The Gospel… Reapply frequently and generously as needed

Good morning.

Good morning.

I just want to say I feel really appreciative to be able to worship with all of you this morning.

It's just been amazing so far.

So as we look at the book of Galatians today,

we're actually going to be reminded of the struggles of the early church

with those who came into its midst,

tried to replace the gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ with a false gospel.

And as we look around in our world today,

I think we all realize that we have the same struggles with this.

We may never forget how easily we can lose our focus off the true hope of Jesus.

So please follow me along this morning

with the responsive reading found on the screens behind me.

Father God, the lie of empty, dead religion is that

if we can be good enough or better than other people,

then you will love us.

But you are not impressed with our pitiful attempts to appear righteous.

We can do nothing to earn your grace,

and we are no better than anybody else.

It's only through your Son,

His life,

His death,

and His resurrection

that we can be made right with you.

Save me from religion

and all its self-righteousness.

Forgive me for a cheapened view of grace.

You see into the depths of our hearts,

and you know the reality of who we are.

Our deepest thoughts and darkest sins are not hidden from you.

Change my heart.

Give me the desire to live a life surrendered to you.

You don't desire a life filled with empty routines

or deeds that look good on the outside.

But Jesus died and rose to bring us into a living relationship with you,

that you would transform us from the inside out.

Help me to know you.

Help me to love you.

Help me to serve you with every part of my life.

May your compassion and grace transform our lives

and the lives of 95% of Hong Kong who don't yet know you.

Amen.

The scripture reading for today comes from the book of Exodus

and the book of Galatians chapter 1.

Galatians 1 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletin.

As Pharaoh drew near,

the sons of Israel looked,

and behold,

the Egyptians were marching after them.

They became very frightened.

So the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.

Then they said to Moses,

Is it because there were no graves in Egypt

that have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?

Why have you dealt with us in this way,

bringing us out of Egypt?

Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt,

saying,

Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?

For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians

than to die in the wilderness.

Then in Galatians we read,

Paul,

an apostle not sent from man nor through the agency of man,

but through Jesus Christ and God the Father,

who raised him from the dead,

and not the brethren 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

so that he might rescue us from this present evil age,

according to the will of our God and Father,

to whom be the glory forevermore.

Amen.

I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him

who called you by the grace of Christ

for a different gospel,

which is really not another,

only there are some who are disturbing 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 what we have preached to you,

he is to be accursed.

As we have said before,

so I say again now,

if any man is preaching to you a gospel

contrary to what you have received,

he is to be accursed.

For am I now seeking the favor of men

or of God?

Or am I striving to please men?

If I was still striving to please men,

I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

This is the reading of God's word.

Did you hear amen to that worship time?

Amen.

Was that amazing?

That was amazing.

How you guys doing?

I get to say that at least once in a while, right?

Hey, we are,

we're continuing our,

see if I can find a place for all my things up here.

We are continuing,

or actually we're starting a journey

in the book of Galatians.

We're putting Luke on hold

because we feel like there's a couple things

in this book of Galatians

that builds,

and it's something that we want to

be talking about

and getting a foundation down in our life.

The idea of grace

and mercy

in the gospel.

I don't know where you are

on your journey in here.

As I come in here,

we pray a lot

for the message

and for the worship

and for every,

I don't know if you know

that every one of you

have been prayed for

before you even get here,

that we pray

that God would speak to you,

that you would make it.

What a crazy morning.

Once I woke outside,

I saw ducks floating by my house.

It was raining so heavily.

A figure of speech,

I didn't really see ducks,

but someone will ask me that.

Ducks in Hong Kong?

Where are they?

Lunch.

You'll catch it later on

after the coffee, okay?

But we realize

that every one of us

is on this journey,

and God has us on this journey,

and our stories are being told,

and our stories are interweaving.

First, they're interweaving

with God's story.

God's taking our thread,

and he's interweaving

our story with his story,

but he's also interweaving

our stories with each other,

and it's amazing to see

what God does in people's lives.

I mean, to me,

that's the most amazing thing

as a pastor.

You come in,

you see people's lives

changed by mercy.

You see people's lives

changed by grace,

and as we talk about this journey,

I want to talk to you

that as far as I'm concerned

and with the elders

and the leaders,

that we're always going to use

God's word

as the filter for everything,

that we're not going to

come in here and say,

okay, let's put something else

on top of God's words

like our feelings

or our emotions

and filter God's words

through that,

but as long as we're

on this journey together,

we realize that God's word

is God's word.

It doesn't need to be

changed or altered,

and it's what we go to

when we have problems

and things we want

to figure out in your life,

and I don't know

how you feel about that

because that should

really bother you

at some stage in your life.

I mean, sometimes I read

these things,

and it just,

it drives me crazy

what's written in here.

Sometimes I read this,

and I try to think about

how am I going to apply this

to my life,

and I think about

the sacrifice

and what it means

to trust and to love,

and it just,

it drives me crazy,

and it's an incredible challenge,

and it bothers me sometimes.

It bothers me sometimes

when I do these sermons

because I have to be

thinking about them

for three months,

and you guys just think

about them for an hour,

and then you forget

when you leave here.

Probably.

I have to think about it

for a couple months,

and it drives me crazy,

but I realize that God

wants to speak to us,

and if it doesn't drive you crazy,

then maybe your God

is too small.

If something that I say in here

doesn't offend you,

and we're talking from God's word,

then maybe your relationship

with God is not

what you thought it was.

Maybe your view of God

is so small,

and you can just manage him

in a bottle,

so no matter what's said,

you can compromise that

and deal with that

and not think about it,

and your God is too small.

I got this letter this week,

and I asked permission

to read it,

so I know I share stories.

So if you send me a letter,

I usually get,

not nice letters,

but if you send me

a nice letter,

and it's in line with things,

I just think this is interesting.

He says,

Dear Pastor Tobin,

I do not normally write,

but I feel like I have to

after your last sermon.

I've been going to Watermark

since almost the beginning,

and my family loves it.

Don't try to figure out

who it is,

but as I sat listening

to your last message,

I realized that I'm lost.

I'm stuck in Egypt,

surrounded by my comfortable life,

my money,

my pride,

my idols.

I'm actually a prince

in the land,

just like Moses was.

I remember a sermon

you talked about

on a moral therapeutic deism

a while back,

and I listened to it again,

and I realized

that that was my faith

in my God.

I taught this

like six months ago,

so I went back

to the notes,

and I printed out

a PowerPoint for it,

and we said in this sermon

that according to Christian Smith,

who's a sociologist

at Notre Dame,

he said the primary expression

of faith today,

the fastest going religion

in the world,

is moral therapeutic deism,

and it's characterized

by five beliefs.

The first belief,

basically,

is there's a God

who created earth,

and he watches over it.

The second belief is

God wants people

to be nice,

fair,

and good,

as is taught in the Bible

and most other religions.

The central goal of life

is to be happy

and feel good about yourself.

God doesn't need

to be involved

in your life

except when there's

a problem that needs

heavenly performance enhancement,

like you really gotta pray.

You've lost your job,

but besides that,

you don't really want

God in your life

because he causes you

to do things

that you might not want to do

or you might have

to give away something

or you might have

to change your attitude,

and the fourth part of that

is good people

go to heaven

when they die,

and we compare that

to the gospel message,

and our friend says

that that is

what he lived.

It's taken me

a long time

to realize this

and even to dare

to admit it

because I am surrounded

by family,

friends,

and a culture

that values safety,

security,

pragmatism

more than obedience

and holiness.

I'm haunted

by the passages

where Jesus asked

the rich young ruler

to give up everything

to follow him.

If Jesus were to ask me that,

I would laugh

and walk away,

but I'm sad about that.

In my soul,

I know there is life

and freedom there,

but I'm still stuck

in Egypt.

I'm worried about

what it will say

or what I will say

to a holy God

who asked me

to justify my life

on his accountant books.

You talk a lot

about being on a journey

and taking steps

towards the Lord.

Lord,

this letter

is my first step.

Please pray for me

as I look forward

to continuing

this journey with you.

God is amazing.

His grace,

His love,

His mercy

beyond me.

Your fellow traveler.

We're all on a journey.

We're all seeking God.

We're all asking questions.

And what I've realized

as we go on this journey

is that whenever

the gospel is preached,

and we're going to see that.

We've been talking about that

in Luke.

Whenever the gospel

is preached and taught,

amazing things happen

in people's lives.

We see people's lives change,

but then what is typical

of human beings,

of Christ followers,

we're lazy,

we're creatures of habit,

we're fickle.

And often we go back and forth

and we go back and forth

between two different types

of faith.

Two different types of extremes,

two different types of gospel.

It was true today,

and it was true in Paul's day

when he preaches the gospel

in Galatians.

Some of us,

when we hear the gospel,

think it sounds too good,

too easy to be true,

impossible.

What's the catch

is what people often say to me.

No such thing as grace

and mercy like that.

Nothing is for free.

And so we start to do things

when we hear this,

if we're like this.

We feel like we want

to help God save us,

and sometimes we even add

religious activities

to our lives to save us.

Sometimes we can even

get to a place

where we hold on

to these activities

more than our relationship

with God.

Our life is more about

doing things

than about our relationship

with Jesus.

Jesus.

And if we head down

this road,

you're going to get

exhausted.

If you try to help

God save you,

or you try to help

God justify

why he saved you,

you're going to get

worn out.

You're going to get tired

trying to do things,

and eventually you're going

to get bitter

and angry.

My fear as a pastor

is that many of us

will do all these activities

and as an end

to themselves,

but not because

we want to know

Jesus more

or because we love him.

The question we have

to ask ourselves

as we do things

is,

are we doing these things

because we love God

and we want to know

him deeper

and more truly?

John 6 is an amazing

passage I was reading

over this week.

In this passage,

Jesus is talking

to the Pharisees,

the most learned people

in his culture.

They knew everything.

They were intelligent.

They had all the

biblical answers.

And Jesus looked at them

and he said,

guys,

you study in vain.

You know all the answers.

You know all the right things.

You know how to say everything,

but in the end,

you've missed me.

You've missed grace.

You've missed mercy.

You've missed God.

Some of us,

I think we're so busy

with stuff for God

that we,

I mean,

we're going to five

Bible studies a week.

Some people in here

are going to three churches

this Sunday.

If you're going to three churches

this Sunday,

stop it.

Don't go to three churches.

Go to one church.

If this isn't the best church,

go to another church.

There's a lot of great churches

I can recommend to you.

I know the pastors

are great guys

that are walking with God,

but don't go to three churches

on Sunday.

It's crazy.

Stay in one church

and get involved in that.

Some of us are doing

hundreds of religious activities

a year,

and I think it's not

because we love God,

but I think it's because

we're actually trying

to get a love for God.

And we feel like

if we do these things,

if we are busy,

then God will love us

and we'll love him.

And what I've seen in my life

is that people often

just give up on Jesus.

They give up on church.

We said this church

was planted for the church,

the unchurched,

and the de-churched.

And the de-churched

are those people.

They grew up maybe

in a Catholic background.

They've gone to Catholic school.

They've been told

all these things

they want to do.

And they've done them

over and over and over again.

And finally they get to this point

where they're just so tired

and worn out.

And there's still this emptiness

in their soul,

and they don't know

what that emptiness is

and they just give up.

And they come in to me

and they say,

I've given up on church.

I've given up on Jesus.

And I hear their story

and what I realize

is that they never,

they never knew him.

But they've been so busy

doing things

and trying to fill

those activities

within knowing Jesus

that they don't even

really know him.

I think in reality

when it comes to many of us,

when we become Christians,

we have this restlessness,

this emptiness,

this void

in our lives.

I mean,

we hear the gospel

and it saves us

and we know

that we have this

fire insurance,

but we wonder,

is it good enough

to get us on

through the journey?

We invite Christ

into our hearts

and we allow him

to save us,

but we wonder,

is he enough

to walk with me every day?

Can I trust him?

I mean,

I'm just sharing

from personal experiences,

okay?

Is he really good?

Can I trust him

in his journey?

Is he enough

to get me through there?

And sometimes

I think we forget

that the gospel

is the power

not just to save us,

but it's the gospel

is the power

that keeps us going

throughout all of our life.

And it moves us

through this journey.

It's funny

that Katie quoted

this C.S. Lewis quote.

I was going to quote

the exact same quote.

Because he tells

this very interesting part

about restlessness

in our soul.

In the book

C.S. Lewis wrote,

it's very famous,

we've quoted it many times,

it's called

The Screwtape Letters.

The story of Screwtape

is there's this

high-ranking demon

and he's talking

to one of his minions

who's terrorizing

this person.

And he's giving this guy

a strategy

against Christians,

against you and I.

And the demon says this,

he says,

you have to keep them

in a state of mind

that I call

Christianity

and.

A-N-D.

Christianity

and.

In Lewis' day,

it was Christianity

and the new

psychology.

Christianity

and the new

order.

Christianity

and

faith healing.

If you can just

get them to add

something else

to their faith,

get them to add

something else

to Jesus,

get them to add

something else

to the gospel,

and if you do this,

you void out

everything

and they miss out

on the power of God.

Is that,

I just thought

that's amazing.

I mean,

I thought about that

today.

If C.S. Lewis

were around

now

and he was writing,

he would probably

add different things

for his end.

He would probably

add Christianity

in coolness.

Christianity

in self-affirmation.

Christianity

and self-improvement.

Christianity

and personal

progress.

Christianity

and social issues.

And diversity

and tolerance.

And popularity.

And success.

And power.

And social status.

And tradition.

I mean,

if you're like me,

what I struggle

with are things

like Christianity

and control.

Christianity

and achievements.

Christianity

and my strengths.

Christianity

and my reputation.

Christianity

and my relationships.

Christianity

and my family's

well-being.

My ambitions.

My goals.

My dreams.

My personal

preferences.

My spiritual growth.

I don't know

what you add

in there.

But the Bible

says that we all

do that.

And we call

those things

idols.

and they're

not a bad thing.

Personal ambition

is not a bad thing.

Family is not

a bad thing.

Growth is not

a bad thing.

Change is not

a bad thing.

But when they

become the ultimate

thing,

they become equal

to Christianity.

Then they become

our God.

And Lewis says

to the demon

that if you can

get them to do this,

if you can distract

them,

if you can get

them to hesitate,

if you can get

them to add,

you will keep

them off course.

You will keep

them powerless.

You will keep

them ineffective.

And they will

never ever

come to a place

where they will

believe that

mere Christianity

is enough.

You hear what

the demons said

to each other?

We've got to

get them so busy

in adding things

on that they

will never come

to a place

where they will

believe that

mere Christianity

is enough.

Make them feel

like they add

something onto

the gospel.

And if they add

something onto

the gospel,

then they lose

it.

That's one

of us.

One of us,

when we hear

the gospel,

we're going,

woo!

Amazing!

Incredible!

Grace!

Mercy!

I got that

going for me.

Now I can

leave here,

and I can

just do

whatever I

want.

Because I

have my

heavenly

insurance.

I mean,

we live

our lives

in compartments

and boxes.

And these

boxes have

no integrity.

They're not

built together.

There's no

connection.

There's nowhere

where the

gospel goes

through every

part of our

lives.

We think we

can come to

church,

we can come

to community

group,

we can do

two hours,

and then at

the end of

the rest of

the week,

we just do

whatever we

want.

I mean,

watch out.

I can lie.

I can cheat.

I can defraud

people.

I can treat

people poorly.

I can treat

people poorly

at work,

at my family.

I can treat

my wife like

crap.

I can treat

my friends as

disposable friends.

Hey,

it's okay

because I go to

the gospel,

the sacrifice

of Jesus

Christ.

What he has

done for us

has made no

difference in

our lives.

And so we

walk out of

these doors

with this

false sense

of security

because we

come to

church.

I think

sometimes we

think that we

know Jesus,

but we don't

have this

overwhelming

sense of

God's holiness.

We don't

have the

overwhelming

sense of

how desperate

we are.

We don't

have an

overwhelming

sense of

our brokenness,

of our

lostness.

We don't

understand God's

mercy and

grace and

how God

wants to be

with us

every day

and to

change

everything

and every

moment God

is there to

take you

on the

journey.

And we

lose that

because our

lives are

compartmentalized.

And we

just think this

is what I

do here and

this is what

I do there

and this is

what I do

there,

but none

of these

things ever

come together.

we lose

all of

God's

grace.

Some of

us, we

go tonight

to family

dim sum

compartment,

then we

go to

Sunday night

compartment,

to our

Monday

work box,

to our

Monday evening

work box,

to our

Friday at

Leng Kui

Fung box,

and in

none of

these areas

does God's

glory,

glory,

in none

of these

areas does

God's

glory or

holiness or

grace or

the gospel

change anything.

Jesus might

be something

to us, but

he's a very

small something,

he's not

everything.

And if

you're in one

of these two

categories,

congratulations,

because we

all are.

And what

is true

today is

true for

us as it

was for

Paul when

he wrote

the book

of Galatians.

And so if

you turn in

your bulletin,

I wrote out

the first

eight verses,

we're just

going to fly

through those

things,

we're going

to do this

for five

weeks,

we're going

to look

at Galatians

because I

think there's

some things

in there

that we

really have

to understand,

we really

have to get

our heads

around.

First,

Galatians was

written by

Paul,

his Jewish

name is

Saul,

and he was

a brilliant

opponent and

persecutor of

the early

church.

He had the

best teacher

in Torah in

the world at

that time.

He was the

highest educated

person.

He starts to

attack the

church and

in the books

of Acts,

we see this

amazing come

to Jesus

experience where

Jesus actually

appears to

Paul and

blinds him and

changes his

life and

Paul does

this incredible

180.

He becomes a

leader in the

church, he's

an amazing

church planner,

he plants church

after church

after church,

he plants a

series of

churches in

Galatia.

And then

after he's

done playing

them and

putting in

elders, this

group of

men called

Judaizers come

in.

Now these

Judaizers,

they're Jews,

and they come

in to the

church and

they try to

lead the

people astray.

They try to

say, well,

this is what

Paul taught,

and they're not

going to say

that's wrong,

because right

away people's

ears will go,

whoop.

I mean, if I

came in here and

said, you know,

Jesus didn't really

die on the cross

for you,

you'd go,

whoa, wow,

whoa, that's

totally against

Christian doctrine

and everything

else.

That's not

orthodox.

But if I

said, Jesus

died on the

cross for you

so that you

could earn

your way to

heaven, he

opened the

door so that

you could work

hard enough

now, well,

maybe some

people would

say, I

don't know.

Maybe that's

true.

I mean, sure,

nothing's free,

right?

So maybe I

need to do

something.

So that was

what was

happening in

Paul's church.

These guys

came in and

they were

Jewish and

they said,

you've got to

do all the

rules.

You've got to

do all the

ceremonies.

You've got to

go all the

festivals.

And so Paul

hears this and

he reacts

incredibly strong.

I mean, he

breaks cultural

norms in writing

this letter because

he skips parts

of it, like

a greeting,

a salutation,

a welcome,

because he's

so upset about

what's happening.

Because people's

lives are in

danger.

They're in

danger of

falling away

and not

understanding

Jesus and

the gospel and

grace and

mercy.

And so

around 49

AD, Paul

writes this

letter 15

years after the

death and

resurrection of

Jesus.

And he writes

to these churches

and he warns

them and he

uses very strong

language and he

basically says,

you are in

danger of

losing Jesus.

You're in

danger of

being separated

from the

thing that

we've struggled

so much for.

And he

writes this

letter to

these men.

Paul, an

apostle, big

A, a

messenger sent

out, not

sent from

men nor

through the

agency of

men but

through Jesus

Christ and

God the

Father who

raised him

from the

dead.

And all

the brethren

who are

with me.

So Paul

writes out and

he says, hey,

I'm an apostle.

I'm gathered

with the

twelve.

God has

given me a

special message.

God has

given me a

special mission.

He's given

me a special

purpose.

He's given

me a special

power.

And I'm

going out to

preach this

gospel to

you.

grace to

you.

That word is

unmerited

favor.

It's the

gospel.

It's something

you don't

deserve and

God gives

to you.

Grace and

peace from

God our

Father and

the Lord

Jesus Christ

who gave

himself for

our sins

so that he

might rescue

us from this

present evil

age.

Are we

living in a

present evil

age?

He's not

just talking

about what's

going on

around us

but he's

looking forward

to the

future.

He's looking

forward to

what's going

into our

heart.

Verse

four.

He gave

himself for

our sins

that he

might rescue

us from

this present

evil age

according to

the will

of our

God and

Father.

To whom

be the

glory

forevermore.

Amen.

I am so

amazed that

you are so

quickly deserting

him who

called you

by the grace

of Christ

for a

different

gospel.

Paul uses

incredibly

strong language

here.

And he says

guys you were

walking,

you were

running,

you knew

what it

meant to

put your

faith and

trust in

Christ and

all of a

sudden these

men come

in and

without blinking

an eye I'm

amazed,

I'm astonished,

I'm shocked

that you've

gone to this

gospel.

And the

gospel isn't

a different

gospel,

it's a

false gospel.

I mean these

guys had

come in and

they'd taken

the Bible

and they'd

laid Judaism

on it.

And so the

Bible is good

but you've

got to make

sure that you

practice all

the rules

too.

You've got to

make sure you

do all the

ceremonies,

you've got to

make sure you're

clean, you've

got to do all

these things and

if you do all

these things then

you'll understand

everything that's

going on in

this word.

And Paul

says don't

listen to

them because

they're changing

this.

And this

should be the

thing that goes

above everything.

It goes above

our family, it

goes above what

we believe, it

goes above where

we work.

In Paul's day

it was Judaism,

maybe today

people put the

Book of Mormon.

Maybe somebody

you've heard puts

Scientology tracks

or Jehovah

Witnesses watch

tower up there.

Maybe some of

us put Marxist

doctrine or

communist belief.

Maybe some of

us put our

own personal

experience.

Well I know

that's what it

says but you

know I've never

really felt that.

Well I know

that's what it

said but that's

totally unpractical.

Do I really

need to do

that?

And Paul says

these men have

come in and

they've placed

stuff above the

Bible and

they're reading

through those

things to

interpret the

scripture and

he says if you

do that you're

going to die.

Does that sound

intense?

I mean when you

read this you're

like whoa, these

are strong words.

Because he knew

that what was in

here was so

precious that if

you take it and

you change it just

a little bit,

you lose the

power of God's

spirit, you lose

the power of

Jesus Christ, you

lose the reason why

Christ died on a

cross for us.

And so he's

warning them very

heavily.

In verse 7 he

says it's not just a

different gospel but

it's really not

another.

Only there are some

who are disturbing

you and they want

to distort and that

word is pervert to

change to make

look unrecognizable

the gospel of

Christ.

Christ, he

goes on and he

says these words

be careful of

these people.

Basically what he's

saying is if you

change the gospel

you lose the

gospel.

Basically what he's

saying is every one

of us have a choice

in here.

We can place our

life in our

future in the

hands of God or we

can place our

life and our

future in our

hands.

And Paul says

there's only two

choices there.

You have to choose

which one are you

going to do?

Are you going to

choose God?

Are you going to

choose man?

And he says be

careful because when

these false gospels

come in what they

tend to do is they

diminish your

sinfulness.

And they look at

you and say you

know you're really

not that bad.

I mean if you just

went to a couple

more Bible studies

you'd be great.

You know you're

really not that

sinful.

I mean those

really conservative

Christians think you

are but you're

really not.

I mean you can fix

yourself.

You can do it.

I mean don't worry

about that.

And you know God

we used to think he's

really big but he's

really kind of like

that.

In fact God you want

to get God so small

that you can put him

in your pocket and

you can carry him

around.

And so when you need

him you can bring

him out and you can

rub on him and blow.

Okay I need this.

That's moral

therapeutic deism

right?

And Paul says be

careful how you

choose your gospels

because there's not

two different gospels

there's not three

different gospels

there's one gospel.

He goes on in

really strong words

in verses 8 and 9

he says but even

if we Paul

Tobin the elders

of Watermark the

elders and leaders

of any church you

go to even if we

are an angel from

heaven.

How did Mormonism

start?

An angel from

heaven came

and they had a

special book

and they wanted to

give the leaders

and they said if you

put this book on top

of the Bible

you're going to

understand everything.

And Paul says be

careful of that.

Even if an angel

appears before you

and they say something

different than what I've

said if they preach a

gospel contrary to

what you've preached

he is to be cursed

and the word is

damned and it's one

of the strongest

words in Greek.

To be lost.

So be careful who

you let in.

Be careful who

teaches to you.

Be careful what you

listen to.

Be careful what you

read besides your

scripture because those

things are going to

filter everything that

you read.

And be careful of

that or you're in

trouble.

Paul in 9 goes on

and he says again

let them be damned.

Let them be accursed.

He later on in

Galatians basically

says that you're

teaching death.

They're teaching

poison to you.

You know eight

years ago I had a

heart attack and I

still take heart

medicine today.

What do you think

would happen if all

of a sudden I

realized that the

heart medicine I

was taking was

counterfeit?

You think that

would be something

I should be

concerned about?

I mean the thing

that I was hoping

that was going to

give me life, the

thing that I was

hoping that was

going to make my

life better, it was

going to extend me,

it was going to

heal me.

What if I found out

that the thing, the

medicine I was taking

was counterfeit?

It was actually

poison.

Should I react to

that?

that's one of the

first things my wife

said.

She goes, now where

are you buying that

medicine?

You need to get that

checked out because I

wanted to make sure that

what I was taking was

real and true.

And Paul says to the

church and he says to

us, in the same way,

you guys need to make

sure that what you're

taking, what you're

believing is real and

true because you might

be taking something that

you think is life and it's

going to kill you.

It's going to work you

to death.

It's going to make you

feel like you got to do

all these things.

It's going to make you

feel like you can do

whatever you want because

you're going to heaven

because Jesus loves you.

He's my dude.

Paul says be careful.

Examine your life.

Examine your actions.

Examine your heart.

What do you really

believe and how are you

really living that out?

Does grace in the

gospel message change

anything?

that you think or do.

And Paul says if it

doesn't, then you're

probably taking poison.

And ultimately it's

going to kill you.

And the hard thing about

this type of poison is

it's spiritual death.

And it can be passed on

to those around you.

So Paul says be careful.

Make sure you're taking

the genuine gospel.

Make sure you understand

what it is.

And the true gospel I think

is found in verse 3 through 5

and we're going to end here.

Because if you just take

verse 4, that is the whole

message of this passage.

That's the whole message

of the book of Galatians.

The true gospel is this.

Verse 4, it tells us what.

What did Jesus do?

Jesus came.

Read that again with me.

Jesus came to give himself

for our sins so that he

might rescue us.

What did he come to do?

He came to rescue us.

I mean, Christianity is

the only religion in the

world where the leader

sacrifices himself.

He jumps in the water

to rescue the people.

Every other religion says,

hey, you're drowning?

Here, let me give you this

book.

I'll teach you how to swim.

Turn to page 48.

Really quickly.

Okay.

If you do that, you're saved.

Every other religion says,

do that.

Let me give you something

and you're going to learn

how to be good yourself.

But Christianity, the gospel

message is that Jesus Christ

came and he rescued you.

He jumped in the water.

And not only did he jump

in the water, he pushed you

out of the water into a

lifeboat.

And not only did he push you

out of the water into the

lifeboat, as he did that,

he died.

He died.

He died.

When we were praying about

starting Watermark, I met

with two professors at the

University of Hong Kong.

We prayed and we dreamed

about what it would look

like to have a college

ministry there.

We had no leaders.

We had no idea.

We knew what was going on.

One of those guys was Chris

Beeling.

And as we sat in TGI Fridays

and we talked about it and

we dreamed about it and we

wrote down on that, little

did I know that that summer,

he would no longer be here.

Because as he went swimming

with his friends, his

relatives, and one of the

nieces got caught in his

undertow and was going to

drown and he ran out and he

swam out and he saved his

niece and he brought her out

of the water and in doing

that he had a heart attack

and he died.

So he's not with us anymore.

And in the same way, Paul says

to the church of Galatians,

this is what Jesus does.

He jumps into the water.

He rescues us.

He doesn't teach us how to be

rescued.

He rescues us and he shows us

that we need him and we only

can make it with him.

Jesus jumps in and he throws

himself into the water.

How does he do that or what

does he do to save us?

He says, it says in verse 4,

he gave himself for our sins.

So he gives himself for our

sins.

In Greek it says he gives

himself on behalf of our sins.

Jesus dies in our place.

He doesn't die in our place to

give us a second chance.

He dies in our place to give us

life.

Because if he had a second chance

you would ruin it.

And what the gospel says is he

jumps in the water and he saves

us.

He saves us by dying for our

sins to give us a second chance.

And in verse 5 he says, why does

he save us?

According to the will of God our

father.

To whom be the glory forever and

ever.

Amen.

It's grace.

You and I are here right now not

because we're cool and not because

God thought he really needed to

save us because he needed an

accountant as a Christian.

He just came in and he saved us.

His grace poured out upon us on

the cross and the reason that we're

here is because of God's glory.

In God's goodness.

In God's mercy.

In God's grace.

And Paul wants us to remember

that.

He wants to challenge us to say

don't forget the gospel.

Don't forget the messages that

Jesus rescues.

Don't forget the messages that

Jesus sacrifices.

Don't forget the messages that

Jesus did it.

Because he just did it.

And the reason you and I are

sitting here is not because we

have our acts together because I

know you and you know me and we

don't have our acts together.

The reason we sit here is because

God poured out his mercy and his

grace on us.

And that's the message that Paul

wants the church to take away.

That's the message that he wants

us to remember.

That's the message that we walk

through our daily lives and we

don't just enter into Christian

family and life through God's

blood but we walk every day

through his blood.

When we feel that emptiness in

our life we have to realize that

that emptiness is there because

there's a void and that void can

only be filled by Christ in the

gospel.

Some of us are going to feel that

emptiness and we're going to

think well I can fill it with a

watch or I can fill it with going

to another Bible study.

I need to go to another church

today and really get that

emptiness filled up.

But the message that Paul is

trying to share to the church is

if you do that you're living a

false gospel.

And it will eventually kill you.

But the message is that as you

walk with him moment by moment

every day that his mercy, his

grace is poured out upon you.

He dances, he loves, he hugs.

The only time in heaven when

people stand, when Jesus stands,

is when people come to faith.