Freedom Is Here: A Study of Galatians | Donovan Rillion | No Other Gospel

Well, this morning, we're beginning a new series

of lessons that we're going to find in the book

of Galatians, which really is not a book. We

call it a book. You know, it's a part of the

books of the Bible. It's a letter. This is a

letter written by the Apostle Paul to the first

century Christians in Galatia, which in modern

day terms means nothing to us. So we're going

to call it what we call it today, Turkey. So

in Turkey. There is a group of Christians in

the first century that Paul is writing a letter

to, and like all of Paul's letters, he writes

with three primary goals. The three goals are

to teach, to encourage, and to correct. Today,

right out of the gate, in chapter 1, verses 1

through 10, the Apostle Paul starts with primary

goal number 3, to correct. He's going to start

with correction. But before we get to the correction,

I want us to pay a little bit of attention to

how he begins this correction. So we start in

Galatians chapter 1, verses 1 through 2, where

Galatians 1:1–2

it says, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through

man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father,

who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers

who are with me. See, Paul opens by reminding

them who he is. He is an apostle. Now, you may

be wondering, what is an apostle? And up until

about five years ago, I also didn't really know

what an apostle was. I thought I knew, but I

didn't. What apostle means is simply one who

is sent. That's the way we translate it. So it's

somebody who is sent. And Paul is saying, I'm

not just sent by anybody. I wasn't sent by a

man. I wasn't sent by a church. I wasn't sent

by a company. I wasn't sent by a government.

I was sent by God. I was sent through Jesus Christ

and God the Father. And so we have to ask the

question, why is it important that Paul, before

he starts correcting, before he says anything

to the church in... modern -day Turkey, Galatia,

before he says anything to them, he reminds them

who he is. Well, it's important because authority

matters. We've talked about this before if you've

been here, but I use the illustration of if my

four -year -old, Easton, tells my two -year -old,

Peyton, to pick up his toys, do you think two

-year -old Peyton is going to listen? No. In

fact, he's probably going to do the opposite.

He's going to make a bigger mess and hit Easton.

Now, if I tell two -year -old Peyton to pick

up his toys, do you think he's going to listen?

Still no. But we have a better chance of him

listening because authority matters. Who it is

that is telling you to do something or asking

you to do something or say something. And so

Paul wants it to be very clear that I am an apostle

sent by God, sent by Christ, who you claim to

follow as Lord. And I have something to tell

you. If you're going to challenge people, if

you're going to call them out on their stuff,

if you're going to tell them that they're doing

something wrong or tell them that they need to

do something different, you better have the authority

to do so. And so Paul introduces himself as more

than just some preacher. Writing a pointed letter.

He's reminding them that he has God -given authority.

And that matters. And then he greets the recipients

of this letter in a very friendly way. So he

makes sure that everybody's on the same page

of who he is. And then he says this in verses

2 -5. To the churches of Galatia, grace to you.

And peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus

Christ. who gave himself for our sins to deliver

us from the present evil age, according to the

will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory

forever and ever. Amen. So Paul starts this.

Like I said, in a very friendly way, but also

in a very specific way that's important to Paul's

greeting. He says grace and peace. Now, grace

and peace has a lot more depth there than what

we might recognize just reading it on a piece

of paper. So when he says grace, this is how

the Greeks would greet one another. So to give

you a little background, in the first century

church, you had two groups of people. Greek people,

otherwise known as Gentiles, and you had Jews.

First thing to note, these people didn't get

along before becoming Christians. Before coming

to know Christ, they did not get along. They,

in fact, tried to avoid each other if at all

possible. And so what Paul does here is he kind

of merges their two greetings. So he says grace,

which is how the Greeks would greet one another.

And then he says peace or shalom, which is how

the Jews would greet one another. And he puts

them together. He pulls these greetings together,

filling them with gospel meaning, good news meaning

grace. is God's undeserved favor poured out through

Jesus. And peace is the wholeness, the reconciliation

that we now have with God through Jesus. And

so he puts these things together. And that's

exactly what the Galatians needed to hear because

the issue in their church, well, it stemmed from

false teaching, but it also was division. Now,

we've never had division in our lives, have we?

In our friend groups, never been divided. In

our families, we've never been divided. What

about in our churches? We ever been divided?

No, surely not. No. Right. And so they're struggling

with something that we struggle with, too. Division.

They're struggling with this Jew versus Gentile.

Specifically here in their context, they're struggling

with law versus freedom. Or if we wanted to use

L words, law versus liberty. See, Paul says,

before I even get into this letter, which is

a hope -filled letter, so I want to give you

just that little tidbit before we continue. This

is a very hope -filled letter. It may sound a

little depressing at times in today's lesson,

but it is hope -filled. Before we get into this,

I need to remind you that the gospel tears down

walls. The gospel unites. And notice what Paul

then says about Jesus. He says he gave himself

for our sins to deliver us from this present

evil age. That's the gospel in one sentence.

That is a very simplified explanation of what

good news is. It's Jesus came. As a sacrifice

to deliver us from our sins, to deliver us from

this present evil age. Think of it like this.

We actually have some firemen with us. A fireman

doesn't wait for you to save yourself from a

burning building, does he? He doesn't, like the

building's on fire and he kind of pokes his head

in the door and says, hey, come on out. No, he

doesn't toss a rope in there and say, pull yourself

out. The fireman goes into the burning building

amidst all the danger, amidst all of the chaos,

in the heat. And he says, I'm going to pick you

up and I'm going to carry you out of this. And

that is what Jesus did. He goes into the chaos,

into the burning building, and he risks it all

to save us from destruction. And that has always

been the will of God. The will of God is and

has always been to rescue his children from the

burning building we have found ourselves in.

So I mentioned earlier that Paul has three primary

goals for this letter. To teach, to encourage,

and to correct. And right here at the beginning,

he starts correcting. Verses 6 through 9. Paul

says, and this is where it gets pretty pointed,

right? 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 they want to distort

the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel

from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary,

different to the one who preached to you or we

preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have

said before, so now I say again, if anyone is

preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one

you have received, let him be accursed. Paul

doesn't mince words here. He is not taking it

easy on them. He says, I am astonished. Have

any of you ever heard your parents say? I just

can't believe you. This morning, before getting

in the car to come to church, my four -year -old

decided it'd be a good idea to start hitting

the wall with a water gun. Just starts hitting

it. And I looked at him and I'm like, dude, are

you serious? I can't believe it. That's what

Paul said. He says, I'm astonished. I cannot

believe. How quickly you are deserting the gospel

that we have called you to. This message that

we've given you. These Christians in Galatia,

they had already received the true gospel from

the apostles. They've heard of this grace that

Jesus has given us. They've heard and received

this peace that Jesus has brought to us. But

now they are walking away from it. Not to a better

gospel. In fact, Paul says there is no other

gospel. There is no other good news message.

They are going. To a distorted, a counterfeit

gospel. They're going to fake gospel. See, there

were some false teachers that were walking around

Galatia. And they found their way into the church.

We might say they infiltrated the church. And

these false teachers, they made themselves believable.

They made themselves people that Christians would

listen to. And they start telling the church

there in Galatia that if you'll just do this,

you'll be saved. If you'll do this, God will

have favor upon you. If you'll do this, and if

you'll say this, and if you'll give this. They

started adding to the gospel. And adding to scripture

is a very serious thing. And they started taking

away. From the gospel. And taking away from scripture

is a very serious thing. What they did was they

distorted. This gospel that the apostles had

brought to the Christians there. And so now what

Paul is saying is. Y 'all are walking away from

the good news for this garbage. These false teachers.

Were making laws. They were making rules. They

were adding burdens. Raising standards where

God had not. They weren't offering freedom. They

were offering bondage, religious bondage. And

here's the truth. Counterfeit gospels, they're

not new. Even the Israelites had people that

tried to steer them away from what God had commanded.

Even before that, you had people trying to pervert

what was good and pleasing in God's eyes. And

even still today, we have people distorting the

gospel. I mean, you see it every day on TV, on

social media. You get these videos and these

sermon clips of preachers saying things that

don't align with the Bible. Doing things and

saying things and commanding things that don't

align with Scripture. And so this is not something

new to the church in Galatia. It's not something

new to the church here in America in 2025. Just

think about it. How often do we find ourselves

following? Other messages. How often do we find

ourselves subscribing to these Jesus plus gospels?

And this is what I mean by Jesus plus gospels.

You have the Jesus plus works gospel. Or the

Jesus plus success. Jesus plus politics. Jesus

plus performance. And you can probably think

of a couple more Jesus plus gospels. And we find

ourselves falling into this trap of subscribing

to those or we've allowed those to push us away

from Jesus. And that's what Paul is correcting

here in Galatia. There is no Jesus plus. It's

just Jesus. There is no Jesus, and we have to

make sure we're careful here too. There is no

Jesus minus Gospels either. It's just Jesus.

See, for me, I often fall victim to the Jesus

plus perception gospel. I've told some of you

this before. I was raised by an Asian grandmother.

And if you know anything about Asian culture,

perception is everything. Not only that, but

my grandmother was married to a man in the military.

And if you know anything about people in the

military, perception is everything. And so I

got double duty. Asian military household. And

so you can ask my wife, perception for me matters

honestly way too much. How you look, how you

talk, how you present yourself in front of strangers

and people you know, what your house looks like,

what's your perception. And so what I do is I

say, yeah, I know I've got freedom and I know

I've got grace and peace and mercy in Christ,

but I still have to look the part. And I still

have to sound. Right. And so for me, the Jesus

plus perception gospel is the one that I fall

victim to. And I want you to think about which

Jesus plus or Jesus minus gospel you fall victim

to. See, we too often add things on top of Jesus

to be good enough. Here's the deal. All of these

things sound convincing. I mean, there's a reason

you have these preachers that. They fly private

jets weekly to different things and they have

these big TV broadcasts and they have these massive

church buildings because they have convinced

people that if you'll just follow this message,

you also have all through history had people

that have pulled people away from Christ altogether

because they've convinced them. That they have

it figured out and that they have a new revelation.

And what I'm not doing is trying to attack those

things. What I'm trying to do is draw us back

to just Jesus. Because Jesus himself is good

enough. And if we ever stop believing that Jesus

is good enough, we have fallen victim to a Jesus

plus gospel. And they're counterfeit. Think about

counterfeit money. I said these counterfeit gospels,

they can be pretty convincing. And counterfeit

money can too. To the untrained eye, if you looked

at a counterfeit dollar bill, you may not know

the difference. Assuming it's a good counterfeit.

To the trained eye, even if you just glance at

this counterfeit dollar bill, you may not pick

up on it. It wouldn't be until you took the trained

eye. of an expert in money and said, can you

look closely at this counterfeit, would they

be able to realize this is fake? See, the problem

with counterfeits, while they look convincing,

while they can fool me and you, is they never

really get the job done. I want you to imagine

you get your paycheck for the week and you go

to the bank and... People don't do this anymore,

but you go to the bank and you cash out your

paycheck. You get cash. And the bank gives you

this cash. And then you go and you take it to

Walmart. And you put it in the machine at the

self -checkout. Do you think the machine is going

to take counterfeit dollar bills? No. Because

the machine is a computer, and a computer is

a lot smarter than humans. The machine will pick

up that that's a counterfeit. And so now, you've

got a wallet full of counterfeit money that you

can't buy anything with. And that's kind of what

happens when we fall victim to these counterfeit

gospels. You can't buy anything with it. You

can't get anywhere with it. And it was mentioned

earlier that we're all... Trying to get to a

better life. Life here on this earth, we want

it to be better. And life in the afterlife, we

want it to be better. And if all I've got in

my spiritual wallet is counterfeit gospel, am

I going to be able to get into heaven? No. If

all I've got in my life is counterfeit gospel,

am I going to have the better life here on earth?

No. Because I'm always going to be trying to

chase the work. Or I'm going to be trying to

chase the success. Or I'm going to be trying

to chase the right political alignment. Or I'm

going to be trying to chase the right performance.

And I'm never going to measure up because there's

always going to be more. Because in a Jesus plus

gospel, the plus never stops. And I'm always

going to be chasing. You see, with the counterfeit

money, you can't save it in a bank for your future.

You can't. Pay your rent with it. You can't buy

groceries with it. And in the same way, the counterfeit

gospels that are being thrown around in the church

in Galatia and the church today, they cannot

save our souls. See, this is what Paul says in

verses 8 through 9. And he says it with some

real intensity. He says, even if we, we being

the apostles. Even if we or an angel from heaven

should preach to you a gospel contrary to the

one we preached to you already. Let him be, strong

word here, accursed. As we've said before, so

now I say again. Paul says, let me make myself

abundantly clear. If anyone is preaching to you

a gospel contrary to the one you have received.

Let him be accursed. That is such strong language.

If I got up here and talked to you guys like

that, half of you would walk out and I'd have

a meeting with the shepherds later on this week

about how I need to calm it down. But Paul's

got the authority to do so. He repeats it to

drive home the point. And here's the thing. This

may sound harsh. But if you see Paul's heart,

Behind this, it lightens the blow just a little

bit. And I'll put it to you this way. This morning

when I got on to Easton for hitting the wall

with a water gun, because who does that? I got

on to him, and I put him in timeout. He sits

in timeout, and this was like the best he's ever

done sitting in timeout. I was really proud of

him. So maybe this is why I was a little bit

easier on him afterwards. But I go and I talk

to him after. And I explain to him why what he

did was wrong. But while I'm doing it, I try

to use a tone that is a little bit calmer than

maybe normal. And not only do I use a calmer

tone, but I don't just explain to him what's

wrong. I then explain to him why we need to do

the right thing. And hopefully, one day when

Easton looks back on the way that I corrected

him and the way that I punished him when he did

wrong, And you as a parent, if you have children,

and maybe you have children that have grown up

and they've moved on, I can imagine your hope

too is that when they think back on how you raised

them, how you corrected them, and how you punished

them at times, what they remember is your heart,

right? And so when we think about Paul's heart,

we have to think, what is Paul's point in being

so harsh here? Well, the truth is, Paul is...

Fighting for everyone to know the freedom that

Christ wants us to have. Paul is fighting so

that everyone will know the grace and the peace

that Jesus is bringing. Paul is fighting to make

sure everyone knows that heaven is available.

Mercy is available. Forgiveness is available.

And that's very important to Paul. And so you

can imagine when he sees that people are messing

up, that people are distorting and distracting

that message of grace and peace, it would upset

him. I get upset myself when people in the church

do things that push people in the church out

of the church. That bothers me. I was talking

to a friend here today that was in ministry for

a while. And he mentioned some reasons why he

is no longer in ministry. And one of those reasons

was the way the church treated people. And the

problem is, far too often, people come into a

good thing and make it bad. And Paul sees that

happening here to the church in Galatia. And

he says, stop. Listening to those people that

are ruining a good thing. We have a good thing.

And that is the grace that Jesus brings. The

peace that Jesus brings. The hope and forgiveness

that Jesus brings. So don't listen to those people

that are messing it up. Because here's the truth.

A counterfeit gospel doesn't just distract people

from Jesus. It detains people. And it destroys.

See, the truth is in America today, and it's

not just America, it's all across the globe,

but we have this problem. There are young people

that walk out of a church and will never come

back because of all the Jesus plus. And they're

not going to come back until they see that the

church has gotten back to just being about Jesus.

And I'll tell you one thing that I have been

so, so impressed by in my short time being here

in Blairsville. This is a church that is just

about Jesus. This is not a Jesus plus group.

This is a Jesus people. And that's the message

that Paul wants everybody to know. And what he

is fighting here is for people to see that it's

just about Jesus. Because the Jesus plus, it

puts chains. On people. Or it crushes people.

And Paul says it's just about Jesus. See Paul

has been sent by God. To bring a message of freedom

in Christ. A message of life. A message of rescue.

And here's some good news in the midst of all

of this. Because I told you this is a hope filled

letter. When it comes to the gospel. You never

have to wonder. If what you're holding is the

real deal. God has made it very clear what the

truth is. And that is that Jesus died for us.

And all He's asking for us to do is to live for

Him. So when others come and they try to add

to or they try to take away from that amazing

grace -filled and peace -bringing message, Paul

takes it very seriously. He takes that very seriously

and he makes it clear that he doesn't care what

it makes anybody think of him. He doesn't care

what it makes him look like. Here's what he says

in verse 10. For am I now seeking the approval

of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man?

See, if I were still trying to please man, I

would not be a servant of Christ. See, Paul says

I'm not chasing approval. I'm chasing faithfulness.

And church, that is our call too. We're not here

for approval. You're not here for my approval.

I'm not here for your approval. I'm here for

his. And I hope the same is true for you. See,

we live in a world full of counterfeit gospels

and distorted messages. But there is only one

true gospel. And that is that freedom comes from

Christ alone. No more. No less. And I've been

using this diagram to represent the gospel for

the last couple weeks. And I'm going to keep

using it because it's a simple way to understand

it. You see the world. And that is the creation.

This beautiful thing, this masterpiece that God

formed in the beginning. But we messed it up.

Humans messed it up. And so we subjected ourselves

to death. Death being defined as separation.

from God, who is the giver of life. But, as has

been God's plan from the beginning, He promises

restoration. That's the rainbow icon. And the

promise is fulfilled when Jesus comes down to

the earth. He goes up on a cross. He is put in

a tomb that is now empty. The stone has been

rolled out of the way. He ascends to heaven with

the promise that He is coming back. And he is

going to restore all of this to what it was supposed

to be in the beginning. A beautiful home for

man with God. That's the gospel. That's all it

is. That is the beautiful, hope -filled message

of the gospel that Paul is fighting for. See,

Paul's urgency shows just how serious this is.

I said it a few weeks ago that this is a matter

of life or death for every person. Understanding

and knowing this gospel message is a matter of

life or death. And Paul is saying, I need you

to understand that it is just Jesus because Jesus

wants you to be free. He wants you to be with

Him for eternity. That is why the gospel is so

simple. And it is so good. I'll say it again,

the gospel. Gospel meaning the good news. It's

so simple. And it is so good. And that's all

we need. I don't need gospel plus. I don't need

Jesus plus. I don't need gospel minus or Jesus

minus. I just need the gospel. I just need Jesus.

So when you see a building like ours that has

the words Church of Christ, don't think, Church

of Christ Plus, it's just Christ. We're just

here following Christ. We're just here serving

Christ. And what Paul says is that's all you

need. And that is grace filled. And it is peace

bringing. If you will just follow Jesus. So to

the believers in the room, the message is sharp,

but it's simple. Stop chasing. Counterfeits.

Stop giving out counterfeits. And just live in

the finished work of Christ. And to the person

seeking, that freedom, this simple but good gospel,

that freedom can be yours. That home with God

for eternity can be yours. That life. That full

life can be yours, not by your accomplishment,

not by your gifts, not by your giving or your

success, but by God's grace. And if you want

to accept and receive that gift, the way to do

that is also pretty simple. If you want to be

freed from the chains that hold you, if you want

to experience the peace that only Christ brings

through His grace, We want to walk with you here.

We want you to experience that. We want you to

accept and embrace that life that God wants for

you. We'll pray with you. We'll study with you.

And if you're ready to do it today, we've got

water ready. We will baptize you for the forgiveness

of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and abundant

life. Wherever you sit this morning, whatever

place you're in, just don't leave here today.

without responding in some way to the good and

complete news that Jesus has brought freedom.

Don't leave wearing the same chains that you

walked in with. Don't leave with the same burden

and weight on your shoulder that you walked in

with. If you need to lay something down at the

feet of Jesus, or if you need to lay your life

down at the feet of Jesus, we are inviting you

to do that today as we stand and as we sing.