Deviation Equals Assured Destruction - Galatians 1:6-10

So I grew up in between Los Angeles and San Diego, about an hour away from the Pacific Ocean.

And for the majority of my childhood, I remember going to the beach on summer break.

Maybe every other weekend.

My mom was a school teacher, so summers were off.

And I got to spend a lot of time with my siblings and with friends, and I got to spend time with my mom.

And on weekends or weekdays, my sister and I would try to convince my mom to take us to the beach.

And I love playing in the water, but the water, though refreshing and cool on a hot summer day, can be very dangerous.

And there are these things called riptides.

Riptides are a section of the beachfront that would draw you and suck you back out based on the different currents at play and the conditions, and it can be very dangerous if you're not a strong swimmer and if you don't know how to handle a riptide.

And I would like you to imagine being sucked out to sea with me.

You and I are bodysurfing, or we're boogie boarding, or we're just splashing in the water, and a large group of us get swept out to sea, and we don't have any way to float.

And an hour goes by and another hour goes by, and we we come to realize that there was no lifeguard on duty.

And no one sees us, no one hears us, and we're all out at sea, and we're in trouble.

We're in trouble.

Now, a Coast Guard helicopter goes overhead.

Parents are like, huh, I don't see my kids anymore.

Where are they?

They call for help.

The Coast Guard flies in, they send out the boats.

And imagine Coast Guard boat cruises up and says, Hey, it seems like you need some help.

Do you want help?

Can I help you out of the water?

And you say, Yes, I need to be saved.

I'm stuck.

I can't help myself.

I'm gonna drown if someone doesn't do something about my condition.

Now imagine you extending your hand, taking hold of a coastie, as they call them.

Coastie pulls you up into the boat and you're safe.

You got a towel on yourself.

But you and your friends are deciding, you know what?

In order to be saved, we need to dive down to the bottom of the ocean and find some shells.

That's what we need.

We need to go get some souvenirs so we can tell our parents that we really were saved.

We really were saved.

And there's something that we did about.

We have proof.

We have evidence that we were saved because the Coast Guard saved us, pulled us out of our situation that we couldn't save ourselves from.

And then to show the proof of the salvation, we went down and got some charms.

We went down and found some tokens on the sea shore.

Now, this isn't exactly what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Galatians, but we're gonna see, we're gonna see a people that have abandoned ship.

They've abandoned the gospel that's saved, and they're being swept away and pulled away to different gospels, pulled away to believe that Christ's work on the cross wasn't enough.

They have to go and fulfill these uh these steps from the books of Moses, from the law.

Now you might be thinking, like, why would I dive to the bottom of the seas, shore, the bottom of the sea, to get charms, to get some seashells, to find some pearls when I was about to drown and now I'm up on this boat?

Why would we go back and try to earn or find some evidence to prove that we're saved in our own power, in our own strength?

And this is Paul's conundrum.

This is Paul's confusion.

He's so surprised.

Why have you left the gospel that I first preached to you?

You were safe.

You were in the boat, and now you're drifting away.

You're going back.

You're going back to something else, something that is not the gospel.

I want you to think about today the things that you know to be true about the gospel and the things that people might want to add on to the gospel, like an expansion pack, like some kind of DLC to download, something to add to it that makes it better.

Does that make sense?

And I just want to give you the inside scoop.

Nothing's gonna make it better, nothing's gonna improve upon it because it is perfect.

It's God's plan for salvation.

There's nothing you could do to add to it.

There's nothing you could do to improve on it, to assure it outside of what Christ has already done for you.

So we're picking up again in Galatians chapter 1.

Galatians 1 · chapter mention

Look with me to verse six.

We're gonna go from six to ten here.

Follow along with me, please.

Galatians chapter one, verse six.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you.

Who do you think the hymn is?

Who's the hymn that calls you to salvation?

It's Jesus.

Him who called you to the grace of Christ and running to a different gospel.

Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and who want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or another angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary, up against, opposite to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.

Let him be accursed, set aside for destruction.

That's what that word means.

Accursed.

Devoted to destruction.

Let him be accursed.

Even if it's an angel, let him be accursed.

As we said before, so now I say it again.

He's trying to prove his point here.

I said it, but you're not listening, so I'm going to say it to you again.

You need to hear this.

If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Let him be set aside for destruction.

For I'm now seeking the approval of man or of God?

Which one is it?

Is it man or God that I'm seeking the approval, Paul says?

Or am I trying to please man?

Am I trying to tickle their ears?

Am I trying to make them feel good about themselves so I can so I can climb the ladder?

No.

He says in verse 10, if I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

I would not be a servant of Christ.

So the gospel was proclaimed.

The gospel was preached.

These churches in Galatia, in Asia Minor, have heard the gospel.

And it's been some time.

We don't know exactly how long it's been, but there's been some people that have been troubling them.

People that have been trying to convince them that this other means of salvation is the way to go.

Now, that might be odd for you to hear.

Like if someone told you, do you know what the gospel is?

And you're like, Yeah, I know what the gospel is.

You know, I have a faith in Christ who saved me, who paid for my sins, he bled for me, he died.

He covered, he covered my shame, he washed my sins away, and he died for my penalty in my place.

I couldn't save myself, but I have faith that Jesus can forgive me.

He saves me.

He he is wiping my sins away, and he's alive.

He has victory over my sin, victory over death, and now if I have faith in him, I can be forgiven.

I have life in him.

If you're thinking, like, well, yeah, I know the gospel, I know what that is, but you might be thinking, like, what why would I why would I stick like what are those things called giblets in your crocs?

It's like adding giblets to the gospel.

It's like how ridiculous it is.

Gibbets?

Gibblets are a turkey reference, right?

You're adding charms to your crocs.

Like that's ridiculous in itself.

No, no offense to any.

You guys might be like stoked on like putting like cool stuff on your crocs, but imagine like adding cool stuff to the gospel.

Adding things to the gospel.

That's what that's what Paul is getting.

Like, how what what is going on, guys?

What happened?

He's astonished.

I can't believe it.

So quickly, so quickly you're deserting.

It's not like generations and generations, generations later.

No, these are the same people.

What happened?

You've turned from grace, you've turned from the free gift of salvation in Christ, and you're turning to a different gospel.

And he goes on to say, not that there's another one.

There is no other gospel.

Not that there is one, but there are some who are who trouble you, who are, who are meddling, who are trying to persuade you and want to distort this gospel of Christ.

Have you ever had a recipe that's just like chef's kiss?

You're like, I want that again.

Like, that's my birthday meal.

How many of you have a special birthday meal that you know you want?

You don't change from it, you don't deviate.

It's the same thing every year.

It's the same move because it works, it's excellent, it does the job.

Imagine, imagine someone outside your family.

I'm assuming your parents are making this dish, so go with me here.

Imagine someone from outside your family's like, you know, I can make it even better.

And they're like, looking, look, Levi, all you need to do is go in the backyard and get your shovel and dig a hole.

You're gonna find some worms.

And when you find those worms, just sprinkle them in right at the end on top as a garnish, and that's gonna make it even better.

Huh?

No.

No, this is this is this is Paul's like conundrum.

He's what?

Where did where are you guys going?

What's happening here?

You guys are turning from Christ to the law?

You're turning back to the law of Moses to add on to the finished work of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, who is reigning.

What is happening?

And Paul goes on to say, listen, even if like the most supernatural thing happened to you, even if something wild happened and you saw an angel, even if that goes on, no, no, no, don't buy it.

Don't buy it.

It's foolishness, it's wickedness, it leads to destruction.

Now, some of you are like kind of finding the pattern here.

We talk about the gospel a lot.

Some of you are like looking at the discussion questions every week, and you're like, huh, more gospel questions.

Okay.

Is this like an offense to me?

Like, do they think I know it?

That might be a good place to start.

Do I really know the gospel?

Do I know with confidence that this book that God wrote is accurate?

It's without blemish, without spot, without error, and it's fully true.

And it applies to me today.

And what Jesus says about himself, what the gospels say about Jesus Christ is true.

Yeah.

You really need to wrestle with that.

You need to hold on to that and really evaluate what's going on because it seems like these people in the Galatian churches have lost grip.

They've they've wandered, they've drifted, they've deserted.

They've deviated, they've they've drifted away from the gospel to something completely foreign, something different.

I I need you guys to really assess your minds and assess your hearts.

You need to, for point number one, let's write this down.

You need to affirm only one true gospel.

Affirm only one true gospel.

There's no substitute, there's no alternate, there's not like an Olympic backup to to join the team.

There's no like plan B, plan C, plan D.

There's no backup plan to the gospel.

This is God's plan for salvation.

And if anyone calls out to the name of the Lord Jesus in faith, they will be saved.

You guys are familiar with the scriptures.

You feel me, you're familiar with John 3.16.

But I want to show you where we're really looking at this one true gospel.

In Acts chapter 4, verse 12, we read this.

Acts 4:12

And there is salvation in no one else.

Not you, not you keeping the law, not you doing all the festivals properly, not you being circumcised, not you going and washing yourself and cleansing yourself over and over and over again.

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

This is the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's no salvation outside of him.

No Jesus, no salvation.

1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5 says this.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

For there is one God.

There is one mediator, one mediator between God and men.

The man Christ Jesus.

The man Christ Jesus.

There's no other way.

There's one formula, one recipe, one man that can save.

The man God.

And you might be thinking, like, okay, like I'm I'm I'm getting it.

I'm getting it, Tyler.

There is one God.

There's not a multitude of gods.

I don't I don't worship idols in my house.

I don't have like a shrine to different gods.

I I don't pray to, I don't pray to Mary, I don't pray to Buddha, I don't pray to any other deity.

I I talk to God.

I I read my Bible.

Are you saved?

Do you do you have a relationship with this God as he reveals himself to you?

Is he your Lord?

Is he your master?

Matthew 624 speaks to this exact point that I'm trying to make here.

No one can serve two masters.

There's only one.

For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money.

You cannot serve the students, you cannot serve God and your most favorite hobby.

You cannot serve God and your and your future career.

You cannot serve God and your favorite movie.

You cannot serve God and your most special and most loved person on this earth.

You can't do it because you will despise one of the two.

You will despise God if you are serving any other master.

There is no other way.

And Paul goes on, speaking of angels, if there's an angel that would speak to you and preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached, the one that you've already heard, let him be accursed.

Let that angel be destined for destruction.

Now this would not happen, but this is Paul trying to underscore highlights red pen, like explosion circle around this topic.

There is only one gospel.

There is only one gospel.

Stop adding to it.

Stop trying to think that you can save yourself by accomplishing all these things and adding it to the work that Christ has already accomplished and completed.

Stop doing it.

Stop doing it.

Sometimes I used to try to appeal to my parents when I wanted something.

Like, mom, like, I did a pretty good job on those dishes.

Do you see?

Like, no spots.

No spots.

Maybe we can go get some dessert later.

Maybe we can go get some dairy queen.

Back in the day, I had a strong affection for the cherry dipcone.

They discontinued it for a little bit.

They brought it back.

It's back.

The cherry dipcone.

And when I when I wanted something so dearly, like I was trying to work for it.

I was trying to do stuff to go and attain it, to have it.

You might be thinking, like, well, mom and dad, I'm I'm not arguing with my brother and sister today.

Like, what do you think?

Can we go, can we go slide and get a get a treat?

Like, you're trying to like, huh?

Huh, mom and dad?

Like, you're you you're gonna you're gonna see like you're gonna see your shoes one day, and you're gonna be like, man, they're pretty, they're pretty beat.

Like, they're looking dusty right now.

They're looking tired.

And my friends, they got those tough sneakers.

They're so tough.

Like, I want those.

I want them.

And you're gonna be like, oh, I gotta have them.

What do I need to do to get it?

And sometimes you might be thinking in in a certain way, this gospel is so good, I want it.

What can I do to get it?

What do I have to do to get it?

I need it.

You know you need for salvation.

You see it, you see it, and you're like, God, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be so good.

I'm gonna be so good that you're gonna see me and you're gonna be like, yeah, of course you get saved because you've done all these things.

Because you've you prayed every night, because you highlighted every every uh command that has to do with submitting to parents in the Bible.

You've done all the things that you could do, and you're gonna try to build a resume for yourself.

Like, look what I did.

God, you should let me into heaven.

Sometimes we have that mindset, and this is this is what is going on here.

They're adding to the work that Christ has already done and accomplished, and and they're saying, but there's still something left for me to do, there's still something that I need to accomplish in order to be saved.

And and Paul is saying, if if people are telling you this, strong language, flashing lights, let them be accursed, set them aside for destruction.

Set them aside to be doomed.

Now, if you looked at the title of this sermon, you might you might see it as maybe an acronym.

Deviation equals assured destruction.

If you're submitting, if you're subscribing, if you're putting hope and your trust in a salvation that is outside of the one true gospel, you're dead.

D E A D.

You're dead, you're doomed.

You're not gonna make it.

You won't make it.

Because there's nothing you can add, there's nothing you can boast about, there's nothing that you can go to God and say, I deserve, I deserve to be, my place is surely here in heaven.

My place is surely with you, with your people.

No, the scriptures say, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

There's nothing that you can do.

There's nothing that you can add to the gospel.

Why?

Because we're proud people.

We're naturally proud.

We're naturally wanting to take credit and boast in the things that we can do well.

We we have to run away from that.

We have to run from the things that might distract us, the things that might make us feel good about ourselves as we're looking to please people, we're looking to get their affirmation, their affections, their head nods, their check boxes as we seek to live this life.

No, we need to be seeking the approval and the affection and the well done from the only one who matters at the end of our lives, and that is God.

You're familiar with John 3.16?

There's some verses beyond that in John 3 that I'd like to share with you.

John 3.16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

And you might be thinking of a song in your head right now that's good.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned.

But whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God, the only name by which we can be saved.

If you have Christ as Lord and Savior, if that's who he is to you, you You are saved.

If you don't, you're not saved.

It's not if you have the Lord Jesus as your savior and you do all these good things, and you once a year do this, and once a year you go to this festival and you honor God and you worship and you go to ignite and you go to winter weekend.

It doesn't work like that.

It doesn't work.

You can't say, but God, I went to, I did, I said, I, I.

You can't show God your resume at the end of your life and say, I deserve heaven because of the things I have done.

No, you're going to look at God at the end of your life, and I get it, you're young.

You're like, at the end of my life, like how many with modern medicine, that could be like over a hundred.

Like, I don't even know if what's the iPhone gonna look like in a hundred years.

I don't know, Tyler.

No, at the end of your life, you're gonna say one of two things.

You're gonna say, I did, or you're gonna say, Christ did.

That's it.

I'm saved because of what the Savior has done for me.

That's it.

That's all you can say.

I'm saved because this gracious Lord Jesus died in my place.

He took the wrath that I deserved.

So there's a choice to make.

You can choose in this life to serve yourself, build your resume.

You can choose to add accomplishments that would make you appear good to the people around you.

And they say, oh, they're a good person.

They're a good Christian.

They're good.

Now, I'm not going to say we don't have a place to accomplish good works because we should.

We should be walking in faith.

We should be obeying God and accomplishing good things that would honor Him.

So don't get those two things twisted.

But if you're doing it for yourself to build your name so that way you could be more desirable in the eyes of God, it doesn't work like that.

It doesn't.

Let me write this down for point number two.

Choose to serve Christ.

Don't choose to serve yourself.

Choose to serve Christ.

John 3 36 says, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Believe.

Repent and believe in the Son of God, the eternal Son of God.

I had a meeting this past week that I was invited to last minute to meet with some Mormon folks that live nearby, and Pastor Josiah and I were talking to them and talking about, ironically, the book of Galatians.

And the conversation started the week that we were out after Ignite.

Pastor Josiah met with a man and he was talking about Galatians chapter one.

But when I was introduced to this conversation, we started in Galatians chapter 2.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

And the thing is with other religions, especially those that would claim Christ as Savior, you have to be really careful to define the terms.

What does this word mean?

What is the context of grace, of faith, of redemption, of atonement?

Because there's people that are claiming the name of Christ as Savior and they're doomed for destruction because they think that their works can save them.

When they're adding to the scriptures, when a people would say, For by grace you've been saved through faith after all you can do, that is a dangerous place to be.

After all you can do, then you can be saved if you have faith in Christ.

No.

No.

That is leading to destruction.

Put your faith and hope in the work of Christ.

He said on the cross, it is finished.

Redemption was accomplished.

There's nothing else that you can do to achieve salvation.

It's been secured for you.

Now, if you are in Christ, you could walk in the love that He has given and extended to you and freely work hard to please him, not to add to your resume, not to make yourself look good, but to honor him, to love him, to show the Savior, I'm so thankful for what you've done for me.

I am so excited to be a child of God.

What a privilege it is.

What a privilege it is.

But there might be a temptation in your life, like, but I might be able to kind of do my own thing.

I might kind of serve myself here and there.

I might call an audible and switch it up a little bit last minute.

And I want to draw our attention to when Elijah was having this showdown with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings chapter 18 and verse 21, Elijah goes and confronts these prophets.

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

He says, How long?

How long will you go limping between two different opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him.

And the people did not answer him a word.

This isn't a wishy-washy.

Sometimes I do this, sometimes I don't.

It's not like a 80% of the time I'm submitting my life to God.

No.

It's not a it's not a curve.

It's not, I'm a C minus Christian, I'm a B, I'm an A, I'm an A plus, I'm an A P student Christian.

No, to follow Christ is to trust that the work that He has done for you is finished and you have the pleasure and the privilege to walk as someone forgiven and free from your sin and submitting your life to Christ.

That is your joy, that is what you get to do as a believer.

So Paul is saying, if if a different gospel comes, it doesn't matter if it's if it's Mr.

Beast, if it's an angel, if it's your favorite MBA, MLB, NFL star, if they're telling you a different gospel is the way to go, you say, no, no, absolutely not.

Accursed, devoted for destruction.

That is the call from Paul.

Now, Paul, before his conversion, was at the top in Judaism.

He was a Pharisee, a Pharisee.

This man was at the top of his class.

He was the Eagle Scout with all the badges.

He was the five-star general.

He was the seven-time NFL Super Bowl winner in Judaism.

There wasn't anyone better than him.

And he goes on to say this in verse 10.

I'm not having this conversation with you guys.

I'm not seeking the approval of man.

For I am now seeking, sorry, for I'm for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?

Or am I trying to please man?

He's trying to get their attention.

Look at what I'm doing.

Look at my motivation.

He says, if I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

I had it good.

I had it good.

There was no strife in my life.

I was the one on the offense.

I was the one persecuting and rounding up and killing Christians because they deviated from Judaism.

No, my life was good.

It was really good.

Why?

I'm not here to tickle your ears.

I'm not here to gain the approval of man.

I'm not here to gain more friends on my social media, to get more likes, to get more subscribers.

I'm not doing that.

I'm here because I'm faithfully, diligently pursuing the work that Christ has for me.

That's what he's saying.

I'm not here to gain your approval.

I'm not here to increase or improve my status.

Because that's what he was doing.

He was climbing the ranks.

He was doing all the right things.

He was getting the nods from the people that were older than him that could put him in higher positions.

And he was at the top.

He's not saying what he's saying because he wants to be puffed up.

He's saying it in humility and with great concern because he knows the outcome of a life that is outside the gospel.

He was living it before God arrested him on the road to Damascus, seized his attention, and sent him out to no longer persecute disciples of Christ, but to make them.

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Let's write this down for point number three.

It's simple.

Choose to serve Christ.

You have an opportunity at a young age to see your need for a savior before you gain any more experience, any more attention from your coaches, any more high grades in your classes, you have a decision to make.

Am I going to do all that I am doing for me, for my glory, for my status, to improve myself, or to exalt the name of Christ?

Which one is it going to be today?

The lyrics to the last song that we were singing were intentionally chosen.

And maybe in your mind, you had a moment during that song where you're thinking to yourself, have I decided to follow Jesus?

No turning back.

Okay.

The world's behind me, the cross before me.

Am I striving after Christ?

Am I seeking his will in my life?

Am I finding ways to obey and honor Him?

And you might be thinking of friendships.

Though none go with me, you might be thinking to yourself, I know for sure that I have friends in my life that want nothing to do with Christ.

They want nothing to do with a faith that I'm hearing about on Sundays.

And you might be, you might be assessing the situation, taking an account, weighing it out in your mind, am I going to follow Jesus?

Am I going to follow him with my life?

I know I'm young.

I know there's a lot going on ahead of me that I just don't know about.

And you might be thinking, no, turning back to what?

Like I'm I'm 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Turning back, like I'm not going to go back.

What does that mean?

No, turning back to a life that serves you.

That's what that means.

No turning back.

None go with me, though none go with me, so I will follow.

Some of you might be feeling lonely because you don't have anyone your age, anyone that you might feel understands you.

I want to encourage you.

Jesus understands you.

Jesus understands your needs.

He understands what's going on in your mind.

He understands what's going on in your heart.

He has you.

If you choose to follow him, he is faithful, he is loving, he is good.

And you're probably learning some really good lessons right now, if that's you.

You're learning some tough lessons that are going to serve you and bring God glory.

They're going to help you live a life that's going to be honoring to Christ.

Will you follow Jesus?

Have you made that decision?

Have you made that for yourself?

Paul is concerned because now this people group, these churches, he's unsure.

He's challenging them.

He's like, what happened?

What happened to you guys?

I gave you the pure, unadultered gospel.

You were affirming it, but now you're choosing something else.

Choose to serve Christ.

That's my challenge to us all this evening.

Choose to follow Him, to serve Him, to be more like Him, to depend on Him.

There's no other master.

There's no other Lord in your life that is good as Him.

There's no one else.

You might think that there's something better on the other side, something better around the corner, something better next year once you get promoted, once you graduate, once you can drive, once you just have that next thing, then I won't need Jesus as much.

No, you need him every day.

You need him every day, more than you know, more than I know.

Will you choose to follow him?

Or will you choose to subscribe to something else?

Will you choose to follow and pursue a different pursuit outside of the gospel?

It sounds redundant, it sounds repetitive, but this is the most important thing that we can talk about.

And this is why Paul is saying if someone's giving you a different gospel, destruction for them.

This is how serious this is.

Life and death.

Life and death.

It's a serious question.

Do you know?

Have you decided to follow Jesus?

And if you have, have you turned to a different way?

Have you deviated?

Have you turned?

Have you walked away?

My prayer is that you would see Christ and you would know him and love him and take hold and never let go.

Never, ever let go of Christ.

Never step away from the gospel that saves.

Please pray with me.

God, we we admit that we are we are like sheep.

We we are prone to wander, prone to wandering, prone to forgetting, prone to leaving your side.

God, will you, in the ways that you can, through your word, through your spirit, challenge our hearts to help us assess what is going on inside, where our affections truly lie, and if we are motivated to please you, to honor you, or is it self-seeking, is it self-serving, these desires that we have in us?

God, will you challenge our hearts, convict us of sin this evening, and help us to wrestle with the gospel?

And if we have truly responded, and if we've turned away from a life that is serving ourselves, a life that would build a name for ourselves, or God, I pray that we would be challenged to live a life that pursues your name high and lifted up.

That is that is my heart.

That is the heart of these leaders for these students.

God, will you continue to work in their minds and their hearts?

Continue to shape them and mold them and draw them to yourself, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.