Galatians 1:6-10 - The Dangers of a Different Gospel

-->

All right, well, if you would make your way back

-->

to your seats.

-->

Thank you for coming to worship with us this morning

-->

at our a.m. service.

-->

I see some new faces.

-->

Welcome, this is our second official week

-->

as Redemption Hill Church.

-->

I hope you do feel welcomed.

-->

Please do fill out a visitor card.

-->

If you've got questions about our church,

-->

I'd love to just meet you and shake your hand.

-->

I'll be available after service

-->

with some of our other pastors.

-->

My name is Joe, by the way,

-->

and I have the privilege of being one of the pastors here

-->

and the privilege of participating

-->

in the small group Olympics tonight

-->

and defending my gold medal from last year.

-->

So let's see if anyone is up to the challenge

-->

of taking that away from Team Italy.

-->

We'll see, we'll see.

-->

I hope you guys are excited about that.

-->

I am.

-->

One thing before we get, well, two things.

-->

Number one, we don't have a physical study guide

-->

for our series in Galatians.

-->

Some of you are new and we give study guides out.

-->

We'd like to do that to just help you guys

-->

understand God's word as we walk through

-->

a book of the Bible together.

-->

So we do have a digital study guide available.

-->

So if you go to our website,

-->

rhtccartersville.com slash Galatians,

-->

you can find that study guide there

-->

and some additional notes to help you

-->

in your study of God's word.

-->

We use them in our groups.

-->

So that's a tool that we have for you.

-->

I also wanna pray for our teachers.

-->

We do every year, like to just pray a prayer of blessing

-->

over our teachers.

-->

So if you're a teacher, I'm gonna embarrass you

-->

because I was once a teacher

-->

and I know it is a thankless job.

-->

I want you to stand up.

-->

Whether you teach someone else's kids

-->

or you teach your own kids,

-->

you're still a teacher's mom, and maybe dad's.

-->

So if you're a teacher, would you stand

-->

homeschool, public school, private school, would you stand?

-->

Yep, can we give them a round of applause?

-->

They do a lot.

-->

Thank you guys.

-->

I wanna do this.

-->

You can sit down.

-->

I want us to pray for our teachers for this school year.

-->

Can we do that?

-->

Pray that they would be used as a means

-->

by which God would build the minds and hearts of little ones

-->

and they would be used as a vessel

-->

and the instrument for the gospel.

-->

They would be sustained and strengthened

-->

throughout this school year.

-->

And I'll pray for our kids too.

-->

So let's do that.

-->

Let's pray.

-->

Heavenly Father, we lift up our teachers to you.

-->

Moms, maybe dads, those that are parenting,

-->

I'm sorry, those that are teaching,

-->

and yes, parents as well.

-->

Their own kids and maybe other kids,

-->

what an opportunity they have

-->

to display the good news of Jesus and declare it.

-->

Lord, I pray that you would sustain them

-->

and use them to communicate the truth

-->

to the young minds that they will encounter.

-->

Lord, I know it's a long school year,

-->

but Lord, we pray your blessings and strength upon them.

-->

We pray that you would sustain them.

-->

We pray that you would use them mightily

-->

so your kingdom would go forward.

-->

We pray for the little ones,

-->

those that would be receiving instruction this year.

-->

We pray that they, maybe they're going to a public school.

-->

They would be a light and a dark place.

-->

They would not be influenced by the ideologies

-->

that might come their way,

-->

but they would stand firm in the truth.

-->

We pray for our students that they would continue to grow,

-->

that they would be nourished

-->

and they would grow in the gospel.

-->

Lord, we pray your blessings upon this school year

-->

in Jesus' name, amen.

-->

All right, now for Galatians.

-->

This morning we're going to be in week two,

-->

so my task is to preach to you

-->

verses six through of chapter one.

-->

And what we need to see is that instead of Paul giving

-->

a typical word of encouragement or a prayer or a blessing,

-->

as he so often does in his epistles to other churches,

-->

to the churches of Galatia, he does not do that.

-->

He gives a rebuke and a warning.

-->

He wants them to know that embracing different gospels,

-->

not that there is another gospel, as he'll say,

-->

is dangerous.

-->

If I could title my sermon this morning,

-->

it would be this, the dangers of a different gospel.

-->

Hear God's word written to the Galatians,

-->

but it's also for us this morning, beginning in verse six.

-->

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.

-->

Not that there is another one,

-->

but there are some who trouble 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 the one

-->

we preach to you, let him be accursed.

-->

As we have said before, so I say again,

-->

if anyone is preaching to you a gospel

-->

contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

-->

For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?

-->

Or am I trying to please man?

-->

For still trying to please man,

-->

I would not be a servant of Christ.

-->

This is God's word, let's pray.

-->

Father, we thank you for the gift of your word,

-->

the gift of the gospel that we sang about this morning.

-->

There is one gospel, and praise God that there is a gospel.

-->

Lord, would your gospel radiate

-->

this morning through this sermon?

-->

Would you bless the preaching of your word?

-->

Would you give your people ears to hear

-->

and hearts to receive the warnings

-->

that you provide in scripture, the correction needed,

-->

and the comfort and the balm of the gospel?

-->

Use me as but a messenger

-->

so you would be glorified and honored,

-->

and Jesus would be made big.

-->

It's in his name we ask.

-->

Amen.

-->

Well, most of you know I am not an expert

-->

in the field of chemistry.

-->

Prior to me being a pastor, I was actually a math teacher.

-->

But I do know a little bit about chemistry,

-->

just a little bit, and I know that a water molecule

-->

is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

-->

We learned this very early in school, right, at HO.

-->

And I also know if you add a single oxygen atom to HO,

-->

you no longer have HO,

-->

you have HO too.

-->

That's not water.

-->

Water is life giving and nourishing,

-->

it's sustaining, it's thirst quenching, it's needed,

-->

it's necessary for our human existence.

-->

And if you swallow it, it's beneficial.

-->

But if you swallow HO too, it's not beneficial.

-->

It's deadly.

-->

As anyone know what HO too is.

-->

It's hydrogen peroxide.

-->

It might cling cuts, but it won't quench your thirst.

-->

Why did I say that?

-->

One minute change.

-->

Just adding a small atom to water

-->

completely changes water into something

-->

that is not pure, but something that can be

-->

if swallowed poisonous.

-->

The gospel is the same.

-->

If you take the message of the gospel,

-->

the life giving news that Jesus has come to die for sins,

-->

that he has resurrected victoriously,

-->

and that the gift of God's grace is ours

-->

through simple, humble faith alone.

-->

If you add any element to it, or take anything away from it,

-->

you do not have something that will deliver you.

-->

You do not have a gospel at all, Paul would say.

-->

You have something very, very dangerous, deadly.

-->

Now this is week two in our series.

-->

If you were here last week,

-->

you know why Paul wrote this book.

-->

If you weren't, you can go watch the sermon from last week

-->

or read the study guide.

-->

Remember Paul planted these churches

-->

and he's writing to a group of churches

-->

in southern Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.

-->

And he wrote back to these churches just a few months

-->

after he had left these churches

-->

on his first missionary journey.

-->

And it's not long after he gets back,

-->

I mean he hasn't even unpacked his bags.

-->

He receives news that some false teachers

-->

have snuck into the church

-->

and they have begun to distort the gospel that he preached.

-->

These Jews, Judaizers, teaching the Gentiles

-->

that to perfect their faith, yes they need Jesus,

-->

of course they need Jesus,

-->

but they also need to look like a Jew.

-->

They need circumcision and they need the law.

-->

That will enhance their salvation.

-->

That will really make them an upper echelon Christian.

-->

And what both these teachers and these Gentile converts

-->

are actually falling prey to,

-->

is they're falling to prey to the understanding

-->

or the false belief that Jesus' work on the cross

-->

wasn't enough.

-->

What they're failing to realize is that when Jesus rose

-->

from the dead, a new era was ushered in.

-->

We're no longer under the old covenant,

-->

we're under the new covenant.

-->

And they're failing to realize that circumcision

-->

and adherence to the law do not have any play

-->

in our right standing with God.

-->

And honestly, we should know the Bible, they never did.

-->

It's not like under the old covenant,

-->

one was made right because they circumcised themselves.

-->

It's not like under the old covenant,

-->

one was made right because they obeyed the law.

-->

No, it's always been by faith alone.

-->

And so Paul's defending that gospel.

-->

Paul's riding back because of that.

-->

So this is really a letter of correction.

-->

Really a letter of correction.

-->

So, remember, Paul begins with this brief introduction

-->

that we read last week.

-->

He defended his apostleship.

-->

He defended the sufficiency of the gospel

-->

because as I mentioned last week, those are interconnected.

-->

And he writes this warning and rebuke this week

-->

in verses six through

-->

Remember, in every other letter that Paul wrote

-->

to churches, epistles that he wrote specifically

-->

to churches and to our knowledge,

-->

there are at least nine of them.

-->

We can argue about Hebrews later,

-->

but at least nine, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,

-->

Colossians, both the letters to the Corinthians

-->

and Thessalonians.

-->

He writes, after the introduction,

-->

a Thanksgiving, a prayer, a praise, but not here.

-->

That's always his structure, but not here.

-->

He writes a rebuke and a curse

-->

because they're in danger of embracing a different gospel

-->

that does not deliver but is deadly.

-->

That's what Paul wants them to know.

-->

That's what God wants us to know.

-->

A different gospel brings danger, not deliverance.

-->

And what we're going to see are dangers,

-->

dangers that come with a different gospel.

-->

And there are three of them.

-->

They're in our text.

-->

There are three of them.

-->

The first is this, a different gospel deserts.

-->

I don't mean like a desert you eat.

-->

I mean, abandons us from Jesus.

-->

Where did I get that from?

-->

Well, look at what Paul says.

-->

I am a astonished that you are so quickly

-->

underlying this, deserting him,

-->

who called you in the grace of Christ,

-->

and you are turning to a different gospel.

-->

Paul's astonished.

-->

He's amazed, he's bewildered that these converts

-->

who sat under his preaching have so quickly.

-->

He's astonished at the brevity of time that has passed

-->

since he visited them.

-->

They embraced his gospel.

-->

They were changed by the gospel that he preached.

-->

Not because of him, obviously.

-->

He was merely the messenger

-->

and they have now turned to a counterfeit.

-->

Now to understand why Paul would write with such language

-->

because in chapter six, he actually says,

-->

do you see with what big letters I'm writing?

-->

I mean, if Paul were texting, this would be all caps.

-->

It should be all caps.

-->

You guys understand that?

-->

Some of you older folks don't get that.

-->

Some of you younger folks, this is all caps.

-->

I don't mean that.

-->

I'm getting old.

-->

Sometimes I don't understand that.

-->

Sometimes I'll do that to my daughter.

-->

She's like, dad, are you mad at me?

-->

No, I guess I just held down that arrow too long

-->

and it made everything all caps.

-->

He's writing in all caps.

-->

Now to understand why he would be upset,

-->

you need to understand what happened

-->

on his first missionary journey.

-->

So we're gonna do a brief, very brief skim through

-->

of Acts and

-->

Last week I gave you homework to go read it.

-->

Maybe you forgot to do your homework.

-->

I'm a very gracious teacher.

-->

Go read it this week.

-->

Okay, there'll be a quiz next week, Acts and

-->

That's Paul's first missionary journey.

-->

Look at what Paul witnessed when he was there in Galatia,

-->

this territory in Southern Asia Minor.

-->

Acts verse

-->

When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing

-->

and glorifying the word of the Lord.

-->

And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

-->

And the word of the Lord was spreading

-->

throughout the whole region.

-->

Paul witnessed what we would call a revival.

-->

Former idolaters embracing the one true savior,

-->

turning from a life of idolatry and paganism

-->

and embracing Jesus.

-->

And then it just spread like wildfire

-->

and it wasn't just Gentiles.

-->

Look at chapter verse one, just drop down and look.

-->

At Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue

-->

and spoken such a way that a great number

-->

of both Jews and Greeks believed.

-->

So even the Jews who had placed the law

-->

in this place of precedence,

-->

understood that the law couldn't save them.

-->

And even Jews were being converted to faith

-->

through the preaching of the gospel,

-->

seeing Jesus, beholding Jesus,

-->

Acts verses and

-->

Look, when they had preached the gospel to that city

-->

and had made many disciples,

-->

they returned to Iconium and to Antioch,

-->

strengthening the souls of the disciples

-->

and encouraging them to continue in the faith.

-->

Paul witnessed these Galatians

-->

embracing the life-changing news of the gospel.

-->

He saw it firsthand, right?

-->

He had a front row seat to marriages being reconciled,

-->

to addictions being shattered.

-->

A front row seat to people understanding the law

-->

can't save them coming to faith in Jesus.

-->

And so quickly they deserted that message.

-->

We need to stop just for a moment before we go any further

-->

because some of us are thinking,

-->

yeah, I'm with Paul, I'm astonished too.

-->

It's just been a few months

-->

and they so quickly forgot the gospel,

-->

but let me tell you, if you're anything like me,

-->

it doesn't take months,

-->

it's just days is all it takes.

-->

I mean, just think about that.

-->

Today's Sunday, what's tomorrow?

-->

Monday.

-->

We're singing the songs of praise to our savior.

-->

We're declaring what Jesus has done,

-->

how he's condescended to serve us,

-->

to die for us, to rise victoriously for us.

-->

And then what are we gonna go do tomorrow?

-->

Some of us are gonna forget all about that.

-->

We're gonna go on pursuing our worldly ambitions,

-->

vain self-glory, and that was just one day.

-->

Sunday, we hear God's word preached,

-->

the spirit convicts us.

-->

We see the gospel through the sacraments,

-->

we pray the gospel, we hear it by Thursday.

-->

We forgot what even we wrote down in our notebook

-->

because we're not gonna go back and look at that.

-->

That was good for the moment,

-->

but God's word's not good for me on Thursday.

-->

I mean, it's Thursday.

-->

We forget all about it.

-->

So before we point our fingers at the Galatians,

-->

let's just point our fingers at ourselves

-->

and say I'm just as guilty.

-->

Now, you can't see it in the English,

-->

but the word quickly is to chaos, to chaos.

-->

It's the same word used in the Septuagint

-->

in Exodus verse eight.

-->

If you don't know, Exodus is the story of the golden calf.

-->

And what I think Paul is doing

-->

is he's alluding to that incident.

-->

Remember how quickly God's people abandoned God

-->

and fashioned the golden calf?

-->

They grew impatient, Moses was up on the mountain

-->

receiving the law, and they so quickly abandoned

-->

the one who had just rescued them from years

-->

of slavery and fashioned this golden calf.

-->

And said, here's the God that led us out of Egypt.

-->

I don't want us to miss that because Paul's saying,

-->

that's you guys.

-->

And your golden calf, Judaizers is the law,

-->

your golden calf is Moses.

-->

I can't miss that.

-->

So here's a question.

-->

If Paul's so concerned that they're straying

-->

to a different gospel, what is the gospel?

-->

How do we know if we're abandoning the gospel

-->

if we don't even know the gospel?

-->

We should.

-->

When we sing it every Lord's day, we declare it every Lord.

-->

I mean, we talk about it a lot here,

-->

but here, let me take you to a place

-->

where Paul clearly tells us the gospel.

-->

First Corinthians chapter if you'll turn there.

-->

First Corinthians verses one through four.

-->

Paul's writing to the church in Corinth

-->

and says, I would remind you brothers of the gospel.

-->

The good news that you and Galeon, the declaration,

-->

the gospel is news, right?

-->

It is news to be told.

-->

This word got its roots in military battles.

-->

When a war was over, the town's news person,

-->

the town spokesman would come out

-->

and he would declare the war's over.

-->

The strife has ended.

-->

Let's celebrate.

-->

The victory has been won.

-->

Here he says, here's the good news.

-->

Here's the gospel.

-->

I delivered it to you.

-->

You're being saved by it.

-->

You hold it fast.

-->

Verse three, for I delivered to you

-->

as a first importance what I also received

-->

that Christ died for our sins

-->

in accordance with the scriptures.

-->

Verse four, that he was buried,

-->

that he was raised on the third day

-->

in accordance with the scriptures.

-->

That's the gospel.

-->

And that's the news that Paul declared to the Galatians.

-->

That's the news that Paul declared everywhere he went.

-->

The life-changing news of Jesus.

-->

And it didn't take them long to forget it.

-->

To fall for a counterfeit.

-->

And now would argue they probably did

-->

because they did not familiarize themselves with the gospel.

-->

They did not.

-->

So if we want to be a people that don't drift

-->

from the gospel, we need to know

-->

how to familiarize ourselves with the gospel.

-->

I read an article this week,

-->

not because I wanted to read it,

-->

but because I was looking for an illustration.

-->

So I'll just be honest.

-->

The article was called,

-->

How to Not Be Duped by a Fake Electronic Part.

-->

It was about counterfeit electronic parts.

-->

Listen to this.

-->

It said last year nearly $million

-->

of counterfeit goods traded hands.

-->

This makes counterfeiting at least the th largest economy

-->

in the world.

-->

And as a result, million jobs have been lost.

-->

All because of counterfeit electronic parts.

-->

And then it goes on to tell five ways

-->

to spot a counterfeit.

-->

And I've used a similar illustration before,

-->

but I was like, I can't use that same one.

-->

So I gotta use a different one.

-->

One way is this.

-->

The parts don't pass the visual test.

-->

And then the author goes on to say,

-->

well, if you don't want to fall prey to a counterpart,

-->

then one answer is just to know the real part.

-->

Like look at it, inspect it.

-->

Know where labels are, know the details and the nuances

-->

so that the phony part won't fool you.

-->

I can't help but think the reason why this church

-->

drifted from the gospel is because they failed

-->

to familiarize themselves with the gospel.

-->

At least one reason why.

-->

They failed on the front end to be proactive

-->

and they were reactive.

-->

So if we don't want to drift from the gospel,

-->

there's a proactiveness about our faith.

-->

You guys do understand that.

-->

To familiarize yourself with the gospel.

-->

Of course what we're doing now is one way we do that.

-->

Like the gathering is intentional

-->

because we rehearse the gospel.

-->

I don't know if you knew this,

-->

but when you see us take the sacraments together,

-->

you get to see the gospel.

-->

When we sing, we sing the gospel.

-->

When I preach, I'm preaching the gospel.

-->

When we pray, we pray the gospel.

-->

And then you get the opportunity to rehearse it

-->

to your own heart outside of Sundays

-->

to discuss with your kids and your family,

-->

your coworkers, wherever the Lord may send you

-->

to talk about it in your groups.

-->

Do you familiarize yourself with the gospel

-->

so much you're able to spot a counterfeit?

-->

But notice Paul also wants us to see the severity

-->

of what's happened here.

-->

They're deserting Christ.

-->

Look at what he says.

-->

You're deserting the one who called you.

-->

Who called them?

-->

This is how it works in theological terms.

-->

We call this the effectual call.

-->

When the gospel goes forth,

-->

the spirit does a work in the hearts of the hearers

-->

to soften their heart, to quicken their mind,

-->

to remove the haze and the fog,

-->

so we understand and embrace the gospel by faith.

-->

God does that.

-->

He calls sinners to himself

-->

through the preaching of the gospel.

-->

It's clear.

-->

Everywhere in scripture, we see people coming to faith.

-->

It's because the gospel went forth

-->

and we know the spirit is doing a work.

-->

So who are they deserting?

-->

They're deserting God.

-->

That's what Paul wants them to know.

-->

When you turn to a different gospel,

-->

you're turning your back on God.

-->

And it's not just that you're walking off the field

-->

and saying, I quit.

-->

I don't wanna play this anymore.

-->

That word, deserting, and I had you underline it,

-->

actually means traitor.

-->

It means turncoat.

-->

So it's not just taking the jersey off

-->

in the middle of the game and saying, I quit.

-->

It's taking the jersey off, going to the other team,

-->

putting their jersey on and getting back in the game.

-->

That's how Satan works.

-->

That's how Satan, if you could just add a little here,

-->

add a little there so he can take your eyes off Jesus

-->

and onto something else, let's say where.

-->

And that is trading on God.

-->

That's what Paul says.

-->

And I know those are harsh words, but Paul knows this

-->

and we need to know this.

-->

Any distortion of the gospel is an affront to God's glory.

-->

He said, why'd you say that?

-->

I'd encourage you to go read this book.

-->

It's called God is the Gospel by John Piper.

-->

And what he argues is that God's glory

-->

radiates the brightest through the gospel

-->

because it's in the gospel that all of God's attributes

-->

are clearly seen at the same time.

-->

His holiness and his mercy, his love and his faithfulness,

-->

his justice and his grace.

-->

So when you turn to a different gospel

-->

and start embracing false gospels,

-->

or you start adding to the gospel,

-->

you're abandoning, you're deserting God

-->

and you're actually desecrating his glory.

-->

I know that's harsh, but that's what scripture teaches.

-->

So that's a danger, but there is another danger.

-->

Not only do we desert God when we turn to a different gospel,

-->

but different gospel or a different gospel distorts.

-->

It distorts grace.

-->

Look at what Paul says in verse seven.

-->

He says, you're turning to a different gospel

-->

and then he wants to be clear.

-->

Well, wait a second.

-->

It's not like there's another one.

-->

See the exclusivity of the Christian faith right there.

-->

And hear me, praise God that there is a way.

-->

There doesn't have to be a way to the Father.

-->

God would have been good to shut the door

-->

after Genesis three and say, nope,

-->

the way to me is closed forever.

-->

That's justice.

-->

But God is good and he provides a way.

-->

But there is one way, the gospel.

-->

There's not another gospel.

-->

Hear what Paul is teaching us, okay?

-->

If Jesus isn't the only way, there is no way.

-->

If Christ crucified and resurrected alone

-->

isn't sufficient enough to deal with sins

-->

and make us right before God,

-->

then nothing is sufficient to deal with sins

-->

and make us right before God.

-->

There is no other gospel.

-->

There's one gospel.

-->

And those of you that might not know your Bible

-->

and you're like, did Jesus preach

-->

a different gospel than Paul?

-->

No, he didn't.

-->

He didn't.

-->

We talked about that last week.

-->

You can go listen to that sermon.

-->

You see, the teachers in Galatia are doing two things.

-->

Notice what Paul says in verse seven, look at it.

-->

There are some who trouble you

-->

and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

-->

They're troubling, that word is agitating.

-->

They're stirring up trouble.

-->

Like the bully on the bus.

-->

Just stirring up trouble.

-->

Now, you have to understand something.

-->

When Paul is writing this letter,

-->

there's kind of an overlap of redemptive history here.

-->

In AD, the temple is destroyed,

-->

but this letter, if our calculations are correct,

-->

was written well before them.

-->

So you have this kind of overlap of this Judaic period

-->

and the new covenant that has already been inaugurated.

-->

So you have these Judaizers, these Jewish men,

-->

maybe women too, who are really clinging to their Jewishness.

-->

After all, aren't the Jews God's chosen people?

-->

After all, when the Gentiles were grafted into the family,

-->

they were to be circumcised.

-->

They were given the law, but what they're doing

-->

is they're elevating those things

-->

to the same level as God's grace.

-->

And we, like think about it.

-->

Okay, yes, so here, one thing I want us to see

-->

is Paul's not correcting their understanding of Jesus.

-->

He's correcting their understanding of grace.

-->

Paul's not getting onto them.

-->

I would say that these men and women probably align

-->

with Paul on many theological areas.

-->

I, Paul doesn't correct them regarding the resurrection.

-->

Other epistles deal with that, that heresy.

-->

Paul doesn't correct them regarding Jesus's deity.

-->

They are not denying Jesus.

-->

What they are saying though, where Paul would differ,

-->

is that their Jewishness doesn't play a factor

-->

in God's grace.

-->

So what they're saying is great,

-->

we're the chosen people of God.

-->

So if you want to come into the family Gentiles,

-->

just as you've always done, you need to look like us,

-->

and you need to live like us.

-->

And that will get you a closer seat.

-->

That will enhance this salvation.

-->

So yeah, faith in Jesus, but you also need circumcision,

-->

and you gotta start obeying this thing we call the law.

-->

Now, men in the room, just imagine you're

-->

a year old convert, and that's what's you here.

-->

Faith in Jesus and circumcision.

-->

Now I'm not gonna go teach your kiddos about that,

-->

you can do that, but I'm not signing up for that.

-->

Right?

-->

I mean think about that.

-->

That's what they're teaching.

-->

And Paul's saying that's a distortion of grace.

-->

You have failed to see.

-->

And first of all, we need to understand something,

-->

even under the old covenant.

-->

Those did not save the Jews.

-->

It had always been faith.

-->

Always had been faith in God's promises, in His grace.

-->

And they're misunderstanding that.

-->

So Paul says, you're troubling some.

-->

And then he says, you're distorting.

-->

Notice, not only do they trouble, but they distort.

-->

That means to pervert.

-->

They came into reverse.

-->

They're perverting grace.

-->

They're teaching that Christ gets us part of the way there,

-->

and we gotta do our part and get us the rest of the way there.

-->

If you believe that, that's wrong.

-->

If Christ doesn't get us all the way there,

-->

we're not getting there.

-->

He gets us all the way there.

-->

So I thought it might be helpful to,

-->

cause here's the deal, we're not going to be tempted.

-->

I hope not by circumcision and the law.

-->

But you are tempted by other distorted gospels.

-->

And we need to be aware.

-->

We need to be aware.

-->

If there's a major application to this section,

-->

it is to discern what is the true gospel,

-->

and what are perversions of the gospel.

-->

So here's what I did.

-->

There's four, I think, prevalent gospels in our society.

-->

And I'm not gonna give you D's, I'm giving you P's here.

-->

Then I think we see everywhere.

-->

And we have to be able to discern this.

-->

Okay, so if you'll put that slide up.

-->

What are these modern distortions of the gospel?

-->

Well, number one, there's the picture gospel.

-->

The picture gospel.

-->

The picture gospel is a liberal gospel.

-->

The picture gospel does not understand the power of sin.

-->

The picture gospel looks at the cross

-->

and says Jesus' death on the cross

-->

was an example of love to us.

-->

And therefore, he's just showing us how we're to live.

-->

So the picture gospel says you can be stirred

-->

basically to act and look like Jesus

-->

and follow his example.

-->

You can be awakened from your spiritual selfishness

-->

to be enlightened to live this life of justice selflessly.

-->

Now, hear me.

-->

Does Jesus teach us how to live?

-->

Yeah, we're supposed to follow Jesus.

-->

But if that's all you think about Jesus,

-->

that he is just this great example to follow.

-->

And if we can strive and look like him,

-->

you know what you're doing?

-->

You're placing a law on you

-->

and you will never be able to bear it.

-->

Because if the cross only says

-->

that Jesus is just an example we follow,

-->

we're all in trouble.

-->

Because none of us, none of us will ever live

-->

like Jesus lived.

-->

None of us will love like Jesus loved.

-->

None of us could do what Jesus could do.

-->

So that is incorrect.

-->

That is not correct.

-->

That has a very low view of sin,

-->

a very low view of God

-->

and distorts the message of the cross.

-->

The second is the prosperity gospel,

-->

which believe it or not,

-->

loves to sneak in there with the real gospel.

-->

Because what prosperity gospel preaches is yes,

-->

Jesus died for your sins.

-->

But let's also make sure you understand,

-->

Jesus also died so you could overcome

-->

the trials of this world and have health and wealth

-->

and prosperity.

-->

So what the prosperity gospel does

-->

is teaches that Jesus becomes our genie in a bottle.

-->

And I'll say this, it has a very low view of sin

-->

and the prosperity gospel has a very low view of eternity.

-->

Because the prosperity gospel says,

-->

well look, just live it up right now.

-->

Find everything, like grasp for the world's goods,

-->

grasp for the treasures of this earth

-->

and you will be happy.

-->

It promotes idolatry is what it does.

-->

And it doesn't put in, into perspective,

-->

the treasures that we already have in the gospel,

-->

which are far greater than material treasures,

-->

it doesn't put into understanding the sanctification

-->

that God does when he takes the grip of our hands off

-->

of those treasures, because it's good for us

-->

and put in perspective that our ultimate treasure

-->

is Jesus, not stuff, not health, not wealth, not prosperity.

-->

And then on the flip, it condemns.

-->

And here's how it condemns.

-->

And I'll be honest, there was a season of my life,

-->

we're like, I believe some of this.

-->

So as your pastor, I've even been in some of those

-->

for a season of my life.

-->

It says this, the reason why you're not healthy,

-->

the reason why you're living in poverty,

-->

the reason why your kids sick is because

-->

you don't have enough faith.

-->

So God is now in our debt.

-->

And that's a very low view of God.

-->

It makes us God.

-->

No church, no, he is not in our debt.

-->

The Bible never, ever, ever, ever says the amount

-->

of our faith dictates what God does.

-->

No, that is incorrect.

-->

And see, the problem with that is it puts a big weight

-->

on that person and they feel like they can never get out.

-->

And you will never get out.

-->

You will never get out.

-->

Because you don't understand what God is actually doing

-->

is sanctifying you.

-->

That's why you didn't get the promotion.

-->

Suffering is actually for our good.

-->

And the prosperity gospel can't answer suffering.

-->

But the gospel can.

-->

So the third gospel, the partial gospel.

-->

This is the gospel many of us heard at the conference

-->

when the preacher got up and said,

-->

you don't want to go to hell do you?

-->

Just repeat the prayer.

-->

The partial gospel teaches that Jesus' death was good

-->

to keep us out of hell, but does not have an answer

-->

for the power of sin right now.

-->

It's just a future benefit.

-->

Who cares how you live right now?

-->

It promotes licentiousness.

-->

Again, a very low view of sin.

-->

And then there's the performance gospel.

-->

Which is what we see the church in Galatian

-->

or the Galatian churches dealing with.

-->

Thinking that Jesus' work on the cross

-->

isn't quite sufficient enough.

-->

There's something else that surely I have to do

-->

either to keep me there or to get me there.

-->

And we've all struggled with this.

-->

But what does this gospel teach?

-->

That your performance is the prerequisite for grace

-->

instead of the product of grace.

-->

It puts our performance before grace.

-->

That's not grace.

-->

You don't earn grace, we know that.

-->

And their distortions galore of the performance gospel.

-->

And legalistic churches that maybe you grew up in,

-->

I grew up in those, right?

-->

Don't drink, cuss, smoke or chew or date girls that do.

-->

You guys know what I'm talking about?

-->

That's the performance gospel.

-->

Roman Catholicism is a performance gospel.

-->

Now I'm not saying that they're not genuine believers

-->

who attend Roman Catholic churches.

-->

I'm not saying that.

-->

Those that are saved are saved by grace alone

-->

through faith alone and the work of Christ alone.

-->

But what I am saying is they promote a distorted gospel.

-->

You know, the book of Galatians is very, very important

-->

when it came to the Protestant Reformation

-->

and Martin Luther who sparked the Protestant Reformation,

-->

his understanding of the gospel.

-->

And one of the responses to the Protestant Reformation

-->

was the Council of Trent.

-->

If you don't know Catholicism,

-->

that's really where we have the modern doctrines

-->

of Catholicism came from that council.

-->

Here is what Catholicism teaches.

-->

It comes from their council.

-->

Canon says this of the Council of Trent.

-->

If anyone say that the justice received

-->

is not preserved and also increased before God

-->

through good works, but that the said works

-->

are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained.

-->

But not a cause, that's important,

-->

of the increase thereof, let him be anathema.

-->

We're gonna talk about anathema in a minute.

-->

Let him be cursed.

-->

That's what Catholicism teaches.

-->

We need to know that.

-->

And listen, there's even Protestant churches

-->

that might not say that, but believe something similar

-->

as if somehow the sacraments infused grace to us

-->

and the more we partake of them,

-->

the better we are in the sight of God.

-->

They're professing Protestant churches that believe

-->

unless you're baptized, you're not truly a believer.

-->

That's not what baptism is.

-->

That's adding the work.

-->

That's not baptism.

-->

It's called baptismal regeneration.

-->

Unless you go under the water and come out,

-->

you're not really made new.

-->

No, it's a sign that you have been made new

-->

by faith alone.

-->

Checking with me.

-->

So, it's a distortion of grace.

-->

I wanna connect the two, the trouble and the distorting.

-->

All of these distortions come from someone

-->

who's had a troubled spirit.

-->

Think about it.

-->

Why do you fall prey to the performance gospel?

-->

Perhaps, and I wanna say this lovingly,

-->

you had a parent figure whose love for you was conditional

-->

and it was based on your performance, sadly.

-->

And we're connecting that to God

-->

and we think that his love for us is conditional.

-->

And so we fall into the trap of the performance gospel

-->

or perhaps you grew up in a very poor family

-->

and you've told yourself, my kids ain't gonna have it

-->

like I had it.

-->

No, we're gonna have the best stuff.

-->

I'm gonna work, and what you're doing

-->

is you don't realize this, but you're disappointed in God

-->

when he doesn't give you what you want

-->

and you're thinking he's your genie in a bottle

-->

and you're really believing the prosperity gospel.

-->

But I want us to understand this,

-->

the troubling and the distortion go hand in hand.

-->

So what might it be in your life that has troubled you

-->

to perhaps fall for a different gospel?

-->

Just think about that.

-->

Let's keep going, there's one more danger.

-->

A different gospel destroys the last few verses.

-->

So I said it earlier where Paul typically pronounces

-->

a blessing, a prayer of Thanksgiving.

-->

I mean, think about this, even to the church in Corinth,

-->

he gave them a Thanksgiving and a blessing

-->

and a word of encouragement.

-->

And if you know anything about that church,

-->

that was a messed up church.

-->

But notice, it's not a blessing,

-->

it's a curse that he gives next.

-->

Verse eight, but even if we, now who's the we?

-->

It was Paul and his missionary team

-->

that came and planted these churches.

-->

That's who the we is.

-->

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.

-->

I'm not gonna water this down.

-->

I was thinking about using a different D instead of destroy

-->

and I'd argue that I would have been justified in doing so,

-->

but I know there are little ears in here,

-->

but that's what Paul's saying.

-->

Let me be condemned, which is what that word means.

-->

If I show up and I start preaching a different gospel,

-->

one that doesn't align with the one that I preached to you,

-->

when you were saved, when you embraced Jesus,

-->

I should be accursed.

-->

That word is anathema.

-->

It means in the Bible, it's always something

-->

that is devoted to destruction.

-->

That's why I use the word destroy.

-->

Consumed rightly by God's righteous anger toward sin

-->

is justice.

-->

If even me or if an angel,

-->

I think he's using hyperbole as Paul often does.

-->

Like if an angel were to come off of heaven's throne

-->

and step all the way down here,

-->

they would have just seen the splendor and majesty of God.

-->

They would have witnessed the trinity with their eyes.

-->

If they were to come down and give you a different gospel,

-->

let that angel, that messenger, be accursed.

-->

Now, isn't it funny?

-->

Think about this, that many of the false religions

-->

and courts of our day were started

-->

because the founder claimed they had a revelation

-->

from an angel that gave them a different gospel.

-->

I hate that I even have to say this,

-->

but if someone looks at you and says,

-->

you know what, an angel told me,

-->

he's got this revelation, you gotta listen to this guy.

-->

He listened, you know.

-->

And it doesn't line up with the gospel.

-->

You guys do know not to listen to that person, right?

-->

We do understand that.

-->

And the devil, I mean, he's been deceiving people

-->

since the fall, right?

-->

He's still in it to deceive us.

-->

If all, it's gotta add a little bit of this

-->

and a little bit of that, just a small shift, a small change.

-->

It was Muhammad in AD on a journey

-->

that claims he was visited by the angel Gabriel.

-->

And it's from there we have basically

-->

the foundation of Islam, the gospel of Islam,

-->

which is no gospel.

-->

It was Joseph Smith, discontent.

-->

We'll talk about that in a little bit.

-->

With what was happening in the church.

-->

He needed something different.

-->

He goes off into the woods to try to get along with God.

-->

He claims he was visited by some Italian angel,

-->

I guess, Moroni, Moroni, I don't know.

-->

I've never, that was a joke.

-->

And we get the gospel of Mormonism, which is no gospel.

-->

You guys do see that, right?

-->

And then look at what Paul says in verse nine.

-->

Don't miss what he's saying.

-->

He changes the tense of the word.

-->

If anyone right now, that's what he's saying.

-->

That's the word in the Greek.

-->

Is right now preaching a different gospel to you,

-->

churches in Galatia, he should be accursed.

-->

So he points his finger right at the false teachers

-->

and says they should be accursed.

-->

That's strong language.

-->

You know, James and his letter writes,

-->

not many of you should long to be a teacher.

-->

It is very frightening for me to get up here every week.

-->

And be so tempted to make something a little more palatable.

-->

It'd be so easy if I could just pat it a little bit.

-->

And I'd be lying to you, I'd be lying to you

-->

if I said I've never thought about it.

-->

I wouldn't be honest.

-->

But praise God, he won't let me

-->

and keep praying that he keeps not letting me.

-->

So I was thinking about this.

-->

Like there's application galore here.

-->

Number one, there's application to all of you

-->

that you should be diligent as members of this church

-->

to preserve sound doctrine, to speak it to one another,

-->

to humbly and gently, if you hear a brother or sister

-->

straying in the way they're thinking or speaking,

-->

and note there's a good way, there's a gracious way.

-->

I'm not saying embarrass them.

-->

And you're not the theological police,

-->

but perhaps you set up a coffee with them.

-->

Perhaps you set up a meeting, just a gracious meeting

-->

to say hey, will you give me some clarity there?

-->

Okay, we should be protecting the gospel.

-->

You should be holding me accountable.

-->

And I hope you hold all the pastors accountable

-->

that preach to you.

-->

We're holding one another accountable.

-->

But you have to understand some of them,

-->

because perhaps, I don't know,

-->

perhaps there's some in this room that wish

-->

I would just talk a little bit less about sin.

-->

And maybe, maybe that's you, I don't know.

-->

I'm not saying that anybody's, maybe I don't know.

-->

Joe, if you could just spend some more time

-->

on the anxiety thing.

-->

How to parent your children better?

-->

I mean, my children are really difficult right now.

-->

How to spend my money well, and hear me.

-->

Don't take this as like me saying

-->

that that's not important, because it is.

-->

Like God cares about how you parent,

-->

He cares about your anxiety,

-->

He cares about your kids, He cares about your,

-->

He cares about those issues, He does.

-->

I'd be lying if I said He doesn't,

-->

because God became a man.

-->

Jesus knows what it's like to not have money.

-->

He knows what it's like for people to turn His back on Him.

-->

So for me to look at you and say,

-->

God doesn't care about that, I'm lying to you.

-->

He does care about that.

-->

But here's what I know, He's given us His word.

-->

And when the time comes, if we walk through a text,

-->

and the application, and light of the gospel,

-->

as anxiety, we'll talk about anxiety.

-->

We'll talk about spending your finances,

-->

we'll talk about marriage.

-->

But I'm not gonna make that the main thing

-->

when we talk about it.

-->

Why?

-->

Because, and we all know this,

-->

our main problem is not ignorance.

-->

That is not your problem.

-->

Our main problem is not like, we need Jesus,

-->

okay, you've told us Jesus,

-->

now spend the rest of your minutes,

-->

and tell me how I need to be better.

-->

Just give me some good advice.

-->

Enlighten my mind a little.

-->

We all understand this, that's not our main problem.

-->

You know that.

-->

I know that, we all know that.

-->

What is our main problem?

-->

Sin.

-->

And all of our problems have to take that

-->

into consideration.

-->

Now I'm not saying all of your problems

-->

are a result of your sin.

-->

So don't hear that.

-->

Some of them might be, let's be honest.

-->

But we live in a fallen world,

-->

and all of our problems are problems because of that.

-->

So, we have to always understand that.

-->

The pulpit is not therapy time.

-->

It can't be therapy time.

-->

Can it be application?

-->

Yeah.

-->

We're not studying the Bible rightly,

-->

if it doesn't move us to apply the Bible.

-->

But all of our problems have to take into consideration

-->

of fallenness and sin,

-->

and therefore the answer to our problems

-->

has to always be found in light of the remedy for sin,

-->

which is the gospel.

-->

And if I don't give you the gospel,

-->

right, I'm like a doctor who gives his patient poison

-->

and causes medicine,

-->

because a church is not a hotel for the healthy.

-->

That's not what the church is.

-->

So if you're here and you're broken and you're hurting

-->

and you know you're a sinner, you're in good hands,

-->

because the church is a hospital for sinners.

-->

And the remedy, the remedy is not good advice.

-->

The remedy is what?

-->

The gospel, it's taking everything back to the gospel.

-->

And if I stray from that,

-->

so if I want to try to strung your hard strings

-->

and talk a little more about anxiety,

-->

guess what I'm gonna drift away from?

-->

I'm gonna drift away from the gospel.

-->

And over time, what am I gonna do?

-->

I'm gonna start preaching a different gospel.

-->

That's not good for you.

-->

You'll start to think that you can live this Christian life

-->

void of the cross,

-->

that you can have a better marriage without Jesus,

-->

that you can parent better without God's grace,

-->

that you don't need to confess your sins.

-->

You'll start thinking that you don't need,

-->

and before you know it, you'll start drifting away too.

-->

That's deadly.

-->

There's implications for all of us.

-->

I want you to know that.

-->

So no, we're not gonna take the gospel out.

-->

Every week you're gonna hear about sin,

-->

but you're gonna hear about a savior

-->

who has died for sin, who has resurrected for sin,

-->

who has entweld his people with his Holy Spirit

-->

to put sin to death, and who is coming back one day

-->

so there will be no more sin.

-->

And we're gonna get our eyes on him.

-->

And then Paul says in verse

-->

if you ever question my motives, think about it.

-->

Perhaps, look at what he says.

-->

He says, am I seeking the approval of man or of God?

-->

If I'm about pleasing man,

-->

I wouldn't be a servant of Christ.

-->

Perhaps Paul's motives have been questioned.

-->

He's preaching a cheap gospel.

-->

You know, people did that with Paul.

-->

What do you mean?

-->

You just gotta throw yourself on Jesus.

-->

It's just God's grace, faith alone.

-->

What are you talking about, Paul?

-->

That's cheap.

-->

You're just pleasing man.

-->

Maybe that's been the case.

-->

I really don't know.

-->

Maybe Paul's taking a jab at the Judaizers,

-->

who are man pleasers.

-->

But why are they doing this in the first place?

-->

To please the other Jews, who are saying,

-->

man, these Gentiles just to get it,

-->

they can get in here and they don't have to cut their body?

-->

They don't have to worry about the law?

-->

They don't have to worry about these riches.

-->

They don't have to do that?

-->

Oh no, they do.

-->

Paul maybe's taking a jab at them,

-->

but here's what I know Paul is saying.

-->

My words might have stung, but my job is not to make this

-->

more palatable and to please man.

-->

Now what Paul's saying is that he doesn't,

-->

he's not saying he doesn't love men,

-->

and he's not saying he doesn't contextualize the gospel.

-->

To a Jew, he becomes a Jew.

-->

To a Gentile, he becomes a Gentile.

-->

Sometimes he circumcises, sometimes he doesn't.

-->

Timothy and Titus.

-->

What Paul is saying is I'm not gonna try to please man

-->

and please Jesus at the same time.

-->

You can't have two masters.

-->

You can't, you can't live your life trying to please man

-->

and trying to please Jesus.

-->

Jesus knows the propensity of the human heart

-->

is to say man's gonna win.

-->

Paul says my name's to please Jesus.

-->

We'll talk more about that next week.

-->

We'll talk more about that next week

-->

because this is kind of a bridge to next week.

-->

What is Paul saying?

-->

There isn't another gospel.

-->

And if you think there is, that's deadly.

-->

That's deadly, that doesn't deliver you.

-->

What does?

-->

The gospel.

-->

The news that God created the world,

-->

he didn't have to, it's not like he needed to.

-->

He had everything he could possibly need.

-->

Father, Son, and Spirit, and perfect union

-->

and communion with one another,

-->

and that love spilled over into creation.

-->

But what did we do?

-->

We looked at God and said, I don't need you.

-->

I'll be God.

-->

That's what Adam and Eve did.

-->

And the, like you guys get it,

-->

like the Bible could have just shut.

-->

We don't get the rest of the Bible after that.

-->

But God's loving and he pursues the people.

-->

And then God shows up, he condescends,

-->

he makes the infinite journey from heaven's turn

-->

all the way down to space and time, puts on flesh.

-->

He suffers.

-->

He knows what it's like to be a person,

-->

fully God, fully man.

-->

He experiences pain and rejection, temptation,

-->

but he doesn't sin.

-->

His motives are never faulty.

-->

He lives for us, right?

-->

That's the gospel, that's part of it at least.

-->

He lives for us.

-->

And then what does he do?

-->

He doesn't just die for us, he dies instead of us.

-->

Right?

-->

He's the one that bears the anathema.

-->

He bears the curse for sins.

-->

He looks at the holy God and says,

-->

pour your wrath out on me, not them.

-->

And he shields sinners from God's wrath.

-->

And we know that the Father accepted the payment

-->

because Jesus didn't stay in the dirt.

-->

He rose on the third day victoriously

-->

and it gets even better.

-->

He pours out his spirit and says,

-->

I wanna be so much with you

-->

that I'll dwell in you through my spirit.

-->

And then we know the end.

-->

As he's making us look like Jesus,

-->

there's coming a day where he will dwell with us.

-->

We'll see it.

-->

That's the gospel.

-->

How is this yours?

-->

This is what delivers.

-->

You receive it by faith.

-->

That's the gospel.

-->

Anything else will destroy.

-->

It distorts and it will desert.

-->

So three applications.

-->

I've given you a lot of D's.

-->

I might as well give you three more.

-->

Discern, discern.

-->

What?

-->

What are you preaching to?

-->

Like what books are you reading?

-->

Like what books?

-->

Who are you listening to?

-->

I'm not telling you to be a legalist.

-->

I'm just, I'm just, I'm trying to protect you.

-->

What are you, are you discerning the,

-->

are you discerning the gospel

-->

that's being poured into your kids too?

-->

Like discern.

-->

Discern.

-->

We should be able to discern.

-->

Number two, discontent.

-->

Discontentment.

-->

Why do we fall prey to counterfeit gospels?

-->

You know why?

-->

Because you're not content with the gospel.

-->

Surely there's gotta be something else.

-->

Why do we have all these other false gospels?

-->

Because Jesus wasn't enough.

-->

Do you believe that Jesus is enough?

-->

Are you gonna fight for the fact that he's enough?

-->

If the band would come up, drifting.

-->

So maybe you're like, Joe, all right, you convicted me.

-->

I'm believing a different gospel.

-->

Do you know, now you might read those verses

-->

that I read earlier and you say, that's harsh.

-->

I can't believe Paul would word it that way.

-->

You know what it is?

-->

It's actually grace.

-->

Because they were not, if the Galatians

-->

were not too far gone, then you aren't either.

-->

You aren't either.

-->

The story for the Galatians wasn't,

-->

you know, Paul goes back and visits them.

-->

They received it.

-->

They repented of it and they embraced the gospel.

-->

That's the invitation this morning.

-->

Embrace, Jesus says, hey, come on, come back to me.

-->

The unforgivable sin is not falling prey

-->

to the prosperity gospel.

-->

You guys do know that, right?

-->

It's not falling prey to the performance gospel.

-->

We all tend to do that.

-->

We all go through these seasons where we need the gospel

-->

to remind ourselves of the gospel.

-->

So come back.

-->

Jesus arms wide open.

-->

Come to me.

-->

Let's pray.

-->

Thank you, Jesus, for the gospel.

-->

You didn't leave us in our sins,

-->

but you condescended and came to us.

-->

May we embrace the gospel and see the danger

-->

of a different gospel, but praise God

-->

that there is a gospel.

-->

May we find joy and contentment in the gospel.

-->

In Jesus name, amen.