~Was led this Morning to this...may we all take a moment to read. Stay the course with God in the Holy Word, and run the race well to the finish. ~~ Staying true to the Gospel ~~ For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.~ Galatians 1:1-10 Let’s play guess who. This person for a time was an American hero who fought bravely in the American Revolution. Born in Norwich, CT, he volunteered for service and successfully attacked Fort Ticonderoga with Ethan Allen. He was promoted by George Washington to brigadier general and held off a huge enemy fleet of British war ships on Lake Champlain. There is still a war ship at the bottom of Lake Champlain that remembers that battle. There is a monument of his leg at Fort Saratoga because there he lost his leg in a valiant battle against the British. On May, 1778 he signed an Oath of Allegiance to the fledgling country. This American war general was then placed in command by George Washington of the city of Philadelphia. Who is he? Benedict Arnold. When we think of Benedict Arnold, what do we think of? We think of being a traitor, because what people remember about us is not how we started the race, and not how we were doing in the middle of the race, but how did we finish the race? Benedict Arnold became bitter when he was not promoted quickly enough. He violated state and military regulations to subsidize his extravagant living. He married a young woman very sympathetic to the British cause. His British contact, a British Major, was captured and they hanged him as a spy. Arnold was despised by the Americans for his traitorous ways and he was odious to the British because he got the British Major killed! He died in England, at age 60, and was buried in a jumbled, unmarked grave without military honor or notice. In his final years he was ostracized and they were years full of misery and bitterness . Do you know what a traitor is? A traitor is someone who deserts a cause. Paul is afraid of professing Christian traitors in Galatia! Did you know that God has enemies! Many have set themselves as enemies against God! These enemies have shaken the faith of the believers in the church in Galatia and some of the believers have become deserters and defectors of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an aggressive passage of Scripture. Paul gets right into the mix as he defends his apostleship and the Gospel of God’s grace. Paul does not praise them and he does not even say, “I’m praying for you!” He jumps into the middle of the fight and defends his apostleship. Paul would rather fight than switch! Paul puts up his dukes! Paul stands up and fights like a man! This passage flies in the face of the multi-cultural elitist arrogance so pervasive in our nation that says “all religions lead to heaven.” We live in this milk toast, wishy-washy world that is so weak it cannot even punch through a ballot! Contrary to what man says, it does matter what you believe, and not every religion is acceptable with God! Man is always tempted to substitute his own good works for the finished perfect work of Jesus Christ. We must realize that there is a spiritual battle ongoing. We are in a constant battle to compromise the Gospel. How can we stay true to the Gospel in a day and age of apostasy and where many who name the name of Christ depart from the Lord? Many denominations have departed from the faith. Many churches no longer stand where they once stood. Many individual believers go back from the Lord and stop walking with Him. Beloved, we must stay true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Paul gives us a number of very helpful principles that can help us to stand true to Christ and His Gospel of Grace. Under each point I will also emphasize a mighty principle of God’s power that will help us stay true to the Gospel. 1. Remember our CALLING, v.1-3 Paul is underscoring the DIVINE SOURCE of his calling. Paul received his apostleship not because he was ordained by a group of men. Paul was not an apostle of the CHURCH. Paul did not receive his apostleship from Peter or John. No doubt, Paul’s enemies were questioning where he got his authority from. Paul was called DIRECTLY and PERSONALLY by Jesus Christ and God the Father. Paul’s apostleship was absolutely unique in that he was called to be an apostle by the Lord Jesus Christ AFTER the resurrection of our Lord. His gifts were recognized by the church of Antioch, however, and he was sent out by the Holy Ghost through that church (Acts 13). The other apostles had been personally called, chosen and authorized by the Lord and had seen Him after the resurrection. Paul was called to be an apostle after the resurrection but Jesus did personally appear to him on the Damascus Road by His grace. Paul was an inspired apostle who wrote the Word of God because he was commissioned by Jesus Christ and God the Father. Does this mean that one can claim they have been called TODAY to be an apostle directly by the Lord Jesus Christ? No, because apostles were inspired spokesmen and writers of the Word of God. Here we see the oneness of nature of the first two Persons of the Godhead yet the distinctness of the first two Persons of the Godhead. God is One divine essence, and three distinct Persons. How could Paul ever depart from the gracious and mighty call of God? Paul was so miraculously saved on that Damascus Road and so wondrously called to be a unique apostle, how could he remove himself from him that called him unto another gospel? Grace always goes before peace! Let us also note that Paul did not use his position as an apostle to shirk work. As an apostle, Paul labored abundantly and to the point of exhaustion, and he established churches throughout the region of Galatia in the cities of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Paul did not use his position to abuse his responsibility. Some people see “position” as a means of power to avoid hard work! Note also that Paul did not establish “denominations” but congregations, local churches. On Paul’s first missionary journey he established a number of churches in the Southern part of Galatia. These churches were located in Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. You can read about his exciting journey in Acts 13:1-Acts 14:28. Mighty Principle of God’s Power to help us stay true to our CALLING: Paul here cites the power of the BODILY RESURRECTION! The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate basis of our calling. Now, we may not have had such an experience that the Apostle Paul had on the Damascus Road. Our calling is not so sensational or supernatural, but it is yet a holy, high, and heavenly call from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! We also are not called to write inspired epistles and perform the wonders and mighty signs that God did through Paul. I will tell you this, however: Your calling is unique and special. Your calling to the Lord for service is important to the body of Christ today, and your calling is based on the mighty power of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ! 2. Rejoice in our DELIVERANCE, v.4,5 The Gospel rescues us, delivers us and sets us free! Here is the keynote of the letter. We are SET FREE by the grace of God. The Gospel has rescued us “from this present evil world.” The world is the floating mass of thoughts, opinions, and impulses that appeal to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The idea of the “world” is not merely in the outward activities, but it is an AFFECTION for and ATTATCHMENT to some aspect of the present arrangement of lust and pride. This is an evil world! Do you know what that means? That means that this evil world is not content to perish and go eternal destruction all by themselves. Now, this evil world is intent on corrupting others with them, and drawing them into their destruction. The lost sinners who parade their perversions all around the streets and televisions are not content to perish in their own sin. NO! They want to drag as many as possible with them! The lost of this evil world seek to recruit our children and drag them through the degradation of sin. They want to drag our children down to hell with them. They want to pull our friends down to hell with them. Now, we have been delivered by Christ from this wicked world system. Will I depart from Christ and go back into this evil world? Will I pull a Demas who left Paul because he loved the present world? God forbid! I have been set free by the power of the cross! Mighty Principle of God’s Power: Paul here cites the power of Christ’s SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH of Jesus Christ. Paul had been SET FREE by the power of the cross. He had been rescued and delivered by the power of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross. How can I leave and desert this kind of love? Like Peter said when many began to go back from our Lord. To whom shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life! (John 6:68,69) Jesus’ death on the cross is sufficient for all! Jesus’ death on the cross is absolutely sufficient to save to the uttermost all who call upon Him. 3. Recognize False Teaching, v.6-9 We must be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. We must discern error by knowing the truth! Recognize false teaching by knowing, loving, and living the truth. A group of false teachers called the Judaizers corrupted the grace of God and led captive those weak in the faith in the early church. The Judaizers, sought to lead these believers out of salvation by grace through faith into a salvation based on justification by the works of the law of Moses. They said, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). They added the work of circumcision to salvation. They sought to keep the sabbath and keep the dietary laws. They began to shake the faith of these new believers and some of those who had trusted in Christ began to defect or become spiritual traitors to the Savior. Paul uses some very stinging language in dealing with these enemies of the Gospel. The enemies led others to: A. DEFECTION of the Gospel (v.6): This false teaching was leading some of the Galatians to DEFECT from the faith. They were deserting the grace of God! Paul marveled at this in a tender and sincere manner. How can you abandon LIBERTY for LEGALISM, or from GRACE to WORKS? How can you turn from FREEDOM TO SLAVERY? Do you know what causes many to seemingly defect from the faith? When they are leaning on MEN rather than the Lord for their strength. Many profess to know the Lord and seem to be saved and follow for a time, but if they are not truly born again, they do not endure. I was reading this week of King Joash, who “did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoida the priest.” When Jehoida died, Joash DEPARTED from the Lord and His ways. He even killed Jehoida’s son, the priest ZECHARIAH. You see, Joash had a lean-to faith. He was strong as long as others were holding him up. When his human helper died, he went away from the Lord. B. PERVERSION of the Gospel (v.7): The adding of works to grace is a very serious error. This reverses the message of salvation. Regarding salvation, when a person adds his “do’s” to what Jesus has “done,” they reverse the Gospel of grace. Paul writes, “Another gospel: which is not another.” Well, is it another or is it not another? What Paul is saying is that the way of salvation the Judaizers proclaimed was a different kind of salvation message than Paul preached. Because they preached a different kind of message, then it was really not a gospel, for there is ONE GOSPEL, or GOOD NEWS. You see, truth is truth, and truth never changes. Times change but truth does not. Technology may improve but technology does not change the truth. Technology will never change 2 + 2. Technology uses truth but never changes truth. Truth therefore is always the same. The Gospel will never change even though our culture is changing. This is my problem with Jehovah’s FALSE Witnesses. They say the reverse of truth. The Bible teaches the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity. They say the Holy Spirit is a force. The Bible teaches Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh; JW’s teach is a god, created by Jehovah. The Bible teaches Jesus rose BODILY from the dead yet Jehovah’s Witnesses say Jesus rose in a spirit form. They reverse the truth again and again! C. These enemies teaching led to a CONFUSION among the Galatian believers. “Trouble” means to be shaken and confused. Gospel distortions led to desertion and confusion. Believers were departing from the truth. The Good news was being flipped into bad news. This was shaking their faith. This doctrinal error leads to spiritual confusion among the people of God. “Troubled” describes the disciples confusion when they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. Mighty Principle of God’s Power: Paul here cites the power of God’s ETERNAL PERDITITION. He says twice, that if any other preach any other message, let him be accursed (v.8,9). This word refers to SPIRITUAL DEATH. This word accursed means to be delivered over to God’s wrath and devoted to destruction. God is a God of wrath, and hell is a real place that is a place of eternal, dark, fire and separation from God. Was Paul being unfair? Did he have a personal vendetta against one of the false teachers or was he expressing an unfair vengeance? Was this a personal, uncontrolled outburst by Paul? No. This was the will of God. Paul does not have a personal ax to grind with the Judaizers. He even says, if I, or an angel, or ANYONE preaches any other gospel other than the true gospel of the grace of God, let him be accursed. Paul is dealing with PRINCIPLES not PEOPLE. Let me tell you that I have absolutely no ax to grind with any individual Roman Catholic. As a matter of fact, I know some very nice Roman Catholics. However, Roman Catholicism refuses to teach a justification by faith through the grace of God. They teach a works based salvation through the church! Let us remain true to the Gospel! How can we depart from God’s grace and then follow them who are heading toward eternal perdition? It was at a Galatian city, Lystra, that they thought Barnabas was the chief of the gods, Zeus, and Paul was Hermes (Acts 14:8-18). The Galatians thought Paul and Barnabas were gods, so Paul tells them, if even an angel preaches another gospel, let even that angel be delivered over to God’s wrath. 4. Realize our ULTIMATE GOAL, v.10 Do you know what is one of life’s biggest fears? The fear of man. We fear what our family, friends, and co-workers think of us, and it is easy to let what others think of us to DIRECT us and even CONTROL us. It seems some were attacking Paul for being a man-pleaser. Remember he had spoken the words, I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). Many churches are built on this premise today: please man. Let’s give them what they want! Do you think Paul was unduly harsh or severe in his words to the false teachers? If so, remember that he did not say that to necessarily please men. Paul’s goal was to glorify and please God. As he pleased God he would undoubtedly please those men who God had chosen to salvation. Paul knew that his Gospel would offend those who added works to it, so he did not even try to please them. Truth was truth. Our goal is ultimately to please our God. We must live to please an audience of One, that is, God. We do not live in fear of man or we are not enslaved by what man thinks of us. The powerful truth is we will answer to God. 1. Remember our CALLING: Bodily Resurrection! 2. Rejoice in our DELIVERANCE: Substitutionary Death! 3. Recognize FALSE TEACHING: Eternal Perdition! 4. Realize our ULTIMATE GOAL, to please God! For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ ~2 Tim. 1:13
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:42:32 +0000
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