A Different Gospel - Galatians 1:6-16

I will invite you tonight to Galatians chapter 1 Galatians chapter 1 We will read verses 6 through 16 with the title being A Different Gospel Galatians 1 verse 6 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 if even 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 now 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 If I were still trying to please man I would not be a servant of Christ For I would have you know brothers that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel For I did not receive it from any man nor was I taught it but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ If we have heard of my former life in Judaism how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers But when He who had set me apart before I was born and who called me by His grace was pleased to reveal His Son to me in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles I did not immediately consult with anyone Let's pray Father powerful is your word Powerful is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ And we pray for your help tonight that we might speak forth your truths that you might give us ears to hear and minds and hearts to understand that we might be settled on the gospel the truth of the gospel that we might glory in the gospel Help us we pray in Jesus name Amen Here is the question for you tonight Is the gospel that you are believing the true gospel?

Galatians 1 · chapter mention Galatians 1 · chapter mention Galatians 1:6

Is the gospel you are believing the true gospel?

I am going to ask a question at the end that will reveal the true measure of the gospel you believe Be ready for that We know that there are blatant attacks against the gospel and they are usually easily to spot You see that someone is teaching something so blatant and so contrary to the gospel You pick up on that immediately and you recognize it But as well there are subtle attacks that are not as recognizable and can slip past the unsuspecting eye We must be alert We must be on guard against the attacks that come against the gospel It is our motto here at GBC that we are seeking to be known for the gospel So we must be aware that the enemy is acting active roaring prowling seeking to pervert and change the simplicity of the gospel of grace I have been thinking recently about the gospel How I preached and pastored for 20 years with a tainted gospel a different gospel because it was in the midst of the fallout of my life that God indicated to me that I did not know the gospel How did I not know the gospel?

I had preached for 20 years Did I not know the gospel?

We shall see Of course in this passage that we read the Apostle Paul is addressing the church at Galatia and right out of the gate he confronts the issue He states that they are turning to a different gospel They are in verse 6 They are turning to a different gospel They are being led in a way that is away from the gospel Now any change of the gospel is another gospel Any adding to or taking away at any point is to pervert the gospel Whose is the gospel?

Who does the gospel belong to?

It is the gospel of God It is God's gospel Amen?

So if it is God's gospel Whose is it not?

It is not an angel's And it is not man's It is God's gospel Let us notice a few things in the passage there The first thing we notice is that Paul is astonished The King James says I marvel That you are so soon removed The ESV says so easily or so quickly deserting Paul was bewildered He was confused even that the believers in Galatia Had received the gospel of grace And could turn away from it He is thinking how can this be?

The gospel and all of its grace and glory You now turn to something else that is not as gracious And is not as glorious How can this be?

It is blowing his mind He is astonished He is marveling It would be like standing and looking at some glorious landscape That God has created in his magnificent creation And anyone in their right mind would stand and be in awe Of what they are beholding with their eyes And then here is one that looks at it and says oh that is nice And he returns to his phone looking at stupid memes How could you turn away from such a glorious gospel?

How can you be led astray?

And this is He was astonished He was marveling at this They are straying off the truth of the gospel He indicates in the passage how and why And quite simply it is to please men To go along with the crowd to not ruffle feathers That the men who were leading them astray I mean these were men of God Surely they won't lead us astray What was their problem?

They were not being good Bereans They were not searching the scriptures to see if what they were being taught Was in accordance with the word of God So he is astonished That is the first thing that I noticed there The second thing is that a moving away of the gospel of grace Is moving away from Christ himself Did you see that?

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him Moving away from him who called you in the grace of Christ And turning to a different gospel A moving away of the gospel is a moving away from Christ himself They were deserting him How can you do that?

How can you turn away from him who is everything Who is all in all And he is astonished that they are moving away from the gospel And moving away from the gospel is moving away from Christ himself And in verse 7 he makes the statement there Not that there is another gospel There is not another gospel There are not two gospels There are not three gospels There are not many gospels as you want There is only one gospel There is no other gospel There is only one And it is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work Then he says there are those who would pervert or distort the gospel There in verse 7 Not that there is another one But there are some who would trouble you And want to distort the gospel To lead you away to make the gospel something that it is not There are enemies of the gospel And many they are in our day Paul is confronting it early on in the life of the church And he is seeing that there are those who would come against the gospel They would try to change the gospel They would try to make the gospel something else And we are facing that today as well Many who want to change, many who want to just tweak it a little bit So in verses 8 and 9 we see that we need to check the source Notice this But even if we are an angel from heaven Should preach to you a gospel Contrary to the one we preach to you Let him be a curse If we said before say I again If any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive Let him be a curse If the source is not the word of God And does not comply with scripture Let that source be a curse Be careful who you listen to Some may sound good but be not sound A lot of voices out there saying a lot of things Some good, some great, some glorious Some not so good, some not great, some not the gospel It is a different gospel Then in verses 10 and 11 we see it is not man's gospel For am I now seeking the approval of man Or am I seeking the approval of God Who am I trying to please here Am I trying to please man or am I trying to please God If I were still trying to please man I would not be the servant of Christ For I would have you know brothers That the gospel that was preached by me What?

Is not man's gospel It is not man's gospel Therein is the rub In verses 13 through 16 Paul gives his testimony And the summation of Paul's testimony concerning his conversion And what the gospel is Is the revealing of Jesus Christ the Son of God to a soul He says it toward the end That God was pleased to reveal his Son to me In order that I might preach him among the Gentiles What is the preaching of the gospel?

It is preaching Christ It is preaching Christ Christ is revealed in the gospel How does the scripture say it?

That the light of the gospel shines into your heart Right?

The light of the gospel shines into your heart And what do you see?

The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Paul actually alludes to this That it is not a man's gospel when he opened it back in verse 1 When he said Paul an apostle Not of men Neither by man But by Jesus Christ So he is getting to the point that this is not about men It is not about pleasing men It is not a man's gospel It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ None of this None of the gospel is man's doing Now we understand that the Galatians Were being influenced by the Jewish believers Who were attempting to add to the gospel By keeping the law And yes you have faith You must believe by faith But then you keep the law It was circumcision in particular That was being added to the gospel here Changing the gospel Making it not the gospel They were proposing that the Gentiles must be circumcised For them to be true believers So what was the underlying motive in this?

Again to please man To have men fall in line with what they were proposing That is what Paul's emphasis at the beginning And in this is that it is not man's gospel It is not about pleasing man Now The past month or two I have been to a couple of conferences Meeting new people And sharing testimonies So I have repeated my testimony multiple times If you have heard my testimony I have preached and pastored for 20 years And in that it was revealed that I didn't know the gospel So even in sharing my testimony recently It made me start evaluating what was different What was different How was it a different gospel that I was promoting?

My dear Diane, my wife, reminded me recently That one of the things that was instrumental in that Was a sermon that I had listened to by Paris Redad 10 shekels in a shirt And thinking back on that And then I will speak more of that in a minute But that was instrumental in my awakening Even before I came to the doctrines of grace Understanding those things But then by the providence of God I was led to sermons by Paul Washer And I was listening to those sermons And this is part of everything that he was preaching against I was doing And I knew he was right I was a proponent of the sinner's prayer I had told people who had prayed it To write the date down in their Bible And when the devil comes and tries to make you doubt You go back and you look at that date And remember that prayer you prayed I would preach funerals of drunks and druggies And tell people they were going to heaven Because when they were a kid they prayed a prayer And asked Jesus into their hearts And because of that they were a child of God And nothing could change that When someone would come to me with doubts about their salvation My immediate question would be And it almost rolls off my tongue I said it so much Has there ever been a time in your life When you prayed and asked Jesus into your heart?

You may argue that those things are not harmful But I say that's another gospel That's a different gospel So I began to preach against these things And preach against the sinner's prayer Do you realize that the sinner's prayer is the gospel to a lot of people?

They understand that that is the gospel Many say it's damning more souls to hell than anything in history I would preach and I would say That if you're trusting in a prayer to save you You're going to hell Boy, the people flipped out Even some stated that I was preaching something off the wall Listen to what I said If you're trusting in a prayer to save you You're going to hell Then I would follow that up with You must trust Christ and him alone You must trust Christ and him alone for salvation How is that off the wall?

That is who?

You must trust Not an action performed by saying a prayer Or being baptized or being circumcised You must repent and believe the gospel Others would say I was preaching the same thing It's just semantics That he still means the same thing He's just saying it in a different way No, I was finally preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ Removing their crutches and relics and gimmicks And putting them at Christ They'd never heard that before To make way to the true gospel Sometimes the false gospel you're trusting Needs to be revealed, dismantled and destroyed What are you believing concerning the gospel?

In my testimony I was by the providence of God Able to attend a fellowship conference in Denton, Texas And it was there I heard preaching Unlike I'd ever heard It was of course different And looking back I was able to determine the difference And it's the difference that makes all the difference The preaching that I was now hearing It was God-centered, Christ-centered preaching It was God-glorifying and Christ-exalting What was I used to?

What was I trained in?

Man-centered preaching And that's a man-centered gospel Now it wasn't stated that way And I don't believe it was intentional It was just a subtle misrepresentation of the gospel It was though not stated exactly like this But the chief end of the gospel is the salvation of man That doesn't sound harmful does it?

The chief end of the gospel is the salvation of man Or maybe just the purpose of the gospel is the salvation of man Yes, the purpose of the gospel is the salvation of man But it's not the end It's not the end I was told once by my pastor at the time Who was the president of the seminary that I was attending That the first love that the church of Ephesus was leaving You've left your first love was soul winning That the first love is soul winning That ought to be our first love No, our first love is to God and Christ And when we love God first, when we love God right We're going to love our neighbor and we're going to want to win our neighbors So you see that little twisting The emphasis was put on man Paul in our text is adamant that the gospel is not of man Don't hear me wrong, I'm not saying Now listen to this I'm not saying that the gospel is not for man It is a means by which we are saved But the chief end of the gospel is not the salvation of man The chief end of the gospel is the glory of God It's the glory of God It's the chief end of everything The glory of God Now, the sermon by Paris Reedhead, 10 shekels in his shirt I've seen some of you kind of nod It's about how humanism and pragmatism has infiltrated the gospel The sermon was preached I believe in the 50s So if it was a problem then, how much more is it a problem now That humanism has worked its way into so many pulpits Humanistic philosophy making its way into the pulpit Has turned the focus away from God and put it on man In the sermon he surmises that humanism is that the chief end of all things is the happiness of man Now that's a pretty good definition But there are many definitions You look up humanism right now, you'll find a bunch of definitions But basically it's a system of philosophy that seeks the advancement of the human experience That humans are capable of bettering their lives And the lives of those around them and lives into the future without God Exactly That's not right And this is accomplished through science and art and compassion Now think about that for a minute And think about in the realm of religious leaders What's the best example of this?

I'll give you his initials, Joel Osteen Well what's his book? Your best life?

Now that's humanism, a hundred percent Now this is a great question to ask when listening to a sermon online When you're listening to a sermon online Or if you're listening to a song on Caleb Here's something good you can think about Who and what is the focus on?

Is it seeking to glorify me or is it seeking to glorify God?

Is it focusing me on me or me on God?

Is it what God has done for me, which is not bad in itself But does it direct me to worship God for who he is and what he's done And not overshadowing him with me Making him the focus of what he's done Making God, listening to a sermon, listening to a song That makes him the focus of what he's done for me is okay But making me the focus for what he's done for me is not okay Why? Because it's not about me Sometimes we hear a lot of this in this vein You were worth dying for While there may be a hint of truth in that Again it puts the focus on me I really wasn't worth dying for I was worth sending to hell Is there worth in the soul of a man? Absolutely What will it profit a man if he game the whole world and lose his soul?

But the profit is not us The value is that the lamb that was slain may receive the reward of his suffering Right?

In the sermon by Parrish Readhead he capsulates how humanism has infected the gospel With this statement and I'll quote I'm afraid that it has become so subtle that it goes everywhere What is it?

In essence is this The philosophical postulate that the end of all being is the happiness of man Has been sort of covered over with evangelical terms and biblical doctrine Until God reigns in heaven for the happiness of man Jesus Christ was incarnate for the happiness of man The angels exist for the happiness of man Everything is for the happiness of man And he says I submit to you that this is unchristian Didn't God intend to make man happy?

Yes, but as a byproduct not the primary product End quote What are we doing?

Why are we here this evening?

What is the end purpose of the gospel?

Is it to save poor dying men from a bad God who wants to send them to hell?

Or is it to save evil sinners who are doing everything for their own glory That they might turn and glorify God who has sent his son to save them from their sins To save them from their own self-glorifying That they might then turn and give God all the glory It's due unto him by the way What's due unto him?

Glory, what glory?

All of it, all the glory Here is the end question That will determine the underlayment of your gospel understanding Think about it Why do you want your children to be saved?

Why do you want your friends and loved ones to be saved?

Why is it that you were saved?

Why did you want to be saved?

The need for salvation is not to escape hell And that you will have a better life It's for the glory of God It's for the glory of God Do you want your children and your friends to be saved So God will get glory from their lives?

Do you want them to be saved for their benefit?

Do you want them to be saved for your peace of mind?

You see that?

You see the subtlety of that?

Or do we want them to be saved so that they can glorify God?

So in conclusion What was the difference in the gospel I preached before In the gospel I now understand The difference was the emphasis or the context Or the intended end of the gospel That's what was all I preached the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ But what was the end purpose of that death, burial and resurrection?

In essence it was the betterment of man To improve on the condition of man To saving from a bad burning hell Does man need to be saved from that?

Yes! Yes! But why should he be saved from that?

To save his hide?

I would even say back then that it was for the glory of God But not with as much emphasis as it was to escape hell So what was I doing?

I was trying to convince people that they needed to be saved from something bad That was going to happen to them I was trying to convince people that you're going to hell and you're sin And that's true But I wanted to save them from that So that they wouldn't have to suffer that That's a selfish driven motive Reedhead would call it humanism Think about that What is the reality?

The reality is that lost people, men and women, boys and girls Are robbing God of the glory that is due him They are robbing God of the glory that is due him They are sinning against the holy God that has granted them life, breath and being And they are consuming it for their own passion, for their own glory What does the Scripture say?

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God You're not glorifying God the way you were created to You need to be saved to that end Come to Christ that he might get the glory from you that he deserves He deserves to be worshipped and praised and lifted high Because he bought you with a price His own life and his own blood He has purchased you Does he not deserve the glory that is due unto him?

1 Corinthians 6, 20 says, for we were bought with a price So glorify God in your body With all that is within you, glorify God What is the chief end of man?

To glorify God and enjoy him forever Let's bow Father may you have helped us to see That a subtle difference in even the emphasis or the intent of the gospel Can be a different gospel It's all about your glory You would think that in trying to convince men to escape a burning hell That they would run to escape that But they don't It's a weird thing But to bear the point that we are so evil That we are so corrupt That a glorious being would give us life And we would use it for our own selfish reasons What is wrong with us?

Sin still bites Sin still stalks us But when we can see The light of the glory of God You O God In the face of Jesus Christ We can no longer be the same All that you might shine in a heart All that you might rekindle and renew Sight for us to see That all glory goes to Christ It's in his name we pray, Amen www.mooji.org