Galatians 1:6-9
Let them be Accursed !!!!
Paul is writing to Christians in the region of Galatia who thru the influence of False teachers were in danger of turning from the truth
A)In our study last time we saw Paul’s first
reaction: Which was one of UTTER ASTONISHMENT :
I Marvel ………
1)
Him who called you INTO the
grace –
C) We talked about how when we are born again: We are
brought into the Grace of God: Enveloped by God’s Grace : So Refreshing!!!!!
1)
Nestea
Plunge -
It is important
that we get a grip on grace – if we don’t we will consistently feel that we
need to earn God’s favor & Blessing
A)We need to try to be good enough so that God is
not angry with me anymore !!!
B) If you don’t understand grace you will spend your
life on the Performance treadmill of good works – sweating trying to be good
enough
1)
Your
guilt will wear you down & leave you feeling exhausted / broken and
unmendable
C) “ Man is Born Broken – he lives by mending and
the grace of God is the Glue”
1)
We
all need lot of Glue and that is what the grace of God is !!!
D) So we talked last time about how incredible God’s
grace is and Then we answered the question: If God’s grace is so amazing –
1) How can someone reject it or turn away from it
? { Tape}
E) As we continue
today we want to look at Paul’s 2nd Reaction – He moves from
Astonishment to Righteous ANGER !! Rd v. 6-9
A)1st Why is Paul so Angered……………….. ? 3
Reasons
B) REASON #1 – The
gospel that the Judiazers preached was an illegitimate Gospel - Gal 1:6-7
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another;
C) The Word another in v.7 is of a different Kind –
{ Paul’s point is that it is not a gospel at all!!!!
1)
The word Gospel = Good news
One of the best gospel verses in all of the Bible is One we
all know
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 Broken down
God the greatest
Giver
so
loved the greatest
motive
the world the greatest need
that He gave the greatest act
His only Son the greatest gift
that whosoever the greatest invitation
believes in Him the greatest opportunity
should not perish the greatest deliverance
but have eternal life the greatest joy
A)That is the gospel – It
is Good news Salvation is Possible{ Consider a few other verses 2 Cor 5:21
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.
A sin less Jesus became sin filled so that sin filled people could be sin
free
Isa 53:5-6
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
John 1:29
"Behold! The Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world!
A)Now did Jesus take away
your sins ? Yes – Then why are so many
Christians still trying to
make themselves better before God
Acts 13:38-39
38 Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is
preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and by Him everyone who believes is
justified from all things
B) Adulterer: But you have come to Christ – FORGIVEN – Justified
JUST AS IF YOU NEVER
SINNED – AMAZING !!!!
C) Robbed people ?
Forgiven
1) You are a Mean &
ugly person – Come to Christ and be forgiven !!!
1 John 1:7 - the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin.
John
5:24"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who
hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall
not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
D) GREAT NEWS !!!!! - That is the gospel it is the Good news of
What God did – He gets the glory for doing it – the emphasis is on God:
Eph
2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should
boast.
A)The Emphasis is on the work that God did & our Response is FAITH –
B) Now any message that takes from or adds to the work of Christ is not GOODNEWS – Because it Places the Emphasis on Man
C) If you've studied world
religions you can identify hundreds, if not thousands, of false gospels.
1) But I suggest there're really only two messages -One is the picture of the hand of man reaching upwards, trying to reach God
D) The other is that of the hand of God reaching downwards. towards man
E)All the religions except one, can be summarized as man's attempts to please God. They emphasize keeping rules, or performing rituals.
1)But Christianity is God's hand to man! God is reaching down through Christ - doing for us, what we could never do for ourselves.
Now lets consider some examples – 3 Popular religions in
the world today – Notice how they follow this pattern
A)1st
HINDUISM
B)Goal: Liberation from the karma that has kept one in the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Final “salvation” is to be absorbed into union with the universe. Hindus believe that the universe is the ultimate god named Brahman
C) How the Goal is obtained: By following one of three different paths:
1. Way of Works:
2. Way of Devotion:
This
is the most popular way. In this way the Person focuses on obtaining the mercy
and help of one of Hindus 330 million gods in finding liberation.
3. Way of Knowledge :
(obtained through deep meditation and yoga)
2nd BUDDHISM:
A)Goal: To eliminate all desires or
cravings, and in this way obtain nirvana, which will allow them to finally
escape the cycle of reincarnation & suffering
B)How goal is obtained: By following the “Eightfold Path” which requires having a right
1.Understanding 2. Thought 3. Speech 4. Action 5. Livelihood
6. Right Effort 7. Mindfulness 8.Concentration
3rd ISLAM:
A)Goal-
HEAVEN
B)How obtained: Adherence to the 5 pillars of Islam:
1. Confession (belief in Allah & his
prophet Muhammad)
2. Prayer
3. Giving
4. Fasting
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca
C) Now in all three of
these Popular religions the emphasis is on what man does to achieve the goal
1)
All three deny the Deity of Christ
D) Can’t there be an alternative: Many roads ? If that were the case then why did Jesus have to die ? Why did God have to give his only son
1) What
do we do about Jesus statement in Jn 14:6 "I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me.
E)Absolute Statement: See You can’t have it both ways:
1) Although many people in these religions are sincere – they are great people { Sincerely wrong – their eternities are in jeopardy because the truth is available – { Analogy – Dominic w/ Helen – Driving }
F) That is what incensed Paul the most – MENS SOULS WERE AT STAKE HERE !!!!
So first of all Paul is angered because the message the
Judiazers were preaching was not a gospel at all – Not Good news !!! My performance
A)Reason #2 for Paul’s anger is the effect that it was having on the People
THEY TROUBLE
YOU!!!
B) The word Trouble means to shake or agitate – It speaks of a deep emotional disturbance and refers to an unsettled mind.
1) It is the word used of Herod when he heard about the birth of the King of the Jews (Matt 2:3),
2) of the disciples when they saw Jesus walking on the water
C) They were freaked out / they were unsettled in their minds
D)Satan disturbs the Church as much by error as by evil. When he cannot entice Christian people into sin he seeks to deceive them with false doctrine
B)I believe Satan distorts God's truth in one of three ways: he either twists it, subtracts from it, or adds to it. Sometimes he does all three.
C) Satan can twist the interpretation of a verse. A verse is used to say what it was never intended to say.
1) Hence the adage, "A text out of context always
becomes a pretext".
D) Satan also subtracts from the truth. He dilutes its meaning.
Tozer once said, "Some have so watered down the Gospel that if it were a medicine it could not cure us, and if it were a poison it would not harm us."
E)And at times Satan adds to the truth. This was the strategy that infiltrated the church at Galatia.
1) The false teachers, or "Judaizers", agreed salvation was by grace through faith, but... they wanted to add to the finished work of Christ.
Now any time that you add to the FINISHED work of Christ
You Pervert the gospel which is the 3rd
reason why Paul was Angered v.7
A)The Word Pervert means to Reverse it
B) To make men’s works necessary to salvation even as a supplement to the work of Christ is derogatory to Christ finished work
1) It is to imply that Christ work on the Cross was some how Unsatisfactory and men need to add to it or improve upon it –
C) That is an Insult and a perversion of the GOSPEL
Now again not wanting to be mean – But pointing out error
–
A)I want us to quickly
consider two religions who claim to be Christian but who have added to the work
of Christ
MORMONISM:
Goal:
Heaven & godhood
How obtained: Teaches that all mankind is resurrected by grace but exalted to different levels of heaven and even eventual godhood by works,
When Mormons talk about salvation by grace, they’re referring to what
they themselves call” general salvation.”
By this, Mormons
mean that everybody is going to be resurrected, after which they will be judged
according to their works.
In other words, everybody gets an entrance pass to God’s courtroom, but
once inside, they’re on their own! This, of course, adds up to nothing more
than salvation by works.
Another
kind of salvation recognized by Mormons is what’s called “individual” or “full salvation.” This type of salvation is
available only to Mormons who have steadfastly obeyed the laws and ordinances
of the Mormon church.
B) So Mormonism also has a works based theology for Salvation / Plus they deny the Biblical view of The deity of Christ
JEHOVAH’S
WITNESSES
Goal Eternal life on earth for those who were not part of the 144,000 people who made it into heaven before 1935
How Obtained: Taking in knowledge about God, living a life of good works in obedience to God’s will including doing service for God’s kingdom, i.e. going door to door distributing Watchtower and Awake magazines
A problem that both Mormonism & Jehovah Witnesses face
is that they add to the work of Christ & the message of the gospel
Prov 30:5-6
5
Every word of God is pure;
He
is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
6
Do not add to His words,
Lest
He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
Rev 22:18-19 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the
prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the
plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book
of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this
book.
Now that is a heavy word there in Rev – which leads now to consider Paul’s pronouncement upon these false teachers in v. 8,9
[8] But even if we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you,
let him be accursed.
A)"Anathema", literally means, "damned to hell" - strong language, indeed!
1) And he repeats it in v.9 to make the message more emphatic... so that his readers understand – not just an emotional response
B) He is not just flying off the handle – not a spontaneous response of emotion preacher
1) But this was a well
thought out response – This was a Divinely ordained reaction
C) Now notice that his Pronouncement is Universal in it’s
scope: It rest upon any teacher – no exceptions –
1) this is made clear by the phrase in v.9 if anyone preaches
D)It applies v.8 to an Angel
/ as well as to men /
1) If Joseph Smith would have heeded – Paul’s warning from Gal 1 Mormonism would have never come into existence
E) He claims – The message was given to him by an Angel named Moronai
1) Lying – or Devil disguises himself as an Angel of light
So Paul is so Passionate about the Purity of the gospel that
he even desires the curse to fall upon him should he be guilty of perverting it
A)v.8 even if we
B) Now someone at this moment
might respond – Where is the Love here Paul ?
1) He asks for a “double curse” on people – people who spread a false gospel.
C)He doesn’t just ask God to curse the message, but to curse the people who spread the message. So, where is Paul’s love?
1) Paul’s love is for souls that are in danger of
hell. If a gospel is false, , then it
can’t save someone.
Think of a sinking ship, and the waters filled w/ people about to drown. A)Two ships come to rescue people in danger, but one of the rescue ships carries a load of dynamite, and for some reason you know that that ship will explode before it reaches port, and everyone on it will be killed.
B)The most loving thing you could do is help everyone to get on the right rescue ship! Getting on the wrong rescue ship would seal your doom!
1) Paul looks at this false
gospel, this perverted gospel, and says, “That is a rescue ship about to
sink! It can’t save anyone! I want to do
everything right before God to warn people away from the wrong rescue ship!”
That is why Paul is so Passionate – Souls are at Stake –
Paul is only reflecting God’s heart
A)This is why its vitally important for the pastor to
feed God's people, God's Word.
B) We need to be firmly grounded in the truth of God's grace. For in order to recognize another Gospel we have to know the true Gospel.
Did you hear about the woman who bought a parrot to keep her company. She couldn't get it to talk. She went back to the pet store, and complained to the owner.
He said, "Does he have a mirror in his cage? Parrots love mirrors." So she bought a mirror, took it home, put it in his cage, but he still wouldn't talk.
She returned to the pet store, and complained again. This time the owner said, "Does your parrot have a ladder. Parrots love ladders. And a happy parrot is a talkative parrot." She tried a ladder, but not a peep from the parrot.
She went back a third time. The owner told her, "Try a swing. Parrots love swings. Get'm swinging, and he'll talk up a storm.” So she bought a swing.
Two days later she returned to the pet store. When the owner asked about the parrot the woman announced he was dead. The man was shocked.
He asked the woman, "did your parrot ever say a
word?" The woman replied, "Yes, just
before he died, in a very soft, faint, weak whisper, he asked me, 'Don't
they sell any food at that pet store?"
C) So often churches think they need mirrors, ladders, and swings to entertain God's people - but what people really can't live without is the Word of God!
A wise,
old pastor once advised a young apprentice, "Preach a full Gospel - Christ and nothing less. A plain Gospel - Christ and nothing more.
And a pure Gospel - Christ and nothing else.” Good advice!
2 Tim 1:13-14
Hold
fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love
which are in Christ Jesus.
A)Hold fast = to cling to
as to not let go !!!!!
B) Pattern is used of an
artist rough sketch or a writers outline which sets the guidelines for the
finished work !!!!
1) It is used of the architectural drawings that give the plan for how the building is to be built
C) To deviate from those plans could be deadly !!!!
D) Paul is telling the Galatians don’t deviate from the pattern – and those who present a new pattern let them be accursed !!!
What gives Paul the right
to speak so authoritatively on these issues ?
FOCUS NEXT WEEK
V.10-24