[0:00] Had to do with what? Can you think of a theme? Salvation. The fact that we have salvation in Christ.
[0:12] So we're going to talk about that a little bit this morning. So take your Bibles, go with me to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1.
[0:49] And we talked about what it means to be an apostle. And the fact that he became an apostle and says, not by men, neither by men, but by the Lord Jesus Christ. By God.
[0:59] And then he goes on and he says he's writing to the churches. We said that was the first time, the first book that Paul wrote. And then we talked about the fact that unlike other epistles where he wrote to a church or an individual, he's writing to a group of churches here.
[1:14] He says to the churches of Galatia. And he wrote about the grace and the peace that we can have because of Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins.
[1:26] And in verse 5, we should give him all the glory for what he has done. So today, we're going to talk about some reminders about the faith.
[1:36] Look with me beginning at verse 6. Verse 6 says, As we said before, so say I now again.
[1:56] But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again.
[2:09] If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or gods?
[2:21] Do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Okay?
[2:33] We're going to talk about that section of verses today. Let's have a word prayer. Father, as we look at your word this morning, I pray that you would help us to understand that there are people out there who want to pervert the gospel.
[2:52] There are people out there who want to preach a different gospel. But Lord, there's only one true gospel. There's only one way in which we can be saved.
[3:03] There's only one gospel that will lead us to heaven. And that comes through Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that you would help us today to gain knowledge, to gain understanding, but more importantly, to gain in our walk with you.
[3:19] That we will not let ourselves be hindered or persuaded or led in any other way than by the grace of God.
[3:30] Lord, help us today to understand. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. In Galatians, he's going to give us some reminders here in these verses.
[3:43] Paul, all the different epistles he wrote, he basically gave reminders to people about the things that they should know, the things that he had taught them. He had been there to those cities.
[3:54] He helped set up churches. He helped teach them. He's reminding them of things they should already know. An example, 2 Corinthians 10, 12 says, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
[4:09] You know, there are times we think we've got it all down. We think we've got it all set. And I'm talking about things with the word of God. We need to continually be in the word of God. There are people out there who are trying to get us to go different directions, who are trying to get us to think different things.
[4:24] We'll talk more about that in a minute. These Galatians, when Paul was there and was starting that church there and stuff, they were settled in the grace of God.
[4:37] They knew the grace of God was what saved them and what was going to keep them. But now, Paul's been gone for a little while. Not a long time.
[4:48] Maybe a year, two, maybe three. But he hasn't been gone a long time and they're starting to flounder in the understanding of what things are. So, Paul writes to them, first of all, about the removal from the faith.
[5:04] The removal from the faith. And he is surprised by that. Notice he starts off in verse 6, I marvel. That word marvel, I wonder.
[5:16] I wonder at. Marvel. That you can so quickly be moved. It's a present tense thing. So, it's like maybe he's just finding out about the things that are happening there and he's writing to them to answer or whatever.
[5:31] He's talking right now to them, folks, what's going on? What's happening over there? Why are you changing from what you already know? What I taught you.
[5:43] Why are you going in a different direction? And he uses that word marvel not as an angry person. He's not angry with them. He's shocked. I marvel. That you could be so easily swayed.
[5:57] That you could so easily change. He says, I marvel at that. And he marvels also, he says, at the suddenness of their removal.
[6:08] Like I said, it's not been a long time since Paul was there. And the suddenness with which you change. Notice again in verse 6, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ.
[6:23] So soon that you have changed. I haven't been gone all that long. And the words there so soon are the idea that to transpose something.
[6:36] Paul came in and he taught them the gospel by the grace of God. Others are coming in now and teaching them, well, the grace of God's okay, but you've got to do works to go along with it.
[6:48] Grace isn't enough. You've got to have works that go along with it. And when he says so soon removed, the idea is you've transposed those two things. How do you go from this and hear this and then all of a sudden flip it?
[7:03] How can you do that so soon? See, they had transferred their allegiance from Christ to another gospel. Did they lose their salvation?
[7:16] No. But they lost fellowship with God, fellowship with other Christians, fellowship maybe with Paul, because they're transposed those things.
[7:31] They went a different way. And when he talks about that, he says, look, first of all, I'm surprised because of the suddenness that you went from him, God, that called you.
[7:43] God called you. God showed you these things. I was his messenger, but God's the one who imprinted it on your heart. God's the one who makes the difference.
[7:55] God called them by his grace. Don't ever give up on God's grace. How are we saved? Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
[8:09] It is a gift of God, not of works, less than any man should boast. And yet these people come along, grace is okay, but you've got to add this, and you've got to add this, and you've got to add this. And he's going, no, no, no, no, no.
[8:21] Do not add to the grace of God. God gave it to you. What does it say in those verses? He says he gave it to you as a gift. Here.
[8:32] It's yours. You didn't have to do anything for it other than reach out and take it. He says it's a gift, not of works, less than any man should boast. I earned my salvation. I am so much better than the rest of you.
[8:45] All you sinners out there, I got it down. No, he says. Got it because of the grace of God. And then he says, not only do you return from him, you turn to another gospel.
[9:01] You went to another gospel. And this gospel, obviously, from the way he's handling this, is a false gospel. Not based on the grace of God, but based on what they could do, and how they could fix things.
[9:18] What they were basically doing was taking, here's the grace, let's add some Jewish tradition to it. You used to be Jews, and you used to go to the synagogue, and you used to perform these rituals, and you used to do these. So, grace of God is good, but don't forget these things.
[9:31] They need to be part of it too. And what is that saying? Saying, God's grace isn't enough. You got to do more. God's grace is sufficient for whatever we need.
[9:44] What did Paul say in Corinthians about God's grace is sufficient? You know, too often, we try to add things.
[9:56] We think we can help God by doing different things. Paul says, no, no. Paul says, secondly, let me give you a reminder. A reminder concerning the faith.
[10:06] Let me give you a reminder about the things that have happened in your life because of the grace of God. But he starts off with, first of all, talking about there is a perverted gospel.
[10:18] There's perverted gospels. Look with me beginning at verse 6 again. I marveled that you are so soon removed from him. They called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
[10:36] For though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again.
[10:48] If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which he have received, let him be accursed. He says, look, there are perverted gospels out there. He used the word pervert in verse 7.
[11:01] He says, there's what people are calling another gospel. And he says, another gospel is not a different true gospel. There is only one true gospel.
[11:14] And that true gospel comes through Jesus Christ and through him alone. Not adding anything to it. Not adding anything that, you know, you're going to do this and that.
[11:24] Christ alone. But there's something different being taught to the Galatians here. And he's like, no, no, no. I preached unto you the gospel. When I came there, I told you the gospel.
[11:37] When I came there, I gave you Jesus Christ. Dead, crucified, dead, buried, risen, ascended back into heaven.
[11:50] That's the gospel. But he says, here is the perversion of the gospel. There are perversions out there today. The Mormons actually say that they, one of their doctrines are another gospel.
[12:06] You get the Jehovah's Witnesses and you get others out there who are all claiming that they have another gospel. You've got even what we might call Christian versions of another gospel.
[12:22] When you go and people are preaching a health and wealth gospel or a name it, claim it gospel, there's one gospel.
[12:34] Jesus Christ came and gave himself for us. Didn't he mention that there? Back in verse 4.
[12:46] Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins. Nothing else. Jesus only. And what do you get when Jesus comes into your life? You get Jesus.
[12:58] I don't get lots of money. I don't get lots of fame. I don't get lots of things. I get Jesus. And what more could I want than Jesus? I get on the sign out there.
[13:10] Jesus is the only door into heaven. If I got Jesus, I've got everything I could ever want. So these false teachers are coming in here to Galatia.
[13:21] They're called Judaizers. And what they would do is they'd come in and basically they'd try to add the Jewish ceremonial laws to what they believed about Jesus Christ. I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins and did all of this.
[13:35] And now, just to make sure, I'm going to follow these rituals and make sure I keep those rituals as well. Today we call that legalism. I'm going to follow Christ, but you've got to do this and you've got to do this and you've got to do this.
[13:49] No, it doesn't say that. It says follow Christ. Now, because I follow Christ, hopefully I will want to do this and this and this because I love him because of what he did for me, but not because he tells me I have to.
[14:07] He says, you follow me. I always give you the verses, you know, looking unto Jesus, Hebrews 12.2. Looking unto Jesus.
[14:18] Looking unto Jesus and church attendance and baptism and this. It doesn't say that. It says looking unto Jesus. Keep your eyes focused on him.
[14:30] They were trying to teach that the gospel had to have these other things if you were going to get to heaven. Grace wasn't enough. When we demand that people fulfill different laws and fulfill different things, then we've basically nullified grace, haven't we?
[14:50] It's not of grace anymore if we start telling people they have to do this and this and this to get in. Then it's their works. What they have done. Our verse said, you know, it's only by Jesus.
[15:03] Not of works, lest any man should boast. So we need to be so very careful. I mentioned in Sunday school, I said I'd mention it again here. Galatians chapter 3.
[15:15] You want to look at it. Verse 24 says, Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith.
[15:27] the law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. What does he mean by that? The law taught us that we cannot keep the law on our own.
[15:46] We cannot do all of it. The Pharisees at the time of Jesus had 626, 636. They had a bunch of laws that they were supposed to keep.
[15:59] I can't even remember 626 of anything, let alone keep them all. But that was their thing. You had to keep the law. You had to do all this.
[16:10] What did God do? God says, I'm going to give you 10 laws. Just 10. How do we do at keeping the 10? I said, I'm doing pretty good.
[16:21] I don't steal and I haven't killed anybody and I haven't committed adultery. Go to number one. I also have no other gods before me. Do we have other gods that we put ahead of Christ?
[16:36] Look around this morning. Are there things keeping people from here because they got other things to do? He says, are we putting something else ahead of God?
[16:50] Go to the last one. Thou shalt not covet. Anybody here never coveted anything? Oh, look at that car that guy just got.
[17:00] That brand new car. Oh, that's a sweet car. Oh, I wish I had that. Oh, look at the house they just bought. Oh, wish I had a house like that. We can't even keep number one and number ten.
[17:18] And so he says, the law is a schoolmaster. It taught us that we can't do it on our own. We can't do it by ourselves. We needed a savior. We needed someone who would come and could keep those laws and do it for us.
[17:35] And Jesus came and he fulfilled the law the Bible tells us. And he took care of our sin when he gave himself to take our place. Not only do we have that, this perverted gospel and stuff, but we have troubling teachers.
[17:51] Look in verse seven and it says, which is not another, but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel. We have troubling teachers.
[18:03] The word troubling there means to disturb or to agitate. people come in and agitate. They stir up things. They say, well, God said this, but he really meant this. Now, God's word says this, but it really means this.
[18:15] You know, we need to be so very careful. He gives a warning against false teachers many times. Paul does as he's going through. He wrote two letters to Timothy.
[18:26] And in those letters he wrote to Timothy, he says, Timothy, and this is 2 Timothy 4, verses 3 and 4. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall turn unto fables.
[18:50] He says, they're going to turn away. Look at our world today and look at the way things are going. People are turning away from the soundness of the gospel. They want to hear things that are going to help them in their everyday life, which Jesus will.
[19:06] But they want to hear things that say, you know, you can have a better business by following these principles. You can have a better life by following these principles. You can have, they want things that are going to be self-help type things more than they want to hear about Jesus.
[19:19] John, 1 John, chapter 2, verses 18 and 19. Little children, it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.
[19:37] They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
[19:49] There's a lot of people going out from churches teaching a different gospel, going out and aligning themselves with those who tell you that if you follow Jesus, you're going to have such a successful life.
[20:07] You're going to have all your needs taken care of. You're going to have all your wants taken care of. You just follow Jesus and these things are going to, I don't know where they get that from. Have they read about the lives of the disciples?
[20:20] I mean, who followed Jesus better than the disciples? It didn't turn out well for them, except for the fact that they knew Jesus and they have a home in heaven and they're going to help him reign someday.
[20:34] He says, so look, be careful. There are those out there who are trying to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ. Be so very careful. He says, look, there is a proven gospel.
[20:47] A proven gospel. Look at verse 8 and 9. It's not going to sound like it's saying that, but listen to what it says. 8 and 9 says, but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
[21:02] As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any gospel unto you than that which he have received, let him be accursed.
[21:13] What does the word gospel mean? Glad tidings? Good news? That's what it means. There are a lot of things that happen in our life. If you have children, the birth of your children, that was good news.
[21:30] You, the day you graduated from high school or college, that was good news. But he's talking about good news that the gospel of grace gives you salvation.
[21:44] The gospel of grace gives you a life, abundant life here on earth. The gospel of grace gives you an eternity in heaven. The gospel of grace is kind of mentioned in Acts chapter 13, verses 38 and 39.
[21:59] It says, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
[22:09] and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. He says, You trust in Jesus Christ, you have forgiveness of sins.
[22:23] You trust in Jesus Christ, it is just as if you'd never sinned. You have justification. He says, That, that just as if I'd never sinned, did not come through the law of Moses.
[22:34] Those of you in Sunday school, again, going through Hebrews. the Hebrew priests, the Levitical priests, could not wash away your sin. Only Jesus can do that.
[22:46] You're there in Galatians. Look at Galatians chapter 2, verses 15 and 16. Galatians 2, 15 and 16. We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
[23:21] He says, the law cannot save you. The law cannot make it just as if you'd never sinned. He says, you need to know Jesus Christ.
[23:31] He says, we're Jews. We understand. Paul's like, I'm a Jew. I understand. But you cannot have justification through the law. D.L. Moody was preaching one time and he said this, the thief had nails through both of his hands so that he could not work and a nail through each foot so that he could not run errands for the Lord.
[23:59] he could not lift a hand or a foot toward his salvation. Yet Christ offered him the gift of God and he took it.
[24:10] Christ threw him a passport and took him to paradise. He couldn't do a thing on that cross to earn his way to heaven. There's not a single work that he could do.
[24:23] Both hands and both feet are nailed to a cross. He's not doing anything other than hanging there. And yet Jesus says, today you can be with me in paradise.
[24:35] See, it's not by works. It's by Jesus. But so many people misuse the gospel. That's the next one. Misuse the gospel.
[24:47] Notice the beginning of verse 8, he says, but though. But though. That's a conditional statement. Certain things have to happen and certain things have to take place.
[24:59] He says, look, if we, Paul, and any of those guys who are traveling with him, if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, just pay attention.
[25:15] It's not true. Think about it. Paul says, I've preached to you the gospel. If I come to you and say I was wrong, you needed, he says, do not believe me. I preached the gospel as it should be preached to you when I was there.
[25:29] Something happens to me and I go off the deep end, don't believe me. He says, or an angel from heaven. Are there angels from heaven on earth today?
[25:42] Yeah. They're with Satan. But they were angels from heaven. They can preach a wrong gospel. They can put influences in your life to give you a wrong gospel.
[25:55] He says, but, but though, that is the strongest conjunction in the Greek language to show a contrast between two things. You've got the gospel of Jesus Christ and you've got all these other things.
[26:11] He said, there is a wide gulf between those two things. Do not let yourself be taken in. whether it's us or an angel from heaven that tells you that.
[26:22] Second Corinthians 11, verses 13 and 14. For such are false prophets, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and no marvel.
[26:35] For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Can Satan deceive people? Yeah. Can Satan's workers deceive people? Yeah. And he says, if anybody comes to you and starts preaching anything other than the grace of God, God's riches at Christ's expense, he says, do not believe him.
[26:57] I like God's redemption at Christ's expense. There is only one way to be redeemed and that is through Jesus Christ. And then in verse 9, he repeats it again.
[27:10] If any man preach any other gospel unto you than he that hath received. from those of you who have been with me, what does repetition do?
[27:23] Aids learning. Repetition aids learning. Paul says in verse 8, then he says it again in verse 9, listen up. Do not let anybody, and repetition aids learning, do not let anybody come and tell you something different.
[27:42] and he says if they do, both verses into the same word, let them be accursed. Let them be accursed. That word for accursed, anathema in the Greek, which means basically that they are doomed to destruction.
[27:59] Anybody comes teaching you anything other than the grace of God for salvation, he says, let him be accursed. Let him be doomed. Think about the importance of what Paul is saying here.
[28:14] He's giving a very grave warning to people. He's saying, do not make any changes to the message of Jesus Christ and his grace.
[28:26] Third thing, he's going to give them a realization about faith, and he's going to use himself as an example. First of all, what is the cause of true faith?
[28:42] What is the cause? What is it working for? What is it after? He says, first of all, for God's favor. He says there in verse 10, for do I now persuade men or God?
[29:00] The word there, persuade, the word that's used there is to make friends of, to win one's favor, to gain one's goodwill, to seek to win one, strive to please one.
[29:13] Who was Paul trying to please? He says, trying to please one, find favor of one, he's trying to find favor with God. He wants favor with God.
[29:24] What men think about him, he doesn't care. Do I have favor with God? He's asking those Galatian believers, what's his goal? Is it to please them or is it to please God?
[29:38] It's a rhetorical question. The answer is, you're there to please God. That's what your goal is. That's what you're trying to do. Notice he uses the word now. He says, verse 10 there, for do I now persuade men or God?
[29:52] I think that's a reference back to Paul's earlier life. What was Paul's earlier life? He wanted to go out and kill Christians. He wanted to have them arrested. He wanted to bring them back to Jerusalem. They stand trial and for being blasphemous and heresy and they could be killed and everything.
[30:06] He was trying to win favor with people. He was trying to win favor with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and with the Sanhedrin. Look at verse 13 and 14.
[30:17] He says, for ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews' religion above many mine equals in mine own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
[30:38] He said, you couldn't find someone who was more faithful, more zealous in defending the Jewish religion than me. I went after these people because they were teaching something other than what we believed in our Jewish religion, our Jewish traditions.
[30:57] I went after these people because I wanted to see them taken out of the way. And now I are one. Now I am one.
[31:09] Now I am one of these people. Before his conversion, he was motivated by pleasing men. He wanted to see men.
[31:19] He thought he was pleasing God, but he was more inclined to please men. And now, he says, now, he is wholly about pleasing God.
[31:31] He wants to bring the pleasure of God into his life. The pleasure of God. The word please, obviously, means please, to accommodate oneself to the opinions, desires, and interests of others.
[31:50] Paul was more concerned about what God thought than what men thought. He was more concerned about what God thought than anything that men could come up with.
[32:03] What does God think about what I'm doing? It became like his mission statement. His mission statement was a God-centered one, not a man-centered one. I want whatever God wants.
[32:16] The Christ-centered gospel taught by Paul was that salvation came by grace through faith alone. Nothing else. The Jews, they were trying to get the Gentile churches, like the one in Galatia, the one in Galatia, to believe that they had to act.
[32:40] He says, no, no, no, no. I'm not here about pleasing men. I'm here to make sure that you understand where your salvation comes from. I want to please God.
[32:51] He's concerned about being a soldier of Christ, and he wants to please him first and most of all. 2 Timothy 2.4 says, no man that warreth and tangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
[33:12] He says, I want to please God. God picked me. God chose me. God saved me. I want to make sure everything I do pleases him. And because of that, second thing, he has a commitment, a commitment to the true faith.
[33:30] He says, I want to be a servant. He says, if I'm trying to please men, I cannot be the servant of Christ. He wants to be a servant of Christ. He wants to forsake everything else and serve Christ.
[33:43] His commitment is to him. Notice he uses the word yet in there. Well, someone used the word yet.
[33:57] Verse 10. Okay, that's what I was looking at, but I can't find it. Anyway, he uses the word yet. And in there, he says, again, comparing my past to my now.
[34:15] He says, if he was still living the way he did before his salvation, then he'd be a man pleaser. He says, nope, my allegiance now is to Jesus Christ and to him alone.
[34:27] I only want to serve Jesus Christ and no one or nothing else. He says in 2 Corinthians 12, 19, he says, again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you?
[34:46] we speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. He says, we're not trying to do anything that's going to please men.
[34:56] We're trying to make sure that we please God. We speak before him. And he says, the things that we're doing is not to please you, but to edify you, to build you up, to help you to understand and be growing in Christ.
[35:12] That's what we're trying to do. That's what our job should be. See, our job should not be worrying about men and what they say. Our job should be like Matthew 25, 21.
[35:25] It says, His Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. What are you in this life searching for?
[35:40] We should be looking for, well done, thou good and faithful servant. When I get to heaven, that's what I'm looking for. People may disagree with me about things.
[35:52] People may say I do things the wrong way. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. I have to answer to God. I have to give my answer to him.
[36:03] So while living as a servant of Christ may mean sacrifice from earthly friendships, honor, sometimes wealth, all these different things we have to give up, we have something greater.
[36:19] It lies in heaven. When we get there, we have fellowship with God the Father. We have fellowship with Jesus Christ. We have treasures that have been laid up as we serve him down here.
[36:32] He says, look, try to serve Christ, make him the foremost in your life. Be a servant of his. It doesn't matter what people say.
[36:47] What does God say? He says, live for him. He says, there is one gospel, one true gospel. Stand for that in everything you do.
[37:00] Stand for the fact that Jesus Christ came and gave his life, rose again from the dead, ascended back into heaven, is ever making intercession for us.
[37:12] That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Why? Why is it so important?
[37:24] Why is it such a big deal that Paul's making out of this? Nothing else. Just the gospel. Because, what does it say back in verse 4 again?
[37:37] Who gave himself for our sins. Jesus paid it all. I look around this morning, I don't know if anyone here is not saved.
[37:50] If I had to say off the top of my head, I'd say everyone here is. But just in case, if there's someone here this morning that doesn't know Jesus Christ as their Savior, come talk to me.
[38:00] I'd be glad to show you from the word of God how you can know for sure that you're on your way to heaven. How you can know for sure that you have salvation in Christ through his grace and his grace alone.
[38:16] Take your hymn book. Go with me to page 355. Jesus Christ for other quero peace and my heart go to heaven. Let's project in the ministry in Christ's life for example.
[38:29] How you can learn how you can learn that you may and desire the way to God to commit inarten upon who GNあり and in heaven.