We’re going to be in the letter of Galatians, chapter 1, starting verse 6. This is what the Lord says. He says, If any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you receive, he is to be accursed. We’re going to spend each Sunday in January in the book of Galatians. We won’t have enough time to cover every verse and every passage. But today I hope to reach pretty far ahead in it and give you sort of a general overview of what the argument and the lesson is going to be about. What the letter is, what’s going on, what Paul is writing about. And then we will cover what we can over the next few weeks.
Paul, he’s given his introduction in this letter to the Galatians by stating at the start that he is an apostle. And he’s employed in his work by none other than Jesus, the risen one of God the Father. He continues on with other supporting evidence that confirms his apostleship. But to what end does he argue that? Is Paul just thirsty for the Galatians’ approval and acknowledgement of his apostleship? No, Paul isn’t concerned with man’s approval. Does he desire the Galatians to understand the authority of his office? Yes, absolutely. But not for his own namesake. But because it is in this God-given authority that he is able to understand the authority of his office. That he preaches the gospel. The apostle had previously been among the Galatian churches and he had deposited in them the message that he received from Jesus himself. You see verses 11 and 12 just a little bit down from here. He says, For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it. But I received it through a revelation, of Jesus Christ. But then there came along some false teachers who were preaching a message that was contrary to what Paul had preached. And so it was contrary to Christ himself. They were disturbing the saints. Chapter 1, verse 7 and chapter 5, verse 10. They had deceived them. They had bewitched the Galatians. Chapter 3, verse 1. To be more specific, they were preaching a message that required observance and adherence to the law, namely circumcision in the practices of the Jewish Christians. A gospel, if we can call it that, of righteousness based on works. The meat of the letter shows us that this is what Paul is concerned about. He labors to show them that this is no gospel at all. Contending that the gospel is that glorious news. Here’s the gospel. It is that glorious news of God concerning the unblemished life, and atoning work of Jesus. That is the gospel. What it does in its proclamation of sinners, when they recognize that they are in fact sinners and repent of their sins, they are then considered righteous solely on the basis of faith in the life and the work of Jesus. This is the gospel that Paul is so concerned about and it was being distorted. We see two major concerns throughout the letter. And they’re highlighted in this passage. One, Paul is passionate about preserving and defending the gospel that he had received. It is his calling as an apostle. But more than that, he’s driven by his love for God and God’s truth. For he had been called and set apart from birth for it. Two, because he knows this gospel is a matter of life and death, he is laboring for the souls of the Galatians. This is a first-hand issue. One that cannot be negotiated or compromised. And though the entire tone of the letter can seem harsh or extremely direct, such as when he refers to them as foolish Galatians, and how he expresses his sorrow over their disbelief, and how they could be falling into the errors of the false teachers, he’s still driven by his love for them, to minister to them, and call them back home. For what father doesn’t sharply rebuke his children when he sees them treading into danger? A danger such as corrupting the gospel of Christ. Any correction should be meet for the error. And an error concerning the nature and the content of the gospel requires the most extreme measure. Yet, at the same time, it is evident that Paul is a loving pastor who is motivated by the welfare of his sheep. This is evidenced in his writing to the churches of Galatia. He says this, The fact that he’s amazed or perplexed or bothered or sorrowful by the current circumstance shows it. Furthermore, he calls them brethren when he’s persuading them of his points and his arguments. He refers to them as children. He expresses confidence in their ultimate staying of the course. And that they’ll be confirmed heirs of the promise. And he ends his letter with this, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. So Paul means nothing but well for the Galatians.
Friends, genuinely, I want you to know that we pastors and elders desire to have the same tenacity for the keeping of the gospel. In every sermon preached, every Bible study that’s hosted, every other extension of ministering in the word here at Providence. We’re no apostles, but we’re called to be ministers of this wondrous gospel of Jesus. And it is our aim to be faithful to it. And it’s our aim to see that you’re faithful to it. I want you to know that we desire to show the same loving concern for your souls as we seek to be faithful to it. We want to be faithful in our calling. We also want to model the same tenderness that we see Paul displaying even when correcting the most grave errors. I want to plead with you to believe that. I hope we have proven that to be true to this point. Believe that if we have a stance on a matter, it’s driven by genuine desire to be true to the word, nothing less. Believe that if we would be so bold as to address a gospel issue with you, it is because we care for you. And we know that we will one day give an account for you. Please know that it is driven by a belief that the main point in this passage is truly a matter of life and death. And it is not to be taken lightly. And the main point is this. Our gospel of grace is from God and there is no other.
And this is why Paul expresses his amazement, his perplexity, his sorrow even about the fact that the Galatians were straying from the truth. This is why he’s so moved to address them the way that he does. Because this gospel that they had received is everything. There’s nothing else to turn to. And to think they turned from it quickly. Do you remember Christmas? Or birthdays when you were a child?
Maybe you were fortunate enough to experience those holidays with gift exchanges. Even more than that, maybe you were fortunate enough to have parents or grandparents that asked you what it was that you would like. So you’ve thrown through that magazine and strolled through the mall with keen eyes ready to spot something to make it known that’s what you wanted. And after you decided, what to ask for, then you got to wait with a little bit of anticipation, maybe a little bit of expectation. After all, they asked you what you wanted, right? And finally that day came and you opened up that gift with excitement. And there it was, what you had been wanting. You made a special place for it in your room. You couldn’t wait to finish supper or to get back home from school to go experience it all again. But then, January 7th, a few short days passed. And it begins to find a place among all the other common things that you had. You didn’t take care of it quite like you did at the start. And before you knew it, the commercial that interrupted your Saturday morning cartoon had you convinced that what you had wasn’t all that great. And this thing, this is what you needed. This was it. This is what you needed. This is what you wanted. If we’re honest, we do this in our everyday adult lives too. The battle for contentment and satisfaction rages on. It’s a simple but a real illustration and it has real spiritual implications but it pales in magnitude to the way the Galatians were leaving off the true gospel for something lesser. When in fact what they had been given truly was what they needed. And should have been everything that they wanted. Let me ask you, that glorious Christmas truth that we celebrated just a few short days ago, has it lost its luster? Has it become commonplace among all the other things in your life? Has the way of the world and the lust of the flesh, maybe the weakness of your faith, caused you to forget so quickly the majesty of God become flesh? Born to die, bearer of the curse so we could bear the banner, children of God.
What did you taste when you came to Christ? Was it genuinely Christ? Were you really brought to a place that you recognized that you were sinful and you deserved judgment? But then Christ came to you and made you new, all on his own. Is that what you experienced? If so, what could ever come along and replace it? What could ever convince you that it was more precious than what you had already received?
Our gospel of grace is from God. There is no other. So let this gospel of grace be your prized possession. Notice what is said in the scripture. They quickly deserted him. In this gospel, God calls us to nothing less than union with himself. It’s Christ we gain when we receive the gospel. So it is Christ we lose when we lay it aside. Through the grace of Christ, we’re reconciled to a relationship with God as our father and we are his children. We’re co-heirs with Christ. But of all the benefits that come with that, all the benefits that we receive when we’re included in the family of God, the future promises, sharing in the kingdom, all the present enjoyments you might have, the provisions that God bestows on you now, let this be the sweetest one, that you are forgiven, that you are cleansed of sin, made righteous, and you are brought into communion and fellowship. A real knowing and being known in the most intimate way imaginable so that the type that is used in scripture to describe it and to help your mind understand the depth of it is the intimate union of a husband and a wife. It says that Adam knew Eve and she conceived of her son. It’s more than an intellectual knowledge. It’s a union with the living God.
Jesus says, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Now I want to consider more specifically the graciousness of the gospel call. I’m just going to read through some highlights strictly through Paul’s argument in Galatians. I’m not going to put them up on the wall or quote the reference. I just want to read them. So that you can get a bigger picture in context to demonstrate what Paul’s aiming at. He says that Jesus Christ is he, quote, who gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. Unquote. He says, in calling us, God is pleased to reveal his son in us. This isn’t something we came to know on our own. Wit and intellect is given to us by God. Paul goes on. A man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Since by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. Did you receive his spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand. So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. Now, that no one is justified by the law before God is evident. For the righteous man shall live by faith. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the spirit through faith. But the scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Therefore, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law. And maybe saying it in the plainest way possible, Paul says this, I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law then Christ died needlessly.
Christ did all of the redeeming. Christ did all of the saving. Christ did all of the atoning. Christ did all of the satisfying. Christ did all of the rescuing. Christ did all of the curse wearing. Christ did all of the cross bearing. Christ did all of the law abiding. Because you couldn’t do it for yourself.
What then with all of your good works? The preaching of the cross is foolishness to the world, yes, but to those who are being saved?
You’ve been called by him and to him. You have been called by the grace of Christ. That grace accomplishes for you all that you could never do for yourself. When we by faith receive what only Christ did and could do, we don’t abuse grace and we don’t minimize our sin. We simply recognize the size of that mountain. The size of it that we had to climb in order to satisfy the justice of a holy God. The impossibility of scaling it. Knowing that we must get safely to the top or we perish. And so then we cry out in faith to God and to his gospel of grace. And we most certainly receive the help we so desperately needed. And to think, God didn’t provide you tools that would give you a shot at climbing the mountain. He came down to the bottom of it. And he dwelled there in those foothills.
The king didn’t summon you up the steps to his throne to see if you qualified to be in his courts. Rather, he humbled himself and descended the steps to dwell among the peasants and the lame and the wretched. Everything required of you, he did it on your behalf. You couldn’t do it. You can’t do it still. You wouldn’t do it if you could. So cherish this gospel of grace given to us by God. Let it be your true prized possession. Fix your eyes and your gaze on Christ crucified for you. Don’t lay aside everything that you’ve ever needed and all that you could ever want.
Don’t look after another gospel. There is no other gospel. When you have another gospel, you have a gospel that cannot save. You have a gospel that cannot keep. You have a gospel that is no gospel at all.
Our gospel of grace is from God. There is no other. So be diligent to keep this gospel pure. Firstly, don’t allow yourself to distort and to destroy the purity of this gospel in your heart. If you add to this gospel or you mix in it any of your own machinations or your own works or your own commitments, your own practices, your own observances, your tithes, your consistency in your studies, your faithfulness in your prayers, your serving the poor. If you mix any of that with the gospel in order to gain the approval of God, you have just turned your good wine into vinegar. You have sour grapes. You have a cup of wrath.
For one, you’ve called God a liar. You don’t believe what He says concerning salvation. Two, it’s something that cannot establish peace with God. And it will never grant peace to your conscience. There is no rest in that. You will be disturbed indeed.
If you’re like me, I’ll ask you, do you ever lay awake at night wondering if God is pleased with you? Or if you’re really accepted, am I really saved? Are you ever bothered by the weak performance of your Christian life? Maybe you’ve been trained or taught in a way that puts emphasis on your doing as the basis of your relationship with God. Did you pray the prayer? Did you pray the prayer right? Did you give away enough of that extra money you got this year? Did you apologize enough times for what you did? Did you eat the right food? Oh no, did you drink the wrong drink? Or maybe too much of it? Maybe you can do a little bit better tomorrow in your speech and the way you think. Don’t take any of your Christian liberties for a month or two. Or maybe two or three. Then maybe God will love you. Then maybe you’ll have his acceptance.
You use instruments in church? Oh, you weren’t baptized right away. You sing modern worship music? You don’t use a catechism at home? You drink wine? You smoke a pipe? Does God even love you? Do this. Don’t do that. Do some more of this and a little less of that. Then maybe he will. This is a disturbed mind.
On what basis does God accept you? You are accepted solely on the fact that you believe the gospel of grace. I think we’re all guilty at times to allow ourselves to think of our acceptance with him in terms of our performance. Whether it be circumcision in matters of religious observance or inward sins that no one will ever see. We fall prey to striving for works-based righteousness. We live in a culture that in some sense makes this, it’s kind of hard to pinpoint. We don’t live in a highly religious society, I wouldn’t say. Not in the traditional sense where rituals and practices are taught and most of the time taught in order so that you can know God. We still have plenty of it, but we live in a postmodern age where even ones who practice those things will probably allow you to go whatever way best suits you. Whatever your truth is, you find your own way to God. It’s very relative. But I know that some of us grew up in very legalistic ways. In very legalistic environments. And I think some of that is even with good intention. It comes from good intention. It doesn’t make it right. But fundamental church settings and there can be any number of rules to follow. I know it’s not the outward intent at the start to tie that to your entry into the Christian faith and into Christian life. But when you lay enough rules on someone in a church setting, it becomes hard to know and it becomes hard to distinguish the two. To distinguish the difference between preference and actual right and wrong. Then they’ll have a hard time knowing what is actually required to be a member of the faith. We must be very careful to distinguish the marks of a Christian and what makes you a Christian. There’s a world of a difference in that. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen.
And in Catholicism, this gospel that I’m preaching today is literally condemned. It was condemned at the Council of Trent in 1545, I think. And as far as official teaching goes, the church in Rome, Preaches a different gospel But as he shared the gospel of grace with her She asked what the difference was Between what he believed And what she believed After all she believed in Jesus Crucified for sin Buried Risen from the dead He answered You do good works in order to be saved I do good works Because I am saved I do good works But only because I am saved And I have been saved By grace alone Through faith alone In Christ Jesus alone For the glory of God alone According to the scriptures alone You were freed From the bondage of the law You aren’t under that pressure any longer For freedom Christ has set you free Stand firm In the gospel And don’t be enslaved again To that burden of slavery Says Paul I don’t remember if I read this somewhere Or heard it or made it up Because I don’t know who to credit Either way I say it a lot Don’t let anyone bind you to anything That God has freed you from And don’t let anyone free you From something that God has bound you to I think it’s worth saying again Don’t let anyone Anyone bind you To something That God has freed you from And don’t let anyone free you From something that God has bound you to So heed the warning That if you go on in belief That you need be mixing your righteousness With Jesus’s You have fallen from grace Christ Is no longer a benefit to you
Secondly Don’t allow anyone else to distort And destroy The purity of the gospel Watch out for those Who are doing the disturbing Paul uses severe language right here To address them And he says that They are to be Anathema Cursed Cut off He gives no qualifications either He lumps himself in the mix If an apostate is to be cut off Or an angel Or any other tongue Utters a gospel contrary To the one God has given They are to be counted as cursed Cut off Does Paul mean that such a person Could never find repentance? Does he mean Cursed in the final judgment sense? I don’t know I would like to believe that Paul Will reserve that final judgment For God alone But also don’t want to minimize His rebuke either Don’t lose the force of what he said
So Let it say what it says Anyone who distorts The gospel of Christ Is to be anathema A curse For you and I In practice of this We just simply shouldn’t associate With anyone who would dare distort The truth of the gospel We should have no tolerance For false teachers And messengers of Satan They are excluded from our fellowship They’re not welcome in our service They cannot be given the platform To teach their heresy They are to be treated As one who is cursed Paul is not soft on this issue And neither should we be We’re all too often pushovers For the sake of not hurting Someone’s feelings We’re timid and We allow the enemy to Put his foot in the door We must stand firm Be willing to be scoffed at Be willing to be mocked Gossiped about Hated, spit on Whatever the response would be Be willing to do what is necessary At all costs To keep pure The gospel received Zero tolerance policies for us I do want to qualify
This does not give us the right To excommunicate Anyone and everyone For having a difference of opinion On theological matters Surely we need to examine Differences and determine What category they might fall in Are they first tier issues? Gospel issues? Are they second tier? Third tier? Tertiary? Sometimes we want our styles And our preferences To be gospel truth Don’t be so bullheaded You’ve got to know the difference Between salvation by faith alone And using instruments In a worship service
Paul’s sharp rebuke Doesn’t give us the right To go severing any limb we like Because we don’t see The eye to eye on something Even important things Like the Lord’s Supper And baptism Styles of worship Dare I say Views on the gifts of the Spirit Matters of food and drink Alcohol External practices Observing holidays Again those things Should definitely be taken Seriously and discussed And maybe it even means That you worship At a different location On the Lord’s Day But you surely recognize them As a brother or a sister in Christ And you could have the maturity In spite of your difference To sit at a table At a dinner table with them And break bread together To laugh and to rejoice In that poor gospel together Anathema Is for those who distort the gospel And would enslave you again To anything contrary to it Anathema is for those who By seeking to distort the gospel According to their own imaginations Seek to destroy God’s truth And so seek to destroy your soul So please take a moment Take care of yourself Because if you give ear To the false teachers And you’re snatched away by them Don’t you then fall Under the same cursing as they do? Cut off from the commonwealth Of true Israel? According to Paul’s letter Surely that one will bear his judgment Are there any talking heads in your life? Do you listen to radio programs Or YouTube channels You have friends or family even That preach to you a different gospel Cut it off Flee Your soul is at stake Your children’s souls are at stake Your church members’ souls are at stake Be careful little ears What you hear Be careful little eyes What you see Be careful little mouth What you say For in matters concerning the gospel Those matters Concerning life and death Judgment or acceptance Salvation or damnation
We are saved By the grace of Christ alone We are saved We are saved We are saved What can wash away my sins Nothing but the blood of Jesus And a few of my sacrifices Oh, that’s not how it goes What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus And a little lump of my good works too No This is all my hope and peace Nothing but the blood of Jesus This is all of my righteousness Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Be careful Let the gospel be a prize to you Cherish it Keep it safe Keep it pure You keep coming and hearing the gospel You keep singing the gospel You keep hanging around gospel faithful people
And I’m sure with Paul I’m sure of better things for you He says it in the letter to the Galatians And I don’t know for sure who wrote Hebrews But it’s mentioned in Hebrews as well That in spite of people seemingly falling away Or really falling away We can be sure of better things For our church members And I’m sure of better things for you I trust That you’re going to remain faithful To the gospel of grace Given by God And that you know That you know that you know That there is no other gospel And you’re going to prize it And you’re going to keep it pure I trust that God Is going to hold you fast And he’ll never let your soul be lost The apostle says this I have confidence in you In the Lord That you will adopt No other view I’m grateful that I can have that assurance For you For my family For myself I’m grateful because I love you And I care for your soul Would you pray with me? Lord We thank you for the gospel of grace We thank you for how you’ve loved Sinners How you’ve loved your enemies We thank you Lord That you’ve not withheld anything from us Even your own son We thank you that in him alone
We have acceptance in your sight And that in him alone We’re made righteous In him alone We can have peace with you Simply by faith Lord I believe Our faith is from you And if you’re going to sustain it and keep it Until the end Lord help us Give us the boldness The strength Give us the spiritual maturity The wherewithal Lord To stand firm in this true gospel That we’ve received That we would never have known That we wouldn’t budge an inch Lord that we would give no ground to the enemy Or to anyone who would dare to utter something different That we would give our lives in defending it
Lord make us to stand firm The world is a crazy place And the spiritual battle Rages on Lord And Satan would seek to have us done in But we’re safe in your everlasting arms Lord we’re safe in your everlasting arms We ask that you would preserve us In the gospel We ask it in Jesus name Amen