The letter to the Galatians is considered by many to be a “capital epistle” of the Apostle Paul, along with 1 and 2 Corinthians and Romans, because of how clearly it sets forth the Gospel. Written around AD 50, just 20 years or so after the resurrection of Christ, Galatians is called by some the Magna Carta of Christian liberty. Martin Luther loved Galatians so much he called it “Catherine von Bora,” his wife’s name, because he said, “I am married to it.” Along with Romans, Galatians is the book that launched the Protestant Reformation in the 1500’s as it liberated that Catholic monk from works righteousness and helped him clearly see the doctrine of justification by faith alone. That is the central doctrine of Galatians, and in it we read, “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Do you see that? Not once, not twice, but three times in that single verse Paul insists that we cannot be justified (or, declared righteous) before the bar of God’s justice by doing the works of the law. The good news of the Gospel is only good news if it is the Gospel. Anything else, anything added, reverses the Gospel so that it becomes terrible news. 

The Gospel is this. Christ “…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 glory forever and ever.” Notice three things about that powerful truth. 

The Gospel tells us who we are. We are helpless and lost in our sins. That’s what the word “deliver” implies in that verse. What do we need more than anything else? To be rescued. Delivered. Other religions were founded by people who claim to have the knowledge we need that will set us free. They are here to teach us, they say, because that’s what we need most. Was Jesus a teacher? Of course. The greatest of all teachers. But Paul in describing the Gospel in its simplest terms makes no mention of Jesus’ teaching. Because that was not as important as rescue. A man who thinks he just needs to really understand the difference between Buddhism and Christianity is not looking to be rescued. He just wants to be taught. But when a person is drowning right in front of you in a pool, they don’t want you to yell to them how to do the breaststroke or toss them a manual on swimming. They need a rope. They need someone to deliver them, to rescue them. Jesus is first our rescuer before he becomes our teacher. 

The Gospel tells us what Jesus did. He “gave himself for our sins.” That is substitutionary atonement. He took our place because no one else could. Paul says it plainly also in 1 Corinthians: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” This is of first importance because there is no other hope, no other way, no other rescue. He did not die for all, but for all those who will believe. He said himself that he came to “give his life as a ransom for many.” He also did not die to just give us a “second chance” to do better, to get it right so we could be right and stay right with God. No! He did all that was needed to make us right before God, something we are helpless to do ourselves. And the Gospel means that if Jesus really paid for all of our sins we can never fall into condemnation and then have to…pay for our sins. It would be unjust for two payments to be made. Jesus paid it all. It was just for Him to die on the cross because He took our sins upon Himself. It is unjust for us to have to do anything to win God’s favor. Jesus won that for us. 

Third, the Gospel tells us what the Father did in the very first verse of this book. God the Father accepted Jesus’ perfect payment for our sins by raising Him from the dead. And He gave us grace and peace that was bought by Jesus’ precious blood. Why did the Father do this? Not because of anything we have done, but “according to the will of God the Father.” The Gospel begins and continues and flourishes for eternity because of the will of God. Not because of anything we did or could ever do. Salvation is pure grace.  

Are you living in and flourishing because of the Gospel? There is no other. 

Galatians 1 1-9 No Other Gospel

The gospel is paid for by blood and empowered by grace, and I believe every church that stays healthy will do everything it can to build a gospel culture, a grace-filled community, where the body of Christ can flourish.  

I remember the story of the young man with long greasy hair that walked into a ‘proper’ church on a Sunday morning. His jeans were ripped and dirty, his t-shirt smelly and stained, and his feet were bare. He wandered down the aisle looking for a place to sit, but none of the shocked parishioners would make eye contact. He finally plopped down on the floor in front of the first pew. No one breathed. Finally an elderly deacon began to make his way down the center aisle, and the people sighed and nodded. At least Deacon Jones is going to set this young man straight, they thought. Coming into our church looking and smelling like that! But when the deacon got to the front, he did the unthinkable. He dropped his cane and sat beside the young man on the floor, nodding at him as if to say, “Welcome. I am glad you’re here.” When the pastor came to the pulpit, he said, “What I am about to preach, you may not remember. But what you have just seen, you will never forget.”  

What they saw was gospel culture. 

Francis Schaeffer spoke at a conference in Switzerland in 1974 on the topic of “Form and Freedom in the Church.” He said there are four essentials to a healthy biblical church, which of course include sound doctrine and real relationship with the God who made us. But another essential is “Relational beauty.” Schaeffer said, “Lovelessness destroys orthodoxy. If we do not show beauty in the way we treat each other, then in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of our own children, we are destroying the truth we proclaim.” Relational beauty has a lot to do with building gospel culture. 

One of the things I hear over and over from Christians about their church-search woes, maybe when they have moved to another city, is this. Why can’t we find a church that has both sound biblical doctrine and strong fellowship, or loving community? Where is that solid Bible-embracing church that is also warm and welcoming to everyone who comes through the door, a church that is intentional about helping people find their place and build solid relationships with the family of faith? What I hear is that most of the time if they find a church that holds firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, the people there are as cold as a fish. Instead of receiving a warm welcome and an invitation into fellowship when they walk in, visitors often sit alone and try their best to enter into corporate worship beside people who don’t even acknowledge their existence. The flip side is people who tell me they found a church where everyone loves each other and welcomes those gladly who come to visit, but what they are teaching and what they believe is not grounded in the Word. They are not sound in doctrine. Why can’t we have both? Sound doctrine and healthy community?  

Anyone who has been around the Word for more than a few months has already seen that not only can we have both, but the truth of Scripture demands it. Jesus was, as John said in his prologue, “full of grace and truth.” Grace and truth. If that is true of Jesus then is it not also to be true of his church as well? Grace and truth. Not just truth. Not just grace. You really cannot either unless you have both. I would suggest that a church will not thrive that does not strongly believe that a vital part of the reason they come together on Sunday is to love one another. Jesus said it plainly in the upper room, after Judas had left to betray him. He looked the other 11 men in the eye and said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Just to make sure they got it, and that we do as well, He said it three times. Love. One. Another. That is gospel culture.  

That must be the culture of any church that belongs to Jesus.  

Gospel Culture MFH

I remember hearing a sermon once on Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal entitled, “Before the Fire Will Fall.” Remember the story? Elijah had to do a lot of work in preparation before fire came down from heaven and God revealed Himself and His glory to the people who followed Baal. Especially to the 400 prophets of Baal, who no matter how hard they tried just could not get any fire from heaven. You see, the power was not in the preparation. That was just Elijah being obedient. The power was in God and God alone. Fire came down for Elijah because God sent it. Fire did not fall for the prophets of Baal because their god simply does not exist.  

That’s not to say that preparation is not important. We should prepare every time we gather as a church with humble hearts, bowed to His will, with prayers of expectation that God is glorious and will increase our awe and love through songs and preaching and prayer and testimony. That’s just us being obedient in preparing our hearts to receive what God so loves to give: Himself. And that is what we see in the final chapter of Exodus. All the furniture for the tabernacle had been made. All the materials for the tabernacle itself had been made and were ready to assemble into a tent of meeting. It had been at least 120 days since the instructions were given and Bezalel and Oholiab, spirit-filled craftsmen, led a team of artists who constructed everything, right down to the pomegranates on the priests’ robes. Now it was time for Moses to put it all together.  

Notice the day! It was the first day of the first month. Verse 17, in the second year. This is significant because it was the anniversary of their departure from Egypt. This day the tabernacle was erected, the culmination of everything God had been doing since He first delivered His people from bondage. Now there was a tent of meeting, a tabernacle, where God would meet with His people for many years. And again we see the heart of Moses who obeyed the Lord. You read this phrase 7 times in chapter 39, 7 times in chapter 40, and 7 times in Leviticus 8: “As the Lord commanded Moses.” The Spirit of God in inspiring Moses to write it this way was making a point on the importance of word-for-word obedience to the Word of God. These people were humbled and repentant over their idolatry, at least for now, so they wanted to make sure they followed God exactly as they should. Then you read in verse 33, “So Moses finished the work.” Moses had done all he had been commanded to do. Now all that was missing was what everyone was waiting to see: the glory of the Lord. God with us. Moses could put the tabernacle together after God told him how to do it. But only God could fill the place. 

We cannot close the book of Exodus without going one more time to the book of Hebrews, where we are told again that we have full access to God through Christ, His Son, who is also very God of very God. “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  

We know that Jesus is with us and in us! How should we then live? Let us draw near to Him. Let us hold fast our confession of hope without wavering or deconstructing. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Not stir up one another to distrust or bitterness. And let us not neglect to meet together for worship.  

All the more, Saints, because we see the Day is drawing near. 

Exodus 40 Glory Came Down

Three Joyful Challenges

I recently read through my journal for 2009, and I love this excerpt from Friday, November 27 of that year: “I was at the YMCA on Wednesday, expecting Cindy to show up any minute. I was on a stationary bike and kept turning round as I was riding to look for Cindy’s appearance. At the same time I was listening to a message by Sinclair Ferguson on the Return of Jesus, and it struck me how this picture in the Y looked like that picture in the future. It reminded me of how we should live: distracted from the things of this world because of a longing for the arrival of the One we love. We want to be craning our necks, watching the door, not caring what we look like to others, some of whom may be annoyed by our constant turning and looking and longing. Paul said a crown of righteousness will belong to those who “love His appearing.”

That story also reminds me of February 22 and November 22 of 2025. I remember them like they were yesterday. In each of those days, I was privileged to stand next to a young man who was looking intently at a door that was closed, knowing that when it opened, he would see the young woman standing behind it as his fiance for the last time. Because in mere minutes, she would become his wife. They would leave their father and mother, hold fast to one another, and they would become one flesh. Their lives would be forever changed as a new family was formed, and that union would be a testimony to the world of the marriage between Christ and His church, His bride.    

Cindy and I had the privilege of doing the pre-marital counseling for these two young couples this 

year, and all of them members of Antioch. In fact, three of them grew up in the church and the fourth came to us already grown up beyond her years. 

Let me tell you three things I saw in those two weddings and the work that led up to them. First, I saw four families who were committed to training up their sons and daughters to know the Lord and to follow Him. I saw four men who take seriously Paul’s admonition, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” I saw four women whose children rise up and call them blessed and whose husbands also praise them. Each of these moms “opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

Second, I saw a church body come together for each wedding to do whatever needed to be done for 

the sake of the bride and the groom and for the glory of God. It was a mountain of work and you did it without complaining because the love of Christ compelled. It really does take a village to pull off a wedding, and what a godly, giving, and loving village the church is. Gospel community is alive and flourishing at Antioch. Third, I saw two young couples that patiently waited to say yes on their wedding day. I saw the light shining in their eyes when they looked at one another and when they talked about one another. 

I want to remind you who are married, whether it is for one month or more than 50 years, of this truth: marriage in Christ is meant for our joy and for God’s glory. Don’t give in to anything less for your marriage than that. Don’t accept for a moment the thought that suggests marriage is something to be endured, not enjoyed. No! That is certainly not how Jesus thinks of His bride! For the JOY that was set before Him, Jesus our bridegroom endured the cross. Because of what Jesus endured for us, we can and we must pursue joy in one another.

Celebrate the one whom God gave you, in good times and in hard times.

Follow the Shepherds

I never get tired of reading Luke 2 and learning from the angels and the shepherds. Here are five important lessons we learn from these men who were “keeping watch over their flock by night” when an angel of the Lord appeared with good news of great joy. The Savior had been born in Bethlehem! How did the shepherds respond?

They believed the Good News. We know this because as soon as the angels were gone the shepherds started making plans to go into Bethlehem. This is the critical time for all of us, isn’t it? We have just heard the doctor give us his diagnosis and tell us what to do to get well. Do we believe it? We have just heard our boss give us his evaluation of our work and tell us what to do to improve. Do we believe it? We have just heard the Lord speak to us in a sermon or in our own reading of the Word. Do we believe it? In each case, our “belief” is proved by what we do next. We can say we believe the word we’ve heard and simply ignore what we heard the word, which would be proof that we do not believe it. Belief and obedience walk together or not at all. 

They obeyed the Good News. The shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. What do we know about the shepherds’ obedience from this passage? First, their obedience was corporate, and that’s a great thing. The shepherds obeyed together. They exhorted one another to obey the Lord. If you are spending time with people who make a habit of obeying God, and encouraging you to obey God, you are hanging out with the right people. If you are spending time with friends or family who do not obey the Lord, but they know and they see that you do obey the Lord, then you are a friend of sinners as Jesus was. He was in the world, but not of the world.  Second, their obedience was immediate. And they went with haste.” They hurried to obey God. There were lots of reasons to delay: as many sheep they had, those were each a reason to stay where they were. We are not told what they did with the sheep. Maybe the angels told them they could leave the sheep in the field and they would be fine. Maybe they found some substitute shepherds who were off that day and hired them to come and watch. Maybe they just looked at the sheep, looked at each other, and said, “Good luck Fluffies!” and took off to town. Probably not. They were shepherds, which meant they were first and foremost protectors of their sheep. But God had spoken to them through a heavenly host, an army of angels. And it was with great joy that they obeyed God with abandon! There is delight and surprise waiting for those who will make haste and obey God’s command. 

Third, their obedience was grounded. They said, let’s go see this thing which the Lord has made known to us. How much do we run to see and to do and to walk in what the Lord has made known to us? Think of this. They were going into the city, where they almost never ventured, looking for a baby in a feeding trough. That took faith. But at the same time, God had revealed it to them. There are times to step out in faith, and certainly there was a measure of faith involved in what the Lord told the shepherds. But most of the time our obedience will not be to something we are not sure of, but to that which has been clearly revealed to us. The shepherds understood exactly what God was telling them to do, and they simply obeyed.  Fourth, their obedience was rewarded. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. We don’t know how long it took them to find the right baby. Remember, the angel had said, “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” The key word was manger. There were surely other babies in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling cloths, but the One they were looking for would be in a feeding trough. They looked until they found Him. This is one of those main things and plain things in the Bible. In Jeremiah we read, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” And in Isaiah, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.” Wisdom speaks in Proverbs, saying, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.” Jesus himself said, “Seek and you shall find.” That is what these lowly shepherds did. 

I don’t know about you, but I want to follow the shepherds.