Welcome to the 2009 Shepherds
Conference. General Session number 8, Steve
Lawson. I am so grateful now to be able
to share the Word of God with you. If you would take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter
1, and I want to preach to you a message that I want to entitle,
Guarding the Gospel. Galatians chapter 1, I want to
begin by reading verses 6 through 10, and our time this afternoon
will be spent in expounding this passage of Scripture. I want to begin by reading the
inspired and the inerrant and the infallible Word of the living
God. The Apostle Paul writes, I'm
amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you
by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another,
only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel
of Christ. But even if we are an angel from
heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we
have preached to you, he is to be accursed. As we have said
before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a
gospel contrary to what you received He is to be accursed, for am
I now seeking the favor of men or of God, or am I striving to
please men? If I were still striving to please
men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Every generation of
believers in the church has had to fight for the purity and the
exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no exception. Beginning in the 1st and 2nd
centuries, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, and Justin Martyr gave their
own lives unto death to preserve and to protect the purity of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus fought Gnosticism in
the 2nd century, and Polycarp fought the Roman procouncil in
the 2nd century at the cost of his own life. Cyprian fought
apostasy in the third century and was sentenced to die for
the gospel. He removed his garments. He knelt
down and only said, thanks be to God. Athanasius fought Arianism
in the fourth century, which denied the deity of Christ and
thus was a frontal attack against the gospel of Jesus Christ. Athanasius
was unmoved. And he stood contra mundum, against
the world. He was willing to be one man,
willing to stand for the gospel in the face of the entire world. Augustine warred against Pelagius
and his denial of the fall of the human race in Adam and its
only rescue by sovereign grace. Augustine took it head on. John
Wycliffe, John Hus, Martin Luther, attacked the perverted gospel
of the Roman Catholic Church with its corrupt system of human
works and merit. John Calvin fired volley after
volley against Rome and its foul gospel, as well as against the
Libertines, and against the Unitarians, and all other attacks against
the gospel. Subsequent generations, Christian
leaders continued to pay the ultimate price in their hour
of history to preserve and to protect the exclusivity of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. John Rogers and the Marian martyrs,
284 of them in all, fought against the Roman Catholic
Church over the nature of the Lord's Supper, which was in reality
a fight over the nature of the purity of the gospel itself.
Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer were burned at the
stake at Oxford for the purity of the gospel. As you know, Ridley
and Latimer were fastened to the same stake, and Latimer asserted
to Ridley, play the man, Ridley. We shall this day light such
a candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put
out." Six months earlier, Cranmer was bodily and physically removed
from his pulpit and taken directly to the martyr's stake, and there
he gave his life to uphold the standard of sound words. Jonathan
Edwards fought for the purity of the gospel against Arminianism
and antinomianism. And when the gospel was all but
silenced in the church of England, George Whitefield took to the
open air and went out into the highways and into the open fields
and lifted up his voice and said, I've come here today to talk
to you about your soul and preach the gospel to the multitudes.
Ashebel Nettleton fought for the gospel against Charles Finney.
Charles Spurgeon fought the downgrade controversy over the message
and the method of the gospel. And so it goes in every generation. Every Christian leader worth
his salt has fought for the gospel, and so must we. This is what
Paul is doing in these verses. He is waging war for the purity
and the exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is a
hill worth dying on. The Apostle Paul spent virtually
his entire life fighting for the gospel. He would fight against
incipient Gnosticism among the Ephesians. He would wage war
against secular philosophy and Jewish legalism and Eastern mysticism
and strict asceticism against the Colossians. He would battle
against those denying the resurrection of Christ in Corinth. He would
wrestle with fanaticism among the Thessalonians. And here he
will contend with the Galatians against the Jewish legalism that
was being brought into the church. And this struggle would prove
to be one of the most demanding contests and conflicts of his
life. In this defense of the gospel,
Paul waged war against a group of false teachers who had come
into the church, known as the Judaizers, who sought to mix
law with grace and works with faith. The Judaizers sought to
put believers and unbelievers alike under the law of Moses. They claimed salvation must be
earned by the law. And they claimed that sanctification
must be achieved by the works of the flesh. And in response,
the Apostle Paul fired back with this letter, the epistle to the
churches of Galatia, and as he is doing so, he is heroically
and he is valiantly fighting the good fight for the gospel
of Jesus Christ. This letter is Paul's most passionate
letter. Other letters he would dictate,
this letter he took pen in hand and he wrote it himself, and
he wrote it in boxcar letters so large that anyone could clearly
read what he is saying in this book. Paul here menses no words. He breathes holy fire. He tells all perverters of the
gospel that they may go to hell before they deceive others and
others follow them. He is shocked that the Galatians
have so quickly and so easily fallen for this false gospel
that is being perpetrated there, and Paul must address the church
and set it straight. It is time for Paul now to speak
directly to the issue at hand. It is time for adult conversation
from the apostle. Beloved, we live in such an hour
as well, not unlike the first century in which the gospel of
Jesus Christ is coming under attack again and again. There are many hits upon the
purity and the exclusivity of the gospel in this hour from
cults from false religions, from the Roman Catholic Church, from
the New Perspective on Paul, to non-lordship advocates, to
social gospel proponents, from the Universalists, and from many
others. There are many attacks upon the
gospel, and it will fall upon each and every one of us to act
like men and to stand strong in the grace of God and to defend
this gospel. There is an ad that says in the
athletic arena, we must protect this house. Men, we must protect
this gospel. It is incumbent upon each and
every one of us to maintain the high ground of the gospel of
Christ at all costs. We need to hear Paul's words
in these verses yet again. We need to hear this warning
that was sounded by Paul, and it must grip our hearts again. Let these words be as a trumpet
in our ears. Let them be a drumbeat by which
we march. Let them arrest our hearts and
summon our souls. As we look at verses 6 through
10 this afternoon, there are four main headings of truth that
I want you to note. I want to lay this out so that
you'll know where we're headed this afternoon. I want you to
note first Paul's amazement in verses 6 and 7. Something is
mind-boggling to him. And then second, Paul's adversaries. They're at the end of verse 7.
Then third, Paul's anathemas, verses 8 and 9. And finally, Paul's aim in verse
10. Let's begin in verses 6 and 7.
I want you to note Paul's amazement. Paul begins by expressing his
astonishment over the Galatians. He says in verse 6, I am amazed. This word amazed is a very strong
word. It means to be astounded. It
means to be bewildered. It means to be shocked. Paul is dumbfounded. Paul is perplexed at the news
that he has received from the Galatians, and he would say,
this blows my mind. I am in shock and awe over the
report that I've received. And he goes on to tell us now,
over that which he is amazed, that you are so quickly He is
shocked that the Galatians have abandoned the very gospel of
Jesus Christ that He Himself has brought to them. This word,
deserting, is a military term, and it is used for a soldier
abandoning his position or post. It means to go AWOL. They are
deserting their loyalty to God and their allegiance to the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is in the present tense, which
you note, that they are so quickly deserting Him. They are at this
very hour, at this very moment, in the process of deserting God
Himself. It is in the middle voice, meaning
it is something that they are personally responsible for. Would
you note that they are so quickly deserting Him? In deserting the
gospel, the Galatians are deserting God. They are not merely deserting
a system of theology as important as that is, but the very God
of that system of theology. Paul is saying, you're turning
your backs on Almighty God. You're like military deserters.
You are spiritual turncoats. You are defectors of the worst
kind. I was just with you and delivered
you the message, and now you are so quickly deserting God. This is to say, God Himself is
the gospel. And to move away from the gospel
is to move away from God because there is solidarity and there
is unity between God and His gospel. The gospel is God's gospel. Romans 1 verse 1 tells us that. This is God's truth. This is
God's power. This is God's message. And to
abandon God's message is to abandon God Himself. Every attribute
of God is most vividly seen in the gospel. Every attribute of
God is most beautifully put on display in the spectacle of the
theater of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Psalm 19, verse 1 says,
the heavens declare the glory of God. How much greater is the
glory of God put on display in the message that tells us how
to go to heaven? If God's glory is put on display
in His creation, it is put on even greater display in His new
creation through the gospel. Think about this. It is in the
gospel that we most clearly see the holiness of God. That it
is God who is transcendent and majestic, high and lifted up,
infinitely separated from defiled sinners. And an infinite chasm
separates holy God and sinful man. The holiness of God comes
shining forth brightly in the gospel of Jesus Christ and begs
for the solution to come from God. It is in the gospel that
we see the wrath of God most vividly displayed. We see sin
under judgment at the cross. We see our sin judged by God
in Christ upon the cross. We see Christ who became a curse
for us, suffering in our place divine vengeance. There we see
the torment of the damned upon the cross in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in the cross that we see
the righteousness of God, and in the gospel we see the righteousness
of God, that God has provided a perfect righteousness for us. In the perfect obedience of Jesus
Christ, in His sinless life, in His substitutionary death,
the righteousness of God bursts forth and shines most brightly
in His gospel. It is in the gospel that we see
the grace of God providing the righteousness for sinners, free
and without cost. It is in the gospel that we see
the immutability of God, that there is but one unchanging way
of salvation from beginning to end. It is the unchanging gospel
of God. It is in the gospel that we see
the power of God, able to save the chief of sinners, able to
transform and sanctify the vilest of sinners. It is in the gospel
that we see the truth of God, the reality of His saving enterprise
made known to us. It is in the gospel that we see
the sovereignty of God, saving all of His elect, all those chosen
by the Father, entrusted to Christ, not a sheep perishing. I want to say again, God is the
gospel, and to depart from the gospel is to depart from God
Himself. All of the lines of theology
proper intersect in the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of the attributes
of God intersect in the person and work of Christ who is the
gospel for us. to defect from the gospel is
to defect from God Himself. And so in verse 6, Paul continues
to write, having said, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting
Him who called you by the grace of Christ. They are deserting
God after He has done this. by sovereign, irresistible, effectual
grace that has called them and has overpowered their resistance
to God and drawn them to Himself to be trophies of His grace. This God who has called you by
the pure, sheer, unadulterated grace of God, called out of the
evil world system, out of the kingdom of darkness, you now,"
he says at the end of verse 6, are turning to a different gospel. Men, there are only two kinds
of gospels. There is the true gospel, and
there is the false gospel. There is the saving gospel, and
there is the non-saving gospel. We have heard from this pulpit
for many years, there is the gospel of divine accomplishment,
and there is the false gospel of human achievement. And Paul
is saying, you are deserting the gospel of divine accomplishment
for a gospel of human achievement. And this different gospel, heteros,
denotes another of a totally different kind. We would say
it is apples and oranges. It is a totally different message. It is a non-saving, non-sanctifying
gospel of legalism. It was a counterfeit gospel. It was a sham salvation. It was a rip-off religion. It
was a mangled message to which they were turning. And Paul,
he is calling them back to the true gospel. In verse 7, at the
beginning of verse 7, Paul says concerning this different gospel,
he says, which is really not another. Which is to say there
is only one true gospel. There is only one true way of
salvation, and any other message is a soul-damning message. that there is only one way of
salvation. Jesus said, I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but
through me. Peter said, there is salvation
in no other name. For there is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Paul said there
is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Oh, there is a way that seems
right to a man, but the end thereof is the end of death. To desert
this gospel is to be removed from the only way of salvation. Why is Jesus the only way of
salvation? No one else has been born of
a virgin and lived a sinless and perfect life. No one else
can give to me his perfect righteousness by his obedience under the law. No one else has died in my place
bearing my sins and carrying them far away. No one else has
suffered the wrath of God for me upon the cross and has satisfied,
appeased, and placated the anger of God toward me. No one else
has reconciled me to an infinitely holy God. No one else has redeemed
me out of my slavery to sin and to Satan. No one else has washed
away my sins, leaving me as pure as white snow. No one else has
been raised for my justification. No one else is seated at the
right hand of God the Father, interceding for me, continuing
to keep me saved. No one else has ever done this. Not Buddha, not Allah, not Mary,
not the Pope, not some Unitarian being, not Joseph Smith, not
Mary Baker Eddy, and certainly not me myself on my own behalf. No one else but Jesus Christ
sent from God to earth has the ability to take me here on earth
to heaven. He was born of a virgin that
we might be born again. He became the Son of Man that
we might become sons of God. This is the only Savior of sinners,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul was amazed that the Galatians
had deserted this one, true, saving gospel, and so should
we be astonished whenever we see it in our own day. We too
should be bewildered when we see evangelicals want to sign
something like an ECT document and pretend that there is no
difference between Rome and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should
be astonished when we see certain so-called Christian leaders go
on Larry King Live and punt away the gospel. Quote, Larry King,
because we've had ministers on our program who said, you either
believe in Christ or you don't. If you believe in Christ, you're
going to heaven. And if you don't, no matter what
you've done in your life, you ain't. I wonder what minister
would ever say that on the Larry King program. It wasn't Deepak, I'll tell you
that. Listen to the response of one
of the biggest, grandest Christian so-called leaders in America. Yeah, I don't know. I still think he'd make a great
weatherman someday. His wife's really a better preacher,
but anyway. So here it goes. Can we get some air conditioning
in here? To Larry King, yeah, I don't
know. There's probably a balance between
I believe you have to know Christ, but I think that if you know
Christ, if you're a believer in God, that you're going to
have some good works. I think it's a cop-out to say,
I'm a Christian, but I don't ever do anything. That doesn't
even answer the question. King, what if you're Jewish,
as he is? What if you're a Muslim, and
you don't accept Christ at all? The answer, you know, I'm very careful about saying
who would and who wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know. King, if you believe you have
to believe in Christ, they're wrong, aren't they? Referring
to the Jews, referring to the Muslims, the answer. I'm just reading this, okay? Well, I don't know. I don't know if I believe they're
wrong. I spent a lot of time in India
with my father. I don't know about all their
religion, but I know they love God. No, they don't. They hate God. I don't know. I've seen their
sincerity so on worldwide television, so I don't know. Give us some men who know the
truth. And who will declare the truth.
And who will stand with Athanasius, and Polycart, and Calvin, and
Luther, and Whitefield, and Edwards, and who will declare from the
housetops that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Paul was amazed, so are we astonished
and bewildered at this hour of history. Paul's amazement. Second, I want you to see Paul's
adversaries. The problem lies with these opponents
of the gospel who are corrupting it and who are disturbing the
believers. And so we see in the middle of
verse 7. Paul now mentions the false teachers for the first
time, though not by name. And so Paul writes, only there
are some. Draw a circle around the word
some. These some are the Judaizers who are trying to bring their
legalism into the church and put the people under the law,
whether by salvation or for sanctification. Only there are some who are disturbing
you." This word, to disturb, do you see it? Terrasso. It means to trouble, to agitate,
to shake up. And these false teachers had
come into the vacuum of Paul's absence, having left the churches
there, and they have filled it up with their corrupt gospel,
and they are shaking up the allegiance of the believers to God Himself. And in so doing, they are disturbing
and they are troubling the church, for the church is founded upon
the gospel of Jesus Christ. You take away the gospel, you
have taken away everything. Only there are some who are disturbing
you and want to distort. This word distort means to change
something into its very opposite. They were changing the true gospel
and reversing it into a falsified gospel. They were perverting
the gospel. They were tampering with the
message. They were diluting its purity and want to distort the
gospel of Christ. Specifically, these false teachers,
the Judaizers, were teaching Christ and grace and faith are
good as far as they go. But these alone are inadequate
to save and to sanctify. They were saying human works
are also necessary for salvation. Religious effort is required
for acceptance with God. You have to keep the law, they
said, and do your part in order to merit and achieve righteousness. As they were claiming, you are
justified by faith and works. You are sanctified by faith and
the deeds of the flesh. They were saying, you have to
be circumcised in order to be saved. You have to keep the Ten
Commandments in order to be right with God, to observe holy days,
to practice the ceremonial law. And Paul will come back in chapter
2 and in verse 21, and Paul will say, if righteousness comes through
the law, then Christ died needlessly. If we can achieve our own salvation
apart from the sufficiency of the cross, then Calvary is the
blunder of the ages. There are so many such adversaries
of the gospel today. They acknowledge a place for
the cross. They speak of grace. They pontificate
of faith. But they claim that it is not
enough to be right with God. They claim that salvation is
by faith and good works. Faith and water baptism. Faith and church membership.
Faith and speaking in tongues. Faith and Hail Marys. Faith and
the Mass. faith and last rites, faith and
the treasury of merit, faith and buying indulgences. They
claim that all these are necessary for salvation and they damn the
souls of men. Of course, there are other adversaries
of the gospel of a different kind. They deny the Trinity. They deny the absolute deity
of Jesus Christ. They seek to pull down the Lordship
of Christ. They attack the virgin birth.
They deny the sinless life, the substitutionary death, the bodily
resurrection, and the second coming of Christ. There are still
others who deny the exclusivity of salvation in Christ alone,
and they say Jesus is only one of many roads that are leading
up to the mountaintop where there is God. But if Jesus is not the
only way to heaven, He is none of the ways to heaven, for a
liar cannot be our Savior, and Jesus claimed to be the only
way of salvation. J.C. Ryle said, if we truly believe
this, that Christ is the only way of salvation, then it will
mark our preaching, it will empower our proclamation, that we as
ministers will speak of Christ. We will speak of Christ, Ryle
says, our sermons will be filled with Christ, because He is the
only way of salvation. What is this true gospel? Look
at the verses just previous, at the end of verse 3 and in
verse 4. The true gospel is centered in
God's saving will in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
fully God and who is fully man. Galatians 1 at the end of verse
3 says, the Lord, that's His sovereign name, Jesus, that is
His saving name, Christ, that is His supernaturally empowered
name, that is His strong name. The Lord Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself, speaking of His death at the cross, for our sins. At the cross, Jesus became sin
for us. He bore our sins, dying in our
place, suffering under the wrath of God for sinners. so that He
might rescue us, that He might deliver us, that He might save
us, notice, from this present evil age. This whole world is
going to hell. This whole world is a planet
under judgment. Romans 1, verse 18, the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and
godliness of men. This is in the present tense.
Right now, this very hour, we are a planet under judgment from
a holy God, and there is only one way of rescue, There is only
one way of escape, and it is to come to the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ and by faith believe upon Him. This is the gospel. In Galatians 2, verse 16, Paul
says, a man is not justified by the works of the law. Literally
in the Greek language, it reads this way, a man is not justified
by the works of the law. It reads exactly the way that
it says it here, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Justification is the forensic
declaration of the holy judge of heaven and earth, God, declaring
the righteousness of Christ to be imputed to sinners who believe
upon Jesus Christ. It is by grace alone, through
faith alone, in Christ alone. Luther said this is the chief
article from which all other doctrines have flowed. It alone
begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God.
And without it, the church of God cannot exist for one hour. Luther went on to say that this
doctrine, justification, is the chief matter upon which the church
stands or falls. He says it is the master truth.
It is the prince, the lord, the ruler, the judge over all kinds
of doctrines. This is the true saving gospel. And those who had come into Galatia
had come to corrupt, had come to pervert, had come to taint
the purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Paul arises and he
speaks directly to the churches and to us to guard the gospel
at all costs. I want you to note third, Paul's
anathemas. These false teachers, the Judaizers,
sought to undermine Paul's teaching in the gospel. Paul now in verse
8 puts forward an extreme hypothetical
situation in order to make his point. Paul says in verse 8,
But even if we," and by that he refers to himself and to his
travel associates, i.e. Barnabas, and later it would
include Timothy or Luke, but even if we are an angel from
heaven, be it Michael the archangel, be it Gabriel, be it one of the
chief angels, be it one of the ruling angels, be it one of the
guardian angels, be it one of the seraphim, be it one of the
cherubim, be it any one of the elect angels, should preach to
you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you. Contrary
to salvation by grace through faith in Christ. Contrary to
salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. He says, He is to be accursed. Anathema. That's a strong word. It means to be devoted to destruction. It means to be consigned to the
flames of eternal hell below. In other words, it means to be
damned, to be eternally condemned and to be consigned in the bowels
of hell below. To put it bluntly, Paul says,
then they should go to hell before they take anyone else with them
into the pit below." Paul is absolutely seething at this moment. And wise is the man who knows
to be worked up over that which works up the heart of God. Martin Luther put it this way
at this point. Here Paul is breathing fire. His zeal is so fervent that he
almost begins to curse the angels themselves." There is no room
for neutrality here. No room for indifference. No
room for passivity. This is a time for Paul to speak,
to write. James Montgomery Boyce writes
at this point, how can it be otherwise? Boyce says, if the
gospel Paul preaches is true, then the glory of Jesus Christ
and the salvation of men are at stake. If men can be saved
by works, Boyce says, then Christ has died in vain. The cross is emptied of power. If men are taught a false gospel,
They are being led from the one thing that can save them and
being turned to destruction." How true are these words spoken
by voice? Those who corrupt the one true
saving gospel contribute to the damnation of lost souls who follow
their message. But Paul reloads, and in verse
9, the next verse, He's not just dogmatic, he's bull dogmatic
about this. Well, I don't know. You know, Daddy and I went to
India. Look at verse 9. As we have said before. referring
to when Paul was in Galatia there in the midst of the churches.
As we have said before, so I say again now. Paul is emphatic. I say again now to underscore
that Paul has not altered his message which he has received
not from men but from Christ. If any man Be he an apostle? Be he an angel? Be he a self-appointed
religious leader? If any man is preaching," notice
present tense, indicating the ongoing crisis at that very hour
in Galatia, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what
you received, he is to be accursed. He is to be anathema. Paul repeats this shocking statement
to emphasize the severity of the judgment that awaits the
false prophet, let him be damned. Such a false teacher should go
to hell now before they take others with them to the pit below. And when they arrive in hell,
the hottest place in hell is reserved for those false teachers
who distort the gospel of Christ and have drug others down into
the pit below." I would remind us that Paul is putting this
on the front porch of this book. This is where Paul in his other
epistles expresses his thanksgiving to God for the churches. Paul would normally say at this
point, oh how I thank God for you. You are in my every thought. You give me so much joy. There is none of that here. Paul
is not thankful. He is rightly filled with holy
zeal because the glory of God and the glory of Christ have
been contaminated with this false message. He has worked up about
this because the saving gospel, the only saving gospel, and the
only sanctifying message is at stake. Jesus himself warned against
false religious leaders who would pervert the true way of salvation. Jesus said, enter through the
narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that
leads to destruction. And there are many who enter
through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads
to life. And there are few who find it.
Next verse. Beware of the false prophets. who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly are ravenous wolves. They are standing right there
next to the narrow gate, seeking to deceive and to damn the souls
of men through the broad gate." Paul's anathemas are rightly
spoken. This is no time for dialogue. This is a time for declaration. Finally, I want you to see Paul's
aim. In verse 10, and man, it is the aim that every one of
us here today must have, must possess, we must own this aim. Paul gets down to the bottom
line. He cuts to the chase. Who is he trying to please? Look at verse 10. This is what
every preacher and every Christian must wrestle with. For am I now
seeking the favor of men or of God? There are no other categories. There are no other options. Either
we live our life and so minister as to receive the approbation
of God in heaven, or we play to the applause of the crowd. Or am I striving to please men? If Paul was seeking the favor
of men, he would certainly tone down his rhetoric. But Paul is
not courting the popularity of the world. Paul is not even courting
the popularity of the church and the churches to whom this
book is written. Paul is writing that he might
receive his amens out of heaven. Paul is seeking the approbation
of God by speaking what he says and as he says. This confrontive,
harsh language was hardly calculated to win the approval of men. Men-pleasers simply do not hurl
anathemas against those who proclaim false gospels. Paul sought to
please God. Now, here's what you and I must
come to grips with. If we seek to please God, it
does not matter whom we displease. And if we displease God, it doesn't
matter whom we do please. Ministry is very simple. We ultimately
must seek the favor and the approval of Almighty God. Paul writes,
If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant
of Christ Jesus. In the ultimate sense, pleasing
men and pleasing God are mutually exclusive, not inclusive. Bottom line, this is an either-or,
not a both-and proposition. Either you seek to please men,
and if so, you will displease God. Or if you seek to please
God, then you are willing to displease men. But bottom line,
it cannot be both ways. Did not our Lord say in Matthew
6 verse 24, no one can serve two masters? For he will either
hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one
and despise the other." Jesus understood we can have only one
master, and as slaves of Christ we report to Him and we seek
His approval. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians
2 verse 4, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted
with the gospel, so we speak. Now listen to this. So we speak,
not as pleasing men, but God, who examines our hearts. What Paul is saying is, I was
chosen by God, I was called by God, I was set apart by God,
I was saved by God, redeemed by God, commissioned by God,
enlightened by God, instructed by God, appointed by God, empowered
by God, directed by God. Why on earth would I suddenly
seek to please men? In the last day, it will be God
before whom we stand. We will be judged not by men
nor by angels, but by God. And we will either be rewarded
or passed over by God. It is God whom we must please.
And there is only one message that pleases God, and it is the
gospel of God, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in
Christ alone. One who certainly was not a men
pleaser. One of the most courageous men to walk this earth with the
gospel. We heard about him yesterday.
John Knox. I had the privilege a couple
of years ago, standing with Dr. MacArthur, where Knox is buried,
to step into Knox's pulpit. And it was one of the thrills
of my life. John Knox. A Roman Catholic priest in Scotland,
converted by the power of the gospel, became a bodyguard of
George Wishart. Wishart was martyred. The ministry
fell to Knox. He began to preach in St. Andrew's
Castle. He was captured by a French ship,
served in the hull of that ship for the next 19 months, a captive
of war. was released, came back to Scotland
and preached the gospel. Bloody Mary took the throne.
He fled Scotland, went to Geneva, pastored an English-speaking
congregation in Geneva, was a part of the Geneva Bible, study Bible. He returns to Scotland after
Bloody Mary has been removed from the throne. Mary, Queen
of Scots, who has been in exile in France, now ascends the throne
in Scotland. On her very first Sunday as Queen
of Scotland, she goes into the privacy of her own chapel And
Mary, Queen of Scots, a practicing Roman Catholic, one who holds
to a different gospel, received private Mass. Word came to John
Knox, and the very next Sunday at St. Giles Church in Edinburgh,
Scotland, Knox ascends to the pulpit, and in this sermon, he
calls out Mary, Queen of Scot, and he says from the pulpit,
one mass is more fearful to me than if ten thousand armed enemies
were landed in any part of this realm. Knox said, I have learned
plainly and boldly to call wickedness by its own terms. I call a fig
a fig and a spade a spade. When word reached Mary, Queen
of Scots, she was infuriated. She summoned Knox to appear before
her, to give an account to her. Knox came in, she took the offensive,
she launched with three indictments and charges to be brought against
John Knox, and it deflected off of him like water off a duck's
back. And Knox, not to mince words,
declared to her the idolatry of the mass could have no place
in Scotland. It would invite the judgment
of God upon this nation. Knox was unrelenting and preaching
to her the one true, pure, saving gospel of grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And she was reduced to a puddle
of tears. Knox said she began to howl like
a wounded animal. The cause of the Reformation
in Scotland turned as a result of these six encounters between
the thundering Scott John Knox and Mary Queen of Scots. We heard
yesterday about how John Knox, when he died on December 24th,
1572 in Edinburgh, the region of Scotland spoke these long
remembered words over John Knox' grave. Here lies one who never
feared the face of man. Perhaps Knox is best summarized
by the closing words of the Scots Confession that he penned in
1560 upon his return to Scotland to found the Church of Scotland
that would preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen to these
words, how the Scots Confession concludes, penned by John Knox
himself. Arise, O Lord! and let thine
enemies be confounded. Let them flee from thy presence
that hate thy godly name. Give thy servants strength to
speak thy word with boldness, and let all nations cleave to
the true knowledge of thee." Where are such preachers today?
Adrian Rogers once said, the problem with preachers today
is no one wants to kill them anymore. Where are those who will say
with Paul, if any man preach another gospel other than the
one I have preached, let him be accursed? I believe that such
men are in this room today. Spurgeon said, John Knox's gospel
is my gospel. And that which thundered through
Scotland must thunder through England again." Well, I want
to tell you, Spurgeon's gospel and Knox's gospel is our gospel. It is the only gospel. Rise up,
O men of God. Have done with lesser things. Give heart and mind and soul
and strength to serve the King of kings. Let us preach the gospel,
teach the gospel, live the gospel, explain the gospel, expand the
gospel, and let the chips fall where they may. Let us please
God and let us not become men-pleasers. And all God's men said, Amen. Amen. You've reached the end
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