Okay. Open your Bibles, if you
would, to the Book of Galatians. Now, I was going to name this
message Another Gospel, but this morning, as I was here and thinking
about the message again, and Vicki and I always talk about
the message before we leave the house, and I'm going to rename
it to A Strong Warning. A Strong Warning. And I'll tell
you what, as I looked into this verse that we're going to look
at today, This is a strong warning. We're only going to get halfway
through the verse. It'll be verse 6 of Galatians chapter 1, but
I want to read verses 1 to 7 in Galatians chapter 1 for us to
get the setting. Paul, an apostle, not of man,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who
raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are with
me unto the churches of Galatia. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself
for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and our Father. To whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. I marvel that you are so
soon removed from him that called you unto the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another. It's not good news.
It's not good news because good news is what Christ done for
us. Good news is what it says in verse 4, who gave himself
for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and the Father. That's good news
for sinners, that Christ gave himself for me. He did it all. See, but the Judaizers had come
in, and they had said, well, you still got to follow some
of the law. And so they added circumcision to the work of Christ,
thereby nullifying the work of Christ. And Vicki and I were
talking this morning, and my dear bride brought something
up that was just awesome. She said, because we see here
that verse 6, Paul's using some strong language, and we're going
to see that as we look into the Greek. And she said, well, wouldn't
you be upset if you gave your son for someone? And they said, well, that wasn't
good enough. Now think of who this is, though. This is the
Word of God. You've got God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, right? The three
are one. The Father, God, and they've
been together for eternity. They've had uninterrupted fellowship
for eternity. And God the Father sends the
Son to this world to die for us. And even Christ on the cross
said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Well, God forsake
God, Henry Mann said, God forsake God at the cross that we would
never be forsaken by God. Isn't that wonderful? That's
good news, isn't it? That's good news. And it was
all about what Christ did, nothing what we do. We have nothing to
give, all about what Christ did. Now last week we looked at how
Paul set before the believers in Galatia the gospel, and I
wasn't able to finish what I was bringing, so we're continuing
verse 4, considering what the gospel is.
The gospel is all about what Christ did. It's all about him.
You take Christ out of the gospel and there's no good news. You
add anything to Christ's finished work and it's not good news.
Anything we have to do. It's no longer good news. It's
no longer the gospel. And that's what Paul's going
to bring forth in verse 6 as we look at that later on today.
So it's all about what he did. He came to save sinners. That's
what he came. He came, he gave himself, verse
4, for our sins. He's the sinless one. To deliver
us from this present evil world. And also deliver us from our
sins, right? Deliver us from our sins. And our great majestic God, our
sovereign creator, became a man sent by the Father. The Word
of God. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory, John said. They saw him face
to face like you and I see each other. They saw him face to face.
The only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And
then Timothy writes, without controversy, great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. God became a man. Fully God still, and yet fully
man. bone of our bone. He suffered
hunger like we hunger. He was thirsty like we're thirsty.
He was tried and tempted yet without sin. My beloved, he went
through what we go through. Remember he sat at the well because
he was weary. His body was tired. Even though
it was a divine appointment he had with the lady at the well,
his body was still tired. And remember, these fellows walked
everywhere, miles. I was thinking about that this
week, how many miles they walked or took a ship. But you know
Christ never left the Jewish nation. Paul went off, but Christ
never left that area. We'll see that this morning.
He never left that area. And as a man, Christ honored
all of God's law by his perfect obedience to them, establishing
a perfect righteousness for us. Because he is sinless. He doesn't
need to establish a righteousness. He's already righteousness. So
he's establishing that righteousness for us by obeying the law of
God perfectly. Perfectly. for all his elect
people. And then he satisfied the law
of God, didn't he? He took the unmitigated wrath
of God, fell upon him, instead of falling upon you and I. And
it fell upon him in our place. So let us think of that. Even
this season, people talk about the birth of Christ, and it's
wonderful. But he was born to die for us. That's why he came. To save his people from their
sins. And we are sanctified in Christ. By one offering, he sanctified
his people. And as a man, our sufferer and
redeemer, by himself removed all our sins, beloved. That's
what verse four is bringing forth. That's the gospel, right? He
removed all our sins. They're gone. God won't remember
them anymore. We remember, but God said, I
won't remember your sins no more. No more. And he obtained eternal
redemption, right? He did it. He did that for us
which we could never do. He obtained, and listen, eternal
redemption, beloved. You can't mess it up and neither
can I. Because it's in Christ. And it's all His work. Now if
it was something we had to do, it'd be messed up, wouldn't it?
That's why Paul's saying to the Galatians, this is another gospel,
but it's not another gospel. It's not good news. it's not
because anything you do to gain merit and favor with God or salvation
God will not accept he is only pleased with his son this is
my beloved son in whom I'm what well pleased well pleased and
he was obedient death even the death of the cross and God our
father set him upon the throne right where is he right now he's
on the throne beloved our redeemers on the throne of power He's the
commander of all the legions of angels in heaven. He's the commander of all things
visible and invisible. Nothing happens without his permissive
will. I was talking to someone this week. God is so in control
that a bird will drop to the ground and he knows it. My, and
then he watches over each one of us personally. We can't even conceive that,
can we? But it's true. He knows us so intimately that
the very hairs of your head and my head are numbered. I couldn't
count on my hair. But he knows every single hair.
Every single one. And he died to deliver us from
our sins. gave himself for our sins that
he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the, and look at verse four again, according to the will
of God. It's God's will that you're saved and I'm saved. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Christ's
born-again, blood-washed children believe that Jesus Christ didn't
try to save us, that he's saved us. God doesn't try to do anything,
does he? We try to do things. See how
foolish that is when people say, well, God wants to save you.
He's trying to save you, but you have to let him save you.
I'll tell you what, so you're telling me that the one who spoke
the universe into existence, these people, if they actually
stopped and thought about what they're saying, okay, God spoke
the universe into existence, angels. are at his command, at
his beck and call. Satan is under his authority. He's just a created being. Sister
Diane brought that up one day. He's just a created being. He's
under the authority of God. And God, he rules the world and
all the inhabitants are reputed as nothing. But he has to try
to save you. That's not God, is it? Know the
God of Bible? He saves his people from their
sins. He regenerates us. We're born
again by his almighty power. We're saved by the sacrifice
of God almighty on Calvary's cross. The Word of God made flesh. He's not trying to save us. He
obtained eternal redemption for us. And we praise his name. Oh,
we praise his name. See, we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, and so now, now we know what he's done for
us. And what, we can't help but rejoice, beloved. We can't help
but praise his name for delivering us from all our sins. My, don't
ever, you know, don't let people talk to you about a God who's
trying to save. Just say, that's just not right. That's deceiving. They're deceived,
beloved. God doesn't try to, just remember
this, God doesn't try to do anything. He just does it according to
His will and according to His purpose. And Christ didn't try to save
us, He saved us. And we know the scripture says
that God can't fail. And Isaiah says He shall not
fail. God can't fail. Christ can't fail. If somebody
says God's trying to save you and if supposedly God died for
all these people in hell, Because they say, well, God died for
everyone. Well, if, I'll tell you what, those he died for,
he saves. And if he supposedly did, as
false teachers say, die for everyone, then he's a failure, because
there's all kinds of people in hell. But we know our God shall
not fail. We know. He's a successful Savior,
isn't He? We're living proof of that, beloved.
We're trophies of His grace and His mercy. My, the Holy Spirit
sought us out because Christ purchased our eternal souls on
Calvary. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. He gave Himself for our sins
at Calvary's cross. Oh my, it's wonderful. What good
news! It's wonderful news! All according
to the will of God in the Father. Oh my goodness. Oh my. It's wonderful. So the true gospel
of God's amazing grace gives God all the glory, doesn't it?
Gives God all the glory and all the honor and all the praise.
And you know, God's jealous over his glory. He won't share his
glory with no one. No one at all. So these folks
say, you get folks boasting about what they're doing and what they've
done. We believers just go, he saved me? That's amazing. He saved me? Knowing who I am
and knowing what I am, he saved me? Yeah. According to the will
of God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. We're going to marvel
about that for all eternity. I believe that the saints are
still marveling as they see Christ in us. Just marvel it. No wonder
they say unto him who purchased us with his blood. No wonder
they sing praises to him. Oh my gosh. It's just absolutely
incredible. Absolutely incredible. Let's
look at verse 6 here. And Paul writes in verse 5, to
whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. So he sets the gospel. He sets the gospel in verse 4.
He sets the gospel before these Galatians who, again, are being
bewitched by the Judaizers who have come in and said, you must
be circumcised to be saved along with Christ. And so he set the
gospel, verse four, he said it so clearly, didn't he? And again,
remember, Paul's just the penman. The author is the Holy Spirit
of God. The true author is the Holy Spirit of God. And again,
in verse four, he says, who gave himself for our sins. How can
we not but love our God? He gave himself for my sins. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm still a sinner. I didn't stop being a sinner
when the Lord saved me, I'm still a sinner. And I sin a lot more than I want
to, I'll tell you that, and I know it's so for you. So when I read
this, that He gave Himself for me, what love, what goodness, what mercy. Who gave Himself for us, for
our sins, to pay for our sins. He might deliver us from this
present evil world. And I love that latter part,
though, according to the will of God the Father. And no wonder
Paul just comes out with this statement in verse 5, to whom
be glory forever and ever, amen. He gets all the glory. He gets
it all. You know, you listen to men in
religion, and even in our natural state, and we glory in ourselves.
We glory in our abilities, or we glory in our mental abilities,
our physical abilities. We're proud beings, aren't we?
But Lord humbles the proud, doesn't he, when he saves us. He shows
us what we really are in his eyes, sinners in desperate need
of Christ. And we are born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. We rejoice, don't we? Thank you,
Lord, that you showed me that. Thank you that you saved my soul.
To you be the glory. No wonder Paul breaks out in
this short little doxology. To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. So he's set before the gospel.
Now let's look at verse 6 here. Now, like I said, I've changed
the name of this message to a strong warning. We're only going to
get halfway through this verse because I started looking at
the Greek words underlying this, and I really want to bring that
out for us. It's pretty incredible. So he writes here, I marvel that
you are so soon removed from him that called you unto the
grace of Christ unto another gospel. So he sets forth, he's
already set the gospel, the true gospel, in verse four before
them, that Christ died for the sins of his people. And now he's
setting forth before them that that which the Judaizers is teaching
is a false gospel. And then look at verse seven
again, he nails it home, which is not another, it's not another
gospel. It's a false gospel. Cuz the
gospel's good news, Christ died for sinners. It's not good news
if you have to do something to be saved, that's horrible news.
Which is not another, there'd be some that trouble you and
would pervert the gospel of Christ. So anything that adds man's works
to salvation is a perversion. If they include Christ in that,
it's a perversion of the gospel. It's no longer the gospel. It's
no longer good news. No wonder Paul said, chapter
3 verse 104 is Galatians who have bewitched you that you should
not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently
set forth crucified among you Paul preach the gospel to them
he preached Christ crucified and so he's in he's in wonder
that they've moved away from the gospel my oh my and as I
said in studies in the past, if we understand the gospel of
God's amazing grace, we won't be tossed to and fro when someone
comes to us with saying, well, look at this. Here's Christ over
here, but you got to do a little something. Nope. That's a false
gospel. Oh, my. In these Galatians, they
turned away their eye of faith from he who is the object of
God's glory, and that's Christ. Now they're starting to look
at, oh, Christ and something I have to do. See, because that's
what these folks, these Judaizers have come in and told them that.
My, oh, my. And if we understand the purpose
of the law of Moses, know the law of love to Christ that every
believer is under, we're under the law of love. We're not under
the law anymore. The love of Christ constrains
us from sin now. That's what constrains us from
sin. You don't have to tell a believer to hate sin, we already do, in
ourselves more than anybody else. My, I hate my sin. I wish I didn't
sin anymore, but there'll be one day when I won't sin anymore,
hallelujah. But I'll be in glory then. It'll never be on this
earth. Oh my. And so for you. So for
you too. So these Judaizers were professing
Christians who wanted to put the Galatians under the law of
Moses. You must be circumcised as well
as believe in Christ to be saved. So they're trying to put the
Galatians under bondage. That's what they're doing. Something
you have to do. And that's just bondage. There's
nothing we have to do. We just look to Christ. That's
all we do. We just look to him. We look
to his finished work, because he gave himself for our sins.
My, oh my. And there's modern day Judaizers
right now, too. They say you have to worship
on a certain day. Well, if you don't worship on Saturday, you
got the mark of the beast. That's just a false gospel. There's
no good news in that. Seventh-day Adventists say that.
I came out of Catholicism. It's just basically Mary worship.
That's all it is. They put Mary on such a high
pedestal and Christ down here, and they even say that Christ
has asked permission. Well, we saw when that reading
Brother Travis did, I think it was two weeks ago, that Mary
said, he's my deliverer! He's my rescuer. She needs a
Savior just like we do. So the understanding of the book
of Galatians will help us to guard against those who come
with us saying, you have to do this to be saved, or you have
to do that along with Christ. Now let's again look at verse
6. Paul turns the heat up here. Now here's Paul. He's going to
crank the heat up on them. So he's put the gospel before them,
and now he's going to crank the heat up, beloved. He's going
to crank it up. He brings forth that what these
Judaizers are teaching is not the gospel. It's not the gospel.
It's not good news. Again, anyone who adds something
you have to do to the gospel of Christ, it's a perversion
of the gospel. It's no longer good news. The
good news is that Christ died for sinners, and he obtained
eternal redemption for us. He did it all. He cried, it is
finished. He didn't say, it's almost finished.
You just have to make a decision for me. He didn't say that, did
he? No, he said, it is finished. The work of redemption is done.
It's done. It's finished. Salvation's of
the Lord. It's all his work. So he's going
to turn the heat up here, Paul is, on works-based salvation. And remember who the true author
is. It's God the Holy Spirit. That's the true author of the
scriptures. says this, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel. Now it's been evident in the
first five verses of this chapter already that there's only one
true gospel. Just as the scripture says there's
only salvation in Christ. There's no other name under heaven
whereby men must be saved. None. I don't care who it is.
I don't care how many people fall that. There's only one way
to heaven. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That's
the words of Christ in him alone. That's the words of God incarnate
in the flesh. And so Paul here writes, he says,
I'm marveled that you're so soon removed from the one true gospel,
the gospel of salvation in God's grace in Christ, or by God's
grace in Christ. because he alone can deliver
sinners from all their sins. And we're seeing in the next
few weeks as we study verses 6 to 9 here, that Paul will emphasize
these words which come in verses six and nine. This is why, again,
it's so important to make sure we're preaching the gospel. Anybody
who stands up in the pulpit is proclaiming the gospel of Christ.
That's why it's so important. Salvation only through Christ
and him alone. And that's the amazing gospel,
right? That's the gospel of God's amazing grace. Salvation in Christ
plus nothing you and I do. You mean he's done it all? There's
nothing I have to do? Well, by faith we look to Christ,
right? God gives us faith to believe, and then we look to
Christ, but we're just looking to him with faith that comes
from our great God. Isn't that amazing? My, oh, my. I had somebody this
week, I was talking with them, and they said, well, first you
have faith, and then you're born again. I said, nope. Kind of
looked at me. I knew right away who I was dealing
with. I've talked to this gentleman
in the past, and you just be real patient, right? And I said,
no, you must be born again. You must be born again. Christ
said that to Nicodemus, didn't he? And then when you're born
again, what does God give you? Faith. Repentance before God. And then you run to Christ. You fall in love with the Savior
who redeemed your eternal soul. Think of that. God himself came
to save his people from their sins, came to the sin-cursed
world to save sinners. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? If you don't
think you are, I sure hope God will show you that you are. I'm
just a sinner saved by grace and every believer will tell
you we're just sinners saved by grace that's all we are that's
all we are my oh my God so good to us so
here he he brings forth I marvel that you're so soon removed from
him that called you unto the grace of Christ unto another
gospel you know the majority of religious folks are so blinded
by their beliefs, that they would lay down their lives for false
Gospels, and people do that. People lay down their lives for
false religions and find that they are going
to a place of eternal wrath. And God's preachers are ordained
of God to preach the gospel, to preach Christ. That's why
we're here. That's why this church exists.
So the gospel goes out into all the world. First to you all,
and then into the world. That's the only reason where,
Norm Wells told me, the only reason God sent you to Almonte
is because there's some sheep there. He says, if there was no sheep
there, you wouldn't be going to Almonte, Wayne. Well, praise
God He sent me. I love you all, and I know you're
sinners just like me, saved by the grace of God in Christ. And
we rejoice together, don't we? We rejoice together. My, and
God's preachers, and I know Brother Travis filled in for me a couple
weeks back, and it's an honor. It's an honor to get up and proclaim
the Word of God. It's an honor. It's an absolute
honor. And we know that we're not sufficient.
I'm not sufficient. The only reason I can preach
the gospel is because of God's sufficiency. He's the one who makes the preacher.
He's the one who gives me the words to preach. God is sufficient. None of us
are sufficient for anything, except for sin. Let's read this verse again.
I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called
you unto the grace of Christ and to another gospel. So we
see here that Paul's absolutely amazed. He's absolutely amazed
that these saints in Galatia had turned away from Christ.
Marvel there in the Greek, it means to wonder at, to marvel. Therefore Paul He was marveling
that they were so soon removed. And remember, this is a young
church. He had been there. He had preached in the area of
Galatia, and all these churches had started up. And so he knows
these folks personally. And he says, I'm just amazed.
I'm just amazed that you turned away from the gospel. One Greek
commentator brings forth that, the Greek word also brings forth
the sense that better things were expected of them. Paul expected
better things of them. He's shocked that they're removed
from the gospel of God's grace. He taught them better. But it shows you how men can
deceive men. And so Paul, when he considers
the defection of the Galatian Christians, it's an extraordinary
thing for him. And it also brings forth a letting
down. Remember when we were kids, and
even now as adults, when we let down people we love, how we feel?
So, see what you can find in the Greek here with these little
nuances that the Greek brings forth? Like, we just look at
that and we'd say, well, he's marveling. No, it's with a sense of being
let down, of expecting better things from them, because they've
been taught the gospel. So imagine, imagine how Paul
feels. It also, in the Greek, it also
brings forth challenging an explanation from those who Paul's writing
to. Just that one word. Challenging
an explanation. Why? Why? You remove from the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace a supposed gospel, but that's
not a gospel. And then the words are removed
in our text. You know what that means? It means to transpose.
To transpose two things, one of which is put in the place
of the other. Taken from the solid ground of
salvation in Christ and moved over here to sink in sand. To sink in sand. In the classical
Greek, you know what it means? A turncoat. A Benedict Arnold. History here in America, a Benedict
Arnold. A turncoat. So this isn't just
Paul going, you know, I'm marveling that you're removed from the
gospel. Because sometimes we read the scriptures and we see
that, we're like, you know. No, Paul's saying, it's incredible that you are now a turncoat.
That's strong words, isn't it? That's strong language. And remember,
the true author is the Holy Spirit of God. Right? My. But notice this, and we're
gonna notice this through the whole epistle. He never tells
them that they're not believers. He does the same thing in Corinthians.
Here he is correcting the Corinthians, and they're like way off, aren't
they? But he never tells them they're not believers. He's just
warning them here. This gospel's not a gospel, and
if you go that way, you're a turncoat. You probably never were saved. See, God's people hear this,
and we just, man, we just get convicted, don't we? So Paul
is delivering by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God a very
strong rebuke to the Galatians. to the churches, remember this
is written to the churches in Galatia. So there's a very strong
rebuke here. The Galatians have sinfully turned
to another gospel. What have they done, beloved?
Well, they've taken their eyes of faith off of Christ, haven't
they? And now they're looking at something they have to do. That's why you always hear
me, look to Christ. I'm preaching to myself. Look
to Christ, keep your eyes on Him. Don't let the world get
in. Don't let people whisper this
and that. No, keep your eyes on Christ. He is the sole, only
Savior of sinners. He's redeemed my soul. I told
you earlier, I was saved in my 30s. So I had a whole chunk of
time where I just lived riotous. Didn't have a care in the world.
Didn't want nothing to do with God, nothing to do with religion,
nothing to do with nothing. Just wanted to live my life,
and drink sin like water. But God, by His mercy and His
grace, intervened. Brother, we've talked about that.
Remember what you said, you're driving down the road, and it's
just like, I believe. I believe! And you know, God can save you
without you moving a muscle. Because it's a heart work. People
say, well, walk this aisle and pray this prayer. No, just stop. Somebody's just repeating someone
else's confession. That's all they're doing when
they're praying that prayer. Nowhere in the Bible do you see
the apostles in the book of Acts saying, well, bow your head and
repeat this prayer. It's not in the scriptures, beloved. Just
trust Christ. And again, God can save you without
you moving a muscle, because it's a heart work. It's a work
of the Holy Spirit of God. It's a regenerating work. And
then we have faith. Like you said, I believe. God
had regenerated you, brother. And you believed. That's what
happened to me, too. One day, I'm a raging heathen.
And the next day, I'm living. Oh, my gosh. And I'm still a
sinner, though. I'm still a sinner. When I say
rage and heathen, I'm still a sinner. I'm just saved by grace. Hallelujah. So it's a Holy Spirit that dwells
in the heart of the believer. He dwells in the Apostle Paul
here. And that which was occurring in the Galatian churches. And
with a strong rebuke we see here. And the Holy Spirit dwells in
us as believers. When we witness those who have given outward
evidence of embracing Christ and his gospel, we should be
amazed if they leave a gospel assembly. We should say, what? What? They go to churches where our
gospel is not preached, especially when they leave and go somewhere
where the gospel is not preached. It's like, oh my gosh. Pray for
them. And if they come back, welcome
them like they never left. That's the thing. My, oh, my. So take note here, too, in verse
6. Paul says, it was God who called
them into the grace of Christ. Look at this. I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you. God's ministers,
we have the honor of preaching the gospel of God's free grace
in Christ. But those who believe the gospel
have received a personal inward invincible call from God himself. God might allow those who are
sinners or those who are sincere believers also to fall into one
of Satan's sinful traps. Obviously, these Galatians had
fallen into one of Satan's traps and they believe in these false
teachers. I'll tell you, if you're saved,
you know, He'll never allow his people to fall away from his
loving arms. He's got us. Now we may backslide
and we may get into all kinds of trouble, but if you're the
Lord's, he'll never let you go. And our God has a divine purpose
for everything, remember this, that happens in our lives, everything.
Everything that happens in our lives. And always remember that
for God's people, Everything's working together for the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ and for our good, even when we can't
see it. Especially when we can't see
it. Especially when we can't see it. And remember this, he
who hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ. He shall not fail. Every one
of his born-again, blood-washed saints will be with him in glory
forever." And I said, that's me. And if
you're pleased, say, that's me. Oh, my. Glory be to God. No wonder
Paul said that in verse 5 again. No wonder he said, to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen. That's all I can say. Well,
we'll look at the rest of verse 6 next week, Lord willing. And
I'm just going to take it real slow through this first chapter,
because there's so much in here. And as you see, just a few words
there on what's being bought forth. And we'll look a little
bit more next week at calling to when he says I marvel that
you're so soon removed so trans trans you know put over here
as opposed to being in in the gospel from him that called you
into another grace of Christ unto another gospel which is
not another but there be some that trouble you and would prefer
the gospel of Christ