Father, your word has said some very hard things to us this morning.
Things, Father, which are not the way that Canadians talk or think.
And Father, you know how deeply Canadian we are, and most of the time, Father, you don't think that's a bad thing, that we're Canadian.
But we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit might bring your word home to us,
that we might hear what your word says, that we might be unashamed of it,
that we might be fed by it, that we might be formed by it.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, yeah, if you don't have Bibles, there's maybe one left up there.
I don't know if there's some left over there.
I don't know how many of you noticed it with Laurier when he was reading,
but twice the Bible said something very shocking and un-Canadian.
It said that somebody should be accursed.
I don't know if you picked that up.
If you have it in your Bibles, I'll just make sure you heard it.
Some of you probably did.
It's one of the starkest...
I don't know what the right word is.
It's a bit of a shocking thing for Canadian ears to hear something like this said.
Right?
Look at verse 8 and 9.
Chapter 1 of Galatians.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you,
let him be accursed.
And that's pretty stark.
And then, to make sure that we get it, he says it a second time.
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.
Now, this is very offensive to Canadians.
I mean, one of the things, you can hardly watch a movie, not just for Canadians but for North Americans,
you can hardly watch a movie where somewhere through the movie somebody will say,
nobody can tell you how to live.
You're responsible for your own happiness.
You need to do what you need to do to be happy.
No one can tell you what to do about how to be happy or how to be whole.
You've got to listen to yourself.
You've got to listen to your heart.
And that, I mean, it's in Disney movies, Pixar movies.
It's in just about every type of movie that you can possibly watch.
And then here we have Paul saying that if you speak a certain way, you should be accursed.
And let me just tell you, you know, sometimes, you know, I look into the,
to research the original language and what it means in the original language.
And sometimes that makes the thing a bit easier.
It doesn't make it easier.
Literally what it means is, may you be handed over to God who in wrath will judge you.
It actually makes it worse.
May you be handed over to the living God who in wrath will judge you.
So it's pretty shocking.
So, well, what would possibly, is, I mean, one of the things I pray, actually, you know,
I invite people to church.
I don't have a good track record of them actually coming, but I invite them.
And the people I invite, like there's a couple of people at one of the coffee shops that I go to
that I've invited and several of them have never been to a church service in their life.
And I think to myself when I'm preparing the service, what would, what would it be like
if this is the Sunday they come?
If this is the Sunday they come.
I actually pray that every week.
In fact, I have two different names that I use.
And in my notes I have, you know, I'm not going to say their names, but I, you know,
one's a woman and one's a man.
And I actually put, you know, what about blank?
What about blank?
What if this is the Sunday they come?
And it doesn't mean that I'm going to back away from things.
I just want to be conscious of it.
What if this is the Sunday they come?
And they've just heard this about it being accursed.
So let's look to see what's going on in the text.
What would lead Paul to say something so strong?
So we'll begin at the beginning and look at how it begins.
We'll look at the first two verses.
And just as you're reading this, one of the things to keep in mind is this isn't Paul
speaking about all the people who believe other religions.
And this isn't Paul speaking about all of the people who don't follow any religion whatsoever.
They just like to, frankly, do whatever they want to do.
Make a lot of money, get drunk, like whatever it is they want to do.
He's not talking to them.
This is a letter to a church.
In fact, it's actually to at least five churches.
And in terms of the context of the letter, the churches that he's writing to, all of the
people in those churches had been Christians no more than about a year and a half.
And they became Christians out of the Jewish background, which would now mean they're completed
Jews, by the way, because Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.
But they're followers of Jesus, the Messiah, and pagans.
So some of the people who wrote but get this letter, up until they became Christians, they
would go and worship the emperor.
They would go and worship Zeus.
Like, that's what they did.
And unbelievably, they became Christians.
And so now Paul is writing this letter to them.
And look at how it begins.
It begins like this.
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 and sisters who are with me to the churches
of Galatia.
Now, if you could put up the first point, Andrew, and I got this distinction from Kierkegaard.
Paul is not a genius.
He is an apostle.
That's one of the things that Paul is saying right off the bat.
He's saying, I'm not a genius.
I'm an apostle.
The name Paul, by the way, means little.
It's actually sort of an interesting way.
We don't know whether when he got named as a Jewish man living outside of the promised
land, it was very common for Jewish people to have a Jewish name and a Greek name.
And we don't know if that's the name that he got from birth or if it's a name that he
chose as he began his ministry more and more amongst non, outside of the Jewish homeland,
the promised land.
But he chose for himself or had given him the name little.
But it's very interesting.
If you look at it again, what does it say here?
When I say that Paul is not a genius, he's an apostle, this is going to become something
that we're going to talk about more next week because it's an important point in the book
of Galatians.
But look what it says.
He says he's an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God
the Father who raised him from the dead.
So Paul is saying that it's not that he himself was specifically a great genius.
And because he, you know, from man and through man, he's a genius.
And the local Christians also thought, look at that guy Paul.
He's so smart.
He's like a philosophical genius, a theological genius, a poetic genius.
You know, philosophical, ethical.
He's just a genius.
We should really train this guy and we should appoint him.
And Paul is saying, that's not how it worked with me.
I'm not a genius.
Nobody looked at me and said, this guy is so smart, we should appoint him and we should
send him.
In fact, if you go and you look in the rest of Paul's story, Paul in 1 Corinthians says,
he's the absolute last guy that any church would have ever picked to do anything.
In fact, as he says in one of his letters, he's the guy that if Paul, if he'd come into
a church, nobody would want him behind him.
Okay?
Everybody, like if it would be, if he came into the room, I'd go, you'd tell from my face
that something had just happened and you'd all start to look.
And throughout the entire rest of the service, you would have only been partially looking at
me and you would have been keeping your eye on him because he's dangerous.
And so Paul is not saying, Paul is saying, you have to understand that I am not a genius.
It wasn't that I'm well-trained.
It wasn't that any human institution has chosen me or picked me, but I'm an apostle.
And who has made me an apostle?
Jesus Christ is the one who revealed himself to me, who called me, who saved me, and who
taught me.
That's who I am.
I am little.
But, and in the New Testament, there's two types of ways that the word apostle is used.
Apostle, by the way, was just a word in the old world.
It's sort of a little bit like ambassador or envoy.
And so there's all sorts of different people who were made like apostles, like envoys to carry
a message and to fulfill a task.
But the New Testament makes clear that there were 12 apostles specifically chosen by Jesus
and specifically given the role of making sure that his teaching would be correctly disseminated
and understood.
And Paul is saying, I am one of those 12.
I was taught by Jesus.
I was saved by Jesus.
Jesus revealed himself to me.
In a sense, what Paul, if you could put the next point up, in a sense, what Paul is claiming
is this.
To listen to Paul is to listen to the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father.
To listen to Jesus, to Paul, listen to Galatians, is to actually be listening to the Lord Jesus
Christ and God the Father explain who Jesus is and what he did upon the cross and what it
means to live after we've received the gospel.
We're going to talk about this more next week because Paul talks about it more next week
in the part of Galatians that comes after this.
But this is the fundamental Christian claim.
And what I can tell you, I mean, there's some arguments that I could give you as to why
this is a reasonable thing to believe.
But at the end of the day, people of you who know me know I like the phrase, but at the
end of the day, the end of the day, it's the witness of the Holy Spirit and Jesus
himself to our hearts.
And that every follower of Jesus who becomes more in tune with the Bible, it becomes more
and more clear that when they hear the Bible, they're not just listening to human words,
that it's God himself speaking to us.
So what we're getting here is this is, you know, it's, as I said before, it's a challenge
to Canadians because to Canadians, movies and everything in the press, they say no one
can tell you how to live or be happy.
You go to a high school graduation, people will tell you the same thing.
It's what the valedictorian will tell you.
It's what the principal will tell you.
It's what the superintendent will tell you.
They'll tell you that in a public school and they'll tell you this in a Catholic school.
They'll say no one can tell you how to live.
No one can tell you how to be happy.
No one can tell you how to find meaning in your life.
You've got to make your mind up for this.
But now Paul here is making a very, very, very specific claim.
He's saying, well, what about if God speaks to you?
What if it's God who speaks to you?
And what if it's God who speaks to you, who's not just a God who's distant and who hates you,
but how is he described?
Look again at what the text 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 in a moment we're going to see even more about what it means
that Jesus was actually raised from the dead.
So now, you might not still agree with it, but now think about this a little bit again.
Look again at the end, verses 8 and 9.
But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one 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 received,
let him be accursed.
So now maybe we get a little bit of a sense about what it is that's getting Paul so riled.
Because Paul is saying to the people,
listen, there's all sorts of geniuses in the world.
I am not a genius.
I am an apostle.
And when you hear me, you're hearing what Jesus himself revealed to me about who he is
and what he did on the cross and what that means for your life.
And when you hear Jesus revealing it to me,
Jesus, every word that Jesus speaks is exactly the word the Father wants to speak to you.
And so you get a little bit, maybe a bit of a sense about what it means if something was changed,
especially if what is changed, as Paul is going to say, leads to disaster.
I'm not making any comment about Trump or anything like that,
but we all know there's a big crisis going on with North Korea.
And imagine for a moment that not just Trump,
but that Trump and his best advisors,
they come up with a very, very carefully crafted message.
They consult the South Koreans.
And between the South Korean government and the Japanese government
and the American government,
they come up with a very carefully crafted message.
And they have the carefully crafted message delivered by their apostles,
their envoys, their ambassadors,
to give to the North Korean government.
And then imagine after that message was delivered,
12 hours after it's delivered,
North Korea launches its nuclear weapons.
And then afterwards, we discover
that what the ambassadors did when they went to see the North Korean government,
they said,
we don't like this.
We're going to tell them something else.
And just on their own authority,
they throw out what the South Korean,
the American,
and the Japanese government have come up with.
They just throw it away,
and they try to tell you something that they cooked up out of their own brains.
And then 12 hours later,
there's a nuclear war.
Like,
what would we say about those guys?
We might say something like,
let them be accursed.
If it's led to a disaster.
So Paul is saying that my message is not my message.
In fact,
one of the things which is very,
very interesting is if you look at that verse 8 again,
look at verse 8.
And this,
Paul says,
but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you,
let him be accursed.
He puts himself under it.
He says,
if down the road,
I decide I'm a genius,
and I can improve on this,
I should be accursed.
If an angel comes and says,
I think I'm smarter than God,
here's a better message.
He should be accursed.
Like,
what matters is the message that comes from God,
not the message from a genius.
Now,
some of you might say,
okay,
George,
that's all right about North Korea.
Okay,
I get it,
but that's about North Korea.
Okay,
I understand that.
But George,
this is just religion.
It's just religion and spirituality.
Like,
this isn't real stuff like North Korea
and nuclear bombs.
It's just religion.
A couple of months ago,
when I was in one of the coffee shops,
a person that I've talked to quite a few times,
he's had,
he really,
really,
I don't know if I'm allowed to say this on tape,
just about every authority figure in his life
has screwed him.
Like,
you know that old song from friends
when it hasn't been,
what's your day,
your week,
your month,
or even your year?
Like,
for him,
it would be,
it hasn't been his day,
his week,
his month,
his year,
or his decade,
or two.
Like,
he has just been failed by his dad,
he's been failed by his mom,
he's been failed by bosses,
and I know I'm only hearing his side of it,
but,
and I know that when I'm only hearing his side of it,
you have to be careful to hear the other side of it,
but,
you know,
he also worked in this particular one,
and I saw how he was really treated very,
very unjustly by the supervisor,
by the manager.
And,
and,
and he was telling me this,
this one day,
he was on a little bit of a rant,
about how,
you know,
you can't trust human institutions,
and,
you can't trust families,
and you can't trust people,
people tell you lies,
people fail,
and,
you know,
sometimes I screw up and mess up,
and I can't even trust myself,
and the fact of the matter is,
that every day I wake up,
and I,
I sort of wonder,
you know,
why I even live,
and it feels as if living is a little bit of a curse,
and it feels like I'm just going to have to live,
and put up with all this crap,
day in,
and day out,
you know,
my,
my girlfriends broke,
every one of my girlfriends has broken up with me,
I just have to put up with this crap,
and the most that I can hope for,
is that I'll make a few dollars,
and then I die.
And I just listened,
and somebody was praying for me right then,
because I said,
you've just perfectly described,
why you need a savior.
Like,
you've just perfectly described,
what the Bible tries to describe,
as a human condition,
that most Canadians,
and North Americans don't understand.
You've perfectly expressed,
and understood,
that no human institution,
all human institutions fail,
all of the people fail,
and you fail,
and you need,
a deliverance,
from outside,
of that which is human,
which is real,
and that's exactly,
what Christians say,
the gospel is about,
is that Jesus is God,
the son of God,
come into our human world,
and dine upon the cross,
to actually deliver you,
and that this isn't just a story,
like the great pumpkin,
or the Easter bunny,
or Santa Claus,
that Christians believe,
this actually really happened,
and you really will be delivered.
They didn't give their life,
to Jesus right then,
I don't know what's going to happen to them,
I pray for them,
they're one of the people,
I pray for when I come,
at the beginning of the service,
the beginning of the praise songs,
if you see me praying,
one of the things I do,
because I'm not always very good,
at remembering to pray,
for people throughout the week,
is I have a list of people,
that I pray,
will come to a saving faith,
in Jesus,
and that's one of the people,
that I pray for,
it's one of the things,
I do while you guys,
are singing it first,
sort of,
it's as if God,
has given me this,
one time of week,
at least,
where I remember to pray,
and,
you see,
that's exactly what Paul,
is claiming here,
is that this is,
a real,
deliverance,
from,
he uses the word,
an evil age,
look at what he says,
it begins in verse 3,
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.
And one of the things,
which is so interesting,
that you look back up,
to verse 1 again,
Paul,
an apostle,
not from men,
nor through men,
but through Jesus Christ,
and God the Father,
who raised him from the dead,
is that this,
many scholars believe,
that this,
this letter,
which we now know of,
as the letter of Galatians,
that it was written,
around the year 48,
it might very well be,
the very first bit,
of the New Testament,
that was written,
and,
scholars don't know,
when Jesus was born,
precisely,
but,
because they can plot,
Passovers,
back in time,
most scholars,
depending on how you put,
the evidence together,
believe that Jesus,
was either killed,
just before Passover,
in the year 30,
or just before Passover,
in the year 33,
you could actually,
they could actually,
look up the date,
and it's because of,
all the cross references,
in the gospels,
to Passover services,
and other types,
of historical markers,
so if,
Jesus died,
and rose again,
from the year 33,
this was written 15 years,
after the death,
and resurrection,
of Jesus,
15 years,
September 11th,
was more than 15 years ago,
and we all remember that,
and this,
is a letter written,
from what we now call,
Syria,
to a place,
which we now call,
Turkey,
because that's where,
the churches are,
and here we see,
Paul proclaiming,
the resurrection,
and we not only hear,
him proclaiming,
the resurrection,
we hear him proclaiming,
the significance,
of the resurrection,
and it's,
that there's grace,
that there's peace,
but you notice the thing,
which is so key to this,
is that it's real,
deliverance,
gave himself,
for us,
to deliver us,
from the evil age,
there's a real,
deliverance,
which is won by Jesus,
I was,
just watching,
a really,
really,
really excellent movie,
this last week,
it was called,
Hidden Figures,
is that the name of the movie,
about the,
the woman,
who did all the calculations,
for the space thing,
and,
you notice,
that the very,
very first man flight,
not,
not in orbit,
but the first guy,
they're actually able,
to put at the end of it,
you know,
it's really amazing,
you think about it,
let's stick a human being,
at the end of an unbelievably,
big rocket,
and fire him up in the air,
and see if they can survive,
alive,
and anyway,
you know,
it's a good thing,
that it's a young guy,
or a young,
in this case,
it was guys,
but a young guy,
or a young gal,
I think only they would think,
yeah,
let's put on the end of a rocket,
and just go way up,
anyway,
at the,
it crashes,
right into the ocean,
and it's sinking,
and they have to send,
they send the helicopter out,
and they have to get somebody,
who,
is connected to the helicopter,
and jumps into the water,
to get the guy out,
because the,
it's sinking,
the,
the capsule is sinking,
so you see,
this is a very powerful image,
of what Jesus is doing,
it isn't that the helicopter,
shows up,
and I mean,
you have to go back in time,
but it's like a modern helicopter,
back in time,
and has a big screen,
and it says,
here's a picture of Jesus swimming,
so just quickly,
while you're drowning,
watch this video,
and learn how to swim like Jesus,
well that's ridiculous,
the guy would drown,
like what help is it,
to show somebody,
who's in the water drowning,
here's how Jesus swims,
okay,
just don't,
don't die yet,
just watch the video,
and you can learn,
how to swim like Jesus,
it's completely ridiculous,
really all religion,
and spirituality,
is just a version of that,
okay,
your life sucks,
you're screwed,
you're gonna die,
watch Buddha do it,
you know,
watch this guy do it,
watch this person do it,
but what does Jesus do,
he's the guy,
in the end of the harness,
who gets into the water,
and gets even deeper,
than the guy,
so he can grab the guy,
and get the guy,
and actually deliver him,
and that's what the Bible text,
is saying,
it's saying,
Jesus doesn't show us,
how to swim video,
he doesn't show us,
how to build a fire,
in an evil age,
so we can be warm,
he doesn't say,
I'm gonna show you,
how to build a house,
he delivers,
look again at verse three,
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 glory,
to whom be the glory,
forever,
and ever,
amen,
that whatever is happening,
to Jesus on the cross,
whatever is happening,
when he is raised from the dead,
that what we are witnessing,
is we are witnessing,
the Father and the Son,
who have loved us,
from all eternity,
that the Son,
who has loved us,
in all eternity,
in obedience,
and in love,
with the Father,
and with us as human beings,
in one at will with him,
that he comes,
to go,
into the evil age,
and into the muck,
in such a way,
that he's for us,
and that as a result,
of what he does,
he delivers us,
and he delivers us,
completely,
in fact,
if you go back,
and look at other parts,
Paul is going to develop,
the idea that,
you know,
it would really be as if,
I've taken on water,
and I'm drowning,
and I'm maybe even,
my heart is stopped,
and I'm not even breathing,
and I'm in the water,
and there's nothing,
at all that I can do,
I can't signal for help,
I can't hold on,
to the helper,
and when I am,
completely and utterly,
that I am,
in fact,
as good as dead,
that Jesus comes down,
into the water,
deeper than me,
it's his grip,
it's his action,
it's his deliverance,
he does it all,
I do nothing,
and then when it says here,
in this text,
from this present evil age,
look what it says again,
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,
he's referring,
to the time,
from Genesis 3,
until the time,
that Jesus returns,
which is the time,
that we live in,
he's making it,
it's not just that,
it's just this,
private individualistic,
Jesus,
who deals with,
private individualistic,
George,
to deal with,
private individualistic,
George's spiritual preferences,
and spiritual feelings,
it's cosmic,
it's historical,
it's this evil age,
it's what characterizes,
human life,
until Jesus returns,
ever since evil,
and sin,
and death,
entered into this human thing,
and in the midst of this,
evil age,
this cosmic,
historical,
process,
that we are in,
in the midst of that,
Jesus comes in,
to deliver us,
he gives,
himself,
and dies,
and he does it,
to deliver us,
and it means,
that when we receive,
the gospel,
and we are gripped about it,
it changes the story,
of our lives,
that person,
I was sharing with,
everybody's going to,
let you down,
I let myself down,
and maybe I can get some toys,
and then I die,
and I said,
there's a different story,
a different narrative,
that can be the story,
of your life,
and it's not just,
let's just choose,
a different story,
with a happy ending,
it's real,
he's alive,
right now,
he did it for you,
in the past,
but it applies,
for you,
and he can deliver you,
right now,
and he can change,
the story,
and the narrative,
of your life,
and how you understand,
yourself,
and your future,
he,
he did it,
and that's the gospel,
but some of you,
might say,
George,
okay,
that's,
that's really something,
but George,
if you just change,
the gospel,
a little bit,
you're going to be accursed,
like George,
doesn't that just sound,
so nitpicky,
some of you know,
I've been on lots,
of different national committees,
doing,
organizing different things,
there's been a few times,
I can think of one guy,
he was the most,
unbelievable nitpicker,
I have ever met,
in fact,
the other people,
on the team would say,
he is not only,
a nitpicker,
he,
there is no nit,
which he will not find,
to pick at,
and when he picked at a nit,
he wouldn't just,
say,
you know,
maybe we need to change,
this wording,
he would write a 15 page,
essay on the subject,
and then he'd find another nit,
and it would be an 8 page,
essay,
and then another nit,
this is all just from one meeting,
from one meeting,
we might get 14 emails,
totaling like,
100 pages of text,
it was so annoying,
like you really felt like,
saying to him,
chill out,
relax,
not every semicolon,
matters,
sometimes people,
are just talking,
amongst friends,
we asked him to leave,
by the way,
I'm serious,
you couldn't get any work done,
with somebody like that,
unrelenting nitpicking,
and he'd have to go on,
about the history,
of theology,
and thought,
and he was just so unbelievable,
you couldn't get anything done,
we had to ask him,
so yeah,
are there,
this guy was a Christian,
are there Christians,
who are nitpickers,
you know what,
the nitpickers are amongst us,
some of them become Christians,
some of them stay non-Christians,
nitpickers are nitpickers,
those of you,
who are nitpickers,
it's probably something,
you need to either repent of,
and or get some therapy over,
by the way,
and you probably,
don't know who you are,
but people around you,
know who you are,
and we just have to pray,
for a way to find you,
to be gracefully revealed,
about it,
but is this what,
Paul's going on here,
is Paul just an unbelievable,
nitpicker,
well look at what he actually says,
look at verse six,
and by the way,
look at,
notice the shock again,
look at how verse five goes,
to whom be the glory,
forever and ever,
amen,
verse six,
I am astonished,
that you are so quickly,
deserting him,
who called you,
in the grace of Christ,
and are turning,
to a different gospel,
not that there is another one,
but there are some,
who trouble you,
and want to distort,
the gospel of Christ,
and then he goes into the curses,
so,
this is a very,
very interesting text,
about what he says,
the word here,
which is translated,
as desert,
look at it again,
I am astonished,
you are so quickly,
deserting,
him who called you,
in the grace of Christ,
the word,
it's desert,
is a very,
very good word,
by the way,
the image,
in the original language,
is the same word,
in Hebrews,
when it says,
it says about Enoch,
not dying,
but going right to heaven,
the word desert,
literally means,
go to a different place,
so,
what it's saying here,
is there,
they were in the place,
of the grace of Christ,
living under God,
in fellowship with Jesus,
and they're in the process,
of going to a different place,
they're going from the place,
of spiritual safety,
of spiritual wholeness,
of spiritual freedom,
of grace,
and of mercy,
they're going to a different place,
any different place,
is going to be worse,
and that's what's underlying,
the word desert,
and when it says here,
but you're turning,
to a different gospel,
not that there is another one,
there's two different words,
in the original language there,
and they're sort of,
very very interesting,
this morning,
I had to get up,
earlier than usual,
and I had to go pick up Barbara,
and so Barbara,
and I were the first two,
to come here,
to start to set the place up,
first for the eight o'clock service,
and then the beginning of the setup,
for the ten o'clock service,
so I told her,
I'd pick her up,
and if I had shown up,
on my bicycle,
and said,
Barbara,
I have a little trailer here,
we can put your bag,
in the trailer,
I'm going to have you sit,
on my handlebars,
and I'm going to drive you,
from your place,
to St. Anne's,
on my handlebars,
she'd say,
I want a different mode,
of transportation,
I want a completely different,
kind of transportation,
I want a car,
and that's what the word is,
here for different,
it's in the original language,
it's saying,
a completely different kind,
okay,
completely different kind,
it's different from,
being carried,
in my nice,
comfortable car,
with leather seats,
or handlebars,
on my bicycle,
that different,
and so when it says,
you are turning,
to a different gospel,
it's saying that,
what it sounds like,
it's a gospel,
you think it's a gospel,
but it's of a completely,
different kind,
and the word another,
emphasizes it,
because the word another,
which is in the original language,
would be,
if after the service,
we go out for coffee,
and one of you say to me,
George,
would you like another cup of coffee,
in other words,
would you like something,
of the exact same,
you want some more,
of the exact same thing,
and that,
in the original language,
that's the distinction,
which is being made,
it's saying,
what you're hearing,
is a gospel,
that's of a completely,
different kind,
it's,
there is no other,
similar gospel,
which is just another gospel,
just like you can have,
another cup of coffee,
and then,
and this is where,
it's not just nitpicking,
look further down,
verse seven,
not that there is another one,
but there are some,
who trouble you,
and want to distort,
the gospel of Christ,
remember it says,
gospel of Christ,
it's emphasizing,
that this is not only,
the gospel about Christ,
it's the gospel,
which Jesus,
is communicating,
and the word distort,
in the original language,
is very interesting,
distort's a very good word,
but here's the image,
behind it,
in the original language,
the image,
behind it,
in the original language,
is taking something,
that belongs at the back,
and putting it at the front,
and then taking that,
which belongs at the front,
and putting it at the back,
I don't know much,
about carts and horses,
but what I know,
is if you want the cart,
and the horse,
to move together properly,
you put the horse,
at the front,
the cart at the back,
that if you put the horse,
at the back of the cart,
and the cart at the front,
of the horse,
nothing good's going to happen,
but if you put the horse,
at the front,
and the cart at the back,
and you high it up,
then maybe the cart's,
going to move,
in other words,
the word for distort,
is to reverse,
and so Andrew,
if you could put up,
the next point,
what Paul is saying,
to reverse the gospel,
is to remove the gospel,
leaving only worthless rules,
to reverse the gospel,
is to remove the gospel,
leaving only worthless rules,
you see,
because here's what happens,
if you want to,
for many,
many,
many people,
the Anglican way,
is a religion,
and what that means,
is this,
you get baptized,
and then,
you go to church,
and you learn,
the prayer book service,
and you learn the creed,
and you learn the catechism,
and then you get confirmed,
and then you never go to church again,
no sorry,
that's not what it actually,
is supposed to say,
and then,
and then you just,
you know,
and then you get confirmed,
and then you live,
the ten commandments,
and you know,
you support your church,
and you be a good person,
and you say your prayers,
and,
and you be a nice person,
and you,
yeah,
you follow all these rules,
and you learn the right things,
and if you do this,
then on the day of judgment,
God will be good to you,
you do all these things,
and then if you do all these things,
God will be good to you,
and when Roman Catholicism,
is turned into a religion,
it's the same type of thing,
you know,
you get baptized,
and then you get,
you confirmed,
and you go to confession,
you know,
at least appropriately,
you do your days of solemn obligation,
you make sure you go to mass,
on these days of solemn obligation,
and you be a good person,
you be a nice person,
and you support your church,
and,
and then at the end of the day,
God will be sort of good to you,
or,
you know,
maybe religion is going to be like,
you know,
you make sure you keep Ramadan,
and you,
and you make sure you make your pilgrimage to Mecca,
and,
you give your alms to the poor,
and you say your prayers during the right end of the day,
and at the end of it,
you know,
God will probably show favor to you,
and all religion,
and all spirituality,
is always of the exact same force,
you have these rules that you follow,
and,
and then at the end of the day,
if you follow all of these rules,
and God might,
he probably will be,
because we're pretty confident of this,
that if you follow our advice,
and our rules,
at the end of it,
God will accept you,
and the Bible says,
that in a sense,
the gospel is a reversal,
of all religion,
because in the gospel,
I am lying in the water,
I have taken water into my lungs,
I'm no longer breathing,
and maybe my heart has stopped,
and I cannot signal for help,
and I can do nothing to save myself,
and Jesus is the one,
who out of courage,
and love,
and bravery,
jumps into the water,
grabs my lifeless body,
pumps my chest,
to give me CPR,
puts his breath in me,
to make me alive,
and carries me for safety,
and after I have been delivered,
then I figure out how to live,
in light of the fact,
that he has delivered me,
and made me alive,
the gospel is the complete reversal,
of all religion,
and spirituality,
and what the false teachers,
are doing,
is trying to turn the gospel,
back into religion,
or spirituality,
equality,
you got to vote for Trump,
and be a good person,
and have the correct political views,
and God will like you,
you got to not like Trump,
you got to be progressive,
you got to believe in global warming,
you got to believe in this,
and then you got to,
you have to be in favor of abortion,
you have to be in favor,
of complementarianism,
you have to be in favor,
of science,
you have to do this,
you have to follow these rules,
and if you do these rules,
plus the gospel,
then God will,
the Bible is saying,
if you add anything to it,
then what you're in a sense doing,
is creating once again,
a system whereby,
if you follow the rules,
God will accept you,
you've reversed the gospel,
and to reverse the gospel,
means the gospel's gone,
all that you have left,
are worthless rules,
completely,
utterly,
worthless,
rules,
in terms of getting out of this,
evil age,
and being delivered,
so Paul is not being a nitpicker,
just sort of wrapping this all up,
if you could put up the next point,
Paul does not want the church,
to be anxious and fearful,
like the point of the book of Galatians,
isn't that afterwards,
that we're worried,
that we're not getting the gospel,
exactly,
he's not saying this,
so that we all become nitpickers,
Paul does not want the church,
to be anxious and fearful,
he wants it to be humbly gripped,
by the gospel,
he wants us to be humble,
and teachable,
and he wants us to understand,
more and more and more,
what it is that Jesus did,
for us on the cross,
the different images,
he's going to later on,
he's given us an image,
of deliverance,
later on he's going to give us,
images of being rescued,
from fearful slavery,
and he'll give different images,
but it's always the same thing,
human beings are deep,
we are complex,
we are mysterious,
so the gospel,
will always involve Jesus,
doing everything for us,
but it'll use different images,
it'll use of deliverance,
of being dead,
and coming alive,
of being financially ruined,
of being in slavery,
of being alienated,
of being,
it'll use different images,
but it's always the same thing,
Jesus does everything for us,
and we receive what he does,
and after we have received,
what he does,
as the gospel grips us,
it begins to change,
how we understand the story,
and the direction of our lives,
and we begin to live,
a new way,
could you put up the final point,
Andrew please,
this sort of brings it all home,
this is going to be on the web page,
a version of it,
is actually in your bulletin,
and it's,
Father in heaven,
thank you that you sent Jesus Christ,
to give himself for my sins,
and deliver me,
from the present evil age,
thank you for this eternal gift,
of grace and peace,
to me and all,
to all who have received the gospel,
and here's sort of the carry,
the takeaway,
please bring me with the gospel,
help me to be gripped,
by the gospel,
so I will live for your glory,
and please help me to grow,
in knowing,
trusting,
and sharing,
your one and only gospel,
it's what's revealed,
in the New Testament,
please help me to grow,
in knowing,
trusting,
and sharing,
your one and only gospel,
who Jesus is,
and what he does,
for us in the cross,
and what it means,
when he rescues us,
and becomes our savior and Lord,
and how that begins,
to naturally,
and supernaturally,
shape the way we live,
please stand,
and join with me in praying,
let us pray,
Father in heaven,
thank you,
that you sent Jesus Christ,
to give himself,
for my sins,
and deliver me,
from the present evil age,
thank you,
for this eternal gift,
of grace,
and peace,
to me,
and to all,
who have received the gospel,
please grip me,
with the gospel,
so I will live,
for your glory,
please help me,
to grow,
in knowing,
trusting,
and sharing,
your one and only gospel,
in Jesus's name,
Amen,
Father we ask,
that you make us,
disciples of Jesus,
gripped by the gospel,
who are learning,
to live for your glory,
and deliver us,
from all aspects,
of nitpicking,
but Father grant us,
an ever deeper clarity,
about what it is,
who Jesus is,
what he did for us,
on the cross,
and how that,
that that father,
that great gospel message,
might be the ground,
on which we stand,
it might be,
the air we breathe,
and the food we eat,
so that it shapes us,
it prods us,
and pulls us,
and forms us,
into living,
a new story,
that culminates,
with us,
being with you,
in the new heaven,
and the new earth,
for all eternity,
Father this we ask,
in Jesus's name,
Amen.