meet our needs, but Paul said
here in verse 6, Galatians chapter 1 and verse 6, I marvel, I marvel
that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another,
but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. 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. As we said before,
so say I now again, if any preach any other gospel unto you than
that you have received, let him be accursed. Paul talks about
people perverting the gospel. The trouble you and would pervert
the gospel. In our last message, we see clearly
that the gospel is concerning a person, our Lord Jesus Christ.
It says there in verse 4, speaking of Christ, who gave himself for
our sins, that he might deliver us, save us from this present
evil world. You see, beloved, that's the
message, that's the gospel. It concerns a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ crucified, gave himself
for our sins. This shows us that we're neither
able to satisfy for our own sins, and we certainly don't have dominion
over them, and don't have power over them. And that's why Christ
came and gave himself for our sins. Had he not done that, we'd
still yet be in our sins, and that would be in a horrible,
horrible place to be. Once you ever know Christ and
know what sin is, the last thing you want to be found is in your
sins. You want to be found in Christ.
And then this gospel, this gospel concerning Christ was according
to the will of God. This wasn't an afterthought.
This wasn't after Adam fell that God decided, well, I better do
something here real quick. Things have made a mess out of
something. I better get down there and do something. And then
after the Jews rejected Christ, I better go and try something
else. No, no. Christ was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. God had an elect people, a chosen
people. in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And Christ came and gave himself
for our sins according to the will and purpose of God before
the foundation of the world. It was God's will that gave us
Christ. It was God's will that made him an offering for us.
It was God's will that caused him to be a sacrifice for our
sins. This is God's way of saving sinners.
And then we saw also there in verse 5, to whom be glory forever
and ever, that everything that God does, he does first and foremost
for his own glory. And that should be our motive
in what we do for the glory of God. We preach the gospel for
the glory of God. We hopefully live for the glory
of God. We hopefully, our lives manifest the glory of God. We
certainly want our message, our lives, Everything about us always
says we want to bring glory to God. And of course, God has done
everything in this world to the praise and the glory of His grace
which He gives us in Christ. And then He goes on to say, and
He uses some awful strong language here, awful strong language that
the Apostle uses here. And He says, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel. Now, I want you to notice this.
He doesn't call them apostates. He still regards these people
as believers. If he had considered them apostates,
he would have never wrote this letter to them. He would have
never addressed the great error that they were confronted with.
He doesn't call a marvel that your soul removed. They were
in the grace of Christ, called into the grace of Christ. There
are some there that were troubling them. He doesn't call them apostates. He considers them believers.
You know, he told the Jews, you despise and wondrous, you don't
want the gospel, I'll just leave you to perish in your sins, and
I'll turn to the Gentiles. And he did, and he never preached
another gospel to a bunch of Jews. There in Acts 28, you remember
there, he said, you don't want it? Go ahead. But oh my, he turned to the Gentiles,
and he considers them believers. And that's why he's so burdened,
you know. He founded these churches. He founded these churches. He
went to all these places. He knew these people. He had
preached the gospel to these people. Christ had been set forth
before them, crucified. Years of labor he went into. He suffered and he preached to
the earth. And yet, you know, years and years and years of
a man's labor can be tore down in just a short while. You let
somebody come in that knows how to speak and how to move and
how to sway people, And there won't be no time before folks
will be off in a tangent. It won't take no time at all. And that's true. You know why
that's true? Because of us. That's why Paul
says, you know, he said, I told the Corinthians, I'm jealous
over you with a godly jealousy because I presented you as a
chaste virgin to Christ. And here Satan, with his subtlety,
has beguiled Eve. He'll beguile you from the simplicity,
the singularity that's in Christ. And he said, and these folks,
they want an occasion to glory. He said, I'll give them an occasion
to glory. I'll tell you what they are. They're not like us.
They're false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the ministers of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. So, oh my, in just
a little while, because of this awful nature of ours, somebody
come in and just with a powerful personality, with some charisma,
and come in and sway folks and turn them here, yonder, and about.
And that's why God helped us to always, always know the scriptures. Always understand what the gospel
is. And if anybody brings anything besides Christ, Christ in him
crucified. Christ in his righteousness.
Christ is in eternality. Christ in his Godhead. Do not
accept that gospel. Don't do it. And I'll tell you
false teachers had come in here and led these Galatians into
a grave error and Paul seeks to save them from it. Save them
from a perverted gospel. And he says in verse 6, I marvel. I marvel. Now remember over there
he says no marvel. There's no marvel that Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light. That's no great
marvel. That's just no marvel. But here,
he said, I am marveled. I stand in absolute astonishment,
filled with great surprise, filled with sorrow, that you are, now
watch this, so soon, Paul went in and established this church,
and then so soon, so soon you're removed, now watch this, from
him, Oh my, remove from him that called
you. Called you. What a big call of
God. That's why Peter says make your
calling and election sure. Paul, when he talked about calling,
he says this, for you see your calling, brethren. This is one
way we know we're one of God's elect. We know we've been called
by the gospel. For you see your calling, brethren.
Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. God chose the foolish. Preaching,
men, sinners, chose the foolish to confound the wise and the
weak. Nobody is to confound the mighty. And the reason He did
this, that no flesh should glory in His presence. And unto you
that are called, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of
God. And he said, I'm marveled that
you're so soon removed from him that called you. Who called him? God called him. And they were
called of Christ. Called by the Holy Spirit. And
Paul was the instrument by which they were called through the
gospel. You know how God's going to call
you? Call me? Somebody comes with the gospel.
And He calls you to Christ. Calls you to God in Christ. And the Holy Spirit makes Christ
known to you. Look what Paul said there in
verse 15 about his own calling. Here, verse 15 of chapter 1,
But when it pleased God, he separated me from my mother's womb, and
called me. I was 30 years old before he
ever called me. That's what he said. I was a
persecutor, a blasphemer, injurious. And then he called me. I was
already separated from my mother's womb. God knew me. I was going
to be an apostle. God was going to make me a child
of God. But I didn't know that till he...
When did he call you? On the Damascus road. How did
he call you? Struck me down. Blinded me as
a bat. That's how he called him. If
he ever called you like that, if he calls you like that. Remember
Brother Clay? During our meeting, he preached
on the blessing of blindness. Nobody wants to be blind. But
our Lord Jesus said, they that are blind, I've come that they
that are blind might receive their sight. And the Pharisee
said, are we blind also? And our Lord said, if you were,
you'd have no sin. But since you say, I see, You'll
die in His hands. Oh my, God only gives sight to
the blind. He blinds you in order to give you sight. Oh, for whom He did foreknow
Him, He also called. And oh, Paul said, I marvel that
you're so soon removed from Him that called you. To be removed
from the purity, to be removed from the simplicity of the Gospel.
No wonder he marveled. No wonder he stood in astonishment.
And oh my, when they were removing themselves from Christ, removing
themselves from God and the Holy Spirit and the Gospel, from Christ
and from Paul, they were removing them everything from high and
holy and pure and glorious. And Paul said he traveled and
birthed for them and would travel again. Oh, they were removed and they
were being removed. What they were saying was that
they were sliding the mercy and grace and kindness of God and
Christ and even an apostle who came and gave so much to preach
the gospel to them. Suffered to preach the gospel
to them. And then he says here, I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him that calls you. And what's called you to what?
Into the grace of Christ. Called into the grace of Christ.
Made accepted in the Beloved. You know our Lord Jesus Christ
came because of grace. It was the grace and love of
God born in His heart that gave us Christ. It's grace of Christ that saves
His people. And it's grace that He teaches
them of grace, and He calls them by grace, and He calls them into
grace, and it's not only grace, but the grace of Christ. To be
into the grace that's in Christ. To be immersed in it, to be called
into it, to enjoy it, and rejoice in it, and find comfort and assurance
in it. He says, I marvel that you can
be removed from this grace that's in Christ. Called into grace
to be removed from that, what could you possibly be removed
from that would be any better than that? Be more glorious than
that. Be freer than that. Be more powerful
than that. And then he says, by grace of
Christ, unto another gospel. Oh, he said, I marvel. I'm amazed. I'm shocked. I'm troubled. That
you removed from Christ Him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel. Now what's what he says about
this other gospel? What's what he says? Which is
not another. What he's saying is there's not
another gospel. There's no one gospel. Always
has been but one gospel. And I make no bones about it.
I say wherever I go, in whatever congregation I'm listening to,
there's none of this business here of getting saved under Arminianism,
getting saved under Free Willism, getting saved under a lie, and
then just growing into a deeper knowledge in the strong. That's
nothing to that. That ain't but been one gospel. And I've known from my own experience
that until I heard that gospel, and knew that gospel, That it
was Christ alone, what Christ did, what Christ accomplished,
not what I did, not what I was going to do, not what I was going
to accomplish, not a decision I made, not an hour I walked,
not a prayer I prayed, not a tear I shed, had anything to do with
my salvation. I had to think, I had to count
it all done. Garbage. And that's why there's
not another gospel. But Paul said that to another
gospel, he said, really, there's not another gospel, there's no
other good news other than the good news that's in Christ. Amen. Huh? Which is not another, but
watch this, but there should be some that trouble you, would
trouble you, and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. What do you think when you think of a pervert? Paul says that's what these fellows
are. They're perverts. They pervert the gospel. You
know what a pervert does? Or to pervert something is? Means? It does one gospel, not another.
Some would pervert it. To pervert it means to transform
into something of an opposite character. Take something like the gospel. A free grace in Christ, a salvation
accomplished by Christ, an eternal redemption obtained by Christ,
a righteousness given to us by Christ, and transform that into
something altogether different, the opposite of what grace is.
Huh? You're taking Christ and transforming
Him into Moses? Taking Christ and transforming
Him into A minister of sin taking Christ and transforming Him into
something that you need besides Him? It's like saying the sun
is turned into darkness. That's transforming something
that gives light all the time, and all of a sudden it's transformed
into something else altogether. Opposite character. And that's
what they do. They take the gospel and make it exactly opposite
of what it is. And then He says, there be some
that trouble you. Look over here in Galatians 5. And oh my, what a perversion,
what a perversion of the Gospels they are today. Oh, what perversions
of it. What awful perversions of the
Gospel. Christ's blood is not sufficient
to put away your sin unless you mix your faith with it. Christ's
blood is not sufficient to satisfy God. You've got to do something
yourself to add to Christ by repentance or faith or walking
the Nile or making a decision before Christ's death will be
effectual for you, before His satisfaction will be effectual
before God. When Christ redeemed His people
2,000 years ago on the cross, and He redeemed them on purpose
because God sent Him forth as a propitiation. And oh, look here in Galatians
5.10, there will be some that trouble you. I have confidence
in you, Galatians 5.10, through the Lord, that he will be none
otherwise minded, that you will be none otherwise minded. But
he that troubles you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. Paul said they're troubling you
bringing you this perversion of the gospel. They're troubling
you. They're troubling you. They're
troubling the gospel. They trouble your soul. They
trouble your relationship with God. Let me show you something. Galatians 15.24. Look here with
me. You think this ain't serious
business. I'm sorry. Acts 15.24. I did say 1 Corinthians.
I'm glad you all caught me. Acts 15.24. For as much as we have heard,
the certain which went out from us have troubled you with words,
subverting your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep
the law, to whom we gave no such commandment." No such commandment. None whatsoever to give that
kind of a commandment. And that's what he said. That's
people who come in and trouble you. And it is troubling. Once
you know the gospel, and you see somebody else come in with
it, and they pervert it, and they transform its character,
and they change it into a character that's not even close to the
Scriptures, not even close to what the Scriptures tell about
it, and they present a Christ that's not even close to the
Christ of the Bible. And you know, I'll tell you something
back over in our text. False teachers don't come into
a congregation with a placard hanging around their neck saying,
I'm a false teacher. They don't come in like that.
They don't come in with a big sign saying, I'm here to tell
you a lie. I'm here to pervert the gospel
for you. I'm here to trouble you. I'm here to change your
mind about some things about Christ. They don't come in like
that. You don't come in and say, I'm
false, I'm false, I'm a liar. No, no. The devil doesn't come
as a devil, he'd be easily recognized if he did. Ain't that right? Old John Martin Luther called
him black devil and white devil. Black devil sins and white devil
sins. It's the white devil that goes
to church, it's the black devil out in the world. The black devil,
he causes people to commit murder and adultery and all kinds of
things and gives them the power to excuse and justify what they
do. But the white devil, he comes
as an angel, as an angel of light. He comes and tells you, oh, God
loves you, you know that? And I do too. And he'll come
in and start telling you about, boy, you know, you folks got
some good things about you, some good qualities about you. And
God recognizes him good qualities about you. Next thing you know,
he got you feeling real, real good about yourself. Then he'll
start talking about, you know Christ really saved you, and
He has really saved you, but you know what we need to do is
we've got to come under the law and have the law as a believer's
rule of life so we'll be able to control ourselves and control
our flesh and keep ourselves under subjection. The first thing
he lies about when he tells you to do something. We can't do
anything. If we can do anything to bring
ourselves under subjection, Christ is dead in vain. If we can do
anything to put one sin away by the deeds of the flesh, Christ
is dead in vain. And there are, as human beings,
brothers and sisters in Christ, there's many, many things, many
wonderful qualities you've got. Many wonderful qualities you've
got. I was talking to Dale Simpson today, and he told me to tell
you all how much he loved you, how much he appreciated you,
how gracious you were, how you made everybody so welcome, and
you have got some wonder. But when it comes to the gospel
and before Christ, we don't have anything. But now to one another
we got great love and great, we commend one another in wonderful
ways. But not when it comes to this gospel. We have nothing
to commend ourselves to God. Lots to commend ourselves to
one another. But nothing to commend ourselves to God. Now ain't that
right? You understand that? There's
a big difference in that. Me alone. Martin Luther says
this, he comes along and says, Christ is a good workman. Oh
my, oh, he's a good workman. He does a good job. He's began
a building, but he's unable to finish it. You've got to have
Moses to help you finish it. And I'll tell you this much,
he said, if the devil, if he can't hurt by persecuting and
destroying you, he'll come under the guise of, well, you all just
need a little correcting. You need to be more established.
I need to take you a little deeper in the word. I need to show you
another aspect of the gospel. He comes with that kind of stuff.
And that's what he says here, pervert the gospel. Those who
mingle law and the gospel, they're perverters of the gospel. You
can't mix them. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Righteous end of it, the goal
of it, the fulfillment of it. When you get to the end of something,
you can't go, you'll be going down a road and you'll come to
something and say, now if you turn in here, it's a dead end. Now if you go in there, you're
going to have to back out or find some way to turn around to get
back, because you went as far as you can go. And that's what
the gospel tells us of Christ. He goes and he went as far as
the law can go, and he ended it. He put an end to it as a
covenant. He put the end of it as a curse.
He put the end of it as something that's condemning power. And,
beloved, I've got to the end, and I can't go no farther, and
I don't want to go no farther. I've got Christ and His righteousness.
And I didn't get Him by the law or by works or anything else,
but by faith. And I'll tell you, when it comes
to the law and the gospel, perverting it, either Christ must remain,
and the law must perish, or the law remain and Christ must perish. Grace and works do not mix, for
Christ and the law can by no means agree and reign together
in the conscience. Can't do it. Christ and the law
cannot agree and reign in the same conscience. Either the law
is going to reign, and you're going to be condemned all the
time, or grace is going to reign, and Christ is going to reign,
and you're not going to be condemned. You're free from guilt. They
don't dwell together in the same house. And Paul said here in
verse 7, he says, which is not another. They pervert the gospel
of Christ. He said, what you'll end up finding
out, that it's no gospel at all. There's not another. There can't
be another. There ain't but one gospel. Can't not be another
gospel. Sins are only removed by Christ. Satisfaction is only
made by Christ. Justification is only made by
Christ. Righteousness is only given to
us by Christ. And to turn from that to what? To justification by works? Justification
by law? Justification by flesh? Oh, to
turn from that, and then look what he says. He has such confidence
in his gospel that he preached, he makes this statement. But
though we, me, Timothy, Titus, Silas, anybody that's a brother
of mine that come with me, that though we, or an angel from heaven,
if God sent an angel down here, and if he could preach, Do you
reckon he would preach a lie? And he says, if we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we've
already preached unto you. We preach one gospel. Ain't that
what he says over here in Galatians 3? Look in Galatians 3 with me
just a moment. Oh foolish Galatians. Who hath
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you?
That means set forth in the gospel, set forth in the preaching of
Christ crucified. And I only want to learn this
of you. Tell me this. Answer this question. Did you
receive the Spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of
faith? Did you go back under the law
and become circumcised and go keep the law as the rule of life?
Is that how you received the Spirit? Or when somebody is preaching
the gospel to you and I came to preach the gospel, did the
Spirit of God come to you when you were listening? And so he had such confidence in
this, he said, if anybody comes and preaches another gospel,
let him be anathema. Let him be cursed. Let him be
cursed. And then he says, I want to emphasize
this, I want you to get it. As we said before, so say I now
again. If anybody, anywhere, anytime,
under any circumstances, preaches any other gospel unto you than
that you have received, let him be accursed. Oh my, what is it
to be accursed? Let me show you in Acts 15. Let
me show you something here. Acts 15.10. You think to be accursed of God,
what an awful thing to think to be accursed of God. And you
know how many people are going to be accursed of God? Do you
have any idea how many people are going to be accursed of God?
That uses the name of Jesus? That reads from the Bible? That
preaches? Now here's Simon Peter when they're
debating and arguing over and making the decision over whether
Moses, they told him in verse 1 here, certain men which came
down from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. Well, they come
to Jerusalem to debate this question. And now Peter says this in verse
10, And when he says, when you bring Moses into this situation,
you bring circumcision into this situation, you bring the commandments
of Moses into this situation, therefore why tempt ye God? You bring Moses, you bring law,
you bring circumcision, and you're tempting God Himself. Do you
imagine tempting God? You know, Christ was up on that
pinnacle and Satan said, cast yourself down. He said he gave
his angels charge over thee that he'll bear you up lest you dash
your foot against a stone. And he said, thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God. I've got the promise of God.
Yeah, he'll catch me. There ain't no danger of me hurting.
But I ain't going to tempt God. And that's jumping off a pinnacle.
But he said, here, you just preach. When you bring anything besides
Christ and His grace, you're tempting God Almighty. And you
know what happened to people in the Old Testament when they
tempted God, provoked Him? He killed 23,000. I read today
He killed 23,000 in one day. And you know why He killed them
over? He sent 12 spies down into Canaan. He said, go down there and spy
out the land. See how big the people are, how good the land
lays, where the best water is at, whether they lived in fences
or whether they lived in tents or whether they lived in walled
cities. See how the fruit grows and how
the corn grows and all that. They went down there and they
come back and oh my, when they got down to Eshcol, they cut
down grapes and they had to put them on a pole and carry them
back. When they got back up there, Two fellows said, let's go down
there. Jacob and Joshua and Caleb said, let's go, it's ours, gotta
go with us. Them other ten said, oh no, no,
no, no, no, there's giants down there. Oh, we're just grasshoppers
in their sight. And all those folks start wailing,
why didn't you leave us in Egypt? Why didn't you leave us in Egypt?
God said, Moses, get out of my way. I'm fixing to kill a whole
bunch of them. They murmured against me one
last time. And to bring in Christ, that's exactly what's happening
here. You're saying, God, Christ is not sufficient. His blood
is not sufficient. His death is not sufficient.
His righteousness is not sufficient. His person is not sufficient.
That's what they're saying. And you imagine tempting God. And then let me show you this
quickly. 1 Timothy. about being accursed of God.
This is scary. 1 Timothy 1.18, look what he
says here now. 1 Timothy 1.18. This charge
I commit unto thee, son Timothy, According to the prophecies which
went before on thee, that thou mightest war a good warfare,
holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away faith
and a good conscience, having put away concerning faith, have
made shipwrecked. Of whom is Hymenes and Alexander,
whom I have delivered unto Satan." God said, what you bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, what you loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven. He said, I delivered him unto Satan. And why'd he
do that for? That he'll learn not to blaspheme.
He'll learn to control his tongue. How would you like for an apostle
to say? If any man comes with any other
message other than an eternal, full, free, Complete salvation
in Christ, by Christ. Let him be accursed. Our Father, we thank you for
this day. Thank you for the Gospel. Thank you for the truth as it
is in Christ. Thank you for this salvation,
oh so provided, so full, no wonder the apostle called it such a
great salvation, so great a salvation, so great a deliverance, so powerful
that Christ gave himself for us to save us from this present
world, right now, in its dominion, in its power, saved us from our
sins. We bless you and thank you in
Christ's name. Amen.