is pure, the light is holy, and the light exposes them and their actions in truth. The ugly reality is that people hate the light and live in opposition to it. The crucial act of being born again changes our characteristics; we are no longer children of darkness but children of light. Because of this, our attitude is changed about things associated with darkness, and we are attracted to and marked by the light. In this message, I would like to dig into what light is, and, more importantly, who light is.

21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

What is true? Sincerity in action, character, and in what we say. We do what is true when we act in accordance to the reality of Christ in us. Light is a metaphor for what is true. When Jesus is called the logos, it means that” The Word was God” (John 1:1). Jesus as logos is the eternal expression of God as a word is the expression of a thought. This expression is also truth, and this truth shines light into our lives. When we have honestly responded to the revelation (the light) that God has given us, and we respond to His seeking of us by responding in repentance and faith, we are walking in the light. This is doing what is true; If we honestly and with an open heart respond to and put into practice the revelation God has placed before us. The light also reveals us for who we are in truth. As we understand who we are in truth, we can either deny it or be cleansed. As John teaches us in his first epistle:

1 John 1:5-9 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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In the last article, we examined Jesus’ teaching about belief; a Greek word pisteuo which means placing trust in and committing to the object of belief. We examined how we must look to Jesus alone for our salvation, as opposed to our good works and religion as a means of salvation. As we open up the text for this week, we see a very different reason for men to refuse the simple offer of salvation. For Nicodemus, it was his self-righteousness and religiosity that blinded him. For others, it is their desire to do evil. In reality, both of these things are very similar if not the same; for God sees our works of righteousness that we do outside of Christ as filthy rags. In a way, trying to do good outside of Christ to please God is really doing evil; trying to get others who do not know Christ to act in a good manner is promoting evil. Let us examine the scripture:

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

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