The name of the message today
is One True Gospel. Now there is only one true gospel. There's not multiple ways to
heaven, there's only one way to heaven. And the one who said
that there's one way to heaven is God incarnate in the flesh
himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And we know as believers that
Christ is our salvation. He's our salvation. Outside of
Christ, we don't have salvation. We have nothing outside of Christ.
So with that in our minds, let's read here. Paul's writing again
to the Galatians. They've been seduced by the Judaizers. They've been bewitched, Paul
writes later on in the book, by the Judaizers. And they've
been told that you must be circumcised in order to be saved along with
Christ. Well, we know two weeks ago,
I believe it was, we looked at when Christ said it's finished,
that means It's finished, and we usually say the work's complete,
but I found out in the Greek, and I shared it with you all,
and I'm gonna share it again, we found out in the Greek that
this doesn't mean to be complete, it means to be bought to perfection.
Oh my, the work is perfect. There's nothing to be added to
it. If something's perfect, there's nothing to be added to it. So
this work that Christ did on Calvary's cross and the redemption
of sinners by the shedding of his precious blood is a perfect
work, beloved. Perfect work. That's what we
rest in, right? We rest in the truth that Christ
finished the work. There's nothing for us to do. When we say flee to Christ, You're
looking to Christ by God-given faith, but there's nothing we
can do for salvation. Nothing. Paul said to the Philippian
jailer who asked, what must I do to be saved? He said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved. Just believe. And we do by God-given
faith, don't we? When we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, we're granted faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and we believe. We believe. It's wondrous. There's
nothing we do. We're simply receivers of this
great grace and this great mercy. And so with that in mind, let's
read what Paul writes here to the Galatian church. He says,
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. The sinless one gave himself
for our sins. Paul's writing to a young church,
and he says, Christ gave himself for our sins. Why? That he might
deliver us from this present evil world. He might deliver
us from our sins. And that's not might, it's truth. That might doesn't mean, well,
maybe, It's dependent upon you. No, it doesn't mean that. He delivered us, didn't he, from
our sins by the shedding of his precious blood. And whose will
was it according to? Man's supposed free will, which
our will is bound to our nature. It's not free. I remember A.W. Pink said, the Christian has
free will. Now we start making decisions
and choices based upon the new nature. I like that, because
when we were dead in sin, we were making decisions based upon
our old nature. Now we're free. And Paul wrote
this, too. I was talking to Brother Donny
Bell about this yesterday. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made you free. These Galatians had been yoked
again with bondage, the bondage of the law, the bondage of being
circumcised, along with faith. If you add anything to the finished
work of Christ, it's no longer the gospel. It's no longer good
news. And so Paul writes them in chapter
5. We're going to look at that as we progress in the study.
Stand fast in the liberty, the freedom. Beloved, we are free. We are truly emancipated. We
were slaves, weren't we? We were slaves to our sin. Think
of this, we were slaves to our sin, and we were like slaves
on the slave block. And when slaves were brought
to the slave block, they were looked at by people, and then
they were purchased, right? How have we been purchased? With
the blood of Christ. And now we're absolutely free.
Rejoice in that this week. Let that fill your heart. Meditate
upon that. Let that fill your heart with
joy. We're free, beloved. We have liberty in Christ. I
don't think we really understand how free we are. But we're free. We're free from the bondage of
sin. We're free from the slavery of sin. It's wonderful. We're free from the law of God,
which demanded satisfaction, or the justice of God, too, that
demanded satisfaction. We're free from all that. Free
from the wrath of God, because it all fell upon Christ. And it's all according, we see
here, according to the will of God and our Father. Isn't that
wonderful? According to His will. To whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. What else could we say?
Glory be to God. Glory be to God, he's delivered
us. He gave himself for our sins and he delivered us from this
present evil world all according to the will of God. Then he says
this in verse six, I marvel that you are so suddenly removed from
him that called you under the grace of Christ unto another
gospel. And then Paul corrects himself
in verse seven, he says, which is not another. This supposed
gospel that their Judaizers are peddling is not a gospel, not
the gospel, which is not another, but there'd be some that trouble
you and would, look at this, pervert the gospel of Christ. Anything that man makes you do to gain merit and favor with
God is a perversion of the gospel. There is only one gospel. The
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. Well, people say, well,
that's pretty narrow-minded. Well, the Lord himself said, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. If we're going to be dogmatic
about anything, let us be dogmatic about the gospel. Salvation is
of the Lord, period. There's no wiggle room in there.
There's no wiggle room in that. And that's what the scripture,
Jonah 2.9 says, salvation's of the Lord. It's not of anything
we do. Paul writes to Titus, he says,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us. How? By the washing and regeneration
of the Holy Spirit of God. My, oh my. So we see in verse
five, or in the first five verses of Galatians, it's brought forth
evidently that there's only one gospel. And there's only salvation
through Christ. It is He who's delivered us from
our sins, and Him alone. And this salvation is only in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ, by His work, by His perfect work. The work, when He cried, it's
finished, the work was done to perfection. That means there's
absolutely nothing to be added by us. When I saw that a couple weeks
ago, I was just, you know, I knew about it being complete, but
I told Donny Bell, I said, when I saw that it was bought to perfection,
I was like a kid in a candy store being given a million dollars
to spend. I was so excited. Bought to perfection. My. Oh, how rich God's grace is,
how rich his mercy is, how rich the salvation in Christ alone
is. We are redeemed, beloved. We're purchased, just like that
slave off the slave line. We were purchased off the slave
block of sin by the perfect, redeeming, precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. My. And we didn't even know it. Christ died 2,000 years ago for
us. We didn't even know it. We're born into this world, and
we live our lives, and we go astray and do all kinds of things.
And then the Lord arrests us, doesn't he? We're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. Oh my, it's wonderful. And then
we're taught by God the Holy Spirit, not by man. We're taught
by God the Holy Spirit that this work is complete, finished, perfect. And that God's elect have received
eternal redemption. which was obtained by the Lord
Jesus Christ at Calvary. He obtained it by his finished
perfect work. He obtained it for us. He's sinless. He's spotless. He gave himself
for my sins. Gave himself for your sins, brother
Travis. Your sins, sister. Your sins, brother. He gave himself
for us. It's wonderful. That's the best
news I've ever heard. My. And this is why it's so important
not to compromise on the gospel. This is why it's so important
to preach what the scriptures say. Salvations of the Lord. Christ said, you've not chosen
me, I've chosen you. When? In eternity. This morning's message, we're
gonna see it's God who saved us. God who saved us, not mere man,
not any other man, but God incarnate in the flesh. He's our salvation. So it's important to make sure
that what's sounding from this pulpit is the gospel. Not only
for me as the preacher, but for you as the listeners too. It's
important that from this church sounds the gospel. You ever think of us as like
an outpost? This world's not our home, is
it? No, I like looking at churches. This is just me as little military
outposts. The Romans used to make outposts
in certain areas. They'd leave a cohort of men
there or a small group of men. They didn't need many men to
defend an area. But they leave about 100 men
behind, or sometimes less, in this little area. We're like
that, beloved. We're in the wilderness of this
world. And we're like a little group
of soldiers, because we're soldiers for Christ, aren't we? We are.
We are. And Tom, you'd know more about
that than being a soldier. But we're soldiers for Christ.
We're placed here. This is where we are stationed,
beloved. And it's wonderful. It's amazing. So out of here, it's important
for us to make sure the gospel's going out, right? To make sure
it's the true gospel. My. And how do we do that? Well, by listening to the message
and hearing that it's by salvation, is by grace alone, plus nothing
we do. Nothing we do. And I have a responsibility
as a preacher to not allow anybody in the pulpit who preaches any
other message. And I guard the pulpit, I'll
tell you that. I'm selective with who I have come in the pulpit.
My oh my, it's important to be that way. I was told a long time
ago by a grace preacher, you guard the gospel. You have to
go to church on Saturday to be saved. That's a sabbatarian,
that's a false gospel. I don't care how sincere they
are, they're false gospels. You have to speak in times to
be saved, that's a false gospel. Salvation's in Christ alone,
by his perfect work. So again, it's important to make
sure that from this pulpit, the one true gospel's being preached.
And this is what we believe, isn't it? That salvation is in
and through Christ alone, all because of God's amazing grace. If you're saved, you're saved
according to God's amazing grace. I think about that often. I think,
Lord, you had mercy on me. me all according to your grace
and mercy and we just marvel don't we we just marvel at that
fact we know we're poor wretched sinners undeserving of this mercy
and grace and yet God bestows it upon us again no one can be
saved by a false gospel those who preach and those who believe
another gospel cannot be saved they just cannot be Salvation is only in Christ by
his perfect work. All religions do not lead to
heaven. They do not. They do not at all. People say
that, oh, you're being harsh. You're being narrow-minded. If
I had a nickel for every time I was called narrow-minded, I'd
be a millionaire. I'm not narrow-minded. I just
believe what the scriptures say. Christ himself, our master, our
redeemer, the one who gave himself for my sins, says, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I believe that. Do you? I believe
that. There's no other way. That means Muhammad's wrong.
People who follow Muhammad's wrong. That means people who
follow Buddhism is wrong. People who follow Catholicism,
which is basically Mary worship, is wrong. It means all those other religions,
I don't care what ism it is, they're all wrong. They're all
wrong and millions, billions of people are following them. I was in that. I was brought
from the darkness of Catholicism to the light of the gospel and
only by God's grace. Only by God's grace and mercy.
The majority of religious folks are so blinded by the false religions.
I was blinded when I was in Catholicism. Somebody asked me, do you know
Christ? Oh yeah, I know Christ. No, do you really know him? No, I know that he's the son
of God. But you know, and this man challenged
me. And man, the foundations of what
I believe just start shaking. And then he showed me the verse,
There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus
who gave himself a ransom for all. He says, you do not need
to go to any priest to confess your sins. Oh man, the foundation
started crumbling. That's what the Lord used for
me to start drawing me. That scripture was the scripture
that he used. It's so dear to me because there is only one
mediator. You don't have to go to the preacher.
Don't come to me. Now, come to me and give me prayers
to tell the other saints about. But don't come to me and ask
me, I can't forgive you for your sins. See, these priests are
deluded by their own religion, thinking that, well, you say
15 Hail Marys, or you say 15 Our Fathers, and you're good.
What? So you're telling me that something
I do will make me clean from those sins? No, there ain't nothing. And see, so it's the blind leading
the blind, beloved. And I always wondered when I
went in them confessionals, and you know, I never really told
them all the stuff. I never told them how really
bad I thought. I never told them. Now when I
think things like that, I'm like, oh Lord, please forgive me. Why
am I thinking like that? It's so different, isn't it? It's
all because of God's amazing grace, beloved. So let's read
verse six again. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. Paul's astonished with them.
He's astonished that they've been removed from Christ. Now, we know they've not been
totally removed, because they're backsliding, beloved. They're
backsliding. My, and listen to what Paul says.
Listen to what Paul says here. And again, remember that he's
writing here to these Galatians, right? They're born-again, blood-washed
saints. They profess to love God and
to love Christ, but they've been enticed to abandon the gospel.
Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 11, verses 5 and 6. And remember, this is by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. He said, Even so, then, at this
present time there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace there is no more works, otherwise grace
is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
Let's turn there, actually. Let's turn there and look. This
is worth looking at, Romans 11 verses. This is worth looking
at in light of what we're looking at here. So what these Judaizers
have been teaching is not a gospel, no. No, it leads to spiritual
bondage, and it leads to eternal damnation for those who believe
it. Look at this in Romans 11 verses 5 and 6. Look at this. And again, remember, this is
the Holy Spirit of God who's inspired Paul to write these
words. He writes, even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. Right now
even, beloved, in this world, there's a remnant according to
the election of grace. God's people are the remnant.
And there's more sheep out there, we know, because he even wrapped
everything up, right? So there's more sheep out there. When the
last sheep is saved, it'll be all wrapped up. Then look what
he says here. Look at this, in light of what
we're studying. And if by grace, then there's no more of works.
So if you're saved by grace, it's no more of works. There's
nothing to be added, because Christ's work is perfect. And
he says, otherwise, grace is no more grace. Look at that.
So if you add works to grace, It's no more grace. It's so clear,
isn't it? It's so clear. But if it be of
works, then it is no more grace. Look at that. A stitch of your
righteousness, a stitch of my righteousness. It's no more grace. It's no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. Isn't it so clear there? And
this is by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. He's having
Paul pen these words If it be by grace, if you're saved by
grace through faith in Christ, then there's no works done by
us. The work's already done. But if you add works, then it's
no more grace. So clear, isn't it? Yet, I didn't
see that until the Lord saved me. I used to think it was based
upon what I was doing. My, oh, my. So Paul here is astonished
that the Galatians were being lured away from the one true
gospel by false teachers. So Paul's purpose in writing
this epistle is to expose them, to expose their teaching, and
to reprove the Galatians too, right? Because the scripture
is given to us to reprove us for correction and righteousness,
right? It's meant to keep us on track. And so he's seeking to establish
the believers. And he does it right away. He
does it right away by preaching the gospel to them in verse four.
He's established them. He's grounding them in the truth
right away. Before he does any kind of correction, he's establishing
them in the truth. These false teachers had crept
into the Galatian churches. And we see they perverted the
one true gospel by adding work. So it's not another gospel. It's
a perversion. It's a perversion. So we can
conclude that anything added to the finished work of Christ,
then, is a perversion of the gospel. Because that's what Paul's
saying here, right? It's a perversion of the gospel.
We can conclude that. And these false teachers sought
to mingle works with the work of Christ, works of man with
the works of Christ, with faith in Christ. And they were trying
to persuade the people to abandon the gospel that Paul had taught
them, that he preached to them. and that the Holy Spirit had
enlightened them to when they were born again. Again, they're
seeking to add to faith in Christ the works of the law. What does the scripture say?
Look to Christ and live. How do we do that? By faith alone. By faith alone. So the apostle
Paul has taught them that Christ crucified is the all-sufficient
and the effectual Savior. He's all-sufficient. God is satisfied
with him. And that faith in him is the
only way we can receive his finished salvation. It's the only way. Turn, if you would, again to
Romans chapter 5 this time, Romans chapter 5. This truth is so evidently brought
forth in the scriptures, so clearly brought forth here in Romans
chapter 5, verses 8 to 11. The scripture proclaims, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God, look at this, but God commands his
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. We weren't even born 2,000 years ago. But God knows
the end from the beginning, right? Well, we were yet sinners. What's
it say? Christ died for us. Paul's writing
to born-again, blood-washed believers. My, this is wonderful. And it
says this, much more than being now justified by his blood, oh
my, we shall be saved from wrath through him. We're saved from
the wrath of God, beloved, through Christ. For when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also
rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
now received the atonement. Look at, it's all Christ-centered.
The only thing in here for us is we're receiving. We've received
the atonement, we're saved by his life, and we know by his
death. He did it all. He did it all. And now we're reconciled. We
were enemies in our minds with God, and now we're reconciled
to God. It's just beautiful. So Paul defines the unique gospel. He defines the gospel in a unique
way in verse 6, back in Galatians chapter 1. Look at this, what
he says here. He says, I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him that call for Christ. We have nothing to glory in.
We're just unprofitable servants, the scripture says. But we're
used by God to preach the gospel. But, oh my, we have nothing to
glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. I must preach the gospel.
I must. A young preacher was going through
some tough times, and the old preacher got a hold of him. on
the phone, and he said, you know, so many times I just wanted to
quit, but I can't. And neither can you, eh? And
the young preacher said, no, I can't quit at all. You can't. You can't do anything
else. You just want to preach the gospel. It's wonderful. It's
wonderful. God's so good. Oh, he's so good. If a necessity is laid upon me,
yea, woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. That's in 1 Corinthians
9.16. My, oh my. And to venture any
degree outside of the finished work of Christ when preaching
the gospel. And again, outside the established
scriptures inspired by God is to preach another gospel. And
look at Galatians 1, look at verses 8 and 9. Look at the just
punishment due to such deliberate error which is brought forth
in these verses. Now these are serious words. When we get down
here, these are serious words here. He says in verse 8, 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. Let him be damned. Let him be
anathema. That's strong language, beloved. And he says, as we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that which ye have received, let him be accursed. Whew, that's
strong language. We're gonna see that as we study
those verses. That's strong language. And these Galatians had professed
to believe the gospel. It was preached and confirmed
by the apostle, and they'd been thankful. They received it with
gladness. They received it with gladness,
as though he were an angel sent by God. And yet within a short
time, yet within a short time, these converts were seduced by
the elegant words of these false teachers. To renounce Paul and the gospel
of Christ and to receive in its place a message that is contrary
to the gospel of God. Therefore, he wrote this letter,
we know by divine inspiration, right? He was inspired to write
this letter. So that condemnation we saw in
verses 8 and 9, the Holy Spirit had them author that. That's
how jealous God is over his son. Scripture says God won't share
his glory with anyone. If man's trying to supposedly
say that they add to the finished work of Christ, then they're
glorying in something they do. God will not share his glory.
That's why Paul, again, said, I have nothing to glory of. We
preachers, we don't have nothing. The only thing we have the glory
in is Christ, just like you. Glory in Christ, and glory in
what he's done for us. So he wrote this letter by divine
inspiration. And it's got some indignation
in it, it's got some sorrow, and he's astonished. He's astonished
that those he preached to have so easily been swayed away from
the true gospel. And Paul brings forth again in
the first six verses the singularity of the gospel. There's no compromise
with Paul. He will not compromise on the
gospel. And we see that in verses six and seven. He will not compromise
with the one true gospel. And may we who are gospel preachers
preach the gospel the same way Paul did with no compromise.
We preach it in love. Of course we'll preach it in
love, but we won't compromise on the gospel. And you don't
want us to. No, the body of Christ don't
want the preachers who are the fellow persons of the body of
Christ, you don't want us. You don't want us to compromise
at all. You know, we could fill this
place if we watered down the gospel. I refuse to do it, and
I know you don't want me to either. We won't do that, not at all.
Salvation is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ by his perfect,
sovereign, sin-atoning work, and there's nothing to be added
to it. The very reason for the flourishing
of Christianity in pagan Rome, in the Roman world in which it
was born, was the non-compromising spirit of our forefathers. They'd
go to death before they'd compromise the gospel. They go to death
before they renounce Christ, because they've been redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ. And there's only one gospel.
It must not be altered. It cannot be altered. It cannot
be mixed and diluted with human works. It cannot be. You mix
oil and water and what happens? It separates, doesn't it? It's
the same with grace and works. I remember I used to go in my
dad's shop. He was a trailer mechanic. I'd go in there, there'd
be oil on the floor and everything, and I'd see where some water had
crept into that oil, and you could see the distinct difference.
It did not mix. So we have lessons right before
us, don't we? They do not mix. The true gospel
of salvation by Christ alone does not mix with human works.
They just do not mix. So we must uphold the gospel
in its purity as men and women around us are in a helpless,
hopeless state. We rejoice that the gospel goes
forth from here because it goes out into the world and Lord willing,
it reaches men and women who are in a helpless, hopeless state
just like we were. We have a hope now, don't we?
We have a hope in Christ now. Why? Because of the gospel. Because
of what Christ done. Because of the Holy Spirit regenerating
us. It's wonderful. God didn't leave us dead in our
trespasses and our sins. He regenerated us, beloved. And
he gave us faith to believe. And we know, we know he's got
more sheep out there. So out goes the gospel message.
And he uses it for his glory. We don't even know how he's using
it. And I like that. I like that, because then we
don't boast, do we? Tom and I were looking at what's happened with
the message. You just marvel at that. It's like, look what
God's done. This is amazing. It's all his glory. He gets all
the glory. Because that message goes, and
like you said, Travis, we don't know how many other people are
listening. Oh my goodness. It's amazing. But it's a good
thing we don't know. It's a good thing we don't know,
beloved. My, oh my. So let God use the preaching
of the gospel. for His glory and for His honor
and for His praise. And we just keep meeting here
each week. We just keep rejoicing in the
work that Christ has done for us. Oh, my. It fills our heart with joy,
doesn't it, beloved? I had a couple more pages, but once again, I
did it. I got talking and got carried
away. But that's OK. This is a great gospel, isn't
it? It's a great gospel. And it's free. It costs Christ,
but it's free for we who receive it. We don't do anything to earn
it. We don't merit it. It's given
to us freely by the grace of God. Let us think upon that this
week. It'll make you shout for joy.
I'll tell you what, it'll make your heart leap. It will. Glory
be to God. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your mercy and goodness and grace to us. Oh, we who are your
people,