[0:00] Okay. Sounds like a few of us this morning are going to enjoy the junior church experience for the first time.
[0:12] ! I'm going to open us in prayer in just a second. My name is Dave Nannery. I'm one of the pastors here. And for the next three weeks, this will be sort of a three-part series on what I'm going to call false gospels.
[0:26] These things that take place deep in our hearts and how they tend to show up in ourselves, in our churches, and in our families. So today we're going to talk about false gospels that entangle you. So let me start out with a word of prayer here.
[0:43] Father, I thank you that your word speaks truly and in a relevant manner to us today. You know us well. And I thank you that the scriptures speak endlessly about what's happening in our hearts, about what we think we need, and about what we really, truly need.
[1:06] And I ask this morning, I know that, Lord, some of the things that I'll be saying are things that are hard to understand. Things that are hard to grasp, that are very, they can be very subtle.
[1:22] And we're very motivated deep down to not understand them. And I pray, Lord God, give us eyes to see what you are seeing. Give us ears to hear. Give us a heart to understand.
[1:37] We need this, Lord God. And I ask, Lord God, may I communicate clearly and well things that are difficult, Lord God. May my own weaknesses, my own shortcomings not be a hindrance, but rather may the wisdom of your word be apparent and be helpful and profitable for us today.
[1:58] Amen. Okay. Well, last week we had a number of baptisms, and this week we'll have yet another one, which is exciting. And those who are baptized, they're baptized, they're joining a church, and they find out pretty quick on joining a church that church is not this perfect ideal place that maybe we thought it was.
[2:23] And that's not a new problem. That is a 2,000-year-old problem. One of the things that strikes me as I read the New Testament, and I've said this before, and I'll say it again, and I'm probably not going to ever stop saying it, is that the New Testament letters from the apostles to these churches reveal that the churches, the early churches, in the first few decades in which the gospel was being proclaimed, the first few decades after Jesus rose from the dead, the early churches were kind of dysfunctional.
[2:55] They were kind of a mess. And the book of Galatians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to churches in the region of Galatia, in modern-day Turkey. And these churches are consumed with conflict.
[3:10] And at the root of this conflict is a deep, deep problem, a deep, deep doctrinal issue that the Apostle Paul recognizes. He understands that the Christians in these towns, they have people among them who are saying in order to be called a Christian, in order to be accepted by God, in order to be accepted by others, you have to be circumcised and follow the Jewish laws and customs, the law of Moses from the Old Testament, that if you do not do that, you are not a Christian.
[3:43] Now, thankfully, modern Christians don't have problems with stuff like this anymore, right? You know, with all our progress, nobody in churches ever gets hung up on laws that don't apply.
[3:56] Nobody gets stuck in legalistic thinking. Everyone here is content. Nobody loses confidence. We all get along. We're all secure in our faith. Can I get an amen? What are you doing?
[4:08] No amen to that. It's not true. Because here's the thing. If that were true, I would be out of a job. Like, if we all just got this right, I wouldn't have any work. We wouldn't even need this.
[4:19] We could all just sit in a circle and do a little kumbaya because it's all sorted. The truth is, the struggles and the conflicts that people had then, they look different. They sound foreign and alien.
[4:33] But when you, like, drill down to what's happening inside of the people, and especially, as we'll see at the end of Galatians, when Paul says, okay, let me lift the hood and show you what's happening in these people's hearts, all of a sudden we're like, oh, this is familiar.
[4:48] I get this. I see this problem in me, and I see this problem in all of the people around me. Because if you were in the shoes of these Galatian Christians, you would probably be struggling with the same things they are.
[5:04] They are under pressure, a lot of pressure, from their family, from their friends, from their community, all the people around them. They do not like their religion.
[5:15] They do not like how they're gathering with other Christians every Sunday. They do not like how they talk about this Jesus. And especially about a Jesus who is publicly crucified.
[5:30] How shameful, how humiliating, cringeworthy. There is a lot of pressure for these Christians to look for a way, you know, maybe there's a way we can be more acceptable to other people.
[5:45] Maybe, and here's the thing, it's because we get our cues from other people, we start thinking maybe I need to be acceptable to God in another way too. After all, if other people don't accept you, why would God be any different?
[6:01] You don't want to look bad in front of God, do you? Maybe, you know, maybe we really do need to bring back these Jewish customs that we grew up with again.
[6:12] Maybe we do need to get everybody in our church to adhere to the law of Moses in full, to the old covenant, to circumcision, to sacrifices, and so on. Maybe we really are justified, maybe we really are made acceptable by obeying that law.
[6:28] Now to people thinking this way, the apostle Paul concludes his letters to the Galatians with these words. It's in Galatians chapter 6 verses 11 through 14, and we will be returning to this one, this passage repeatedly throughout this sermon.
[6:44] So in Galatians 6 verses 11 through 14, here's what Paul says. He says, See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.
[6:56] It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
[7:09] For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
[7:32] I love that first verse, verse 11, where Paul essentially snatches the pen out of the hands of the scribe who's been writing his words up till now, and he says, I'm writing this part myself, which was sort of a signature of authenticity in his letters, but he writes a lot more than just a final greeting.
[7:50] He's like, I have a few things they need to see in my own hand, even though I write in really big letters. And he says, he's saying, you guys have an identity crisis.
[8:02] You're wondering, who are we really? Are we really the people of God? Is Jesus really worth it? Do we need to make ourselves worth it by keeping the law?
[8:14] And if you're anything like these Galatians, what's happening to you here is that you are entangled by false gospels. You are entangled by false gospels.
[8:25] Now, what do I mean by false gospels? I'm using this in a little bit less, sort of like a less than technical way, but think of a false gospel. It's a story that is repeated to you by others, or that you've invented yourself, and repeated to yourself in your own head, and soon you buy into it, until it becomes a part of your gut.
[8:49] It feels true, and it becomes one of the scripts by which you run your life. Sometimes the point you don't even notice it's there. The word gospel means good news.
[9:03] A false gospel is good news that is fake. It's a fantasy. It tells you that you need something, and it motivates you to pursue what you need.
[9:23] If only I could get that, then I would get the good life that I've always wanted. And so what happens, driven by this false gospel deep inside of you, and in my experience, most of us actually have a couple dozen of these things rattling around deep inside of us, you toil away your life trying to get that false need, or trying to make sure that you don't lose it.
[9:48] Maybe it's something you do have already, and you just can't lose it, because if I lose it, I lose life. Life is no longer worth living.
[9:59] In Galatians chapter 6, Paul identifies a false gospel that has taken root in the readers of this letter, and it sounds something like this. If only these other Christians would just get circumcised, then we could be accepted and not persecuted by our fellow Jews.
[10:19] That's a paraphrase of what he's saying in Galatians chapter 6. If only these other Christians in our church, you know, these Gentile Christians who haven't been circumcised, if they would just get circumcised, then we would be accepted and not persecuted by our fellow Jews.
[10:37] Now, when this false gospel gets really bad is when you then take that and say, well, not just not accepted, not persecuted, but to be accepted by God, you need this.
[10:48] And then they turn it into a doctrine and start promoting it. You've got to keep the law. You've got to do all the right things. You've got to get it all right or God won't accept you. And that's when we cross the line into heresy, when those false gospel seeds blossom into an ugly, ugly fruit.
[11:11] It's eerily reminiscent, these things are eerily reminiscent of false gospels that were tempting the readers of the book of Hebrews. Very similar. Except this time, the false gospel was directed inwards.
[11:21] not at other Christians, but inwards at the readers themselves. If only I, if only I could just be accepted by my fellow Jews, then I would be happy.
[11:32] If only I could just get back to the old covenant way of life, then I would be acceptable. If only, if only, if only. If only. I, it is impossible to count the number of people in the pages of scripture who get lost in a world of if only.
[11:53] If I could spend the rest of this sermon just using example after example after example after example from scriptures, from the Old Testament and from the New, of people whose lives are controlled by this if only.
[12:06] this very thing is warned against in the 10th commandment. In Exodus chapter 20 verse 17, the final commandment that brings everything full circle.
[12:18] You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. In other words, here's what coveting is.
[12:32] If only I could just have my neighbor's house. That never happens in BC. If only I could just have my neighbor's wife. If only I could just have my neighbor's servant.
[12:45] If only I could just have my neighbor's ox and donkey. Then, and here's the good news part, where the promises all come true, then I would be happy, acceptable, successful, king of the world, feeling good about myself, finally living the good life.
[13:06] Relatable, right? Who among us has not longed for our neighbor's ox? Come on, you know you have. If only I could just have that something.
[13:18] If I could just be something. If only other people would just act different, then things would be okay. Maybe we can recruit God into that picture.
[13:30] If only God would just turn me into something. If only God would just give me something. If only God would make other people act different.
[13:42] Then things would be okay. What are your if-onlys? What have you spent your whole life just deep down in subtle ways, craving, demanding, coveting, needing?
[13:58] What are you willing to sin in order to get? To disobey God? That you don't lose it. When do you notice yourself and you're like, afterwards you're like, I was acting in kind of a childish way in that moment.
[14:13] Defensive, frightened, irritable, angry, explosive. When do you find you're showing up needy for other people to be something for you?
[14:25] Or needy for things? What's being denied you? What's being threatened when you show up that way? Do you ever find these thoughts running through your mind?
[14:39] If only I would just fill in the blank. If only other people would just fill in the blank. If only, if only, if only, then I would be happy, fulfilled, alive, or at least okay.
[14:56] If only my parents would just understand me. If only my husband would just listen to me more.
[15:08] No wife has ever thought that. If only my wife would just get off my back. No husband has ever thought that. If only my kids were just better behaved. If only my friends at school would just like me more.
[15:21] anymore. If only the people at church would start treating me better. If only Canadians would start voting the right way. If only Americans would for once in their lives elect a good president.
[15:35] If only I could just be kind and understanding enough for people to like me. If only I could just be there for everyone. If only I could just know all the answers. If only I could just be in control.
[15:47] If only I were just more successful in life. If only I could just get it right. All the time. So many false needs. So many little false gospels running around deep inside of us.
[16:01] And they sound like they would be the best news in the world if only they would just come true. I'm going to tell you this.
[16:14] These things are just fantasies. If only other people would just. I'm sorry but have you noticed that other people will not just? They just don't.
[16:25] They just all seem to be running their own way and not cooperating with what we need them to be. If only I would just. Have you noticed you can't seem to get yourself to just?
[16:39] Oh, it's almost like this world won't accommodate our false gospels. It's almost like God set it up that way. Okay. And let's say they do come true.
[16:51] Let's say that were to happen. Are you really sure you want that? Are you really sure you want your fantasies to come true? Are you really sure these false gospels will save?
[17:02] That they will deliver on what they promise? Are you sure they will pay off? Think of how this plays out in the book of Numbers.
[17:12] Here's just one of many, many uncountable examples from scripture. God has led the people of Israel out of Egypt. In Egypt they were enslaved for 400 years.
[17:26] Well, they were enslaved for at least the last part of the 400 years to a cruel master to the king of Egypt, to Pharaoh. And God is leading them through the wilderness. Now that they are set free from Pharaoh, they are being led through the wilderness, through this harsh land on the way to the promised land.
[17:43] Now on the, over the course of their journey, God has been providing them food. Every morning, they wake up and the ground around the camp is covered in a sweet sort of bread-ish thing called manna.
[18:00] And they've been eating that every morning, just going out and gathering it day after day after day. And God has been providing that. But after a while, what happens is that it turns out there's these false gospels running around in the people's hearts.
[18:13] And they start to emerge. Indeed, under the heat of the wilderness, that's when they start to come out of us. Here's what happens in Numbers 11, verses 4 through 6.
[18:25] Now, the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, oh, that we had meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing.
[18:38] The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. Oh, if only we could just have delicious variety of food.
[18:55] If only we could just be back in Egypt eating the wonderful food. Oh, then we wouldn't feel so dried up. Then we would feel like life is worth living again.
[19:06] Again, again, notice that this discontentment is called a strong craving. It's not just an ordinary desire.
[19:20] After all, none of these foods, I mean, name a single food on this list that's wrong to eat. I guess if you're vegan you'll probably think, well, I don't know about that fish, right? But all these vegetables that are good for you, the fish that is provided and not forbidden by God, it's good to eat.
[19:37] These are things that are enjoyable and good and desirable and perfectly acceptable to want. But they're not just, this is not just an appropriate desire for good things.
[19:52] This is a needing. Needing these things in order to be okay. Needing these things because that's the false gospel that if only I could have the best food, if I could have better food, then life would be so much better.
[20:14] And so these Israelites looked at God and decided maybe God can make our false gospel come true. If only God would just give us better food, then we would be okay.
[20:30] Boy, that's a great recipe by the way to start getting bitter towards God. God as we read in Psalm 78. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
[20:47] They spoke against God saying, can God spread a table in the wilderness? He struck the rocks so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?
[20:59] people? These aren't honest questions, are they? They're playing a game. We try to recruit God to play his part in our false gospels.
[21:14] And what these people are doing and what we tend to do is we start trying to manipulate God and to make demands of him. Look at the language here.
[21:26] This testing, this demanding, this, oh, well, maybe God, can you do more? Can you do more? You did this. Why don't you give me this? In Galatians chapter 5, what Carl read earlier, Paul lists works of the flesh that show up when we live life this way because the flesh, it's that part of us that's always inventing and accepting and believing and operating out of these false gospels.
[21:54] All sorts of sexual sins, occultic practices, quarrels, and vicious conflict come out of that. Those are the works that are produced. when we start accepting these gospels.
[22:07] And there in the wilderness, the Israelites tested God. They demanded what they were sure they needed. They tried to manipulate and play him. Why? Because they forgot what he had done for them.
[22:20] Because they lost trust in God. If you need God to do something for you and God hasn't cooperated with that neediness, then you'll start thinking that God is not to be trusted.
[22:33] Simple as that. That's how unbelief takes root in our hearts. Bad things happen in all of our relationships when we live this way.
[22:44] When we place these needy demands on other people, on ourselves, and even on God. Look at the consequences and how Moses was impacted by these needy demands coming at him.
[22:59] in verses 10 through 15 of Numbers 11. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.
[23:15] Moses said to the Lord, why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people?
[23:26] Did I give them birth that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing child to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?
[23:38] For they weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat. I am not able to carry all this people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once if I find favor in your sight that I may not see my wretchedness.
[23:55] He is speaking from a place of desperation. He is overwhelmed. When false gospels have a grip on our hearts and we approach people with that neediness towards them, if only you would just for me.
[24:13] What's going to happen is other people are going to react to that at an emotional level. Look at how Moses is feeling when other people are coming at him that way.
[24:25] displeased, mistreated, burdened, over-responsible as it comes out like, I'm not their mom. That's literally what he's saying. Inadequate, overwhelmed, wanting to escape even to die.
[24:40] When we come to people, other people, with appropriate desires that are in their right place, not always, but typically they tend to react fairly well.
[24:52] they sense like you're not coming at them needy and they're maybe more open to listening. Now, not everybody, that's not a guarantee, but things are more likely to go well in our relationships when we don't come at one another needy.
[25:07] But when we do come at other people needy, they start to feel the way Moses felt. And then they react, rightly or wrongly, out of those feelings.
[25:18] And then we think, good grief, what's their problem? It was just a simple question, Moses. Why are you all bent out of shape? You're the real problem here. And that happens over and over and over in family relationships, in church relationships, in work relationships, in just all of our relationships in our life.
[25:39] We don't even notice. Like, what's other people's problems? Why are they just flipping out so much? Well, maybe we're bringing something in. Not only do these false gospels create painful conflict in our relationships, which the apostles in the New Testament talk endlessly about, these false gospels, maybe it would all be worth all that conflict if they would just deliver on what they promise.
[26:04] But they don't. They don't. Consider what God tells Moses in verses 18 through 20. Say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat.
[26:17] For you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt. Therefore, the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.
[26:29] You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and becomes loathsome to you.
[26:42] Because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him saying, why did we come out of Egypt? The thing about getting your false needs met, that false gospel's coming true, is that sort of a monkey's paw situation.
[27:00] Be careful what you wish for. Things don't usually turn out the way you expected. Let's suppose that you, or that other people, are actually cooperating with the false gospel, and delivering the goods.
[27:17] You're going to find, most likely, it won't really deliver on what it promises. It won't be enough. Not for long, at least. You know, these false gospels are like a camping tent that you bought off of Timu for fifteen dollars, you know, direct from China, and you saved so much money, didn't you?
[27:37] Wow, finally. At some point, they're going to fail you. Probably at the worst possible time in the middle of a rainstorm, right? You end up demoralized and hurt, so hurt, and bitter, and exhausted, and distant from God.
[27:53] How many people have you seen who run after the promises of sexual sin, or who rush into marriage, or who run after money, or who run away from accountability, or who obsess over getting things perfect?
[28:07] And if they get what they always wanted, how many people have you seen where it just turned out to be a disaster? Or even if it's really good.
[28:22] Sometimes people get what they always wanted, and they're like, this is great, this delivers, it delivers the good for a bit. In time, it slips away.
[28:33] The whole book of Ecclesiastes is about that. In Ecclesiastes chapter one, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
[28:45] And one answer to that question, what does man gain? What's the payoff? It's in verses seven through eight. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full.
[28:55] To the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
[29:11] You get what you're toiling for, and it's never enough. And other people are never enough. And you're never enough. And because you're buying to the false gospel, God feels like he's not enough either.
[29:26] And even if these things seem like enough for a little bit, it all comes undone in verse 11. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
[29:39] Whatever you gain, that payoff you get, it evaporates. Whatever you think is life is not eternal life.
[29:54] That is the way of these false gospels and their false needs and their false promises. They entangle you in toil, and then they evaporate away. And the end result is you're just tired.
[30:05] You're exhausted. In Hebrews 12, verse 1, these things are described as a weight, as sin which clings so closely. It's like going for a hike in a soaking wet parka.
[30:19] It's like running an ultra-marathon with a backpack full of rocks. It just wears you down so much more than you need to be worn down. You're entangled by false gospels.
[30:31] And you are set free by the true gospel. Shortly here, Christina Ames is going to be getting baptized, and that's your cue to go and get changed.
[30:43] She is bearing testimony to the good news that's really good news. The good news that is good news because it is not about you.
[30:58] How many of us have, at one point or other, hiked the chief or taken the gondola up the mountain, and we've looked out over the valley and the sea and looked across at all the peaks, and what's really funny is in those moments where it really gets to you, it really comes home, wow.
[31:19] I have a question. Have you noticed what happens to all the little neediness things you carry? It's almost like they're gone. It evaporates away because you realize it's not about me.
[31:35] It really is not about me. This, you get, basically what happens is you get reduced back to human size again. And you remember, hey, this is my father's world.
[31:49] All this is about him. All this is about a father loving his son, creating a world, giving his spirit so that his son is honored. That's what's important. That's the important thing in life.
[32:01] He, and here's a beautiful thing, God is enough, and you don't need to be. God is enough. Other people don't need to be.
[32:13] He is big. We are small. When we are unrighteous, he is righteous for us. He is everything we can't be.
[32:24] He is everything other people can't be. That's the way things are, and that's the way things ought to be. And so when we get up there and we breathe that clean air and we remember God, we begin to remember, wait, I know what I really need.
[32:38] I know what God has really promised. Remember how many of the Galatians were thinking they needed to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be okay.
[32:50] That was a false need with a false promise. But in Galatians 6 verse 14, Paul tells us what our real need is. I love this verse. Far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
[33:13] What is your boast? What makes you enough? What makes you okay? Paul says, it's not anything about me.
[33:28] It's not anything about what other people are supposed to be for me. It's only this. You are made okay. By the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[33:43] Very counterintuitive because the people of Paul's day were saying, that's the thing that's the most embarrassing. And he says, no, that's what I boast in. That's what makes me okay.
[33:56] In fact, I don't even need to be okay because Jesus is. That's the trick. Jesus died on that cross. By that means the world has been crucified to you.
[34:07] You realize the world, it's got a lot of good things in it, but offers nothing eternal, nothing ultimately glorious, nothing but change and decay. And you are crucified to the world.
[34:19] Satan looks at you and he's like, he no longer sees you as his own. He no longer, bit by bit, he's less and less able to get his hooks into you to sell you false gospels.
[34:30] Why does the cross have this power? Because on that cross, Jesus Christ, our Lord, was crucified. On that cross, he did what we really needed.
[34:42] He bore the penalty for your sins, dear Christian. He bore a penalty that you could not bear. He took on himself the shame that should have been yours.
[34:56] He died the death that you should have died. died. That's what you need. And you have it. You have what you need because, how can all this be yours?
[35:10] Because you belong to him by faith. And he belongs to you. That is the boast that you have. It is not about whether you can be good enough or other people can be good enough for you.
[35:22] It's this. It's not about you. It's about Jesus is good enough and you're with him. That's all that we have going for us.
[35:36] Jesus is good enough. And I'm with him. That's who you dwell on.
[35:47] And so in Hebrews 12, verses 1 through 2, we read, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.
[35:59] And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
[36:20] Who do you look to? To yourself. And how you can get, fulfill that false gospel and get that need met. And if only I could just know.
[36:32] Who do you look to? To other people. If only they could just, if only, no. You look to Jesus. And not to get something out of him. Not to show up needy so that he can deliver, he can, maybe he can team up with you and get that false gospel fulfilled.
[36:46] No. He is just good enough on his own. Who do we consider? Who do we think over? Who do we dwell on? Not in ourselves. On Jesus. Not in others.
[36:56] On Jesus. God appointed him, the heir of all things. Through Jesus, God created the world. This is all about him. All that matters in life is, are you with him?
[37:10] Do you belong to him? By faith. God, the true gospel message is that Jesus Christ, the supreme God man, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.
[37:25] Humiliated in the most degrading death that has ever been conceived. His good name ruined forever. His good name ruined forever. Or so it seemed. But that shame had no hold on Jesus.
[37:39] He endured the shame and reproach. And God delivered on the promises that he made to his son and the promises that he made to you and me. Because Jesus Christ rose above all the reproach of men.
[37:52] You know what the only way to counter the shame and reproach of the cross is? If he get raised back to life at the end of it. If that's not the end of the story. And not just raised to life.
[38:04] Risen again. Ascended into heaven. Seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And he will come again to himself be the judge of the living and the dead.
[38:16] Amen? In his life, in his death, Jesus utterly rejected and utterly incapacitated the false gospels of the world and the devil and the flesh.
[38:28] He refused to believe any of them. You see, Jesus was not entangled in any way by the false gospels the way that we are. I mean, that's the one reason why Jesus is so full of life and love and wisdom.
[38:42] He didn't have these things eating and corroding away at him deep inside. He laid aside every weight. He let no sin cling to him. These false gospels had nothing on Jesus.
[38:53] Why? Because he belongs to God's kingdom. Because he belongs to the new creation. That is why Paul says in Galatians 6 verse 15.
[39:03] For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. We are born again.
[39:15] Regenerated. A new creation by the power of the Holy Spirit. Circumcision, uncircumcision, I mean, kind of matters, but really it doesn't.
[39:27] What matters, what really, really matters is being a new creation. And so it is with all those things we think we need. Do they matter? They do.
[39:38] We can, we weep over losses. We have desires. It's fine. But what really, really matters is being a new creation.
[39:49] And so the true gospel of Jesus Christ leads us to what we really need. You need what Jesus says you need. In John 3 verse 7, you must be born again.
[40:02] Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's what Jesus says. And once you are a new creation, you need to become who you were born again to be.
[40:16] That is why Hebrews 10 verse 36 says, you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. False gospels don't work that way.
[40:29] They tell you, look at yourself, consider all the emptiness and craving inside, keep thinking if only, chase after your false needs, and then they don't deliver on what they promised. What a way to live.
[40:39] The true gospel tells you, look to Christ, consider Christ, do whatever it takes to remember Christ.
[40:50] He knows what you need. And then find that God delivers holiness, righteousness, peace, eternal life. In the true gospel, God always delivers what he promised.
[41:02] You're entangled by false gospels, and you are set free by the true gospel. That's the real good news.
[41:13] Let me pray. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that we who think we are wise and understanding but are just consumed with how to make false gospels come true, that the truth is hidden from people who think that way.
[41:33] But it's revealed to people who come to you like little children who say, my father knows what I need, and he has given it. Yes, Father, this is your gracious will.
[41:48] Lord, I thank you that it is in your son, Jesus Christ, that we find what we truly, truly need.
[42:01] I thank you that you have set up this world in such a way that no one comes to the Father except through the Son. I thank you that this world is about Jesus and not about us.
[42:16] That is such a relief, such a good news. And so we come to him, weary and heavy laden, and he gives us rest.
[42:27] I thank you that unlike these false gospels, he is a gracious and gentle Savior, not a harsh and cruel taskmaster for which nothing is ever enough, but one who says, I am enough.
[42:39] I am enough when you are not. I am what you could never be. So come to me. Lord, I pray that as we see this testimony through baptism, that we have been washed clean, we have passed through death to life, buried and raised back to life again, that we may remember that this is what the true gospel and life itself is really about.
[43:10] Amen.