There Is One Gospel

Paul was confronting a similar situation to that in the churches of Galatia.

It wasn't the relativistic postmodernism that we deal with,

but the churches were indeed tolerating false teachers

and heresies that destroy the gospel and its influence.

The issue, at least at first, with the Galatians

is not so much that they've already become fully apostate,

you'll notice even in the very first verse,

there is an action verb that is a continuing action.

It's not a completed action that they are deserting,

not that they have deserted.

There is something in Paul's mind where he is not willing yet to say

that they have become full apostates to the faith.

His issue, at least on the surface,

is that they are beginning to tolerate other apostates to the faith,

that they are tolerating within their churches,

that they are tolerating within their scope of doctrine,

things that destroy the gospel.

And he uses this letter to confront the false teachers.

He affirms the gospel of grace that had been preached to these people,

that had saved these people.

And he warns the churches that the doctrines that they are beginning to tolerate

are setting them and others on the road to eternal hell.

But before we jump into these verses,

let's take just a moment before we start talking about defending the gospel

to understanding what the gospel is to begin with.

So what is the gospel?

Let's just work through a few of maybe Paul's own writings about the gospel.

Remember 1 Corinthians 15?

Paul is writing that amazing chapter on resurrection,

not only on Christ's resurrection, but the resurrection of the saints.

And he opens the chapter by saying,

I would remind you brothers of the gospel,

the good news that I preach to you,

which you received,

in which you stand,

and by which you are being saved.

And here's what he says it is.

As of first importance,

Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the scriptures.

He was buried

and he was raised on the third day

in accordance with the scriptures.

So if somebody were to come to you and say,

in just in one,

really one or two statements,

tell me what is the gospel?

Paul tells us the gospel is very simply,

Jesus died for our sins

in accordance with the scriptures.

He was buried

and then he rose from the dead

in accordance with the scriptures.

That's the gospel.

That the only hope of eternal salvation we have

does not lie in anything that we do,

but it lies in something

that Christ has already done.

That the forgiveness we receive

is not something that we can earn

through religious observance

or anything else.

It is given to us.

We receive it through faith

in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

And we've spent the last several weeks

looking at that

very, very closely in Mark's gospel.

that the purpose of Christ's death

was not just to be a model

or an example for us.

It was an efficacious death.

It was sufficient

to actually provide satisfaction

against God's wrath

that the kids learned about

on Thursday night.

Jesus told Nicodemus

that in his current state

of unbelief and in sin,

that he was condemned already.

He was living in that moment

underneath the wrath of God

for his sin.

But because of what Christ

has done on the cross,

God has taken his wrath

for the sins of his people

and he has put it on his son,

fully satisfying his justice

so that he can then come

to all who believe

and he can give instead of judgment,

eternal life.

And all of that comes

not by what we do,

but through what Christ has done.

Christ died for our sins

according to the Bible.

He was buried

and he was raised

according to the Bible.

Paul goes on in Romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

to say that this is the thing

that actually has power to save.

He says,

I'm not ashamed of this gospel

for it is the power of God

for salvation

to everyone who believes.

In other words,

he's so convinced

in the faithfulness

of this gospel

that he says it

and it alone

has the power to save.

He writes to the Ephesians

in chapter 2 and verse 8,

you know the verse well,

that it is by grace

you've been saved through faith.

This is not your own doing,

he says.

It's a gift of God,

not of works,

so that no man may boast.

So here's the gospel.

It's the power of God to save

and that salvation

is not based on what we do,

it's based on the grace of God.

It's a gospel of grace.

And then he encourages his team

as he is passing off the scene

at the end of his life

to continue to defend this gospel.

He writes to Timothy,

in 2 Timothy chapter 1,

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

do not be ashamed

of the testimony of our Lord,

but share in suffering

for the gospel

by the power of God

who saved us,

called us with a holy calling,

not because of our works,

but because of his own purpose of grace,

which he gave us in Christ Jesus

before the ages began.

Loved ones,

this is the gospel.

There is no other one.

This is it.

And it's a wonderful gospel.

It's a glorious gospel of grace,

and it alone has the message of salvation.

For Peter and John said,

there is salvation in no one else,

for there is no other name under heaven

given among men

by which we must be saved.

Writing to the Corinthians,

Paul says that there is one body,

that is one body of believers,

and there is one Lord,

and there is one hope,

and there is one spirit,

and there is one faith,

and there is one baptism.

There is one gospel,

and we must affirm

and defend this gospel of grace.

Otherwise,

by deserting God and his gospel,

we will follow the path to hell

and lead those under our influence

on the way there.

So when Paul writes to these churches in Galatia,

he is not writing casually.

You understand now

why he doesn't take time

in the beginning to thank them.

There's nothing to thank.

This becomes less

of a letter of encouragement to believers,

and it is structured more like

an evangelistic letter

to those who may not actually be converted.

And there is a great gravity and weight

to the things that he says,

and we need to heed these verses

personally and as a church.

So let's look at it together.

The first thing,

just two really main points to look through.

First one is,

I want you to see

the exclusivity of the gospel of grace.

The exclusivity

of the gospel of grace.

So in verses six and seven,

we see the situation presented,

at least in summary form.

Paul was shocked

to hear these professing Christians

were deserting God

and distorting the gospel.

So he opens his correspondence

with a passionate affirmation

of the exclusivity of the gospel.

There is only one gospel,

in other words, he's saying.

Let's look at verse six.

We see them deserting God.

I am astonished

that you are so quickly

deserting him

who called you in the grace of Christ

and are turning to a different gospel.

I'm blown away, he says.

This word for astonishment,

thalmatso,

is the same one used by Matthew

when he describes that scene

with Jesus and the disciples

on the boat in the Sea of Galilee.

And remember in the middle of the night,

the big storm comes up

and it's beating the ship to pieces

and the disciples are afraid

they're gonna die

and Jesus is asleep in the back

and someone runs and gets Jesus

and there's that famous statement,

Jesus, do you not care that we're dying?

And do you remember what Jesus did?

He goes to the front of the boat perhaps

or maybe he just gets up where he is

and he says three words,

peace be still.

And with the sound of his voice,

he harnesses all of creation.

The waves that are beating the ship apart

become smooth as glass.

The wind completely stops.

It is a miracle of miracles, so to speak.

And then Matthew says

that the disciples in that moment marveled,

which in our language doesn't seem like much,

but when you put it into the context

of what they were experiencing in that moment,

it literally means their jaws were dropped.

They were speechless.

They knew nothing to say

and then the other gospels say

that this marveling actually led to fear on their part.

What manner of man is this, they said,

that even the wind and the seas obey him.

Same word Paul uses here,

thou matzo.

I'm astonished.

My jaw has hit the floor.

Same word that is used for the disciples by Luke

on the day of Jesus's resurrection

when he appears into the room later that night

and he just shows up in the middle of the room

and he has that mill of fish right in front of them

and it says thou matzo in regards to the disciples.

They're blown away.

They've just seen a person resurrected from the dead

appear in front of them suddenly.

Now imagine how that might feel.

Be terrifying.

Be overwhelmed with amazement.

That's what Paul says he feels in this moment.

I'm blown away.

I'm astonished at how quickly

you have turned to another gospel.

So his astonishment is not just about the fact

that they are entertaining and tolerating false gospels.

It's the fact that they've done it so quickly.

You know, dating New Testament letters

isn't always an easy thing to do.

It's tricky.

But the evidence suggests

that at the time Paul wrote this letter

to the Galatian churches,

it was only about a year

after he had actually helped to establish these churches.

That's fast.

It's a reminder that the early season following our conversion

is often the most exciting.

It's also the most volatile.

because Satan wastes no time trying to destroy our faith.

Because for us to stay too excited about our faith for very long

is going to become an influence on others

who might turn to the gospel as well.

And the early days of our faith

is often the most challenged of our faith.

That's not to say that as we grow

and as we get older

that it doesn't become more difficult.

It's just the challenges begin to change

and they take different shapes for each of us.

But it's only through faithfulness to the word,

reliance on the Holy Spirit

that we develop this spiritual maturity

that is necessary for fighting off these attacks.

Well, these fledgling churches had not had time

to develop that level of maturity.

And it didn't take long for false teachers to come in

and to begin to deceive

so that these young believers were beginning to turn away.

Notice that Paul's accusation here

is not that they were deserting the gospel,

but that they were deserting God.

Look at it in verse 6.

I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him

who called you in the grace of Christ.

This turning from the gospel was not an action on its own.

It was the means by which they were deserting God himself.

You cannot separate love for God from faith in his truth.

You can't separate discipleship from faithfulness to the gospel.

And think about it.

These Galatians would have immediately affirmed a love for Jesus.

But Paul's priority in writing to them

was that by turning to a false gospel,

they were in reality deserting the very God

that they claimed to love and to know and to follow.

Because it's impossible to be a disciple of Jesus

and tolerate a different gospel than he taught.

It's not possible.

And I see in this verse a warning

against the modern notions of deconstruction

within Christian communities.

Do you know what I mean?

Do you understand what I mean when I say that?

There is this, you can find all kinds of articles about it.

It feels like every other day there's another apostate Christian

and there's an article that's written about them

and how they have gone through this process of deconstruction

that has ultimately led to them leaving the faith altogether.

It is kind of a buzzword right now

that indicates kind of tearing apart everything that you've ever believed

to find some other kind of truth or your truth

or however it is that you might term it.

True deconstruction implies that there is a systematic dismantling

of the trappings of religion

in order that we might get to the foundations of Christianity

which is the gospel.

So that if we talked about Legos a couple weeks ago, right kiddos?

Let's say we were to build a castle out of Legos this morning.

There would be a difference between John Moseley coming through

and saying, hi-yah!

Karate chopping the castle apart, right?

There's a difference between that and Clementine coming to the castle

and saying, you know, instead of just karate chopping the thing

and destroying it to start over,

why don't we just kind of take it apart piece by piece

to see where the instability actually was

and then we'll reconstruct it better.

Okay, that's true deconstruction.

It's a systematic dismantling that gets us to the gospel

so that then we can reconstruct our lives and our faith

and our beliefs on the gospel itself.

Another word for this is reformation.

And this is something that we're always doing as Christians.

We're always looking at the peripheral things in the church.

We're always looking at the traditions of the church,

the things that we cling to so tightly

and evaluate them against the truth of the gospel.

Are they actually serving the purpose of the gospel?

So that coming out of the Reformation in the 16th century,

that phrase, always reforming, would be true for us today.

That's the true sense of deconstruction.

But what's happening in many Christian circles today

is not deconstruction.

It's demolition.

And what people have done is for legitimate reasons in some cases,

because of church hurt or the ubiquitous headlines

about abuses in the church and physical abuses

and spiritual abuses and all these kinds of things.

And there's these people that have spent their lives in Christianity

and maybe it was a superficial life or whatever it was.

And they begin not to deconstruct their faith.

They just demolish it altogether.

And when they bring the wrecking ball in,

they destroy the gospel with it.

So what comes out on the other end

is not a reconstructed faith built on the truth

absent of man worship

or absent of all the trappings of religion

that would aggravate us and frustrate us in our walk with Christ.

What actually comes out on the other end

is a tolerance of a false gospel,

whether you call it that or not,

bending to cultural whims,

turning to a gospel of their own making.

They've utterly deserted God.

And that's what Paul's getting across.

You think that you're just improving or strengthening your faith

or whatever it is.

That's not actually what you're doing, Galatians.

You're deserting God.

And if you're in one of those positions right now

of quote-unquote deconstruction,

just as a word of warning,

make sure in the process of reforming your faith

that you don't demolish God,

that you don't desert Him in the process.

So they're deserting God.

Second thing we see here in verse 7

is they're distorting the gospel.

That's how they're deserting God,

by distorting the gospel.

Verse 7, not that there is another one,

but there are some who trouble you

and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

The false teachers who were troubling the Galatians,

we find as we continue reading the letter,

they were what we refer to as Judaizers,

which were Jews who claimed to be followers of Jesus,

that Jesus was necessary for salvation,

but they taught one must get to Jesus through Judaism.

So that they insisted that salvation from Jesus

could only be achieved by someone

who first converts to Judaism,

and with that comes taking the sign of circumcision,

or at least affirming as a woman

that you would agree that circumcision would be necessary,

and then you adopt the Old Testament laws

in regards to ceremonies, rituals, dietary restrictions.

So that the seduction of this kind of teaching

is that it does not outright deny Christ.

That's why it's so deceptive.

They didn't deny Christ.

They didn't deny that He was useless.

They actually affirm, though,

that we need Jesus as a part of this equation.

His sacrifice really does mean something to what we're doing,

but it's not everything.

It's not sufficient on its own.

You also need the law.

You need these ceremonies.

You need the Sabbath.

You need the dietary restrictions.

You need the circumcision.

And once you come through that pathway,

that pathway is the only way to really get to Jesus

and receive eternal salvation and forgiveness of sins.

So rather than denying the gospel,

they distort it.

But to distort the gospel is to destroy it.

That's Paul's point.

And he says it at other points in the letter.

Chapter 2 and verse 21,

you could probably just look there quickly with your eyes.

It's probably on the same page.

Chapter 2, verse 21,

I do not nullify the grace of God,

for if righteousness were through the law,

as the Judaizers were teaching,

then Christ died for no purpose.

In other words, they're distorting the gospel.

They're destroying it.

You can't have a righteousness on your own.

You can't have a righteousness that comes in any way

through the law.

And if you can attain a righteousness in any way

through the law,

there was no purpose for Jesus then to die.

So the Judaizers then,

they're not simply enhancing the gospel.

They're actually destroying the gospel.

Look at chapter 3.

It might still be on the same page there for you.

And at verse 10,

for all who rely on works of the law

are under a curse.

For it's written,

cursed be everyone

who does not abide by all things

written in the book of the law

and do them.

Now it is evident, Paul writes,

that no one is justified before God by the law,

for the righteous shall live by faith.

That's a quote from Habakkuk.

But the law is not of faith.

Rather, the one who does them

shall live by them.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law

by becoming a curse for us.

For it is written,

cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree

so that in Christ Jesus,

the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles

so that we might receive the promised spirit

through faith.

You see what Paul's getting across here?

You can't have works in faith.

It doesn't work.

They're not compatible.

Righteousness from the law

and righteousness by faith

are not complementary.

They're not compatible.

They're antonyms.

They don't work that way.

It's one or the other.

This is really no different

from the false gospels

that we deal with today.

It's no different from

the teachings that salvation

comes through observance of the sacraments

or through penance

or the mediation of saints.

It's no different from those who would say

that your baptism is salvific in some way,

that Jesus is great and you need him

and we're so grateful for him,

but you won't be saved until you get baptized

and that in your baptism,

that salvation is then made complete.

That's a heresy not to be tolerated.

Can I tell you that there's a lot of Baptist churches

like ours who do the same thing.

They don't do it with baptism.

They do it in other subtle ways.

They preach superficial gospels,

superficial explanations of truth.

And they suggest that your salvation

is on the action of a moment.

That if you walk this aisle

and if you say this prayer

and if you fill this card,

you're good.

So that in the end,

people are not embracing Jesus alone for salvation.

I wonder how many people we know

who have set their hope

on something in addition to Jesus.

In their hearts,

they're trusting not the finished work of Christ.

They're trusting their baptism

or they're trusting their observance

of religious formalities or rituals.

They're trusting this prayer that they prayed

or they're trusting some other superficial thing

other than the gospel.

It's not that they take the gospel out.

It's that they are deceived into thinking

that it's not the gospel alone.

We need to remember that Jesus

plus anything else equals nothing.

That's what Paul is expressing to these Galatians.

You can't add circumcision to Jesus.

If you add circumcision to Jesus,

you end up with no gospel.

If you add the Sabbath to Jesus,

you end up with no gospel.

If you add baptism to Jesus,

you end up with no gospel.

If you add a ritualistic prayer to Jesus,

you end up with no gospel.

MacArthur says,

Paul is not friendly to that.

He doesn't see that as a minor detail.

What harm if they want to be circumcised?

What harm if they want to keep the Sabbath?

What harm if they want to follow rituals

and ceremonies and dietary laws?

What harm is that?

It's deadly harm, he says.

It's damning harm.

Because if you add any work of any kind to the gospel,

you have undone grace.

And the gospel that we proclaim

and the gospel that we believe for salvation,

the gospel that we defend is the gospel of grace,

not grace plus anything else.

It's grace and grace alone.

And to add any other thing to it

is to nullify the grace of God,

Paul says.

And his famous remarks about the man on the middle cross,

I'm sure all of you have probably,

at least on some level,

are familiar with this clip.

Alistair Begg said,

if you were to die tonight

and try to gain entry into heaven,

what would you say?

And he says,

if you or I answer that in the first person,

we have immediately gone wrong.

Because I,

because I have faith,

because I am this,

because I got baptized,

because my dad was a preacher,

or because this,

or because I,

I,

I,

I.

No,

he says.

Loved ones,

the only proper answer

is in the third person.

Because he,

because he took my sin,

because he died my death,

because he rose from the dead,

because in the context of what he was saying,

he said I could come.

And that's exactly what Jesus did.

He said come to me,

all who are weak and heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

It's not about what you do.

It's not about an action that you perform.

It's about him,

and him alone.

There is one gospel,

and if you try to add anything to it at all,

it becomes no gospel at all.

It removes then,

the only good news

that actually makes it gospel.

The exclusivity of the gospel,

we see the second thing,

and we're done.

The destroyers of the gospel of grace.

The destroyers of the gospel of grace.

Look with me at verse eight.

But even if we,

or an angel from heaven,

should preach to you

a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you,

let him be accursed.

As we've 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's speaking through hyperbole here.

He doesn't actually anticipate

that there will come a time in his ministry

that he will change his preaching of the gospel.

Neither did he intend to say

that it's even possible for an angel,

a true angel from heaven,

to preach a different gospel

than the gospel of God.

That's not what he means to insist here.

He's speaking in hyperbole.

His point is that the gospel of grace through Jesus

is not the exclusive gospel

because he says it is.

It's the exclusive gospel

because God says it is.

Do you see the difference here?

That's why he throws himself in here.

That's why he throws the angelic beings in here.

That it's not about what the messenger says.

It's not my gospel.

It's not my authority.

This is God's gospel.

This is his authority.

It's his word that has told us these things.

It is his spirit that has affirmed these things.

It is his son who has accomplished these things.

This isn't my gospel, it's his.

And if anyone, including me,

were to come into your church

and preach any other gospel

other than what you have received,

let him be accursed.

Which brings us to an important point of application,

I think, regarding celebrity individuals

within Christianity.

Be careful that your faith isn't based

merely on what your favorite preacher says

or what your favorite musicians sing.

don't accept something just because I say it

or because someone that you actually respect says it.

No.

We can't do that.

If your faith isn't based on the word of God,

you will inevitably fall into whatever error

your favorite Christian succumbs to.

There is nothing unique about me.

There was nothing particularly unique about Paul

other than the way the Lord used him.

And Paul says,

if you base your faith

and your gospel

and your doctrine solely on me,

you're gonna go wrong.

Because if I and the weakness of my flesh go wrong,

you're gonna follow me there.

It's not about me, he says.

It's about the word.

It's about the truth of God.

It's about his gospel.

We must get in the habit of,

as so many of you are,

and I love it so much,

we're blessed as a church

to have people we would call as noble Bereans,

like in Acts 16,

examining the scriptures

and as Paul said,

destroying arguments

that exalt themselves against the truth of God.

We are blessed as a church

with many people who do that.

And let me just echo what Paul says.

If at any point,

it doesn't matter if I'm the founding pastor,

whatever title you would give me,

if at any point,

Jared Blankenship stands up here

on a Sunday morning or any other time

and starts to add things to the gospel of grace,

it is time for you noble Bereans

to find a new pastor.

Paul says,

this is not about me.

This is about the truth.

And so don't follow me on the road to error,

don't follow an angel on the road to error.

Trust the Bible.

Trust God.

Because many false teachers are everywhere.

And the Bible warns time and time again

that these destroyers of the gospel

are not always easy to identify.

Matthew chapter seven,

in the Sermon on the Mount,

Jesus said,

beware of false prophets

who come to you in sheep's clothing.

Inwardly,

they're ravenous wolves.

Be careful who you read after.

Be careful who you listen to

on their sermon podcast.

Be careful who you watch on TV.

Be careful who it is

that you begin to follow.

Always judge everything by the truth of God,

not the winsomeness of a personality

or the seeming effectiveness

of somebody's preaching.

Some of you have been a part of ministries before

who seem to be abundantly fruitful

only to find out

that the one driving with their personality

was involved in some type of sickening sin

and had to be disqualified.

You know what that's like.

And if we set our hopes on those people,

when they fall,

we will either fall

or we'll be absolutely devastated

and we'll be tempted

to be like those deconstructionists

that we talked about earlier.

So hurt that we stop going to church

because we think that the church

is just full of a bunch of people

that aren't worth associating with anymore.

We stop listening to preachers

because we assume that all the preachers

are just as bad as this one.

If this one could fool me,

the rest of them could fool me.

If this guy was a proponent of that thing,

I'm going to make sure

that I don't listen to that thing anymore.

You see, we got to be careful with that.

1 Timothy 6, Paul told Timothy,

he said,

if anyone teaches a different gospel,

a different doctrine

and does not agree

with sound words of Jesus Christ

and the teaching

that accords with godliness,

he's puffed up,

puffed up with conceit

and understands nothing,

he says.

In Acts 20,

he says to the Ephesian elders,

I know that after my departure,

fierce wolves will come in among you,

not sparing the flock.

And then he takes it a step further.

He says,

and from among your own selves,

even among the elders

of your own church,

there may be some men

who arise speaking twisted things

to draw away the disciples

after them

instead of after Christ.

And he says,

so be alert.

So church,

be alert.

Be alert.

What will happen

to these destroyers

of the gospel?

Paul tells us

in verse 8 and 9,

he repeats it.

They will be accursed.

This word,

anathema,

has the implication

of one who is being devoted

to destruction.

The word itself means devoted to

or devoted to something.

In the scripture,

it's always put in the context

of negativity or a curse.

So we take from that

that what Paul intends to say

is that these people

are devoted by God

to destruction.

They are accursed

in that sense.

It's the same word he uses

to the Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 16, 22,

to describe those

who do not love

the Lord Jesus.

It's the same word he uses

in chapter 3 and verse 13.

We read it just a moment ago

to describe what Jesus

became for us.

He became anathema

for us.

This is not the kind of word

someone uses

to say that God

is going to put them

in a time out

for a little while.

Or as Gus would say,

get a nice talking to.

That's not the kind of word

Paul's using here, Gus.

No.

The Galatians were flirting

with a damning heresy

that had eternal consequences.

He intentionally repeats himself,

making the point absolutely clear.

Those who attempt

to change the gospel

are devoted by God,

the judge,

to eternal hell.

And why do you think

he's so concerned

to be repetitive

and to express this

to these believers

in Galatia?

Because if you end up

hitching your wagon

to a false teacher,

you will follow them

on the path

to destruction.

That's why he's writing.

He's not writing

because his feelings

are hurt,

that they're listening

to another teacher

more than they're listening

to him.

That's not Paul's purpose.

He's writing

because the very salvation

of their souls

is at stake

and the continuation

of the true gospel

is at stake.

That's why we must affirm this.

That's why we must defend

this truth.

So let's wrap it up.

There's one gospel.

It must not only be believed,

it must be defended.

And we cannot take

a casual approach

to these things.

We must remain steadfast,

firm

in our convictions

about God

and his truth.

but I want to finish

by addressing

anyone

who may be concerned

that

your tolerance

has led God

to remove

his salvation

from you.

And I want to point out

that's not what Paul

is dealing with here

with the Galatians.

He wasn't assuming

that the believers

in Galatia

were unconverted

or in danger

of having their salvation

taken away.

that's not what he's saying.

Salvation is eternal.

That's why the Bible

calls it

eternal salvation.

Everlasting life.

Meaning that

once you have it,

you get to keep it.

Because you didn't get it

for something you did,

you received it

because of something

Christ has done.

And his work

cannot be undone.

It will not be undone.

That is his promise

to us

and it's a promise

you can trust.

But the Bible

makes it clear also

that the authenticity

of our salvation

is revealed

in the fruitfulness

of our lives.

Jesus said this,

by their fruits

you will know them,

he said.

The apostles

repeated that

time and again.

So Paul's warning

here to the Galatians

was to get

the true believers,

the truly converted ones,

back on track

because we all

need that sometimes.

We all have moments

where for one reason

or another

maybe we're deceived

that we're drawn away

from certain things

about the truth

and if we have

the Holy Spirit

living within us

which is promised

at conversion,

we know that

with the preaching

of the gospel

we will be realigned

with the working

of the Holy Spirit.

We know the Bible

tells us that's true.

Paul's writing

so that the truly converted

will be reformed.

They'll be put

back on track

affirming

and defending the gospel.

But he's also writing

that the truly unconverted

would be exposed

as such.

That brings up

the question

about individuals

who at some point

in their life

appear to be

genuine Christians

but later deny

the faith

and become apostate.

How are we supposed

to process that?

John helps us there.

1 John 2

and verse 19

he says

they went out

from us

but they were not

of us

for if they had been

of us

they would have

continued with us

but they went out

that it might

become plain

that they are

all not

of us.

In other words

he's saying

you see it

in the fruitfulness

of their life.

Upon hearing

the faithful

preaching of the gospel

do they realign

to the truth of God

or do they continue

in error

rejecting the truth

of the gospel?

Well that's what

reveals to us

whether or not

their conversion

was ever legitimate

or whether they were

like though

the seed

that Jesus said

sometimes

it sprouts

for just a moment

and it appears

to be something genuine

but it quickly

fades away

either through

the persecutions

of life

or the deceitfulness

of sin.

Those who abandon

the faith

prove that they

never truly belong

to God

but those who

do belong to God

will hear the warnings

of Galatians 1

and strengthen

their faith

in the one true gospel.

not because

they're smarter

than the other guys

but because

it is the grace

of Christ

that holds us fast

not our ability

to hold on

to him.

Sometimes

we hear people

say

and I've probably

said something

like this before

in the midst

of a difficult trial

and we would say

I'm just trying

to cling on

just trying

to hold on

to him

and I understand

why we say that

because from our

perspective

that's all we're

doing

we're just

trying to hold

on.

The truth

of the matter

is when it

comes to our

salvation

you can hold

on as tight

as you want

and it won't

mean anything

if he's not

holding on

to you

and that's

the point.

You fall

into some

kind of

deception

or some

kind of

tolerance

if you've

got some

doubts

and you're

just trying

to work

through all

the stuff

be assured

that if

you have

been truly

converted

you have

the witness

of the Holy

Spirit

in your life

Jesus is

the one

holding you.

We sing

about this.

Great songs

we sing

about this.

When I fear

my faith

will fail

Christ

will hold

me fast.

Not me

grabbing myself

by the bootstraps

and giving myself

a kick in the

pants

and just

getting my

head right.

No

that won't

do it

because your

head's always

going to

fail.

No

Christ

will hold

us fast.

When the

tempter

would prevail

he will

hold me

fast.

I could

never

keep my

hold

through

life's

fearful

path

for my

love is

often

cold.

He

must

hold

me

fast.

And

that's

the

blessing

of it

all.

Todd

Wilson

said

using

scripture

by his

own

power

God

will

quote

guard

us

through

faith

for

salvation

ready

to be

revealed

in the

last

time.

That's

1 Peter

1

5.

He's

more

than

able

to

keep

us

from

stumbling

and

to

present

you

blameless

before

the

presence

of

his

glory

with

great

joy.

That's

Jude

24.

Think

about

that

one.

Remember

what

Jesus

told

his

disciples?

He

says

all

that

the

father

gives

me

will

come

to

me

and

no

one

that

comes

to

me

will

ever

be

cast

out.

He

says

this

charge

I

have

received

from

my

father

that

anyone

who

belongs

to

him

will

not

be

abandoned

they

will

not

be

left

out.

So

to

say

that

at

some

point

Jesus

is

going

to

let

me

go

says

either

that

Jesus

is

not

sufficient

enough

for

your

salvation

or

he

is

not

capable

of

holding

you

in

your

salvation

and

we

know

both

of

those

things

are

absolutely

!

false.

He

indeed

is

sufficient.

!

Only

he

does

and

so

Jude

says

he

is

able

to

keep

you

from

stumbling

and

to

present

you

blameless

before

God

because

that's

the

task

he's

been

given

and

if

you

belong

to

him

he

will

present

you

before

his

father

he

goes

on

he

who

called

you

to

his

eternal

!

glory

in

Christ

will

himself

restore

!

confirm!

strengthen!

establish

you

that's

1 Peter

5

10

he

will

quote

sustain

you

to

the

end

guiltless

in

the

day

of

our

Lord

Jesus

Christ

1 Corinthians

1

8

indeed

Paul

says

I

am

sure

of

this

quote

that

he

who

began

a

good

work

in

you

will

bring

it

to

completion

at

the

day

of

Christ

Philippians

1

6

quote

he

who

calls

you

is

faithful

he

will

surely

!

do

it

that's

1 Thessalonians

5

24

you

won't

do it

he

will

do it

you

won't

always

be

faithful

he

is

always

faithful

so

the

questions

remain

this

is

the

gospel

it's

the

only

one

will

you

believe

it

will

you

believe

it

and

will

you

defend

it

defend

it

to

your

family

defend

it

to

your

friends

defend

it

to

our

community

because

there's

only

one