Now, tonight I'm going to begin
going verse by verse through the book of Galatians chapter
1. And I'm sitting there thinking,
I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 to begin with. I want
to talk to you, I want to introduce this message with some profound
thoughts, profound truths from the Scripture. Now, all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. All Scripture is profitable for
us. But as we read through the Word
of God, there are times that certain statements of truth just
sort of stand out, sort of sum up the whole thing of truth and
doctrine and practice that we as believers are identified with.
Now, this morning I mentioned Galatians 6 and verse 14. as
one statement of the theme of the book of Galatians, where
Paul said, God forbid that I should glory, that I should have confidence
or rejoice in anything save or except the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now there, when he mentions the
cross, we know he's not speaking of a piece of wood. He's speaking
of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the
central issue of our gospel, the glory of God in the person
and finished work of Christ. Well, over in 1 Corinthians 1,
look at verse 17. I want to show you some profound
truths, thoughts from these passages that set the stage for what the
apostle was doing in Galatians in trying to recover professing
Christians from the error of legalism and confusion and complications
of the gospel. He says in verse 17 of 1 Corinthians
1, he says, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel. Now, Paul baptized believers. Believer's baptism is a command
of our Lord. And we as preachers and ministers
of the gospel, we baptize. That's immersion of those who
come by faith to Jesus Christ, who want to profess their faith
in believer's baptism. But what he's saying here is
this, that's not my main mission. And I believe it's sort of in
this realm. You know, in false religion, we were just big on
numbers. You know, how many made a profession
of faith? How many walked down the aisle?
How many did you baptize this week? And that's not what we're
here for. Now, listen, anybody who desires
to be baptized, who desires to profess faith in Christ in believer's
baptism, that's a command from God. But that's not our mission.
The mission is to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words,
speech, not with wisdom. And what he's talking about there
is not with wisdom of man's words, man's thoughts, ideas. lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect." Now, all too
often, man's words get in the way, don't they? Our trying to
go too far, to explain things that are unexplainable. Brother
Joe Terrell, he says that sometimes when we use human words, human
language to describe profound truth, it's like cutting with
a dull knife. You never get the intended result.
All you do is just mess things up. But look at verse 18. For the preaching of the cross,
now again, not a piece of wood, the preaching of the finished
work of Christ, His obedience unto death, His substitutionary
work, the substitutionary work of the God-man, our representative,
our substitute, our surety, the preaching of that message is
to them that perish, or who are perishing, foolishness. But unto
us which are saved, or who are being saved, it is the power
of God." Now, that's a profound statement, isn't it? The preaching
of the cross. Now, look down at verse 22 of
chapter 1. He says, the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we, ministers of Christ,
sent of God, we preach Christ crucified. the person and finished
work of Christ on the cross to atone for our sins, to establish
righteousness. Now, under the Jews, that's a
stumbling block. And under the Greeks, foolishness.
Now, why is it a stumbling block under the Jews? Well, because
it exposes and destroys their legal works, self-righteous foundation
upon which they stand. You see, we don't stand up on
legalism and self-righteousness in works. We stand up on Christ
crucified. The hymn writer said, My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness,
and I dare not trust the sweetest praise, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
The Jews stand on their profession. They stand on their religion.
They stand on their works. And when we preach Christ crucified,
it exposes and destroys that foundation so that they stumble. Now, under the Greeks, it's foolishness.
The Greeks are people of ideas and philosophy, wisdom of words. And the preaching of Christ crucified
is so simple and plain and clear that it'll confuse them every
time. It's just too simple for the
natural man to understand. The natural man will not receive
the things of the Spirit of God. They're too simple. He's got
to complicate it. He's got to add things to it. And it's foolishness. But look
at verse 24. But unto them which are called, called by the Spirit
of God, quickened by the Spirit of Christ, given ears to hear
and eyes to see, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God
and Christ the wisdom of God. That's profound. That's the issue. Look at verse 29. He speaks that
the whole purpose of God in calling whom he will is that no flesh
should glory in his presence, but of him, of God. Are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. I quote that verse quite a bit
in my preaching because I think it's so profound. It's just like
a body of divinity, right there in one verse, a statement of
our theology and our doctrine. All the wisdom that God requires
of me, I find in Christ, who is my wisdom. He is the wisdom
of God. All the righteousness that God
requires of me, I find in Christ. He is my righteousness. All the
holiness that God requires of me, I find in Him. He is my holiness. and all the redemption that God
requires of me, the redemption price, I find in Christ. He is
my redemption. Why? Verse 31, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That
word glory there is the same word glory in Galatians 6.14. God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross. What does that mean? That means
you glory in the Lord. We rejoice in him and have no confidence
in the flesh. I have absolutely no confidence
in what I can do, or even what I'm enabled to do. My confidence
is in Christ crucified. Look at verse 2 of chapter 2.
Well, look at verse 1. Paul writes, and I, brethren,
when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or
of wisdom. They said Paul's speech was rude
and hard and harsh. What they accused him of. He
said in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, though I be rude in speech,
that means hard. They said he was too deep. They
said his letters were weighty and powerful. Paul just didn't
have the pulpit presence that most preachers have. He wasn't
a charismatic figure to draw a crowd. And he said, I didn't
come to you with excellency of speech or wisdom declaring unto
you the testimony of God. Verse 2, now here's the profound
truth. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Profound statement, isn't it?
Paul knew a lot. God revealed a lot to him. He
knew more than I know and more than you know. Paul did. Paul was taken up into the third
heaven. He saw things that he couldn't
even describe in human language. And you know what? I'm glad he
didn't try. I think part of the problem that
preachers have is trying to describe things in human language that
we can't describe. He said, I saw things that are
indescribable. I don't have a language to tell
you about. Paul knew a lot, but he didn't know anything greater
or anything more or anything without Christ and Him crucified. That very simple, plain gospel
message that God uses to touch the heart of a poor sinner, just
like that publican beating on his breast saying, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. He didn't have anything to brag
about, didn't have anything to testify of. He just fell at God's
feet and said, God, be propitious. That's what that means. Mercy,
see, be merciful to me, the sinner. And that's Christ and Him crucified.
Now, that is the great issue of the book of Galatians right
here. Turn to Galatians 1. And what
the book of Galatians is teaching, what the Apostle Paul was doing,
he's preaching here. He's writing here to professing
believers, men and women to whom he had preached the gospel plainly
and clearly and simply, and who had given men no agreement to
it, but they had been drawn away by the subtleties of Satan, false
preachers and legalists. And Paul is explaining, he's
seeking to recover them. You know, even believers can
get sidetracked, can't we? We can get off the issue. We
can get off the mark. We can get diverted. And it's
imperative that we be called back to the one issue that makes
the difference. And it's the one issue that makes
the difference in our salvation and our relationship with God.
And listen to me. It's the issue that makes the
difference in our relationship to each other. Now, that's right. This is the glue that holds us
together. This is the ground of our fellowship. And he's seeking
to recover them. And he's telling them this. We
have one gospel. Not two, not three, no variations. We have one gospel message. Christ and him crucified. The
person and finished work of Christ. We must never be moved away from
it. We must never allow it to be
corrupted. And listen to me, we must never
allow it even to be complicated with our own ideas and our own
words. All that we preach and all that
we believe must be preached in light of this one gospel, Christ
and Him crucified. Now, here in the first five verses
of Galatians 1, we have a salutation from a preacher of this gospel.
And you know what he does in verse 1? He identifies himself
by the gospel. This one gospel, this one message,
Christ crucified, the only gospel, this is how Paul identifies himself.
I identify myself with this message. He says, Paul, an apostle, not
of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father
who raised him from the dead. He identifies himself, he identifies
his office by the gospel message. He's an apostle. That's an office
appointed by God for the formation of the New Testament church and
for the writing of the scriptures. He had that authority. An apostle
was one who had their revelation of truth directly from the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Paul, later on, he says he
was one born out of due time. He wasn't like Peter and James
and John and the other apostles who walked under the teachings
of the incarnate word as he walked on this earth. Paul saw a revelation
of Christ himself on the Damascus road when the Lord unhorsed him
and put him in the dust and blinded him and then gave him sight later
on to see. Taught him the truth. His office
and his authority, he said, is not of men, neither by men. That
means, in other words, he wasn't appointed to this office by men
or by any committee or religious authority of man, nor through
man. His office and authority is through
Jesus Christ. Christ appointed him. Christ
gave him the message. And God the Father who raised
Christ from the dead. Now what he does in this identification
here, in this parenthesis in verse 1, he brings their focus
immediately to the issue. when he mentions God the Father
who raised Christ from the dead. Their focus must be on Christ
and the glory of the Father in Christ, the finished work of
Christ, the only ground of salvation, the only ground of our justification
before God. He says God the Father who raised
him from the dead, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 with me, verse 3, rather. Paul is reminding the church
at Corinth here of this issue of the gospel, the message, for
I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins. And it's not, listen to
me, it's not just that he died for our sins, but that he died
for our sins according to the scriptures. How did he die for
our sins? I'm going to show you that in
just a moment. And that he was buried. and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures. Now what we see in
this is that the resurrection of Christ is more than simply
the retelling of a miracle of someone being raised from the
dead. That is a miracle. We're learning about Lazarus
in John chapter 11, whom Christ raised from the dead. And that
is certainly a remarkable thing that identified our Lord as the
I Am from whom life comes. God Himself in human flesh who
raised the dead. Life comes from Him. But His
resurrection after He laid in the tomb, His resurrection after
He suffered on the cross and died and was buried is more than
just the retelling of a miracle of life from the dead. His resurrection
is the preaching of the fruit and the result of Christ crucified. What did He accomplish? What
did He do? He has finished work to put away
sin. It is sin that demands death.
What did Christ do on that cross? He put away sin. He was raised
from the dead because He atoned for sin. Look over in the book
of Daniel. I want you to turn with me to
this passage. I've turned here before, and some of you may have
this marked. But we talked about it. He died for our sins according
to the Scripture. He was buried and raised again
the third day according to the Scriptures. What do the Scriptures
say about his death and his burial and his resurrection? Here is
a prophecy of the Messiah in Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24.
And it speaks of that period of time in which he would exist
here upon earth, determined, seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. And listen to this
description now. What would he do by his death
on the cross? It says he would finish the transgression. What is a transgression? That's
a breaking of the law. And he's going to finish that.
He's going to make an end of sins. The Bible says that if
sin is laid to our charge, sin will make an end of us. And what
does it do if it's laid to our charge? It kills us. It's death. You see, if you're yet in your
sins without hope, without an atonement, without the blood
of Christ, you're yet in your sins condemned unto eternal death. When it says here, he made an
end of sins. Sin was charged to him. He was
made to be sin, the Scripture says. Sin was imputed to him,
and when sin was laid upon him, what did he do? He made an end
of it. How did he do it? He died. He
finished the transgression. He satisfied law and justice.
And then it goes on, it says, to make reconciliation for iniquity. He reconciled sinners unto God
and God to sinners. That's what the scripture says
in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. The
ground of peace was laid at the cross at Calvary. Sin was put away then. That's
what the scripture said, was put upon him. And he finished
it and he took it into the grave. And when he came out of the grave,
he came without sin. Look here. It says, to bring
in everlasting righteousness. That's the fruit of his obedience
unto death. He established a righteousness
based upon which God could be just and justify the ungodly. And then he sealed up the vision
and the prophecy, the word of God was fulfilled, and to anoint
the most holy. All of this God did when he raised
him from the dead, recognizing that Christ bore our sins. Look
at Isaiah chapter 53, verse 4. You see, his finished work to
put away sin that demands death was by establishing a righteousness
that demanded not only his resurrection as the representative, but the
resurrection of all whom he represented so that sin would not make an
end of us. It says in verse 4, Surely he hath borne our griefs. And surely he hath carried our
sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." Look over at
verse 11. It says, "...he shall see of
the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." God is satisfied
with the sacrifice of his son. How do we know that? He raised
him from the dead. And by his knowledge, shall my
righteous servant justify many, many, how many? I don't know.
However many he represented, they'll be declared not guilty,
righteous in him. And he says, for he shall bear
their iniquities. He made an end of sin. Therefore,
verse 12. Will I divide him a portion with
the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong?
Because he poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered
with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and he
made intercession for the transgressors." All of that. Look back at Galatians
1 now. That's what Paul's saying. This
is, I'm an apostle, he says. Wasn't appointed to this office
by men. It wasn't through man, but it was by Jesus Christ, whom
God raised from the dead. Now look at verse 2. He says
here, all the brethren, all the brethren which are with me unto
the churches of Galatia. His brethren were fellow laborers
with Paul that were with him, men like Timothy and others who
preached the gospel with him. And he's writing here to the
churches of Galatia. He identifies his hearers, the
church, the church, Who is the church? It's not this building. It's not the bricks and the mortar
and the parking lot and all that we say going to church. I say
that too. But the church came here tonight
to worship God, to hear the gospel. The church is not the physical
plant. The church is you, the people
of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ. The church are the
elect of God, chosen before the foundation of the world and given
to Christ. The Church are those whom God sent His Son to finish
sin, to end the transgression, to bring forth righteousness,
to redeem them by His precious blood. The Church are those who
are called out, given life, spiritual life, quickened by the Spirit
of God, and given spiritual life by the Spirit, and given ears
to hear and eyes to see and hearts to understand. The Church are
those whom God gives faith to believe. and repentance to turn
away from themselves and false religion. The church is the called
out ones. They're called out of the world
and into the family of God. They're adopted into the family
of God, called spiritual Israel. They are those who are gathered,
gathered by the Lord into the fellowship of faith. And this
is who he's writing to, these who claim had heard and claimed
to believe the gospel. Verse 3, he says, Grace be to
you. Now, this is a common salutation
of Paul. Verse 3, Grace be to you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
is the foundation of peace. And they both come from God the
Father, the only source and originator of salvation, and they come by
our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who established peace by his
substitutionary death, his obedience unto death. That's why he's called
the Prince of Peace. That's why he brings peace between
God and sinners. He's the reconciler. He's the
surety. And Paul, right here, he's speaking
peace to all who have come to the Father through Christ, who
are reconciled to God in Christ. Turn back over to Galatians chapter
6. What is it to speak peace to
someone? Well, it's to recognize these
things. Look here, I'm going to show
you exactly what it is. We've got a list right here. Look back at Galatians
6.14. Now remember what Paul said here. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is my hope.
He's my rejoicing. He's my confidence. What He did,
not what I do, not what I'm unable to do, totally upon what He did
2,000 years ago at the cross of Calvary as my sins were given
to Him and His righteousness to me. And he says, By whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature, a new creation. The only thing that means anything
in the kingdom of God is have you been made a new creature
in Christ? How do I know if I've been made
a new creature? Are you looking to Him? Are you trusting Him? Resting in Him? Look at verse
16. And as many as walk according
to this rule, This teaching, this doctrine, that's what that
is. We get the word canon from there, not the canon you shoot
a cannonball out of, but the canon of truth that we believe. Our canon, our body of truth,
our profession of faith. As many as walk according to
this rule. Now, what rule? God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of Christ. Peace be on them. That's what he's saying. He's
recognizing that you're at peace with God and God is at peace
with you. Why? Because you're pleading the blood
of the crucified one. And mercy. He's recognizing God's
been merciful to such and one as this. One who glories in the
cross alone. One who knows Christ is his all
in all. God's been merciful. And upon
the Israel of God, spiritual Israel, God's elect, the church.
And that's what Paul's doing here in Galatians one and verse
three. Now, again, look at verse four.
Now, again, he turns their focus back to the ground of salvation.
This Christ from whom we experience the grace of God and the peace
of God, verse four, who gave himself for our sins. The substitutionary
work of Christ for his sheep. focusing on the finished work
of Christ as the only ground of our salvation. We read about
it in Isaiah 53 and Daniel chapter 9. There are so many passages
we could go to to talk about that. But He gave Himself. He didn't send someone to do
it for Him. He didn't do it by proxy. He
didn't shirk from His responsibility. And He gave His whole self for
our sins. He submitted himself to the will
of his Father and to the wickedness of man in order to put away our
sins. He suffered and bled and died
such untold agony that we can't even describe in his very soul
based upon our sins charged to him. And he did that that he
might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will
of God and our Father. This evil age that he speaks
of, what is that evil world, evil age? It's anything that
opposes, denies, or devalues Christ crucified. Isn't that
simple? We don't need to complicate this
thing. Anything that takes away from the person of Christ, anything
that takes away from his finished work as our only ground of salvation
is evil. I don't care if it's politics,
religion, philosophy, education, whatever it is, whatever form
it comes in, if it diminishes the glory of the God-man, who
he is, If it diminishes the efficacy and the power and the fruit that
comes from his finished work to save me from my sins totally
and completely, it's part of this evil age, and we're delivered
from it. Delivered from it. Somebody says, well, he's talking
about immorality there. Yes, he is. But he's also talking
about religion that denies Christ. In fact, that's the whole issue
in Galatians. These false preachers weren't coming in and trying
to get people drunk or trying to get them to go down and take
drugs. They were just simply saying,
you've got Christ, you're saved by the grace of God, but that's
not enough. Beware of the preacher who says
that what Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary is not
enough. In fact, not only be aware of
him, just avoid him altogether. How about that? Just get away
from him. I told you this morning, I showed
you from 2 Corinthians 11, one thing a false preacher cannot
do, even those who come subtly, they cannot consistently message
after message preach this gospel and point sinners to Christ.
They'll always divert from it because their heart's not in
it. And this evil age is full of
it. And it's according to the will
of our God and father to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The issue and the glory
of God is Christ and him crucified. Now look at verse six. Now, Paul
begins to describe the seriousness of the problem here. This is
no light matter. This is serious business. And
he says here, I'm marveled. I'm amazed. that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. I'm amazed that you're turning
away from it, that you're being diverted from it, that your focus
is not on Christ and him crucified. And the issue here is this. They
had not yet totally fallen away and apostatized from it, openly
denying it, but they were allowing themselves to be diverted, just
to turn to the left and to the right. I don't know how many of you
have cell phones. But you know there's all kinds of jokes going
around people driving their cars down the road talking on the
cell phone. Now you may be one of those. I don't have a cell
phone so I guess I can just set myself above you a little bit
tonight on that one. But I'll go by and I'll see somebody
talking on the cell phone and I'll say, you know they ought
not be doing that. Because that diverts them from what they're
doing. And it could cause an accident, and then I realize
me looking over at them, that's the same thing. I'll probably have a wreck dropping
one of those people using a cell phone while they're driving.
You know, when you get out here and drive, you young people,
you know, we let everything divert us. We might be eating breakfast.
Might be fooling around with the radio. I was riding in the
car there the other day, and he's punching on it. I said,
get your hand off that radio and drive down the road. I'm
in the car with you, you know. We get diverted. And diversion
will lead to disaster. Isn't that right? That's why
most people have wrecks, car wrecks, because they get diverted
by something. Keep your focus on the road when
you're driving. That's hard to do, you know.
We've got all kinds of things that will divert our attention.
Well, my friend, if you can see the importance of it there, how
much more here? How much more here? This is eternal
life. This is more than just a car
wreck. This is eternal disaster. You're running, the Bible says,
you're running a race. How are we to run the race? Looking
over here and over there and behind us? No, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. Keep your eyes on Him. Keep your focus on Him. Keep
your eyes and your focus upon what He's already accomplished
when Satan attacks. What are we going to do? Plead
the blood of the Lamb. Keep your focus right there.
When people accuse you, and they will, they'll accuse you of everything,
keep your focus on Christ. Don't even go after them. I'll
tell you what, you get diverted when you look at them. When I
look at my accusers, I'm diverted. Keep my focus on Christ and say,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justified. It's God who declared me not
guilty. It's God who declares me righteous
in Him. Who can condemn me? Men may,
Satan may, but God doesn't. It's Christ that died. Keep your
focus right on Him. And that's what Paul's telling.
I'm amazed, Paul's saying, that you're not focused on Christ,
that you're not looking to Him, that you're moved away, you're
diverted away from the only thing that we have in this life and
the next that means anything solid and eternal. from him who called you into
the grace of Christ to a different gospel. And I want you to notice
something here. In turning away from the gospel,
they turned away from him. Did you see that? In verse 6,
read it again. I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. When our minds get diverted and
moved away from the gospel message of grace in Christ, Christ crucified,
we're moved away from Him, whom to know is life eternal. It's
not just a little difference in doctrine here, not on this
issue now. Now, believers can differ on some things, don't
get me wrong. We may differ on interpretations of particular
verses. But when we go this way of being diverted from the foundation
of the faith, the ground of our justification before God, Christ
and His blood and His righteousness imputed, we're being moved away
from Him. Now, that's serious business. We're
not just going to another denomination here. Some might say, well, all
that is is just doctrine, my friend. Your doctrine tells me
the God you believe in. Never forget that. Your doctrine
describes the Christ you trust. Who is he? What did he do? Why did he do it? Where is he
now? Look at verse seven. He says
this other gospel, it's not another. Gospel is good news. And what
these false preachers are preaching is not good news. It's not another.
It's not really another gospel. It's not a gospel at all. It's
not good news at all. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. There's only one true
gospel. So this other gospel is a perversion
of the truth. And these people trouble you,
he says. What do they do? They sow seeds of doubt. They
sow seeds of division about Paul and what he preached. They went
after Paul's message and they went after Paul. And that's the
way it is with false preachers. That's the way it is with false
brethren. They'll go after your message, and if they can't go
after your message, they'll go after you. And if they can't
go after you, I don't know what they'll go after. I don't know
what's next. But that's what it is. They trouble
you. They trub you. Now, here's a person sitting
under the consistent preaching of the gospel, rejoicing, resting
in Christ, being encouraged and motivated in obedience and faith. by the Lord Jesus Christ and
somebody comes along and just with the word brings some trouble. Huh? You know what he did? Now, you know what the answer
should be to that? Should be, no, I don't know what
he did, but if I ever want to know, I ask him. What? Shouldn't it? If I ever want
to know, I ask him. I'll find out. Or they say, did
you hear what he said? You know what he believes? Well,
if I want to really know, I'll ask him or I'll hear him. They go after, they trouble.
You see, that's trouble. That's the way they do it. They
trouble you and they'll turn you against the gospel. And that's
their goal and their error. Now, listen to me. Their error
is not an open denial of the gospel. These men weren't coming
into the churches of Galatia and saying we're atheist. Or
we don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, or we don't believe
in the sovereign grace of God. But their error was subtle, a
subtle perversion of the gospel. Particularly, and we're going
to see this in the book of Galatians as we go through it, particularly
the doctrine of justification by Christ's righteousness alone. That was the particular doctrine
they got after. How is a sinner just before God? How can I, who am a sinner, be
declared not guilty before God? How can I be declared righteous
before God? Now, that's the issue. Is it
something I do? Is it something done in me? Or
is it totally something that Christ did for me? And the Gospel
says it's totally something Christ did for us. And don't get moved
away from it. Well, Paul writes, look at look
at verse seven, which is not another, but there be some that
trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But look
at verse eight now. Now, these false preachers were
coming in, claiming to be apostles, sin of God. So Paul says, but
though we an apostle. Some of them claim to have a
revelation from God, from heaven, so he says, but though we or
an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Some of these false preachers
preaching this false gospel with all their claims and all their
personality, all their supposed love, he says, let them be accursed. And as I said this morning, this
is not spoken in pride and hatred. Paul knew well that by nature,
the natural man cannot receive the Spirit of God. He knew what
he did in the past. Paul knew his past. He even brought
it up. He said, I'm the least of the apostles. I persecuted
the church. What a past this man had. If
you wanted to dwell on his past, you could disqualify him from
anything, couldn't you, if you wanted to? But he said, I persecuted. Paul was a God-hater. Paul is
the one who held the coats of Stephen when they stoned God's
precious, precious servant in Jerusalem. He held the coats.
He urged them on. When he was on the Damascus Road
and the Lord stopped him and unhorsed him, he wasn't on his
way to a prayer meeting. He was on his way to kill everyone
who'd go to the prayer meeting. He had in his mind to stamp out
the name of Jesus of Nazareth off the face of the earth. And
God stopped him. So Paul says, he knew about this,
so he says, let them be accursed. He's not saying that with pride
and hatred. It's not like he's saying, just
let them go to hell. I've heard preachers say that.
Paul's saying, just let them go to hell. I don't believe he's
saying that at all. I want to tell you something. I cannot
for the life of me. I mean, I get mad at people.
Don't get me wrong. I get angry and I just want to
get them, you know. You're the same way. But I can't for the
life of me think about anybody going to hell without a tear
in my heart. I really can't. And I'll tell you how, I'll tell
you how, what keeps me from it. I think, what if it were my children?
What if it were my father, my mother, my wife, or somebody
that I love? Think about it that way. I think
that helps keep us in check. No, he's just simply saying this
is God's judgment upon all who would pervert the gospel. It's
a sad judgment, but it's a truth. Let them be accursed. And he
emphasizes it in verse nine, as we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
you have received, let him be accursed. God's judgment upon
all those who would pervert the gospel is that they're lost. They're under the curse of God.
Well, that's not a popular message, is it? Sometimes it's not an
easy one to preach. It doesn't please men. It doesn't
win friends and influence people. But Paul said in verse 10, for
do I now persuade men or God? Am I trying to please men or
God? That's what he said. Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Listen, God's preachers are sent to tell the truth. We are sent
to preach it plainly, simply, clearly. Sometimes we mess it
up. Sometimes we get in our own way.
But listen to me. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let that be our
motto. Let that be our message. Let
that be our identification. And let's pray that God will
keep us from being diverted away from that message. All right.