“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” Galatians 3:1.

* When the Son of God was taken and cruelly crucified, the soldiers who were responsible for the execution, after they had nailed the Saviour to the cross, sat down to watch Him die. 

* What a strange and merciful providence that such ungodly men should be given such an opportunity to behold the Lamb of God dying for the sins of His people. 

* That which the Old Testament types had pictured and that which the prophets had gazed upon from a great distance as they relayed the revelation of God to the generations that had preceded Calvary, was unfolding before the eyes of these men. Though they looked, they saw not, for they were ignorant of the drama that was unfolding before them. 

* Is this not an ignorance greater by far than that of young Jacob when he said:  Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not, Genesis 28:16?

* Without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the clearest sight of Christ will not benefit the sinner. The tens of thousands who saw and heard, who witnessed first hand the power and grace of the Lord Jesus during His ministry, are proof of this. So too is our text. 

* The road to hell from Calvary is the worst road of all. It must surely direct the sinner to the hottest fires of perdition. Can any be more deserving of damnation than those who turn their back upon the cross? Is there anything more wicked than the embracing of sin in the presence of Christ crucified?

Come now to our text.

I. EVERY GOSPEL MEETING IS CONVENED AT CALVARY

By that I mean, when the gospel is TRULY preached we are transported to the place where Jesus was crucified. The gospel is the depicting of that scene. 

1. The gospel is depicted as the preaching of the cross. I Cor 1:18.

2. It is depicted as the preaching of Christ crucified. I Cor 1:23.

3. It is depicted as a  lifting up of Christ, John 12:32.

It centres upon the events at Golgotha. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,” 1 Cors 15:3. 

It is the main matter on the gospel agenda. 

May the shadow of the cross fall upon this meeting!

II. IN EVERY GOSPEL MEETING THERE IS A SETTING FORTH OF CHRIST

The Greek word Paul uses to write, “hath been evidently set forth” - is prographo - ‘to write or paint before the eyes’ It is the word from which we get ‘programme’ - a setting forth of what is planned.

1. He is set forth as the expression of divine love. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8. God presents us with a picture of His love in the crucifixion of His Son. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us,” 1 John 3:16.

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” 1 John 4:9-10. 

“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,” Titus 3:4. The word ‘appeared’ means to bring to light, to make visible. “Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace,” Luke 1:78-79 — the rising of the sun to dispel the darkness.

2. He is set forth as an evidence of divine displeasure against sin. The sufferings of Christ were due to the wrath of God against sin, His elect’s sin, falling upon Him. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” Isa 53:6. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” 1 Peter 3:18.

3. He is set forth as the sinner’s only hope. There is a cry that issues forth from the cross — “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else,” Isaiah 45:22.

III. IN A GOSPEL MEETING THERE IS A SETTING FORTH OF CHRIST EVIDENTLY BEFORE OUR EYES

1. The Holy Spirit is tasked with the duty of bringing Christ before the eyes of the soul. “Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come,” John 16:13.  There is a double revelation, Speak, and Shew. Those who are the subjects of divine grace are thus doubly instructed.

2. But also at work in gospel meetings is a spirit of deception. The Galatians were subject to a bewitching influence that sought to have them disobey the truth. At Calvary there were the mocking, denying voices of the chief priests. “Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him,” Mark 15:31-32.

3. Anyone so bewitched is a fool. Hell is the abode of fools — those who rejected the Word of God and believed the arch liar, the devil and his agents! 

4. The gospel makes us wise. “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Timothy 3:15. Only a fool would walk past Christ crucified and the display of love and mercy, deliverance and salvation, justice and wrath that is seen at the cross, and go on in sin to hell. 

Don’t be bewitched tonight! Hear the voice of Christ calling upon you to look to Him on the cross and believe and be saved!